Computer 10: Lesson 10 - Online Crimes and Hazards
Solving Common Problems in Google Places - Pubcon New Orleans 2013
1. Solving Common Problems
in
Google Places
aka Maps, Local, Local Business Center,
Plus for Local
Mary Bowling
www.MaryBowling.com
@MaryBowling
MaryBBowling@gmail.com
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www.LocalU.orgwww.LocalU.org
2. Google+Local Semi-Merge
• Review system changed to Zagat
• Review AND reviewer filters implemented
• Ramped up enforcement of business listing
quality guidelines
• Businesses forcing Google+Local merge must
re-verify
• Human review required for much more stuff
• Google Mapmaker is now has a role in review
and approval of Places listings
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3. Sometimes, It’s Not You!
Transition of Places listings onto Google+ is an
immense undertaking
– Still very much in flux
– The new system is not yet ready for
• Multi-location businesses
• Service area businesses with hidden addresses
• Photos from listing owners
• Who knows what else? Errors and glitches are common
– Early adopters may not have done things right
• Lack of guidance from Google contributed to this
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4. Google’s Advice on Places/Plus
– http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-
topic/business/nqzouJ3KkU8
– http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/busines
– “Verified owner in the Google Places for Business:
continue to manage your information from the Google
Places for Business dashboard and please wait for further
instructions. We are working on a smooth upgrade process
for everyone.”
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If you have to force the merge, read this
(complicated) advice from Google:
5. Don’t do anything with
Google Places/Google+
WAIT FOR GOOGLE!*
(* “you will thank me”)
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Googler’s Advice
6. Most of the “new stuff” is not available to
most of us, yet…
Read this before you do anything!
http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!catego
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Current Google Advice*
*April 22, 2012
7. Think Like Google About Local
• Google’s trying to model the real world with
it’s business listings
– It knows it doesn’t always do a great job
• Googlers are not local business people
– They have different perceptions of what the real
world is like for small businesses
• Google has realized that not all business
listing issues can be handled via an algorithm
– Much more Local support has been added
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8. Google and Business Listings
• Google owns the listing–not the business
– Google decides what to put in the listing
• Input from the verified owner is just one set
of data that goes into the cluster of
information Google has about a business
• Google can trust multiple sources of differing
data more than it trusts what the verified
owner provides
– It’s critical to have consistent data across the web!
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9. Google’s Quality Guidelines
• Guidelines are intended to be somewhat
vague
• Not all guidelines are published
• Published guidelines change, but info often
not pushed out effectively or quickly enough
to prevent problems
• Google has out-of-date (but often undated)
information on its own pages
– You can’t always tell what’s newest advice/rules
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10. Google Maps and Google Places
• Places is NOT a business directory-it is part
of a map that shows what exists in the
physical world
• Places is just one set of data (about
businesses) that gets layered onto Maps
• Places data and Maps data don’t always
synch up well
– Conventions and guidelines can differ
• Examples: address formatting, categories
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11. Google Maps and Google Places
Required before a business listing goes live:
– Verification
– Review
– Approval
• Places requires verification
– Many more PIN mailers and fewer phone calls than before
• Maps requires review and approval
– Different levels of reviews and reviewers
– Some disapprovals are automatic
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12. What About Those Phone Calls?
• Caller ID says if call is really from Google
• These callers are charged ONLY with:
– Verifying if the NAP in your listing is correct
• Often, they don’t need much info to be able to say
“yes” or “no” on data accuracy
– Example: phone is answered using a different business name
– Verifying whether you meet with people at your
business location or not
• If not, you should have hidden address in listing
– Incorrect answers result in quick suspension of
listing(s)
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13. Service Area Businesses
Service Area Businesses* (SABs) never quite fit
into Google’s concept of businesses being
physical places on Maps
– Google continually struggles to equitably
accommodate them
– Spammers and scammers everywhere in this
space!
