Posted August 30, 2018, 8:22 am CDT
astarot / Shutterstock.com
Friday, August 31, 2018
Accused dine-and-dash dater is charged with 10 felonies; was the conduct extortion?
Criminal Justice
A man known as the dine-and-dash dater has been charged with 10 felonies for allegedly taking financial advantage of women he mostly met on dating apps and websites.
The suspect is 45-year-old Paul Guadalupe Gonzales. He is accused of going to dinner with women, consuming pricey meals, and then disappearing without paying any of the bill. Eight women paid the entire tab, while in two other instances the restaurants picked up the check, according to a press release by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office. USA Today and the Washington Post have coverage.
Gonzales is charged with seven counts of extortion, two counts of attempted extortion and one count of grand theft, all felonies that stem from the women’s complaints, according to the felony complaint. He pleaded not guilty Monday. He is also charged with misdemeanor counts of defrauding an innkeeper and petty theft from restaurants that paid the check, and petty theft for allegedly leaving a hair salon without paying.
One woman told the Washington Post that Gonzales ordered chicken, four lobster tails, expensive wine and dessert at a Los Angeles restaurant in 2016. Then he excused himself to make a phone call and never returned. The woman, Marjorie Moon, had met Gonzales on the Plenty of Fish website.
The excuses varied, according to the Washington Post and CBS Los Angeles. Sometimes he said he had to use the bathroom or get his phone charger. One woman told CBS that Gonzales left after she didn’t reciprocate his advances.
Prosecutors say Gonzales collectively defrauded the women out of more than $950.
California law defines extortion as obtaining property from another through wrongful use of force or fear. Fear can be induced by a threat to expose or impute to the victim “any deformity, disgrace or crime.” Grand theft is defined as the theft of property worth more than $950.
The felony complaint does not explain why the alleged conduct amounted to extortion. It merely alleges that Gonzales extorted property “by means of force and threat” from the women.
Loyola at Los Angeles law professor Laurie Levenson says the basis for the extortion charges isn’t clear. Sometimes in these types of cases, there is a threat to embarrass a victim who balks at a person’s demands or who wants to complain to authorities.
The maximum penalty for the charges is 13 years in prison.
Search Cap: Google Ads Overview page changes, GSC updates, Bing WMT & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
From Search Engine Land:
- Now you can make edits to keywords, ads, campaigns, bids right from the Google Ads Overview page Aug 30, 2018 by Ginny Marvin Make quick changes on the fly from several of the cards featured on the Overview page.
- How to capitalize on the competitive advantage of real-time data analysis Aug 30, 2018 by Stela Yordanova Contributor Stela Yordanova explains how to capitalize on the competitive advantage provided by real-time data analysis.
- Google My Business API v4.2 has been released Aug 30, 2018 by Barry Schwartz New features in the Google My Business API include verification options, new location end points, expanded search, chain membership and product posts.
- Google confirms testing new search results design with sticky header, rounded search bar Aug 30, 2018 by Barry Schwartz Google is testing a new design with rounded corners, a smaller logo and a sticky search bar header.
- Google puts focus on deals in hotel, flight search with latest updates Aug 30, 2018 by Barry Schwartz Google has rolled out a bunch of travel search features around finding the best hotel and flight based on price and location for your Thanksgiving weekend.
- Google updates user management and rights in Google Search Console Aug 30, 2018 by Barry Schwartz Google is making some important changes to the user permissions and roles, please review these changes so you know how you may be affected.
- The ultimate guide to using Bing Webmaster Tools – Part 5 Aug 30, 2018 by Christi Olson Contributor and Bing Chief Evangelist Christi Olson outlines the free publicity tools Bing offers in part 5 of our Bing WMT series.
Recent Headlines From Marketing Land, Our Sister Site Dedicated To Internet Marketing:
- Twitter to enforce new rules around issue ads starting September 30 Aug 30, 2018 by Amy Gesenhues Aiming to rid its platform of bad actors, Twitter has released a new policy for ads that refer to an election or advocate legislative issues.
- Learn how to navigate Google’s Comparison Shopping Services Aug 30, 2018 by Digital Marketing Depot In the European Union, it’s been a tough 12 months for Google. But for every cloud, a silver lining. Mounting pressure (and a record fine from the EU for being anticompetitive) has triggered an unexpected, short-term boon for retailers.
- There is no reason to manage bids manually Aug 30, 2018 by Frederick Vallaeys When it comes to bid management, let the machines do the heavy lifting, advises contributor Frederick Vallaeys. Here’s why it’s best to automate the tedious work humans used to do to calculate CPC.
- Why following SEO trends guarantees SEO budget waste. Aug 30, 2018 by Kaspar Szymanski Blindly following SEO trends is almost guaranteed to waste an SEO budget and your time. Contributor Kasper Szymanski looks at the pros and cons of investing in SEO and how to maximize a budget.
- A kickback stampede: Why Google’s EU comparison shopping program may carry risk Aug 30, 2018 by Andreas Reiffen Google’s ploy to give comparison shopping service providers more market share has triggered a gold rush. Here’s why contributor Andreas Reiffen doesn’t think that’s a good idea.
- IBM Michael Trapani: AI may never understand a great meal, but it understands performance Aug 30, 2018 by Barry Levine Previewing his MarTech Conference presentation, Trapani sees AI not as a team leader, but as a team specialist.
- Google expands Assistant device network, adds polyglot support Aug 30, 2018 by Greg Sterling Company announces dizzying array of new integrations of the Google Assistant into speakers, displays and smart appliances.
- Without identity, retailer ad retargeting misses the mark Aug 30, 2018 by Mike Sands Marketers spend billions to retarget ads to customers and annoy them with their repetitive messaging. Contributor Mike Sands offers a suggestion for leveling up your retargeting game.
- Pandora rolls out new Dynamic, Sequential and Short-Form Audio ads Aug 30, 2018 by Robin Kurzer This is the first time the audio platform has offered anything beyond standard :15 and :30 audio ads.
