SEO
Google Announces 7 Local Search Updates
At Google’s annual Search On conference, the company announced seven new features and updates to local search.
These updates will significantly enhance how people explore neighborhoods, businesses, and restaurants in Google Search.
The local search changes rolling out soon include:
- Search for restaurants by dish
- Discover restaurant specialties
- More support for digital menus
- Enhancements to Google Maps’ Live View
- Aerial views of famous landmarks
- Immersive view
- Neighborhood vibe checks
Read all the details about these updates in the below sections.
1. Search For Restaurants By Dish
Google is upgrading its restaurant search capabilities with the ability to find local places that serve a specific dish.
The new search experience will allow you to enter a query like “soup dumplings near me,” and Google will return a list of restaurants that offer it.
You can get even more specific with filters for vegetarian dishes, spicy dishes, and more.
2. Discover Restaurant Specialties
Local restaurants commonly have a unique quality that they’re known for through the community.
Identifying the quality in a Google search can be difficult because star ratings don’t tell the whole story.
Soon, Google will help searchers preview and evaluate restaurants to understand better what makes them unique.
Here’s an example of a listing for a local restaurant with “people say” highlights at the top of the screen.
Google uses machine learning to analyze images and reviews to find what makes a place distinctive.
3. More Support For Digital Menus
Google is expanding its coverage of digital menus while enhancing them with rich visuals and keeping them reliably updated.
In a blog post, Google explains how it can add more digital menus without any additional work required from restaurant owners:
“We combine menu information provided by people and merchants, and found on restaurant websites that use open standards for data sharing. To do this, we use state-of-the-art image and language understanding technologies, including our Multitask Unified Model.”
Google says it will showcase the most popular dishes and call out different dietary options, including vegetarian and vegan.
4. Enhancements To Live View In Google Maps
Google is upgrading a feature it introduced three years ago called Live View, which allows you to navigate directions while looking through the viewfinder of your phone’s camera.
In addition to navigating from one place to another, you’ll soon be able to search for things in your immediate vicinity.
Google shares an example of using Live View to find an ATM within walking distance of where a person is standing:
“Say you’re heading to an outdoor market and need to take cash out. With search with Live View, simply lift your phone to search and instantly see the ATMs in an area. You can also spot different places — including coffee shops, grocery stores and transit stations. We’ll show you business hours and how busy a place is, and you can tap on any location to view more details, like what services the barber shop down the street offers.”
Search with Live View starts rolling out in the coming months in London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Paris, and Tokyo.
5. Aerial Views Of Landmarks
Available today, Google is over 250 photorealistic aerial views of global landmarks.
Google doesn’t list all the landmarks with aerial views, other than to say they “span everything from the Tokyo Tower to the Acropolis.”
6. Immersive View
Immersive view will allow you to go beyond street view with an experience that takes you inside buildings and other establishments.
In addition, immersive view will show you how busy a place will be and what the weather will be like at a given date and time.
Immersive view rolls out in the coming months in Los Angeles, London, New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo on Android and iOS.
7. Vibe Check The Neighborhood
A new “neighborhood vibe” feature in Google Maps will give you a feel for a neighborhood before you visit.
Google will highlight what’s new, what the local gems are, and what’s worth exploring.
Helpful photos and information from the Google Maps community will appear on the map while browsing the neighborhood.
Google says it uses a combination of AI and user-submitted information to power the neighborhood vibe feature, which starts rolling out globally in the coming months on Android and iOS.
Featured Image: Lissa M/Shutterstock
SEO
Executive Director Of WordPress Resigns
Josepha Haden Chomphosy, Executive Director of the WordPress Project, officially announced her resignation, ending a nine-year tenure. This comes just two weeks after Matt Mullenweg launched a controversial campaign against a managed WordPress host, which responded by filing a federal lawsuit against him and Automattic.
She posted an upbeat notice on her personal blog, reaffirming her belief in the open source community as positive economic force as well as the importance of strong opinions that are “loosely held.”