• Makes it tough for legitimate businesses and for Google
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*The business goes to the customer’s location instead of
the customer coming to the business’ location
14. Service Area Businesses
SABs that do not meet w/customers at their
locations are doubly handicapped
• these businesses are required to hide their
addresses in their listings or be suspended
• Google+ cannot yet accommodate these
businesses
– If a “social local Google+ page” has been created
for one of these SABs, it should be deleted
– http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/business/M
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15. “Poking” a Listing
• Why?
– Indicates you are actively managing the listing and
your content may be the freshest
– Sometimes fixes problems. Wait a few days to see if
it works
• How?
– Log into Places listing dashboard
– Click on Edit button for the listing
– Don’t make any changes-just click on submit to
ping Google
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16. Places Support Options
Report a
Problem
directly from a
Google+ page
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17. Places Support Options
Edit a listing
directly from a
Google+ page
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•Be signed into your
account.
•Different options
depending on whether
you’ve merged Places
and Plus or not
18. Places Support Options
Places troubleshooter:
http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/business
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Quickest, most reliable way to get help!
20. Yes, Google Phone Support!
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21. Google and Your Business Forum
http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/business
•http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-
topic/business/need-advice/_TsTH0PIqdo
•http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!
categories/business/technical-issue
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2 categories:
22. Google and Your Business Forum
Googlers Jade W
Top contributors (TC):
Sticky posts at the top of pages
Announcement icons
http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/business
http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-
topic/business/need-advice/_TsTH0PIqdo
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23. Sign Up To Receive Notices!
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http://support.google.com/places/bin/request.py?
contact_type=verification_address_collection&
24. Be a Google Map Maker
Map Maker is a map-making community where
anyone can contribute edits to maps
•You can make edits and approve or disapprove other
people’s edits
• The more you contribute, the more clout you get as a
power user
• And your edits move up in the queue for faster approval
• If you have a lot of edits that do not get approved, your
powers diminish
http://www.google.com/mapmaker
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25. Google Map Maker Tips
http://support.google.com/mapmaker/?hl=en
Learn to use Map Maker correctly-mistakes are punished
https://sites.google.com/site/mapyourworldcommunity/discuss
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26. Google Map Maker Tips
• Begin earning trust with accurate edits of
places you know very well
• Don’t just edit business listings
• Increase chances of approval by providing
notes and URLs to webpages that support
your edits
• Team up with others to review and approve
each others edits
– Agencies may benefit from a Map Maker power-
user account it controls
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27. Google Map Maker Tips
• Be aware that there are:
– automated edit review bots
– some types of business always require review by
a Googler, some by a super reviewer at Google
– tough RERs – Regional Expert Reviewers
• Do not try to add a service area business via
Map Maker unless street view confirms its
existence – add it in Places or Plus, instead
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28. Google Map Maker Tips
Post to the Map Maker help forum for help with
reviews/approvals
Look for posts by Google employees
And official Maps guides
https://sites.google.com/site/mapyourworldcommunity/
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29. Google Map Maker Tips
• The Map Maker interface is hard to
master
• It’s much easier to use Map Maker via
Report a problem and Edit on Google+
page, if you can
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30. Problem: No Control of Listing
Messages:
–“We currently do not support the location”
–“Pending review” (for more than 2 weeks)
–“The information provided isn't eligible for verification”
–“Account suspended”
Probable causes:
–Guideline violations (most often the cause!)