- Facebook opens up video ad opportunities to more creators as it takes Watch global Aug 29, 2018 by Amy Gesenhues Ad Breaks are now available to Pages with 10,000 followers that have generated more than 30,000 one-minute video views during the past two months.
Search News From Around The Web:
About The Author
Debra Mastaler is Features Editor at Search Engine Land. She is an internationally recognized authority on link building and is an OMCP Certified Link Building Trainer. Based in Washington DC, Debra is also a columnist for Search Engine Land, has written for or been featured in numerous tech publications and is active on the search marketing conference circuit as a speaker and trainer. Debra serves as a judge for the Landy Awards and is the President of Alliance-Link.com. Connect with Debra on Twitter and LinkedIn to stay in touch.
ABA president travels to South Texas, working to fulfill ABA’s promise to reunite families
Immigration Law
Two months ago, then-ABA president Hilarie Bass went to South Texas to see the effects of the Trump administration’s family separation policy. There, she promised that the ABA would not stop working until every family was reunited and every detainee was given the due process they’re legally entitled to.
This week, newly installed ABA president Robert Carlson took a step toward fulfilling that promise, traveling to South Texas to do pro bono work for asylum seekers through the ABA’s South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project.
“The policy supports protection of our borders, but in a fair and humane way,” says Carlson, of Corette Black Carlson & Mickelson in Butte, Montana. “We want to make sure that people get the due process that they’re entitled to under the Constitution.”
Carlson is part of a delegation of volunteers from the ABA that also includes president-elect Judy Perry Martinez of New Orleans, Louisiana; ABA Commission on Immigration director Meredith Linsky; attorney Jaime Hawk of Seattle; and attorney Jennifer Bailey of Maine. All five have been working for ProBAR all week, helping immigrants detained at the Port Isabel Detention Center lay the groundwork for their cases.
Most are claiming asylum, Carlson says, so his job is to understand why they fled their home countries and what kind of cases they might have. If they haven’t yet had a credible fear interview, the first step toward asylum, the volunteers tried to prepare them; for those who have had the interview, the volunteers asked what was said.
Carlson says the need is great. ProBAR is expecting to serve about 13,000 unaccompanied minors in 2018, up from about 11,000 the year before. That doesn’t count the adults the project also serves.
“Immigration proceedings are complex and involve issues that have life-and-death consequences,” Carlson notes. “The government has a lawyer, and a number of these people do not. And there are language issues and there are understanding-the-law issues.”
Carlson planned to step aside from the pro bono work Thursday in order to visit the federal courthouse in McAllen, Texas, to observe criminal prosecutions of immigrants there and visit a shelter for unaccompanied minor immigrants.
Carlson urges other lawyers to volunteer their time if they can. ProBAR is in particular need of Spanish-speaking attorneys, as well as lawyers with immigration experience who can stay in South Texas for a month. However, he says, volunteers don’t necessarily have to leave home to help. Because many of the asylum-seekers ProBAR helps will ultimately go to live with relatives in other parts of the country, pro bono work will be needed around the United States. Interested attorneys can find volunteer opportunities through the ABA or through an ABA partner, the Immigration Advocates Network.
ProBAR is also adding considerable staff in Texas, seeking Spanish-speaking lawyers and paralegals with experience or interest in immigration law.
Updated at 1:02 p.m. to clarify Carlson’s travel plans.
Posted August 30, 2018, 11:14 am CDT
ABA President Bob Carlson and Jaime Hawk, legal strategy director of ACLU Washington in Seattle, working at the ABA’s South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project. Photo by Marc Davis.
Daily News: The New Era of Marketing, Mobile User Acquisition, Multi-Location Brands & AI
August 30, 2018 | Contributed by: Courtney Dobson
Here is today’s roundup of news related to local marketing and advertising, local media, technology, local commerce, consumer behavior and more.
Facebook Removes 5,000 Targeting Options (August 30, 2018)
LSA Insider: “In April, Facebook shared that it sought to improve its ad platform following alleged misuse that involved discrimination. The company has recently announced updates to its ad targeting tools designed to defend people against such discrimination.”
Google expands Assistant device network, adds polyglot support (August 30, 2018)
Marketing Land: “Google Assistant devices have an advantage over Echo in international markets. Seeking to capitalize and expand on that, the company is expanding multilingual support and announcing a raft of new partners.”
Managing the stack: Analytics, data management and the new era of marketing (August 30, 2018)
MarTech Today: “Analytics tools aren’t just another level of your martech stack. Contributor Jose Cebrian argues that they should be interwoven throughout the technologies used in the marketing process.”
How marketers can drive mobile user acquisition through diversification (August 30, 2018)
Mobile Marketer: “Coaxing prospects down the funnel typically means gathering and leveraging data points, from where your users live and work to the times of day they check their email or play games on a mobile device.”
Survey: Multi-Location Brands Warm to AI, See It as Most Useful for Email (August 28, 2018)
Street Fight: “Multi-location brands are almost twice as interested in exploring artificial intelligence for analytics as they were last year, according to Street Fight’s latest survey.”
Beyond the Pin Drop: How Augmented Location Will Fuel Mobile Marketing of the Future (August 28, 2018)
MarTech Advisor: “By moving beyond point-in-time pin drop location services to augment the application with user data in context, mobile marketers can provide a more valuable, contextual user experience that will drive engagement and loyalty.”
Thursday, August 30, 2018
SearchCap: Reports change in GSC, wasting SEO budgets, bid management & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
From Search Engine Land:
- Planning and creating the perfect landing page Aug 29, 2018 by Digital Marketing Depot Landing pages can make or break your digital marketing. This guide from SharpSpring is written for any marketer looking to initiate or improve their landing page strategy. It will guide you through everything you need to know to allow you to create and optimize landing pages for your website.
- How to find good writers and other content marketing struggles Aug 29, 2018 by Jessica Foster You get what you pay for when it comes to copywriters says contributor Jessica Fowler. Here’s a look at how to hire good copywriters that will help drive traffic and sales to your site.
