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Google Business Profile services positively impact rank:
In a recent test by Joy Hawkins at Sterlingsky demonstrated that having services identified for your profile influences rank. How does Google generate these categories? How does this fit into the long term trend of Google adding ever more granular detail for businesses?  Will custom services have an equal effect? Will this appear world wide? Businesses need to make sure that Google has applied the correct categories. 

Which geo title tags have the most impact on local search rank? 
A title tag needs to be as long as it needs to be but longer title tags don’t perform as well. Which location terms should you use? Near me in a title tag only drives a small increase in rankings.  The biggest driver (2.5x improvement) is the use of the city name in the title name. 

 Impact of Google easing review filter to placate Local Guides:
Earlier this month, Google noted that there had been a lot of Local Guide complaints about review filtering, that Google had been removing too many Local Guide reviews and they were going to update the filter to let more reviews show and go back and release any that they erroneously filtered. 

Hypothetically doing this would decrease complaints in the GBP forums about missing reviews AND increase complaints about fake review attacks.  Our research confirms that is the case

The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
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