–Google glitches
–Back ups at Google
Contact Google support via troubleshooter
Be prepared to recreate & re-verify problem listings
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32. Problem: Listings Merge
• Use the troubleshooter to report merges
• Expect the fix to take 3-4 weeks
• Be patient – messing with other stuff in the
meantime could slow down the fix
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33. Problem: Moving Locations
Google prefers:
–Mark old location closed and then create and verify
a new listing for the new location
–While signed into account, use troubleshooter tool
to tell Google support that you have moved
•Give old info and new info
•Give URLs for both listings
–Message on old listing has improved
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34. Problem: Moving Locations
To try to change the address, instead:
– Change NAP on website first
– Change primary data providers ASAP
– Do not claim listing & change address at the same
time
– Do not change anything else until new address is
live
– You will likely get 2 listings
• report them as duplicates via troubleshooter tool
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35. Problem: Reviews Missing
• Flagged as spammy for good cause
– Links placed in reviews flag them as spam
– Length of review may trigger filter
– Words in review may trigger filter
• Legitimate reviews caught in spam filter
– Viewed as necessary collateral damage
• Spam filter has been eased
• Reviewers may need more account trust
– New accounts
– New to reviewing at Google
• Location review was posted from:
– Multiple reviews from one IP address
• Includes review stations at business location
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36. Problem: Reviews Missing
Technical problems:
– Reviews are attached to a duplicate listing
• Reviews left on “wrong” listing
• Business owner cannot respond to reviews
• Business has moved and reviews have not attached
to new listing
– Reviewer has not made their reviews public
– Some review features not live in all browsers
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37. Problem: No Rating Stars
To get gold stars in the SERPs, you’ll need
to:
•Pay via AdWords Express
•Try to get them organically via review mark-up
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38. Problem: Bad at a glance terms
Coming from reviews, descriptions, categories
and other information about business out on
the web
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– No one, not even
Googlers, can change
what shows up here
– Check 3rd party sites
– to find it , search for
“phrase”+”business name”
– Try to correct it at the
source(s)
39. Recap
• Things continually change – keep up!
• Understand how Google views business listings and Maps
• Know how to use the help forums
• Know who to listen to in the help forums
• Learn to use Mapmaker effectively
• You can Poke listings, first and try the edit feature on
Plus page, BUT troubleshooter support seems to be the
quickest and most reliable way to get problems
resolved
• Try to be patient
• Be prepared to start over with a new listing and/or
Google+ page
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There have always been problems to resolve with Google local listings. With the advent of Google+ Local, there are new problems and new solutions. Some of the solutions are for what we hope are temporary problems that will soon be resolved In the meantime we’ll talk about common problems currently being experienced and solutions to them
I say semi-merge because much of the merging has not yet taken place. We are still in a transitional phase.
It’s not unusual to think you did something wrong, but right now, that is not necessarily the case, although it can be. So many errors and glitches that it’s hard to know what is and what isn’t beyond your control.
“ you will thank me”
“ you will thank me”
The way Google thinks about Local is not the same way that small business owners or marketers think about it.
Example: phone is answered using a different business name A “no” quickly gets listing suspended
1 st thing to try, but is not as effective as it used to be. Sometimes fixes problems. Wait a few days to see if it works
This is what Google wants us to do: 1 st report a problem or edit, wait and if it doesn’t work, use the troubleshooter forms. Notice how this Report a problem link, takes you to Map Maker to Suggest changes
With a Google Places/Google+ merge, you have an Edit button and go to Mapmaker editing interface Without a merge, you have a Manage button and still edit in Places dashboard
This is like the complaints box. It’s full of confused people, whiners and people looking for loopholes, but you can glean good info if you use it correctly. Be very picky about who you listen to in the help forum - the Googlers and Top Contributors Search feature works well, so ask your questions there and look for answers in the threads in the results
Be very picky about who you listen to in the help forum - the Googlers and Top Contributors Search feature works well, so ask your questions there and look for answers in the threads in the results
Something I just discovered recently!
Get to know Mapmaker
Learn to use Map Maker. Start here. The interface is not very intuitive, but don’t just jump in and mess around.
I hear they are planning to add an icon to flag the listings that need super review so you can decide whether you want to edit them or not
It’s easier to do most of this via the edit interface You can try adding call tracking numbers here if you have to
Google doesn’t care if there are duplicates in the same account or in different accounts or accounts you don’t control It wants duplicates to go away And it’s using us to discover and eliminate them
Once bad info is flagged it should stop showing up in the listing
By “bad” I mean incorrect or not applicable to your business, not bad sentiment