Google Crowsourcing Missing Places
-
You may already have seen this in the past week or so, but it's new to me! Check out this screenshot from the bottom of the Local Finder for a search for 'electricians houston':
http://screencast.com/t/NKW3KuxIuPo
I saw this first referenced by Issac Hammelburger at Phil Rozek's G+ Community and see this as yet another Googl-ish thing to do, crowdsourcing data. They are trying to make it easier to add GMB listings, undoubtedly for owners who have never heard of Google My Business, but I've not yet tried the feature out. If you click on the ADD A MISSING PLACE link, you'll be able to input core data about a business. There's also a link to claim the business present.
Has anyone here in our super Local SEO community tried to add a business via this new feature? Are you seeing it in a lot of local finders? What do you think of it?
-
Hi Kristen,
Great question! So sorry, but I have no personal experience to add here about being a Local Guide. These might interest you, though:
https://jakehennett.wordpress.com/2016/01/20/2016-01-20-local-guide-experiences/
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/maps/_J0EEGiM9cg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whDs4MSumbg
And Mike Blumenthal, I believe, is a Local Guide. He mentions it in the comments of this blog post, but I don't recall ever seeing him blog about it: http://blumenthals.com/blog/2015/01/15/google-replacing-city-experts-with-local-guides-program/
There doesn't seem to be a ton out there about people's personal experiences being Google Local Guides. If anyone in our community is doing this, it would be neat to hear what you think of the program!
-
Hi Kristen,
Local Guides is this program offered by Google: https://www.google.com/local/guides/
I think that's fascinating that there was no call to action to claim the listing! Thank you for letting me know that.
-
Wow! That really was fast. Now, where do you go from here? Are you being directed to claim the listing in order to take control of it, add photos, etc?
So appreciate you following up as you test this out!
-
Oh, wow, Kristen! Two (or three) heads are better than one! I didn't realize that field was one you could type in. You are absolutely correct. Thank you so much for pointing this out, and it will be so interesting to see how long it takes for the listing you've created to appear. Really appreciate this discussion and the little clues being uncovered. Cool!
-
Hey Ira!
Believe it or not, I was going to go fetch that list and republish it here, but then saw you had done so. Thanks a ton! Looking at those categories related to home, private residence, etc. makes me wonder very much what Google has in mind here. Those are not categories in Google's category base so, why include the 5 different iterations of dwellings?
Perhaps they might be some guard against malicious spam? If adding a place has been opened broadly to the public via this feature, wiseacres might add their untidy friend Joe's house to it with a jokey business title of some kind (Joe's Pigsty). Choosing one of the 5 residential categories might immediately alert Google that these are not businesses and should not be accepted? Hmm, maybe.
Or, could it be that Google now wants us to start labeling our homes? That seems very strange to me, but then, why those 5 categories?
You've noticed something quite interesting here, Ira. Thanks for sharing the list.
-
Ah, wasn't even thinking about the fact that you need to provide an address either way, but it definitely seems they are only looking for physical places that people are likely to visit. There is a prominent link to claim the business, but of course that only matter is you are the actual business owner or representative. So as an agency, we have our normal options (which in our case luckily includes Google's GYBO program).
In the case of my flooring contractor, he is still just a prospect, so I thought this might be a great first step. It is pretty rare that I find any established business that is in no way listed in Google Business, but here is the whole list of categories in that can take advantage of this new option:
- Home
- Restaurant
- Bar
- Clothing store
- Homegoods store
- Electronics store
- Supermarket
- Shopping Mall
- Movie Theater
- Gas Station
- School
- Grocery Store
- Cafe
- Hospital
- Doctor
- Pharmacy
- Museum
- Night Club
- Bank
- ATM
- Gym
- Private Home
- House
- Residence
- Private Residence
So, 20 that are actually business categories, focused on food, healthcare, and retail, along with 5 different ways of identifying a living residence rather than business. It will be interesting to learn how effective this method of adding info to Google becomes, and whether they expand it to new categories.
-
Oh, yes, Ira ... even if you are listing an SAB, it has to have a physical address, but then hide it. Only about 20 categories? Wow - that is really a limited data set. That wouldn't even cover core brick-and-mortar enterprises. Hmm!
-
Just to clarify, they actually do have a physical address. So it wasn't that I was trying to add them as a SAB without a physical address, just that the categories are very limited. Other than the 10 or 20 listed in the dropdown, it appears you can't choose any other categories for now.
-
Oh, that's really interesting, Ira! Flooring Contractor is definitely a standard category in Google's category base. The fact that SABs seem to be excluded makes me think about how Google differentiates between what they think of as a 'place' instead of an SAB. SABs, for example, are excluded from the Google Places API, and the reason they gave for this is that SABs aren't 'places'. So, when Google's new feature is asking you to 'add a missing place', it could be that they mean this only in their own, literal way.
Unless they expand to include common SAB categories, looks like this feature may be a no-go for any non-brick-and-mortar enterprise.
Thanks for sharing your experience with this. I guess it's back to the GMB dashboard for your flooring client. Good luck!
-
Interesting... just tried to add a flooring contractor, but there is no relevant category available. The list of categories seems to be very limited, at least at this point. Specifically, service area businesses don't seem to be included yet.
-
Hey Andy & Kristen!