- There is no reason to manage bids manually Aug 29, 2018 by Frederick Vallaeys When it comes to bid management, let the machines do the heavy lifting, advises contributor Frederick Vallaeys. Here’s why it’s best to automate the tedious work humans used to do to calculate CPC.
- Why following SEO trends guarantees SEO budget waste. Aug 29, 2018 by Kaspar Szymanski Blindly following SEO trends is almost guaranteed to waste an SEO budget and your time. Contributor Kasper Szymanski looks at the pros and cons of investing in SEO and how to maximize a budget.
- Take our Amazon advertising survey — Enter to win a ticket to SMX Aug 29, 2018 by Ginny Marvin Tell us how you or your clients are approaching Amazon’s advertising offerings in our brief survey.
- A kickback stampede: Why Google’s EU comparison shopping program may carry risk Aug 29, 2018 by Andreas Reiffen Google’s ploy to give comparison shopping service providers more market share has triggered a gold rush. Here’s why contributor Andreas Reiffen doesn’t think that’s a good idea.
- Google clarifies Search Console query report data changes from August 19th Aug 29, 2018 by Barry Schwartz After much confusion, Google has issued a statement clarifying the changes made to the query reports in Google Search Console.
Recent Headlines From Marketing Land, Our Sister Site Dedicated To Internet Marketing:
- Facebook is letting 5 publishers test headlines, images, copy in organic posts Aug 29, 2018 by Amy Gesenhues The company says it wants to provide publishers with more visibility into how their organic content is performing.
- Don’t take it from us. Here’s what SMX attendees say! Aug 29, 2018 by Marketing Land Attending a conference is an investment. You expect sessions, keynotes and clinics that unearth tactical nuggets you’ll implement to launch or improve your marketing efforts. Search Marketing Expo – SMX® East is an intense, 2-day search marketing deep dive. You’ll learn brand-safe, actionable tactics from leading SEO and SEM experts.
- This SEO nerd says its OK to ask for links Aug 29, 2018 by Andrew Dennis Contributor Andrew Dennis shares recent tweets made by Google public Search Liaison Danny Sullivan and looks at how they’ve helped SEOs get a better understanding of what’s OK when it comes to link building.
- Are social platforms finally growing a conscience? Aug 29, 2018 by Laura Collins Contributor Laura Collins examines changes being made by social media platforms to improve both the user and advertiser experience.
- Instagram fights back against fake accounts & bad actors with new safety tools Aug 29, 2018 by Amy Gesenhues Accounts with large audiences will soon have ‘About this Account’ information that publicly lists the date the account was created, ads it is running and more.
- Facebook opens up its ads pixel to a limited number of Groups Aug 29, 2018 by Amy Gesenhues Only a small number of Groups have access to Facebook pixel right now, but a broader roll out is planned in the coming weeks.
Search News From Around The Web:
- 7 Ways to Fail at International SEO, SEMrush
- Do You Need To Build Links? Here’s A Framework To Find Out., Buzzstream
- Getting Started With Google Ads Report Editor & Dashboards, ClixMarketing
- Google Analytics: a Guide To Setup, Track, and Measure Results, AdEspresso
- Structured Data Can = MehSEO – Local SEO Guide, Local SEO Guide
- The Long-Term Link Acquisition Value of Content Marketing, Moz
- Unlock your team’s creativity: running great hackathons, Google
- Why Google Shows Featured Snippets With Images from Another Site, The SEMPost
About The Author
Debra Mastaler is Features Editor at Search Engine Land. She is an internationally recognized authority on link building and is an OMCP Certified Link Building Trainer. Based in Washington DC, Debra is also a columnist for Search Engine Land, has written for or been featured in numerous tech publications and is active on the search marketing conference circuit as a speaker and trainer. Debra serves as a judge for the Landy Awards and is the President of Alliance-Link.com. Connect with Debra on Twitter and LinkedIn to stay in touch.
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
2 Legal Rebels join forces to design the legal department of the future
Andrii Spy_k / Shutterstock.com
Pat Lamb
Jeff Carr
Location, Personalization & Privacy — Is There a ‘Middle Way?’
August 28, 2018 | Contributed by: Greg Sterling
Perasonalization has been a buzzword for several years, but one hears it even more these days. It can mean different things in different contexts.
In the most sophisticated ad or marketing scenarios, personalization is driven by lots of data, including location history. In other words, my real-world behavior and visitation history informs the audience segment I’m bucketed in and thus the content, ads or offers I see. In a “deterministic” scenario the content I’m exposed to is directly tied to CRM data and my offline behavior — e.g., I was in a retail store and now I’m seeing ads for that store online or in email.
Consumers want personalization according to numerous surveys. Consumers also don’t want to be “creeped out” by invasive tracking. Therein lies the challenge; and at the center of it all is the concept of trust. Trust will make consumers more willing to share their data, but trust is earned and an expression of numerous factors.
Here are some examples of the personalization that consumers are reportedly asking for (according to McKinsey research):
- Recommendations I wouldn’t have thought of
- Suggestions when I’m in shopping mode
- Things I want to know but “might not be keeping track of”
- Know me no matter where I interact with
- Share value in a way that’s meaningful to the individual
- Market with empathy: To truly build empathy for customers, companies must understand their diverse attitudes, shopping occasions, and need states and build them into an attitudinal segmentation. Such attitudinal segmentation then needs to be layered onto the customer database in order for companies to be able to act on it to deliver on relevant and personalized messaging.
- Listening to customers: McKinsey also says that companies doing personalized marketing need to listen carefully to customers and gauge their reactions. Look at social media sentiment, look at clicks, opens and other actions to determine whether the personalization efforts are working or alienating customers.
Location & Privacy: The Way Forward
Will the CCPA become “America’s GDPR”? Or will it be preempted by federal regulation? What’s the best approach for the industry given that self-regulation hasn’t worked? The panel will debate the current, very charged climate surrounding privacy and location data. What’s likely to happen? What should happen? Is there a “middle way” that serves both consumers and marketers?
https://www.businesscreatorplus.com/location-personalization-privacy-is-there-a-middle-way/
Law firm seeks to seize rival’s URL; suit alleges ‘hijacked’ website traffic and content
Internet Law
A lawsuit filed by an Aurora, Illinois, law firm claims a suburban Chicago rival increased its profits by $2 million over a two-year period by duplicating website content and confusing search engines.
