Last Week In Local 03/22/21

Join the staff of LocalU as they discuss the latest in Local Search news!  

Mike Blumenthal's Links:
People With Disabilities Say This AI Tool Is Making the Web Worse for Them - Vice.com - https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7az74/people-with-disabilities-say-this-ai-tool-is-making-the-web-worse-for-them
H-E-B reverses mask decision for customers after backlash - Austin.CultureMap.com - https://austin.culturemap.com/news/restaurants-bars/03-08-21-h-e-b-keeping-mask-mandate-for-customers-after-backlash-required-stores/
A New Story is Starting for Sendible - Sendible.com - https://www.sendible.com/insights/new-story-starting-for-sendible
Local Pack-O-Meter - Local SEO Guide - https://www.localseoguide.com/local-pack-o-meter/
The Near Memo, Episode 7 - NearMedia.co - https://www.nearmedia.co/episode-7/
New GMB Style with an LSA Connection - TomWaddington.com - https://tomwaddington.com/new-gmb-style-with-lsa-connection/
Google My Business Launches Tool to Manage Review Removal Requests - Local University - https://localu.org/google-my-business-launches-tool-to-manage-review-removal-requests/
Local Content Silo Videos - Greg Gifford - SearchLabDigital.com - https://searchlabdigital.com/local-search-tuesdays/?wchannelid=8kg9e7nlzn&wmediaid=94qb7krwwe
Google Maps Showing Street View Images For Service Area Home Businesses - Barry Schwartz - SERoundtable.com - https://www.seroundtable.com/amp/google-maps-street-view-images-service-area-business-31088.html

Carrie Hill's Links:
Can now mark a review as “Not Helpful” on maps. Via Tom Waddington on Twitter - https://twitter.com/tomwaddington8/status/1373284620662358017
Business Texting & Messaging by LeadFerno - Aaron Weiche - https://leadferno.com

LocalU Advanced Sponsor Info – April 7, 2021 – Tickets
dbaPlatform is our primary sponsor for LocalU.  dbaPlatform is “Mission Control: for Local Search,” a powerful suite of tools for digital marketing agencies and multi-location brands which includes local rank tracking, automated content scheduling, and enterprise reporting in a single robust dashboard. 
As a certified Google Partner, dbaPlatform has private API access to sync live inventory to Google business profiles thereby surfacing and promoting store products directly to consumers online. Use any or all of dba’s 10 core influence and automation tools to empower your local marketing and convert online buyers into local purchases. Learn more about their tools at dbaPlatform.com.

Gold Sponsor, The Respondery helps businesses respond to their customer reviews by providing custom, on-brand review response services designed to engage and please the viewer, impress future customers, diffuse negative feedback, and expand brand loyalty on the big 3 – Google, Facebook, and Yelp.  Get ahold of the team if you’re interested in this service at TheRespondery.com

Gold Sponsor, Zipsprout connects businesses with grassroots local event, nonprofit & association sponsorships for marketing & SEO campaigns.  Helmed by Linkbuilding pioneer Garrett French, their tool connects grassroots, non-profit and other organizations with businesses looking to sponsor good works in their local communities. Check them out at Zipsprout.com

Gold Sponsor, Places Scout, offers a suite of tools that are invaluable for local rank tracking, spam fighting, and competitor monitoring. They also offer GMB Tools such as the GMB Scorecard Report & Widget – a great lead generation or sales tool that is customizable to the metrics your agency is most concerned with.  They also offer the GMB Radar Change report – designed to help you monitor changes to your GMB listing(s) without looking at it multiple times a day.