She wrote:
“This week marks my last as the Executive Director of the WordPress project. My time with WordPress has transformed me, both as a leader and an advocate. There’s still more to do in our shared quest to secure a self-sustaining future of the open source project that we all love, and my belief in our global community of contributors remains unchanged.
…I still believe that open source is an idea that can transform generations. I believe in the power of a good-hearted group of people. I believe in the importance of strong opinions, loosely held. And I believe the world will always need the more equitable opportunities that well-maintained open source can provide: access to knowledge and learning, easy-to-join peer and business networks, the amplification of unheard voices, and a chance to tap into economic opportunity for those who weren’t born into it.”
Turmoil At WordPress
The resignation comes amidst the backdrop of a conflict between WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg and the managed WordPress web host WP Engine, which has brought unprecedented turmoil within the WordPress community, including a federal lawsuit filed by WP Engine accusing Mullenweg of attempted extortion.
Resignation News Was Leaked
The news about the resignation was leaked on October 2nd by the founder of the WordPress news site WP Tavern (now owned by Matt Mullenweg), who tweeted that he had spoken with Josepha that evening, who announced her resignation.
He posted:
“I spoke with Josepha tonight. I can confirm that she’s no longer at Automattic.
She’s working on a statement for the community. She’s in good spirits despite the turmoil.”
Screenshot Of Deleted Tweet
Josepha tweeted the following response the next day:
“Ok, this is not how I expected that news to come to y’all. I apologize that this is the first many of you heard of it. Please don’t speculate about anything.”
Rocky Period For WordPress
While her resignation was somewhat of an open secret it’s still a significant event because of recent events at WordPress, including the resignations of 8.4% of Automattic employees as a result of an offer of a generous severance package to all employees who no longer wished to work there.
Read the official announcement:
Featured Image by Shutterstock/Wirestock Creators
SEO
8% Of Automattic Employees Choose To Resign
WordPress co-founder and Automattic CEO announced today that he offered Automattic employees the chance to resign with a severance pay and a total of 8.4 percent. Mullenweg offered $30,000 or six months of salary, whichever one is higher, with a total of 159 people taking his offer.
Reactions Of Automattic Employees
Given the recent controversies created by Mullenweg, one might be tempted to view the walkout as a vote of no-confidence in Mullenweg. But that would be a mistake because some of the employees announcing their resignations either praised Mullenweg or simply announced their resignation while many others tweeted how happy they are to stay at Automattic.
One former employee tweeted that he was sad about recent developments but also praised Mullenweg and Automattic as an employer.
He shared:
“Today was my last day at Automattic. I spent the last 2 years building large scale ML and generative AI infra and products, and a lot of time on robotics at night and on weekends.
I’m going to spend the next month taking a break, getting married, and visiting family in Australia.
I have some really fun ideas of things to build that I’ve been storing up for a while. Now I get to build them. Get in touch if you’d like to build AI products together.”
Another former employee, Naoko Takano, is a 14 year employee, an organizer of WordCamp conferences in Asia, a full-time WordPress contributor and Open Source Project Manager at Automattic announced on X (formerly Twitter) that today was her last day at Automattic with no additional comment.
She tweeted:
“Today was my last day at Automattic.
I’m actively exploring new career opportunities. If you know of any positions that align with my skills and experience!”
Naoko’s role at at WordPress was working with the global WordPress community to improve contributor experiences through the Five for the Future and Mentorship programs. Five for the Future is an important WordPress program that encourages organizations to donate 5% of their resources back into WordPress. Five for the Future is one of the issues Mullenweg had against WP Engine, asserting that they didn’t donate enough back into the community.
Mullenweg himself was bittersweet to see those employees go, writing in a blog post:
“It was an emotional roller coaster of a week. The day you hire someone you aren’t expecting them to resign or be fired, you’re hoping for a long and mutually beneficial relationship. Every resignation stings a bit.
However now, I feel much lighter. I’m grateful and thankful for all the people who took the offer, and even more excited to work with those who turned down $126M to stay. As the kids say, LFG!”
Read the entire announcement on Mullenweg’s blog:
Featured Image by Shutterstock/sdx15
SEO
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