Understanding Google Maps & Local Search

Canadian Dashboards Now Receiving Warning – It is NOT the Canadian Placopalypse
Google Places Guideline Update: Now Allowing Descriptors in Business Title
Google Maps & MapMaker Exploits – Just for the fun of it

Canadian Dashboards Now Receiving Warning – It is NOT the Canadian Placopalypse

Posted: 21 Feb 2014 03:54 AM PST

To all my friends in the 51st state: Everyone stay calm. The Placopalypse is not about to descend.

Chris McCreery has reported in Linda’s blog that Canadians with the new dashboard may be receiving the ”To Keep your listing live” message from Google. This is the same message that was received in Australia earlier in the month.

Colan Nielson the Local SEO Manager
Imprezzio Marketing noted: ”Saw my first example. Hit the Submit button. Message went away”. Chris McCreary noted that his listing went to an “In Progress” status.

These sorts of messages from Google, given the lack of detail and color, seem to cause a certain hysteria. For whatever reason Google rarely tells the whole story and rarely explains these things well to the public which seems to further the hysteria.

I speculated at the time of the Australian email that “whether it is an effort to clean up listings after the upgrade or has something to do with local licensing issues, no one really knows“.

Regardless all that is necessary is that when you receive the email (or before) visit your dashboard, do the null edit and move on.

Google Places Guideline Update: Now Allowing Descriptors in Business Title

Posted: 20 Feb 2014 11:16 AM PST

Google has announced an update to their Places Guidelines and now is explicitly allowing owners to add a descriptor, via the Places or Plus Dashboard, that helps people locate the business or describes what the business offers. From the post (bold is mine to highlight the significant change):

Your title should reflect your business's real-world title.
In addition to your business's real-world title, you may include a single descriptor that helps customers locate your business or understand what your business offers.

Marketing taglines, phone numbers, store codes, or URLs are not valid descriptors.
Examples of acceptable titles with descriptors (in italics for demonstration purposes) are "Starbucks Downtown" or "Joe's Pizza Delivery". Examples that would not be accepted would be "#1 Seattle Plumbing", "Joe's Pizza Best Delivery“, or "Joe's Pizza Restaurant Dallas".

Obviously for Google to make this change, they must think that they can control the inane and insane abuse that is likely to occur. Either businss name is no longer so important in defining search results or the descriptor (which can only be added via the dashboard) is ignored or Google is so confident that they know what the business name is that they can penalize abusers.

Or none of the above and the recent decline in the quality of their local index will continue to new lows.

Google Maps & MapMaker Exploits – Just for the fun of it

Posted: 20 Feb 2014 09:24 AM PST

Update: Google has taken these down. My sense is, in speaking with him, that @maptivist views that as a challenge.

Nyagoslav Zhekov wrote a blog post yesterday detailing a long standing MapMaker abuse vector. The person claiming to be responsible, @maptivist, reached out to Darren, Nyagoslav and myself with some more examples of his MapMaker “work” which I present to you here:

Super Mega Fun Time Land Suck Balls Kim Jongun Church of God