The suit filed on Friday by Motta & Motta claims rival Dolci & Weiland placed tags on Motta’s website “to hijack Motta’s web traffic” and redirect visitors to Dolci. The suit also claims Dolci co-opted a Motta employee to send callers seeking a family law or criminal defense attorney to Dolci. The Register covered the lawsuit, filed Friday in Chicago federal court.
The suit alleges Dolci created a website that mirrored the design of Motta’s website, and copied verbatim some of Motta’s copyrighted articles and posts. Dolci then misrepresented the date of publication to conceal it had copied Motta content, the suit alleges.
The suit claims Dolci capitalized on Motta’s reputation by using website tags and headers to mislead search engines into believing Motta’s website is Dolci’s website. Dolci is based in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois.
The suit cites an example of the problem. In September 2016, a search for “Aurora divorce attorney” that included the name of a Motta lawyer generated search results for Dolci, even though no lawyer by the same name appeared on Dolci’s website.
The suit seeks damages, but says money alone isn’t a sufficient remedy. Motta also seeks the assignment of all rights to Dolci & Weiland’s URL and the website pages, and the assignment of Dolci’s internet ranking to Motta. It also seeks an accounting of Dolci profits attributable to the alleged infringement.
The suit alleges violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, unfair competition law, civil conspiracy, tortious interference with prospective economic advantage, and conversion of website property.
Dolci managing partner Dominick Dolci did not immediately respond to the ABA Journal’s message seeking comment.
Hat tip to Law360.
Posted August 28, 2018, 3:08 pm CDT
JMiks/Shutterstock.com.
Daily News: ‘Near Me’ Searches, Shopping Without Brands, Capturing Consumer Attention on Mobile
August 28, 2018 | Contributed by: Courtney Dobson
Here is today’s roundup of news related to local marketing and advertising, local media, technology, local commerce, consumer behavior and more.
Smart Ads Only Threaten Agencies That Don’t Deliver On Strategy (August 28, 2018)
LSA Insider: “Is automation and machine learning eliminating the need for agencies and resellers? It’s a fair question. In Greg Sterling’s recent post, he examines it in the context of Google’s Smart Ads, which enable automated ad campaign creation, management, and optimization for small businesses.”
Survey: 82 percent of smartphone shoppers conduct ‘near me’ searches (August 28, 2018)
Search Engine Land: “The smartphone is now the primary digital tool for most consumers under 50. And the large majority of smartphone owners conduct local searches with varying degrees of frequency.”
Shopping Without Brands? How The Growing Popularity Of Non-Brand-Name Products Reflects Larger Shifts In Consumers’ Retail Expectations (August 28, 2018)
GeoMarketing: “Amidst fears of the “retail apocalypse” in recent years, there are numerous counterpoints of more ‘experiential’ specialty retailers and entertainment thriving both on and offline. The challenge is how retailers can determine exactly what benefits consumers of different demographics value — and how to offer it.”
How Brand Marketers Can Capture Consumer Attention on Mobile (August 28, 2018)
Street Fight: “With mobile ad spend set to surpass television for the first time this year, brand marketers are in a frenzy looking for smarter ways to generate the highest possible ROI from their investments. The problem, it seems, is that many brand marketers aren’t fully comfortable with mobile strategy.”
Email marketing turned 40 this year. Now what? (August 27, 2018)
Marketing Land: “Even the first email marketing message, however spammy, achieved astounding results. Contributor Kyle Henderick explains how far we’ve come since then and where we’re headed.”
Judge extends online ban on 3D gun blueprints; company begins selling flash-drive copies
First Amendment
Updated: A federal judge in Seattle has found that a former law student’s presumed First Amendment interests in publishing online blueprints for plastic 3D printed guns are “dwarfed by the irreparable harms” likely to be suffered by the states if federal restrictions on the blueprints are lifted.
The preliminary injunction issued Monday by U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik blocks the federal government from allowing publication of the blueprints until resolution of the multistate lawsuit seeking to keep the blueprints offline. Lasnik had issued a temporary restraining order in the case July 31. The Associated Press, the Hill, the New York Times and Ars Technica have stories. The New York Attorney General has a press release.
The former law student, Cody Wilson, announced Tuesday that he is selling the blueprints through his company, Defense Distributed, despite Lasnik’s order, report the Associated Press, Ars Technica, the Austin American-Statesman and the Houston Chronicle.
Wilson said he is selling the blueprints on a flash drive to customers in the United States at a suggested retail price of $10, according to Ars Technica. “I’m happy to become the iTunes of 3D guns if I can’t be Napster,” he said. He believes he can sell the plans as a result of the judge’s opinion, but cannot make them available for free online.
Wilson appeared to base his sales plans on a portion of Lasnik’s decision that said the 3D gun blueprints can’t be uploaded to the internet, but “they can be emailed, mailed, securely transmitted, or otherwise published within the United States.”
Lasnik had made the statement in a portion of his opinion dealing with First Amendment concerns. Any First Amendment right “is currently abridged, but it has not been abrogated,” he wrote. The judge indicated he “declines to wade through” the First Amendment issues on the limited record so far, but said any burdens on speech are outweighed by likely harm to the states.
The First Amendment issues that Lasnik declined to address include: Is computer code speech, and if so, is it protected by the First Amendment? Are export controls a prior restraint giving rise to a presumption that they are unconstitutional? Did the government try to regulate distribution of the files because of the message they convey? What level of scrutiny applies?
Wilson had initially planned to publish the blueprints online after resolution of a lawsuit claiming the State Department violated the First Amendment by warning in 2013 that publication of the blueprints violated export controls.
The U.S. State Department agreed to settle the suit by removing gun blueprints for weapons from the type of technical gun data that is banned from export under the Arms Export Control Act. The plaintiffs alleged the federal government’s switch in stance violated the Administrative Procedure Act and conflicted with state and federal laws limiting access to guns.
