SearchCap: Google Assistant, local finder test & Bing hospital finder

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.

From Search Engine Land:

• Google Assistant to roll out across newer smartphones
  Feb 27, 2017 by Greg Sterling

  The virtual assistant capability will soon be available on smartphones running Android 6.0 and 7.0.

• 5 ways you can improve your new business’s visibility on Google Maps
  Feb 27, 2017 by Wesley Young

  Columnist Wesley Young compares the online presence of several new businesses to find out what makes one stand out and consistently outperform the others in Google Map search results.

• Bing UK now displaying National Health Service data for GP & hospital search queries
  Feb 27, 2017 by Amy Gesenhues

  Searching for nearby GPs and hospitals on Bing UK will surface information pulled from the country’s publicly-funded national healthcare system.

• Need to get with Google My Business support? Use Twitter!
  Feb 27, 2017 by Greg Gifford

  While phone support may no longer be accessible if you need help with Google My Business, columnist Greg Gifford notes that social media support is available (and good!).

• Google local finder tests cards with horizontal scroll for map search results
  Feb 27, 2017 by Barry Schwartz

  Google loves the swipe left and right motion. They are now testing it on the Google Maps local finder search results.

• Ida Lewis Google doodle marks 175th birthday of ‘America’s Bravest Woman’
  Feb 25, 2017 by Amy Gesenhues

  As Rhode Island’s most famous lighthouse keeper, Lewis saved a number of lives from drowning, including the two soldiers that inspired the doodle.

• [Reminder] Upcoming webinar — Build Your Ultimate Martech Stack
  Feb 27, 2017 by Digital Marketing Depot

  It’s not enough to build a martech stack… you’ve got to build the right stack for your organization. Strategy, efficiency, integration and resources all play significant roles in martech stack decisions. Join martech expert Matt Heinz and Linda West, Act-On’s senior director of marketing services and operations, as they discuss the stack-building challenges facing marketers […]

Recent Headlines From MarTech, Our Sister Site Dedicated To Internet Marketing:

• [Reminder] Upcoming webinar — Build Your Ultimate Martech Stack
• Making emotional connections in a digital era
• B2B marketing tips for an effective account-based marketing (ABM) strategy
• 10 things you should be doing now on social media to grow your business
• Take your customers off mute: 3 tips for customer feedback
• Urban Airship becomes first mobile wallet provider to offer single-tap loyalty rewards with Apple Pay
• Swrve’s new integration gives Oracle visibility into apps
• Are you leveraging these underutilized Google Analytics features?
• Amazon: Virtual assistants and AI robots have free speech rights, too

Search News From Around The Web:

Local & Maps

• Local Search Result Checker, CitationBuilderPro.Com

Link Building

• Finding inspiration for a non-profit campaign with Majestic, Majestic Blog
• Google Says Web Directories Don’t Generally Help With Rankings, Search Engine Roundtable

Searching

• AMP Results Get Mobile Carousel Preference, Rank Ranger

SEO

• 5 Local SEO Experts Share Voice Search and "Near Me" Predictions, Search Engine People
• Ask Yoast: do off-topic comments hurt SEO?, Yoast
• Google Panda Takes Into Account Site Quality Including Site Architecture, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google: Optimizing Images for Google SEO, The SEM Post
• Ready to go global? Check your hreflang tags, State of Digital