All posts by localsplashdev

Google’s New Driverless Vehicle Could Help Make the Roads Safer

Last Updated On August 13th, 2014Search Engine News, , , , , , ,

Google driverless vehicleGoogle, the global technology pioneer, is turning fiction into reality once again. This can be recently seen with “Autonomous Vehicles,” better known as driverless vehicles.

Since their announcement in 2010, Google has been hard at work perfecting this innovative automobile, a Toyota Prius which, according to Google, utilizes “video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to ‘see’ other traffic as well as detailed maps.” This generously goes beyond the currently marketed ‘self-park’ cars such as the Lexus LS 460.

CNN covered a demonstration of this new vehicle’s performance with its test participant being a blind man sitting at the wheel of the car. While the car performed a series of everyday navigations, the man jokingly displayed his arms in the air saying, “Look, Ma– no hands!” as the Prius drove itself down a highway and even into a Del Taco drive-through.

This automotive creation is not just for boasting rights. Google is striving to make the roads safe and cars more efficient in today’s society. According to Google’s official blog, the self-driving vehicle project will “try to help prevent traffic accidents, free up people’s time and reduce carbon emissions.”

With 1.2 million annual deaths due to road accidents, the safety of the citizens are at risk each day. Factoring out the human driver from this number could have the potential to significantly reduce this number, giving both passengers and pedestrians peace of mind.

Google is “optimistic about technology’s ability to advance society.” This would also include the benefit of more efficient and attainable car sharing with the concept of the “highway trains of tomorrow.” Just imagine all the productive ways you could spend your valuable time!

Even with Google still in its experimental stages, it can seem as though the futuristic ‘Jetson’s’ lifestyle is little more than a generation away. But for now, Google is steering us towards the future– literally.

See video coverage of the Google demonstration here.

Check out Google’s 2010 driverless car announcement here.

Bing Local & Bing Business Portal

Local Maps SEO, Organic SEO, Search Engine News, , ,

Local Splash has recently started utilizing the Bing Local listing in our continuing mission to produce top placement for our customers across every major search engine. Bing Local is a web listing that shares many traits with other online listings, but Bing Local offers several unique options for customization and the inclusion of additional information.

For starters, Bing Local provides listings to mobile devices that use Bing as a default search engine. This will allow any listing on Bing Local to be found on a smartphone as easily as it could be found on a tablet or a computer. The user can also see how their listing will be formatted on every available medium, allowing them to tailor their listing in order to put forth the most effective presentation.

When a user selects a listing, they are treated to a rather familiar sight—a detailed description of a business or service, their contact information, reviews, and so on. The real difference between Bing Local and other search engines lies in how the user arrived at the listing itself.

While setting up a Bing Local listing in the Bing Business Portal, the incredible attention to detail is immediately apparent. A wide variety of pre-made categories (as well as an even greater number of sub-categories) is available when classifying a service or business, many more than either Yahoo or Google. Each profile can also hold up to nine photos uploaded by the user, further customizing their listing to the needs of the client and illustrating their business.

The true jewel of the listing service, however, is in the keyword functions. The client can select as many as five keywords and rank them based on their business description. For example, if a plumbing contractor would like to be found for their sewer and drain cleaning services over their water heater installation services, they can assign a higher value percentage to “sewer and drain cleaning” in order to advertise that service to a higher degree. This allows the user to effectively control what he is found for rather than just attempting to be found, adding a refining element to search engine optimization. Of course, this function can be changed at any time in order to accommodate seasonal services and specials.

Bing Business Portal seems to be the palette on which the most complete local listings are created at the moment. There’s no stone left unturned in the creation process, and proving it is the last, and perhaps the most convenient feature of Bing Business Portal: instant verification. Unlike Google and Yahoo, which both feature lengthy verification procedures, Bing Business Portal immediately verifies the listing or, if there’s a problem, notifies you of inconsistent or missing information.

Duplicate Google Listings

Blog, Local Maps SEO, Organic SEO, Search Engine News, SEM Best Practices, , ,

Early this morning, we observed an interesting development in one of our clients’ Google listings.

Google Maps shows two different listings for the same business. In some cases they are almost completely different records, but in other cases the listings are nearly identical. The most common differences are found in the business’s address or phone number.

We’ve grouped these phenomena into two categories: alias duplicates and exact duplicates.

In the case of the alias duplicates, the authentic listing shows up exactly as it is supposed to—the contact information and content we provided appear as expected. However, another business listing can be found that contains identical contact information and content; the only noticeable difference is the business name.

To determine if the listing is an alias duplicate, copy the permalink to the listing (which can be found in the link box). Travel to this link instead of the link you’re already viewing. There will be a question mark (?) in front of the CID and then a number. This number is the unique content identifier used by Google. If they are the exact same number, you’ll be looking at the exact same record, but with two different faces. The results shown depend upon the user’s query. To establish which record is the primary record, remove every part of the URL after the CID number. Traveling to this link will bring you to the primary record, which is the most trustworthy listing. The other record is maintained by Google just in case someone is to directly search for that business by its content alone.

For example, if ABC Plumbing was the primary record and Powerhouse Plumbing was the alias duplicate, Powerhouse Plumbing would only be viewed if someone directly queried Powerhouse Plumbing, since all of the content in the record would yield results for ABC Plumbing. It’s for this reason that a primary record and its duplicate listing will never be seen in the same search results.

Unfortunately, there’s very little we can do about this anomaly, but comfort can be taken in the fact that the alias duplicate can only be found when a user searches for that business name directly—there’s no other way to find the duplicate listing. On top of this, any attempt to utilize the contact information will result in contact with the business in the primary record.

Exact duplicates are listings that closely match the business name and contact information, but have entirely different content. They also have different records, or CIDs. At first glance, it looks as though Google has failed to compress these accounts into a single listing. This could be due to the fact that the two records do not have overlapping categories, or much of any other comparable information for that matter.

In order to let Google know about these issues, take the following steps:

When you notice these records on an A-J Google Maps search, go to the bottom of the page. Click the link that reads “Report a problem,” note that the search results contain multiple listings for the same place, and then note that the two records are exact duplicates.