Lasnik cited several likely harms to the states. Plastic guns are “virtually undetectable” in metal detectors; the plastic guns could be printed by people banned from owning guns; the guns would have no identifying information; and the guns can thwart forensic techniques that link a bullet to a particular weapon.
Defense Distributed said nine of its blueprints were previously published because of the settlement, though the company took them down after Lasnik entered the TRO.
The suit was initially filed by eight states and Washington, D.C. Eleven more states joined the suit in an amended complaint filed Aug. 2. Lasnik said “it is not clear how available the nine files are: the possibility that a cybernaut with a BitTorrent protocol will be able to find a file in the dark or remote recesses of the internet does not make the posting to Defense Distributed’s site harmless.”
Updated on Aug. 28 with company selling plans online.
Posted August 28, 2018, 12:30 pm CDT
Herr Loeffler/Shutterstock.com.
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Google adds new ‘veteran-led’ attribute to Google My Business profile
In March of this year Google added a “women-led” attribute to Google My Business profiles. Now it’s doing the same for veteran-run businesses.
A blog post this afternoon announced the new attribute:
Google is making it easier to identify your local business as veteran-led on Google Search and Maps. If your business is owned, led, or founded by a veteran, you can enable this “Veteran-Led” attribute through Google My Business, and it will appear on your Google listing alongside other details like “Has Wifi” or “Outdoor Seating.”Women-led and veteran-led attributes are controlled by the business owner and can be edited in the GMB profile. (Some attributes the community identifies or defines.) They appear under the “about” tab.
Based on US government data, Google says that there are roughly 2.5 million small businesses owned or majority owned by veterans. That’s roughly 10 percent of the total number of US small businesses in the country today.
It’s not clear how many people do or will seek out this information (or women-led businesses) but it will be meaningful to some. While these are currently the only two business owner identity attributes available, Google says that it will be adding more over time.
About The Author
Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog, Screenwerk, about connecting the dots between digital media and real-world consumer behavior. He is also VP of Strategy and Insights for the Local Search Association. Follow him on Twitter or find him at Google+.
Judge extends online ban on 3D gun blueprints, says free speech right is abridged but not abrogated
First Amendment
A federal judge in Seattle has found that a former law student’s presumed First Amendment interests in publishing online blueprints for plastic 3D printed guns are “dwarfed by the irreparable harms” likely to be suffered by the states if federal restrictions on the blueprints are lifted.
The preliminary injunction issued Monday by U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik blocks the federal government from allowing publication of the blueprints until resolution of the multistate lawsuit seeking to keep the blueprints offline. Lasnik had issued a temporary restraining order in the case July 31. The Associated Press, the Hill, the New York Times and Ars Technica have stories. The New York Attorney General has a press release.
Lasnik said he “declines to wade through” the First Amendment issues on the limited record so far, but any burdens on speech are outweighed by likely harm to the states. Lasnik added that the First Amendment right “is currently abridged, but it has not been abrogated.”
Though the blueprints can’t be uploaded to the internet, “they can be emailed, mailed, securely transmitted, or otherwise published within the United States,” he wrote.
The First Amendment issues that Lasnik declined to address include: Is computer code speech, and if so, is it protected by the First Amendment? Are export controls a prior restraint giving rise to a presumption that they are unconstitutional? Did the government try to regulate distribution of the files because of the message they convey? What level of scrutiny applies?
Defense Distributed and its leader, former law student Cody Wilson, had planned to publish the blueprints after resolution of a lawsuit claiming the State Department violated the First Amendment by warning in 2013 that publication of the blueprints violated export controls.
The U.S. State Department agreed to settle the suit by removing gun blueprints for weapons from the type of technical gun data that is banned from export under the Arms Export Control Act. The plaintiffs alleged the federal government’s switch in stance violated the Administrative Procedure Act and conflicted with state and federal laws limiting access to guns.
Lasnik cited several likely harms to the states. Plastic guns are “virtually undetectable” in metal detectors; the plastic guns could be printed by people banned from owning guns; the guns would have no identifying information; and the guns can thwart forensic techniques that link a bullet to a particular weapon.
Defense Distributed said nine of its blueprints were already published because of the settlement, though the company took them down after Lasnik entered the TRO.
The suit was initially filed by eight states and Washington, D.C. Eleven more states joined the suit in an amended complaint filed Aug. 2. Lasnik said “it is not clear how available the nine files are: the possibility that a cybernaut with a BitTorrent protocol will be able to find a file in the dark or remote recesses of the internet does not make the posting to Defense Distributed’s site harmless.”
Posted August 27, 2018, 4:35 pm CDT
Herr Loeffler/Shutterstock.com.
Monday, August 27, 2018
Replay: How Brands Win in Facebook’s New Local-First World
- Local reviews on Facebook are becoming increasingly important beyond the platform, showing up prominently in search results on Google for example.
- With Facebook’s August 6 “Recommendations” announcement, prior reviews will be converted into a recommendation and will continue to be displayed and factored into the overall star rating of the page.
- Facebook’s recommendations will only continue to increase in importance/prominence for marketers because: 1.Ease of use will drive more recommendations 2. Ability to surface what businesses are known for 3. Authentic feedback 4. Increased reach
- Ranking in Facebook local searches appears to be a function of two things: location and relevant page engagement. Top local search results have a large number of recommendations and conversations.
- Brands should see local Facebook pages as a powerful tool to support customer service and to answer locally-specific questions.
- Tips for managing a (local) Facebook crisis before it occurs: 1. Help local stores understand their responsibilities; 2. Have an escalation & response protocol; 3. Pre-identify a local page ambassador; 4. Continue to review/refine processes.
https://www.businesscreatorplus.com/replay-how-brands-win-in-facebooks-new-local-first-world/
Google Search Console query reports now removes “anonymous query” data for privacy reasons
Google has quietly posted that they are now removing query data from the Google Search Console reports that they identify as “anonymous queries.” Google said “an anonymous query is a query submitted only by a few users.” Google added that they “omit these queries from results to protect user privacy.”