I would just love it, if you get a chance, if you could let us know what kind of turnaround time you see with this. Thanks so much for being willing to share the results of the experiment with the community. Very cool!
-
Not something I have tried Miriam, but I have a new client who would be a good one to try with this as they have just opened a shop that repairs iPhones, iPads etc., and at the moment, have no listings anywhere.
Seems like a useful feature that should get some use
-Andy
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Google My Business Multiple Listing
Can a specialist doctor who operates out of several locations have multiple GMB listings? She operates under her company brand name if that makes a difference. Thank you community!
Local Listings | | Crystal.w0 -
Where does the small description on a business listing come from in google maps?
Hi All, Simple question, but I'm struggling to find the answer, so I hope someone is able to help. The business I run is Oakdene Forest Park; Google Maps URL: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Oakdene™+Forest+Park/@50.8114372,-1.8598721,18z/data=!4m12!1m6!3m5!1s0x4873980ce90e4ef7:0x755579d631c25b33!2sOakdene™+Forest+Park!8m2!3d50.8114796!4d-1.8582842!3m4!1s0x4873980ce90e4ef7:0x755579d631c25b33!8m2!3d50.8114796!4d-1.8582842?hl=en Under the business name, it has a small description and for the life of me I don't know where Google is getting it from because a part of it is wrong. It looks like this: Oakdene™ Forest Park Rural Resort with Entertainment & a Spa I would like to remove the term 'Rural Resort' but where do I find it?? Thanks in advance for your help.
Local Listings | | Shorefield_Holidays0 -
Can I use the same interior photos for multiple stores in Google My Business?
Hi, The company I work for has many store locations across the country. Getting good/quality interior pictures has become very difficult for us. We recently good a Virtual Tour from Google for one of the locations, and they took some really good pictures. According to Google, the "Photos should represent the actual business" and "Represent the real-world business location". My question is: since our stores are VERY similar in the interior, can we use the same pictures for them while we get more pictures? Would Google penalize this? Thanks!
Local Listings | | SO-MarceloOtero0 -
Google Local: When moving locations, is a new website/content needed?
I've effectively moved companies before, but I've heard that ranking locally in a competitive market after an address move it is necessary to redesign the entire website/content/domain as Google associates the old website/content/domain with the old location. Is this true? Does anyone have any direct experience with this? NOTE- I have updated citations across the internet and have regular social signals going to the new location, and this has been the case for almost 6 months now.
Local Listings | | mgordon0 -
Google+ Company Verification Help
I am in a huge Google+ pickle. Backstory: Client's past marketing manager set up a Google+ Company Page with their old work email as the username - that marketing manager is now gone Client also moved into a new unit within their building, therefor keeping the same address but a different suite # Client's President (my point of contact) created a new (unverified) Google+ Company Page for the new address & suite # If I verify the correct Google+ Company Page, does this overwrite the old one with the incorrect suite #? Or will I still need to dig up their old company page login to transfer ownership? Also, does anyone have any helpful beginner articles on setting up Google+ Company Pages for businesses with multiple locations? Thanks!
Local Listings | | BopDesign0 -
Is there something that I can do to get my listing back in Places?
My Google Places listing is not showing as of Friday. The business name is Emerald Coast Carpet Cleaning in Shalimar, Florida. The area that I'am trying to show for is the Fort Walton/ Destin area. All my competitors are still showing in Places but mine is not. I am still seeing it on the map though. I didn't change anything in the profile in the past 14 days. Is there something that I can do to get my listing back in Places?
Local Listings | | ReviveMedia0 -
Google Places: Can't link to website
Hi, how are you? I'm Having some problems with my clients Google Places/Plus listings. Everything is OK, but I can't get my website linked. I'm talking about what I point out in the image. I tried following this instructions: https://support.google.com/plus/answer/1713826?hl=en&ref_topic=3052532, but I can't find the Link website button next to my website URL. Do you know why is this happening? Thanks! 6v1eDG4
Local Listings | | arielbortz0 -
How do I get impressions with specific search queries on Google places?
My local Google+ page: https://plus.google.com/104228491449315888832/about?hl=en
Local Listings | | CommercePundit
Business name: Lily Ann Cabinets
Business location: 1630 Coining Drive, Toledo, Ohio, USA
Business telephone: (800) 551-1438
Business category: Cabinet Store
Website: http://www.lilyanncabinets.com I have claimed one business on Google places associated to Kitchen Cabinets. According to my opinion, We're no.1 kitchen cabinet seller in Toledo, Ohio location. And, I am quite excited to gather impressions with Kitchen Cabinets keywords when people search from Toledo, Ohio location. I have checked Google search result for Kitchen Cabinets keywords from Toledo, Ohio location. And, I am not able to see my website name in Google places search listing. You can find out attachment to know more about it. Can anyone guide me to get impressions with Kitchen Cabinets search query with Toledo, Ohio location? Kitchen-Cabinets-Google-Search.png?part=2&view=1&vt=ANaJVrFeEcjJlJHKq5yo0kuWtQJabJJDCi7YqGRINUizw8vf78eRwdqcP8byqWpWC02n28jEsXu7qU2SebzymrZ-NJB5Kam_qtZcC75iQIj_G6zr-Mzejyw0