Below is live coverage of the How Do You Optimize For Universal and Personal Search? panel from the PubCon 2011 conference.
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Barry Schwartz:
1:32:26 pm
I doubt we will start any time soon. Panelists here but room is empty. People are still at lunch.
Barry Schwartz:
1:33:04 pm
Thos003:
1:39:37 pm
Testing... 1...2.. Is the session just not going yet?
Barry Schwartz:
1:39:42 pm
Here we go...
Barry Schwartz:
1:39:50 pm
10 minutes late, but they are starting now.
Lumholt:
1:39:53 pm
When will it start?
Barry Schwartz:
1:40:18 pm
Greg Boser, Brian Combs, Andrew Beckman
Moderator:
Christine Churchill
Moderator:
Christine Churchill
Barry Schwartz:
1:40:31 pm
Christine is introducing the panel now...
Barry Schwartz:
1:40:56 pm
Andrew is not here, but the other two are...
Barry Schwartz:
1:41:07 pm
Brian is part of the 'local search mafia'
Barry Schwartz:
1:41:39 pm
Brian Combs is up now to talk about Google Places stuff
Barry Schwartz:
1:42:21 pm
Six months ago, he said local search was at a cross roads. He was wrong, it is crazy. Things are changing constantly.
Barry Schwartz:
1:42:58 pm
Google almost all dropped 3rd party reviews. Snippets and summaries are gone. Yelp is gone, probably forever. Thirds party rankings and reviews likely do not matter for rankings anymore.
Barry Schwartz:
1:43:11 pm
Google loses reviews regularly
Barry Schwartz:
1:43:22 pm
Google also loses business places
Barry Schwartz:
1:43:41 pm
They even lose entire cities
Barry Schwartz:
1:44:22 pm
They are changing interface changes
Thos003:
1:44:59 pm
...Loses reviews or hacks them off.
Barry Schwartz:
1:45:09 pm
Google is focusing a lot on croudsourcing for data
Barry Schwartz:
1:45:26 pm
This leads to problems, fraud stuff. And they bought Zagat recently.
Barry Schwartz:
1:45:59 pm
You still get off search results, you get review spam and the support for Google Places is still pretty bad.
Barry Schwartz:
1:48:18 pm
Google is updating data on their own, they grab images for everywhere, and it is often slow.
Barry Schwartz:
1:50:56 pm
...
Barry Schwartz:
1:51:12 pm
Barry Schwartz:
1:51:38 pm
One of the big issues is marking businesses as closed.
Barry Schwartz:
1:52:36 pm
Local SEO Vendors is a lot like the wild west
Barry Schwartz:
1:53:02 pm
Can these vendors show results, do they use fake reviews? do they claim a special relationship with Google?
Barry Schwartz:
1:53:13 pm
Most importantly, do they own your business profile or do you?
Barry Schwartz:
1:53:39 pm
FYI, if you want to ask Qs or comment DURING the live blog, use the comment link above this content, not the comment box below.
Barry Schwartz:
1:54:02 pm
Barry Schwartz:
1:54:22 pm
This compares vertical search to core search.. Vertical searches are moving over to Google.
Barry Schwartz:
1:54:34 pm
Barry Schwartz:
1:54:59 pm
Those are heat maps... Eye studies...
Barry Schwartz:
1:55:45 pm
Google is not good at dealing with small business
Barry Schwartz:
1:56:32 pm
Next up Greg Boser
Barry Schwartz:
1:59:44 pm
(1) Video/Images
(2) QDF
(3) Google Products
(4) Places Localization
(5) Organic Localization
(2) QDF
(3) Google Products
(4) Places Localization
(5) Organic Localization
Barry Schwartz:
1:59:48 pm
That is the outline
Barry Schwartz:
2:00:17 pm
Many people love universal search, but it can really hurt you.
Barry Schwartz:
2:01:44 pm
What is the overall universal distribution for your keyword space? which phrases generate universal results?
Barry Schwartz:
2:03:48 pm
Questions to ask:
(1) What query type does your people, places, things)
(2) Action Queries (do)
(3) Information Queries (know)
(4) Navigation Queries (go)
(1) What query type does your people, places, things)
(2) Action Queries (do)
(3) Information Queries (know)
(4) Navigation Queries (go)
Barry Schwartz:
2:04:29 pm
A lot of phrases fall into multiple buckets, queries with do and know, etc.
Barry Schwartz:
2:04:48 pm
Barry Schwartz:
2:05:09 pm
Do your phrases have geo-identifiers?
Barry Schwartz:
2:05:58 pm
How does the order of the words in your query impact the universal display?
Barry Schwartz:
2:07:20 pm
What is the overall level of localization across the major geolocations?
Barry Schwartz:
2:09:26 pm
Running low on battery, trying to conserve by dimming monitor... No power in this room and I've been in this room, back to back. Not sure about other sessions later. Stay tuned... Okay back to the session...
Barry Schwartz:
2:09:52 pm
Barry Schwartz:
2:10:54 pm
The local results in the SERPs change drastically based on your location.
Barry Schwartz:
2:11:58 pm
Greg just finished... Q&A time...
Barry Schwartz:
2:12:37 pm
I am going to find a plug to charge... Next session at :55