Google said the amount of queries removed depend on the site, Google said “some sites will have very few unique queries; other sites will have a large proportion of anonymous queries.”
Google wrote on the page:
Chart totals no longer include anonymous* (rare) queries when you apply a query filter. Previously, the chart totals included all anonymous queries when a “Queries not containing:” filter was applied. Because of this, you might see a drop in clicks and impressions when adding a filter that excludes specific queries. We believe that omitting anonymous queries from all query-filtered results is more consistent.Google explained what these types of queries are in this help document, explaining “To protect user privacy, Search Analytics doesn’t show all data. For example, we might not track some queries that are made a very small number of times or those that contain personal or sensitive information.” Back in 2011 Google removed query data from their reports when they began moving Google search results to HTTPS. When Google made this move, it was about protecting user’s privacy to disallow people from sniffing Google’s searches. But Google told webmasters that they will be able to get all this data securely in Google Search Console. Now, with this change, Google is now also removing some query data from Google Search Console as well.
About The Author
Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on SEM topics.
Sunday, August 26, 2018
Weekly News: Retail in Crisis, Hyperlocal & OOH for Brands, Consumer Shopping Habits
Insight & Commentary
Retail in Crisis: Target, Office Depot In-Store Experiences a Disaster (August 21, 2018) LSA Insider: “As a staunch defender of stores and local buying I was shocked by two really dismal, back to back retail experiences I had this past weekend. I had to do some quick back to school shopping for school supplies and sweatpants for my younger daughter.” Why GDPR Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg (August 17, 2018) LSA Insider: “I’d anticipated at the beginning of this year that we may be reaching a tipping point where privacy regulation that can have a significant impact on businesses gains real traction in the U.S. Indeed, we are half way through the year and there have been some major developments.” Why Marketers Struggle to Consistently Identify Their Audiences (August 22, 2018) eMarketer: “In a July 2018 survey of 408 marketing industry professionals in North America conducted by Winterberry Group and Data & Marketing Association (DMA), only 2.4% of respondents said they plan to reduce their spend on marketing identity solutions over the next year.”Strategy & Tactics
All About Leads — How to Find a Hook that Won’t be Ignored (August 17, 2018) LSA Insider: “If you want a business to thrive, getting its regular customers back through the door is only half the marketing battle. You also need to concentrate on finding new potential customers for your clients — or leads.” How Visual and Voice Search Are Revitalizing The Role of SEO (August 20, 2018) Search Engine Land: “Contributor Jim Yu outlines how savvy marketers are using voice and visual search to engage more meaningfully with audiences at each stage of their purchase journey.” Why Hyperlocal Campaigns And OOH Are More Important Than Ever For Brands (August 20, 2018) Forbes: “While digital and social display ads and content continue to be an important part of any brands’ marketing plan, digitally native brands are increasingly investing in OOH and digital OOH. According to a new report, nearly a quarter of the top 100 OOH advertisers are major tech brands such as Google or Apple.”Stats & Studies
Study: 56% of Consumers Shop Equally Online and Offline (August 22, 2018) LSA Insider: “A recent study from Periscope by McKinsey, revealed that 56% of consumers shop equally online and offline. When broken down by channel, 10% shopped offline only and 5% shopped online only, while 17% admitted to shopping mostly offline and 11% to mostly online.” Study: Privacy still a worry for smart speaker users (August 22, 2018) Mobile Marketer: “Even as consumers worry about privacy invasions after highly publicized breaches, MusicWatch’s research indicates a draw of smart speakers is its potential to create experiences like listening to music with family.” Consumers Expect Brands to Be Open and Honest on Social Media (August 20, 2018) eMarketer: “In a new study from Sprout Social, consumers singled out brands as the group with the greatest responsibility to be “transparent” on social media, a broad term but one that the survey suggests includes honesty, openness, clarity and even authenticity.”Industry News
There Are Still 6 More LSA Events in 2018 (August 21, 2018) LSA Insider: “With four months left in the year, our event schedule is still going strong. We had great shows in Chicago (LSA18 and MarketingBitz Bootcamp) and London (Place Conference), and have six more events before the end of the year.” New Tech Adoption Index Podcast: “Humans Aren’t Resources” (August 20, 2018) LSA Insider: “Gusto is one of the most celebrated business operating in the small business cloud software space, having raised more than $300 million to date and generating ample press for its approach to disrupting the payroll and HR space.” Google faces potential class action, FTC penalties for ‘surreptitious’ location tracking (August 21, 2018) Marketing Land: “A lawsuit filed last week and a request for the FTC to enforce a consent decree both stem from the AP story about location tracking.”Member News
Thryv℠ Small Business Software Partners with Amazon’s Alexa to Bring Voice-Activated Location Services to America’s Small Businesses (August 21, 2018) Business Wire: “Thryv℠, the leading small business management software, announced today a partnership with Amazon’s Alexa via a deep integration with Yext. This integration allows America’s small businesses to appear in voice search on the leading voice-activated platform, Alexa.” DexYP the First Local Publisher to Syndicate SMB Listings to Alexa (August 22, 2018) LSA Insider: “It’s not clear how much small business (SMB) awareness or grass roots demand there is for listings and local data syndication to smart speakers. But DexYP is wisely getting ahead of the curve and utilizing Yext’s direct data feed to Alexa to get its customers in front of smart speaker users.” GroundTruth Teams With Technomic To Track Restaurant Sales Across 200 Brands (August 6, 2018) GeoMarketing: “GroundTruth is working with restaurant sales tracker Technomic to get a better sense of of how specific times of day and menu items are performing, as the location ad marketplace seeks to provide more insight than foot-traffic analysis can show.”Saturday, August 25, 2018
Daily News: Facebook’s Location-Based Marketing Tools, Mobile Sales, Brick & Mortar Retail
August 24, 2018 | Contributed by: Courtney Dobson
Here is today’s roundup of news related to local marketing and advertising, local media, technology, local commerce, consumer behavior and more.
