Outside of Yelp (whose review snippets were removed from Google) and native Google+ Local reviews, here are the top third-party sources for dentist reviews in the US. [Read Full Article]

Common Issue: Your Google Places listing was verified by an ex-employee or SEO company and you would like to get control back from them but you've been unable to, perhaps because of a lost password or falling out. [Read Full Article]

Having good quality reviews on your Google+ Local page (i.e., Place page) not only influences your ability to convert prospective customers, but can affect your local search ranking. Most customers won’t know to leave you a Google Places review, so it is important to promote or actively encourage customers to give honest reviews. [Read Full Article]

Recently, we've been using the new Google Verification Support Line for those irritating PIN postcards disappearing within the black hole that is the U.S Postal System, and with satisfying results to boot. Upon providing the requested account information for the listing in limbo, Google will force through the verification and immediately send it to their "pending review" process. Granted there are certain criteria that need to be met prior to a "we'll call you" phone call a la Fight Club (which can be bypassed with some harmless fibbing), it is still an effective solution to a previously hair-pulling problem. No longer are the weeks of waiting for a vague email response to submitted report, only to find yourself back where you started after the dust settles. Instead Google has uncharacteristically opened a direct line of contact. [Read Full Article]