Different zoom levels of spots in Google Maps
-
Most roadmap imagery is available from zoom levels 0 to 18, for example. With zoom level 0 the whole world can be visible.
As we all know, the more we zoom in on Google Maps, the more spots (e.g. name of restaurants, hotels etc.) are visible. Some spots are visible "sooner" - with a lower zoom level, which is of course better for the company. Some companies are only visible with a very high zoom level.
If I have a highly branded company is the zoom level lower? Is this the answer for the different display?
-
Obvious great source and good info from Mike.
Thanks Petra, -
Just wanted to add the answer I got from Mike Blumenthal:
The Place label is determined via algo based on popularity of a given feature. One way to increase the popularity is to increase the rank so that more actions are taken in relationship to the feature. The things that likely increase the popularity of a feature are the impressions actions (as seen in Maps) compared to others in the same market like how many times a listing is viewed in Maps, the Place page is viewed etc
At some point in the past it was possible to increase popularity of a feature by changing the popularity setting in MapMaker and having the change approved by an editor. That feature has been removed (at least for most editors).
-
Hi Petra,
As I suspected, the feedback I received amounted to a guess that it is an algo-driven thing. This just hasn't been documented, as far as I know. Place Labels are seen by many, understood by a few, but documented by a very few people. Sorry not to be able to quote you anything solid on this. If you're researching the issue and reach any strong theories or conclusions, I'm sure people would be interested in reading it.
Miriam
-
Petra,
I agree on your last statement. On the restaurant I mentioned, I zoomed in and out later in the day just trying different ways of looking at it and found that if I started at zero, and continued to zoom out, on the third level, the restaurant was there, but on the fourth it disappeared. (the pin stayed, the places label disappeared). Then, on the fifth it miraculously reappeared only to disappear on the sixth. So, something appears to be at play regarding the buildings around a given location and how they are possibly labeled or geographically identified along with use of polygon for shape, etc.
The link that Miriam provided is a great one and I went back to it on her reminder (second thank you to you Miriam for that link). I remembered the mention of the more you edit (approve other's edits) the faster your listing would get places labels. It does seem to work based on our experience anecdotally, but we have not measured it in any way. Again, even that could be a factor in what we are seeing with where labels appear or disappear depending on the distance zoomed in or out.
Thanks for the very cool question...
Robert
-
Hi Robert,
thank you for your detailed answer.
Google Map Maker is already on my to-do list :-).Your assumption regarding verified listing in combination with Place Labels shown further zoomed in or out is not 100% conform - as far as I could see it.
Greetings
Petra
-
Hi Miriam,
thank you for your help and your links.
Yes, I meant Place Labels.
In the Google Support Link they wrote: "The place labels shown on Google Maps are determined algorithmically based on a large number of factors".
So I guess the zoom level as well has to deal with those algorithmically determinations.But it would be great if you could give further feedback from you local specialists.
Have a nice day.
Petra
-
Hi Petra,
I agree with Robert. This is one of the most interesting questions I've seen this week, and one for which I don't have an answer because I've not seen it documented. I've put a question out to a couple of Local SEOs, but I'm not sure if I'll get feedback - again, because I've not seen this issue documented.
One thing I wanted to ask...are you referring simply to the teardrop pins or do you mean Place Labels (the little grey icons of forks/spoons, etc.)? If the latter, an interesting study was done of this in 2 parts awhile back:
http://www.iexposure.com/2011/06/16/how-to-get-a-google-places-label
http://www.iexposure.com/2011/07/26/how-to-get-a-google-places-label-part-2-update
The official Google page for Place Labels is here, and mentions zooming into a 'certain', but unspecified, level:
http://support.google.com/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=174115
However, if we're just talking about pins here, I'm sorry that I don't have a trusted resource to send you to. There could be a number of factors at play, including distance to centroid, authority of the listing, etc. I will come back if I get any feedback from my pals in Local. It really is a good question.
-
Petra,
You get the internationally recognized ?Hmmmmmm? award this morning.
That means when many people see your question they will say to themselves, "Hmmmmmm?"!!
I wish I had a perfect answer for this, but I believe there are actually multiple variables at play here. For those who enjoy learning and/or improving the web, Google MapMaker is a great place to start. This link goes to MapMaker's add a Place page. (those "spots" are called...Places and the icon that is an upside down teardrop - often with a letter in it - is a Marker).