Replay: How Brands Win in Facebook’s New Local-First World (August 24, 2018)
LSA Insider: “Multi-location brands are missing a major opportunity if they aren’t fully utilizing local Pages for each of their stores, restaurants or business locations. Data show brands will see more engagement and organic reach with a local strategy than with a single, corporate account. But the two strategies are complementary.”
Facebook Flexes Its Location Marketing Muscle (August 24, 2018)
LSA Insider: “Facebook has been on the defensive for most of 2018. The company has struggled to fight its way out of one bad story after another, including a dramatic drop in its stock value in recent weeks after the world’s largest social network underwhelmed investors with its latest quarterly earnings results.”
Mobile sales to hit $117B in 2018 (August 24, 2018)
Mobile Marketer: “Forrester has suggested in past mobile commerce studies that the rate of growth in purchases made via mobile is due to taper off, so the slowing growth rate quoted in this report is consistent with past numbers.”
Survey: Teens cutting back on mobile screen, social media time (August 23, 2018)
Marketing Land: “According to a new survey from Pew Research Center, teens are cutting back on mobile phone and social media usage. Parents, not so much. The study finds that those between 13 and 17 are consciously trying to reduce their screen time.”
Target’s ‘Unprecedented’ Results Score Another Point For Brick-And-Mortar Retail In Fight Against Amazon (August 22, 2018)
Forbes: “Target scored yet another point for brick-and-mortar retailers on Wednesday as it reported its best quarterly comparable sales in 13 years and customer visits to stores picked up to their fastest pace in 10 years, in a performance the company described as “unprecedented.””
Twitter API Changes and LinkedIn Groups Relaunching
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Social Media Marketing Talk Show, a news show for marketers who want to stay on the leading edge of social media.
On this week’s Social Media Marketing Talk Show, we explore Twitter API changes and LinkedIn Groups relaunching. Our special guests include Madalyn Sklar and Michael Stelzner.
Watch the Social Media Marketing Talk Show
If you’re new to the show, click on the green “Watch replay” button below and sign in or register to watch our latest episode from Friday, August 24, 2018. You can also listen to the show as an audio podcast, found on iTunes/Apple Podcast, Android, Google Play, Stitcher, and RSS. For this week’s top stories, you’ll find timestamps below that allow you to fast-forward in the replay above.
LinkedIn Relaunches Groups: LinkedIn informed “select Groups power users” that it’s relaunching Groups by the end of the month. TechCrunch reports that LinkedIn is rolling Groups into the main app and streamlining the service to reduce spam and be more efficient. For example, LinkedIn has temporarily removed the ability to approve posts before they’re posted and send group posts as emails to the whole group. (32:55)We just published a blog post about our priorities for Twitter client experiences. I want to share some insight on how we reached these decisions, and how we’re thinking about 3rd party clients moving forward https://t.co/hSztgplRV8
— Rob Johnson (@robjohnson) August 16, 2018
Want to catch our next show live? Click here to subscribe or add our show to your calendar.LinkedIn to relaunch Groups in the flagship app as it looks to reverse ‘ghost town’ image https://t.co/IrK6TvBHrB by @ingridlunden pic.twitter.com/0NGvRuiVQT
— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) August 15, 2018
https://www.businesscreatorplus.com/twitter-api-changes-and-linkedin-groups-relaunching/
SearchCap: Managing multiple GMB listings, malicious content take down & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
From Search Engine Land:
Recent Headlines From Marketing Land, Our Sister Site Dedicated To Internet Marketing:
- The ultimate guide to using Bing Webmaster Tools – Part 4 Aug 24, 2018 by Christi Olson In Part 4 of this special series, Contributor and Bing Chief Evangelist Christi Olson reviews widgets, copyright removal notices, webmaster tools API, specialty sections and how to contact support if you need assistance.
- A checklist: Important SEO points to cover in a content campaign Aug 24, 2018 by Paddy Moogan Contributor Paddy Moogan shares a checklist of key on-page and analytical items and how to SEO them so your content campaign runs smoothly and supports your ranking efforts.
- New report from MarTech Today: Enterprise Customer Data Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide Aug 24, 2018 by Digital Marketing Depot The customer data platform (CDP) market is expected to generate $1 billion in revenue by 2019, according to the CDP Institute, as both employment and the number of CDP vendors doubled in 2017. Driving growth is a perfect storm of increasing complexity in the customer journey, the martech stack and data governance.
- Facebook recruits former HP marketing lead as its new CMO Aug 24, 2018 by Amy Gesenhues Antonio Lucio will assume his new role at Facebook September 4. Meanwhile, VP of Partnerships Dan Rose plans to depart in February.
- AdTheorent launches Relationship Targeting Aug 24, 2018 by Barry Levine The New York City ad tech firm looks to influence in-market buyers by also directing ads at friends and family.
- Facebook, Twitter & Google take down malicious content originating from Iran Aug 23, 2018 by Amy Gesenhues Facebook took down 652 Pages, groups and accounts, Twitter removed 284 accounts and Google disabled 42 YouTube channels.
Search News From Around The Web:
- A Big Change To Facebook Reviews, 5-Star Reviews Are Now Recommendations, GetFiveStars
- Create And Update Google Analytics Session Timeout Cookie, Simo Ahava
- Expect Googlebot Crawl Increase With Changes to CDNs, The SEMPost
- Google Ads Automatically Updating Eligible Campaigns to Enhanced CPC Bidding, Clix Marketing
- Google News Digest: Learn About New Scores in Ads, Changes in GSC and Featured Snippets, SEMrush
- How LinkedIn Spun to the Top of Search for LinkedIn Marketing, Content Marketing Institute
- How to Use Custom Affinity Audiences for More Cost-Effective Google Display Ads, Wordstream
- What to Call Your Google+ Maps My Business Places Listing Thingy, Whitespark
- What travel planning behavior means for marketing, Think With Google
- Why we need to stop repeating the “50% by 2020” voice search prediction Econsultancy
About The Author
Debra Mastaler is Features Editor at Search Engine Land. She is an internationally recognized authority on link building and is an OMCP Certified Link Building Trainer. Based in Washington DC, Debra is also a columnist for Search Engine Land, has written for or been featured in numerous tech publications and is active on the search marketing conference circuit as a speaker and trainer. Debra serves as a judge for the Landy Awards and is the President of Alliance-Link.com. Connect with Debra on Twitter and LinkedIn to stay in touch.
