With Google announcing the depreciation of its free Google Business Profile (GBP) websites in March, approximately 20 million small businesses are at a crossroads of finding an affordable yet efficient alternative to maintain online visibility. Google Business Profile websites were terrific for small businesses, offering a free, accessible, straightforward way to establish an online presence. These websites allowed businesses to showcase their services, operating hours, customer reviews, and more directly in Google’s search results. So what’s the solution?   Whitespark Enter Whitespark, a ..read more

The current bug affects businesses using Fresha for their Google Business Profile online booking button. This bug only affects users clicking the online booking button from Maps, Desktop is fine, and users can still use the booking feature.   Online Booking Bug Users in Maps clicking on the Book Online button from the business profile display the current messaging, “This merchant is not accepting reservations through Google at this time.”     It is unclear whether this is a Maps, Reserve with Google or a Business Profile issue. Bug was escalated to the Business Profile team on ..read more

You can now manage Menu Highlighted Items in Desktop Direct in your Google Business Profile dashboard. Previously, editing name in menu highlights was only available in mobile via Google Maps.   Manage Menu Images & Names   1. Edit Menu in Business Profile     2. Menu Highlights     You can now select: Dish not served here Update dish details   What are Menu Highlights? Menu highlights are typically photos that are added by customers (not always) that are popular with users. They can also be transcribed onto the photo if you added an image next to a m ..read more

Eveve’s restaurant reservations system and partnership with Reserve with Google are adding restaurants to the reservation platform without the restaurants’ consent. I can say this with confidence now after several restaurants have contacted me. Update: You can now remove the Eveve booking button from your business profile.   Eveve Reserve with Google Eveve is integrated or rather a partner with Reserve with Google. Users can book directly from the restaurant’s Google Business Profile.     All is well and good, but not when you declined the service and now your customers are boo ..read more

Removing a booking or reservation button (via 3rd party) on your restaurant’s Google Business Profile is not as easy as it should be. Google is aware of these issues and is working on making this easier, but until then, it is a bit of a slog. Note: Some reservation 3rd parties don’t play ball, or make it easy for you to have your restaurant removed from their system. This should not be the case (as per the agreement with Google). If you experience this, please see at the bottom what I need from you to report these bad actors.   Google Businesses Advise is Woeful Google Business Support D ..read more

On the 5th of September, 2023, NYC short-term rental restrictions came into force.   NYC Short-Term Rental Restrictions: You cannot rent an entire apartment or home to visitors for less than 30 days, even if you own or live in the building. You must be present during your guests’ stay if it is for less than 30 days. You may have up to two paying guests staying in your household for fewer than 30 days, only if every guest has free and unobstructed access to every room and each exit within the apartment. Internal doors cannot have key locks that allow guests to leave and lock their room be ..read more

Image link building scammers are back again, this time as Nationwide Legal. To any unsuspecting business this email would come as a complete shock and a normal reaction would be to add the link in the image and be done. Looking at the link profiles of the sites they have used in this previously reported scam certainly works.   DMCA Copyright Infringement Notice   From: Victoria Boyd | Nationwide Legal Services <victoria@nation-law.info> Sent: Friday, July 28, 2023 2:16 AM Subject: DMCA Copyright Infringement Notice Dear owner of [Website Page], You are receiving this ..read more

At the beginning of June, I showed the reality of how Google Business Profiles cannot detect fake reviews in this post. Fast forward two months (almost), one escalation and three follow-ups, Google Business Profiles still need to remove the original incentivised reviews, but they are growing daily.   The Uncontrollable Side of Incentivised Reviews This case shows how limited Google Business is in controlling incentivised reviews, even though this is an illegal practice in many countries they operate in. I don’t understand how they can operate (reviews) in these countries if the platform c ..read more

The post Case Study: Can a Few Relevant Links Boost a Low Traffic Site? appeared first on Online Ownership. This is a small-scale case study with no control group involved. The aim of the test was to see if a small number of links from relevant sites and pages can impact rankings and traffic of a page with a low volume of traffic and low competition terms. Experiment Start: October 2019 Experiment End: June 2020 Relevant Links: 4 Domain: .com.au Impact on Rankings: None Impact on Traffic: None On the site-wide level, there appears to be a boost on the 1st of April correlating with a known algo ..read more

The post GMB Free Websites Used for Spam & Google Cant Remove appeared first on Online Ownership. Spammers always find new way to spam and their latest stomping ground are the free websites provided by Google My Business for businesses without a website. The only problem is that Google My Business cannot remove these spam websites and are asking users to report these websites to Google – wait what?   Google My Business Spam Websites In June 2017 Google My Business launched their single page mobile friendly websites for small businesses directly created and integrate with a Google My B ..read more