Online Marketing Today: SearchCap: Google Updates Local Guides, Bing Rewards On MSN & New AdWords Tests

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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 Using Points To Boost User Reviews, Beef Up Maps Content
Nov 13, 2015 by Greg Sterling
A couple of years ago, Google created a program in the mold of the Yelp Elite Squad called City Experts. It was intended to accelerate the acquisition of “high-quality” local business reviews. The name of the program was changed in January of this year to Local Guides.
Bing Rewards Members Can Now Earn Credits On MSN.com
Nov 13, 2015 by Amy Gesenhues
MSN’s homepage now has a new “Rewards” tab where users can redeem credits for gift cards, sweepstakes entries and more.
Google AdWords Testing Nearby Store Reminders For Google Now Users
Nov 13, 2015 by Ginny Marvin
With the tap of an AdWords ad extension, Google Now will set reminders for users to visit an advertiser’s location the next time they are nearby.
Using Paid Search To Bring Customers In-Store
Nov 13, 2015 by Amy Bishop
With the holidays quickly approaching, what better time than the present to look for ways to increase foot traffic to your stores? Columnist Amy Bishop shows how to leverage geography & intent, audiences and your web experience to drive more in-store traffic.
Search In Pics: Google PageRank Factory, Cop Pulled Over Self Driving Car & Google Gum
Nov 13, 2015 by Barry Schwartz
In this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have and more.
Can You Now Trust Google To Crawl Ajax Sites?
Nov 13, 2015 by Mark Munroe
On October 14, Google announced it no longer recommends the Ajax crawling scheme they published in 2009. Columnist Mark Munroe dives into the question of whether this means you can now count on Google to successfully crawl and index an Ajax site.