NewsClicks — Quarter 4, 2014

Happy New Year!

We wish you the best for a Happy, Healthy, and Wealthy 2015!

In This NewsClicks — Teens are moving away from Facebook, learn how not to ask for reviews, Google updates its apps and maps, and Apple might have something up its sleeve. Read on for all of this and more, in this issue of NewsClicks.

CrucialClicks.com Selected Again To Host An Exclusive Google Partners Connect Event
Coral Springs, FL

We were selected to host an exclusive Google Partners Connect event. This is not the first time we've hosted an event like this. Each time, Google has new topics to cover. In October, attendees learned from top executives at Google their ideas on how to grow your business online.

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Google Maps Revamps Quality Guidelines For Local Pages Search Engine Land

Google Maps has updated their local pages quality guidelines. There are a couple local SEO experts that have dug through the old guidelines and compared it to the new guidelines. Here are the “obvious changes.”

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Survey Says: Teens are fleeing Facebook Marketing Land

A survey conducted by an investment bank found that teens are moving away from Facebook in favor of other social networks. Only 45% of teens use Facebook. Where are they going? Instagram is at 76% and Twitter 59% of teens.

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How Not To Ask For Reviews Search Engine Land

There is a proper and improper way to ask for reviews. Here is a story of a boutique hotel that had asked for reviews in the most unprofessional way possible, and it back-fired miserably for them.

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Google My Business App Gains Review Alerts, Ability To Respond To Reviews Marketing Land

As a variation of the old saying, “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach,” the way to get to a small business’ marketing budget is through its smartphone. Google knows this, and it is beefing up its smartphone apps for SMBs: Google My Business and AdWords Express. One of the bigger improvements include the ability to receive real-time alerts for your Google reviews and respond inside the app.

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Is Apple Planning A Search Engine? Appleinsider

A developer had discovered that Apple appears to be crawling HTML websites with its own automated bot. It is not clear yet its intentions with this homegrown software. Could it be for the Spotlight and Siri enhancements in the latest OS X Yosemite and iOS 8, or something more?

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Google Drops Local Carousel For Hotels, Restaurants & Other Local Listings Search Engine Land

Google is dropping its horizontal Carousel display of local search results in several categories: restaurants, nightlife, entertainment and hotels. It’s being replaced by a 3-pack of organic listings and some new secondary pages.

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Google Redesigns Maps, Adds OpenTable Reservations, Uber Estimates Search Engine Land

Google continues to evolve its Maps for mobile. It has gone well beyond the rudimentary local search and navigation product it once was and become an increasingly sophisticated local discovery tool with an array of content types and improved functionality.

Now Google has made Maps more “actionable” with OpenTable reservations and Uber pickup and price estimates built into the app.

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