Judge resigns after recognizing his courtroom comment was ‘a career-ender,’ chief judge says
Judiciary
A Florida judge abruptly retired last week after he referred to a black lawyer as “the other gorilla defense counsel.”
Judge Peter Evans of Palm Beach County, who is white, retired after Chief Circuit Judge Krista Marx reviewed the Aug. 2 courtroom tape and spoke with Evans, report the Palm Beach Post and the Associated Press.
Marx told the Post that Evans “apologized profusely and he immediately retired.”
“We both recognized this is a career-ender,” Marx said.
An unidentified person reported Evans’ comment. Evans had been referring to an assistant public defender, who didn’t hear the comment during the commotion of early morning court hearings, according to the Post.
Attorney John Howe, the first black president of the Palm Beach County Bar Association, said he often appeared before Evans and he never heard him express ethnic or racial bias. Howe told the Post it was a dumb remark and probably a misjudgment, but it didn’t sound like Evans intended to be insensitive and maybe he shouldn’t have been forced to resign.
Howe said that Evans “might bust your chops” but he had always been fair.
Evans, 67, had previously planned to retire when his term ended in January. His resignation letter had cited health problems and a recent lung cancer diagnosis.
Posted August 24, 2018, 12:09 pm CDT
everything possible/Shutterstock.com.
Friday, August 24, 2018
SearchCap: SMX East benefits, US wireless carrier report, Bing Webmaster Tools & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
From Search Engine Land:
- Local inventory-based SEO strategy juiced rankings and sales for US wireless carrier Aug 23, 2018 by Greg Sterling Carrier saw an average ranking position of 1.9 for product queries and 5x better conversions than other channels.
- The ultimate guide to using Bing Webmaster Tools – Part 4 Aug 23, 2018 by Christi Olson In Part 4 of this special series, Contributor and Bing Chief Evangelist Christi Olson reviews widgets, copyright removal notices, webmaster tools API, specialty sections and how to contact support if you need assistance.
- 8 reasons why you should be at SMX East Aug 23, 2018 by Search Engine Land If you want actionable search marketing tactics from experts who are driving real results, attend Search Engine Land’s SMX® East, October 24-25 in New York City. Here are 8 reasons to join us.
- Updated for 2018! Enterprise Local Marketing Automation Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide Aug 23, 2018 by Digital Marketing Depot US local advertising revenues are expected to reach $151.2 billion in 2018, representing a 5.2 percent year-on-year increase from $143.8 billion in 2017 — the largest annual increase in five years, according to research firm BIA/Kelsey’s US Local Advertising Forecast 2018.
Recent Headlines From Marketing Land, Our Sister Site Dedicated To Internet Marketing:
- The worlds of brand and trade marketing need to unite Aug 23, 2018 by Andrew Waber Collaboration between brand and trade marketing teams is critical for long-term success, says contributor Andrew Waber. Here’s how to make this tactical and strategic alignment a reality.
- Flying close to the sun: SEO tactics that may get you burned Aug 23, 2018 by Stephan Spencer The temptation to take the “quick and easy” route is everywhere, and SEO is no different. Contributor Stephan Spencer shows how going black- or gray-hat might sound good initially, but in the end, like Icarus, you may get burned.
- Ask An SMXpert – Significant changes to local search Aug 23, 2018 by Debra Mastaler Looking for a way to maximize local ads or geotargeting? SMXperts Dana DiTomaso, David Mihm and Andy Taylor share valuable tips and tactics to help you succeed in local search.
- Facebook bans an app once used by 4M people, suspends 200 more Aug 23, 2018 by Amy Gesenhues Facebook says it is notifying those who shared information with the myPersonality app, which was mostly active before 2012.
- Get started with marketing automation–learn the terms you need to know Aug 23, 2018 by Digital Marketing Depot For businesses involved in digital marketing, marketing automation has quickly become a game-changer. Customizable and scalable platforms are available to businesses of just about any size. Whether you work for an agency or are an in-house marketing professional, it’s time to get familiar with some basic automated marketing and sales concepts.
- 7 launches ‘emotional intelligence’ for its virtual agent Aug 23, 2018 by Barry Levine In text-based conversations, its AIVA agent can now tell when a customer is unhappy, so it can offer some consolation and toss to a human agent.
- Viant adds purchase-based targeting for CPG ads Aug 23, 2018 by Barry Levine The ad tech firm now lets advertisers direct ads based on weekly household-level CPG purchases, and on repurchase cycles.
- Survey: Teens cutting back on mobile screen, social media time Aug 23, 2018 by Greg Sterling A majority of teens said they’re consciously reducing social media, video games and mobile phone time.
- Facebook launches Ad Archive API for political ads with limited release Aug 23, 2018 by Amy Gesenhues Facebook says it is offering the API to a select group before making it available more broadly.
- Facebook clarifies Custom Audience list management terms for agency-advertiser relationships Aug 22, 2018 by Amy Gesenhues After receiving questions from advertisers about recent updates to Custom Audience terms, Facebook has updated its policies to be more clear.
- Facebook rolls out mobile-first video creation tools for advertisers Aug 22, 2018 by Robin Kurzer Marketers can use the tools to add motion to existing images and videos or to create video ads from company assets like logos or photographs.
Search News From Around The Web:
About The Author
Debra Mastaler is Features Editor at Search Engine Land. She is an internationally recognized authority on link building and is an OMCP Certified Link Building Trainer. Based in Washington DC, Debra is also a columnist for Search Engine Land, has written for or been featured in numerous tech publications and is active on the search marketing conference circuit as a speaker and trainer. Debra serves as a judge for the Landy Awards and is the President of Alliance-Link.com. Connect with Debra on Twitter and LinkedIn to stay in touch.
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