The Near Memo
Exploring the big stories for the week at the intersection of local business & marketing across the spectrum of search, social and commerce. With Greg Sterling, Mike Blumenthal & David Mihm.
- Update frequency
- every 6 days
- Average duration
- 31 minutes
- Episodes
- 227
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2025
Walmart does drones, GML: AI, automation & images are future, Local inventory ad unit mimics 3-pack
Walmart announced that they were rolling out drone delivery in 6 states this week, offering upto 100,000 picked in the local store. Meanwhile Gorrila (Europe’s largest food delivery com…
Mourning Bill Slawski, Will people use My Ad Center? Baby formula shortage shows CTR impacts rank
Bill was instrumental in helping me understand Local search. Over the years he shared his knowledge willingly and unsparingly and he will be missed.
My Ad Center - will people use it or …
SMB more successful with content, Google I/O dreams big but puts in stake around Local, Multisearch & Lens + Near Me
SMB more successful with content, typical looks at SMBS often undercounts total
Google spent much of their I/O talking about their grand vision for integrating software and hardware as…
Earth Day promos damage reputation, CX - more than a #, SMBs need an integrated digital approach
In three consumer surveys it became clear that a significant minority (~25%) of the buying public thinks ill of companies that use Earth Day to sell things. But almost 33% noted that w…
Ratings vs Review Text, Can G Ad automation replace agencies?, Will Musk torpedo Twitter ads?
It is generally assumed that the ratings aspect of reviews is what drives conversions and thus they are typically emphasized. However it would appear that in many cases that the content…
Amazon’s Buy with Prime; AI content & the future of the internet, What content drives SMB research?
Amazon’s bold play to push Prime benefits across all of e-commerce is not only a direct threat to Shopify but UPS and FedEx as well. While it will bring trust and convenience to small a…
Google: Ad Domination, Self-Updating Maps reflects failure to engage, Mobile SERP are Image Serps
According to the 2021 IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report, online ad revenue grew at the fastest pace since 2006, 35% year over year. In real dollar terms that translated into a $50…
Live Inventory Improves 3-Pack Rank, LocalU-Spam, Review & Vicinity Update, GA4 Sucks-what’s next?
Google’s Local help files have been updated to note that providing real time inventory via Merchant Center will result in increased rank. Anecdotally, we are seeing the 3- Pack populate…
Antitrust Laws Closer, Google partners with CVS on appts, Consumer review trust down but usage is up
Last week the European Parliament completed work on its Digital Markets Act. The legislation targets major US tech "gatekeepers" and prohibits app bundling, app store monopolies and so-…
Featured Snippets & Ranking, Consumer Expectations: Chat vs SMS, Google Product Images in Local Packs
Most featured snippets come from what would have been organic results 1 through 3. However 20% of featured snippets come from results 6-10 and while featured snippets do not offer the c…
Google goes local w/ product search; FTC: HomeAdvisor cheated SMBs; SMBs dislike direct sales model
Google, in competing with Amazon product search, has taken a local approach with their Shopping tool. While the approach makes sense strategically it isn’t clear whether it is enough to…
Google Sued Over GBP Order CTA, Publishers Sue Ad Providers, Yelp’s 2021 Traffic Declines
Restaurants sue Google for adding Order buttons through 3rd parties to their Business Profile.
In 2019, Google automatically added DoorDash/GrubHub order buttons to the Google Busine…
Review reliance up but trust is down; Amazon kills bookstores for Grocery Business, Nextdoor #s
The consumer review paradox.
More than three-fourths (77%) of consumers now "always" or "regularly" read local business reviews, according to a recent BrightLocal survey. That's up from …
Yelp Elite reviews for sale; Core Web Vitals: No impact on Local ranking, Google offering SEO training, What will Google be in 10 years?
Yelp Elite reviews for sale
According to a local NBC affiliate investigation, brokers are paying a subset of Yelp elites to post fake reviews: "one former Yelp Elite told us he was part …
Will Google’s AI make SEO superfluous? Is Google’s Android Privacy Sandbox Real or Performative? What do Wix’s #’s say about how big the SMB market is?
Segment 1: Will Google’s Increasingly good ability to summarize with AI make SEO superfluous?
Marie Haynes highlighted a new Google Docs feature that summarizes your document using Goo…
Google spams Congress w/ SMB emails, Amazon hits $31B in Ad sales, Apple Tap to Pay available soon
Obviously feeling nervous, Google is intensifying its anti-antitrust campaign, lobbying SMBs to "take action" and automating their emails to their representatives in the House and the S…
Meta Takes a Dive, Yelp, Google take review high ground & FTC warns review Platforms
We discuss the reasons behind Meta’s terrible 4th quarter and stock fall. Was it really Apple’s fault? Will people in the universe buy into their universe?
Yelp and Google both try to es…
GMB PWND by spammer, Google moves toward contextual advertising & The FTC updates review guidelines
After a brief discussion of Google My Business losing control of their previous FB page, we cover how Google, in formally abandoning their FLOC replacement for cookies. is attempting to…
Bill to end surveillance ads, SMB use of SAAS tools low & growing, Niantic’s path to the metaverse
This bill, largely in response to the growing sentiment that large digital companies are spying on every day Americans for profit, is unlikely to pass but is indicative of growing disco…
Vendasta buys MatchCraft, Business required vax shows path, TLDR bill requires TOS simplification
Vendasta, which provides an app store for agencies, has acquired PPC pioneer MatchCraft. The acquisition will fill out Vendasta core marketing offerings with paid ad campaigns and allow…