Lollipop Local

The client with this Google Places problem was a Business Centre which rents out rooms. How an erroneous Google Maps listing can be created An outside contractor had run a course, during which a large number of social media profiles had been set up with the name and phone number of the training firm but [...]

I was trying to find the phone number of my local electrical supplier last week but their website kept coming up with a ‘the page cannot be found’ message. When I went into the shop and quizzed the staff it transpired that they had taken their website down. Now, being an internet marketer, I was [...]

“But how can I get my happy customers to give me reviews?” Current thinking says that it is extremely important to get positive online feedback in the local listing directories, on your Google Places Page and on your website. However, when I tell my clients that they need to ask for reviews, the majority will [...]

So just how important is Google Places Optimisation? Well, according to another SEO talking to someone who became my client, you will never get into the first position of Google Places if you have not optimised your profile so that it has achieved 100% completion. However, according to a post on Google Places Optimisation by [...]

I remember some months ago that I noticed there was a duplicate Google Places Listing for Lollipop Local. As I ummed and ahed about the best strategy for dealing with it – should I claim it or not – it disappeared as suddenly as it had arrived so I thought no more about it. Until… [...]

Why Google Places? Claiming your Google Places page has many benefits – not least of which is that it’s free. A sort of mini-website that, in many cases, has been started for you by Google itself through your mentions in other local directories. On the local maps for Google Places, you will notice a plethora [...]

Following on from my problem with my own Google Maps Listing and some lost Google Places reviews, here’s a great cartoon from Margaret Shulock and Mike Blumenthal. Fortunately, they did return but his made me smile. “I Can See the Future of Your Google Reviews”by Margaret Shulock is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 [...]

Further to my recent post on Google Places UK problems in February, my lost Google Places reviews have now returned. When they first disappeared, I consulted the Google Places Reviews Help page and noted that the most likely cause of their disappearance was a bug in the system which needed to be waited out. So [...]

After my post about Google Places Help a few weeks ago, I took the plunge,  suspended the correct but invisible  listing and amended the visible but incorrect one. Within days, I got emails from Google Places saying that the listing was about to be updated and it was not long before  the rogue phone number [...]

I am indebted to both Scoop and iLocalSearch for alerting me to this story about how fake online reviews can ruin a business. It is the horrendous tale of the IT consultant who discovered in April 2010 that someone called Paul had posted a Google Places review against this business stating that he had touched [...]