Anyone can edit Google Maps via MapMaker. (All edits are reviewed by others and you cannot review your own edits). One thing you can do is change the shape of something on a map like an area (e.g. a park, stream, etc) or a building. If an editor has used the line drawing feature to change the shape of a feature, that could potentially affect what shows at a given level of zoom. IMO, another thing that could affect what does or does not show at given levels of zoom would be how often that place is searched for, linked to, and/or clicked on. Also, has it been edited by outside editors and then approved? If it has, I would think that site would show more at broader zoom levels than a similar business which had not been edited, especially if there are a lot of places in that given area.
One I tested that proved out: With similar businesses, where one has verified the listing and one has not, the verified listing will stay longer as you zoom further out. (Even with restaurants where the non verified had over 500 reviews and the verified had less than 100 reviews, the verified stayed while the other disappeared).
You also provided me a new mechanism for determining who is or is not an owner verified listing. Thanks!!!
I hope this helped and I urge all to explore Google Map Maker as it really is a COOL TOOL!!
All the Best,
Robert
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
-
Why not just use an alias if the only change is a different domain Name?
We are rebranding our store with a new name. We have purchased a NewDomainName. Can I just make the "Old Domain Name" an alias for the "NewDomainName"? The site will not change in any other way than having a new logo. This is an e-commerce site with over 100 categories of artisan made products. So once we move the site, the old domain will be empty. Thank you Stephen
Branding | | stephenfishman1 -
What exactly "monthly searches" from Google Adwords teach us?
I have noticed that monthly searches of our "brand" in last five years is almost same. But I can see our competitors have increased their brand searched for monthly in last few years. They are gaining popularity slowly where we are not. What are the other things we can learn when users searching for our brand are not increasing? Thanks
Branding | | vtmoz2 -
The brand drop down doesn't seem to be appearing for any brands in google.com.hk. Is it something which needs to be set up and registered, or automatically rolled out by Google?
In google.com.hk SERPs the brand drop down doesn't seem to be appearing for any brands. Is it something which needs to be set up and registered, or automatically rolled out by Google? And if so is Google just slow rolling out in this part of the world? Thanks
Branding | | seanfhutchinson0 -
Doing two Google Local Listings for the Same Business
So I have a question. I'm working on an auto dealer's website and we're trying to gear their service center toward the general public (rather than just one brand - IE Honda, GMC, Buick). We have created a subdomain for the service page, and I was wondering if we could create a unique Google Plus page for it, in an effort to help its rank. Since the auto service center is on site at the dealership, I did not know if this would hurt us. Does anyone have experience dealing with this issue? Thank you!
Branding | | OOMDODigital0 -
How to improve the quality score (QS) when bidding on competitor brand names in Google Adwords?
Hi, I have researched few sites on this topic and I could see that the competitor keyword should match with the add text relevance, landing page relevance and CTR. Any other factors more to be included to improve the quality score? Reference: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2285536/Google-Updates-How-AdWords-Quality-Score-is-Reported
Branding | | zco_seo0 -
Why has Google started to re-write my page titles?
Since earlier this week I've noticed that Google has started to re-write several of our page titles and I'm not entirely sure why - does anyone have any info? We are a UK business and currently have top spot for the keyword 'toilet cubicles' - however, our index.html page title has changed as follows: FROM: Toilet Cubicles | WC Panel Systems for Washrooms | Cubicle Centre TO: Cubicle Centre: Toilet Cubicles | WC Panel Systems for Washrooms Is this Google favouring a more brand-led approach to search? Be interesting to hear everyone's thoughts... Cheers, Craig.
Branding | | cubicle_Craig0 -
Google Places Question
When you are optimizing Google places campaigns what do you find to be a better way to appear for more searches? No, all customers come to the business location or Yes, this business serves customers at their locations (45 mile radius) **? **
Branding | | TheGrid1 -
Is Google having trouble determining between two of my brand sites
I have a couple brand sites that our company uses and a couple of weeks ago one started to suddenly show up in the #1 position while searching for the other site via its brand. If I search for "collegexpress" our other site careersandcolleges.com is in the #1 possition. If I search for "collegexpress.com" it shows carrersandcolleges.com's title and description but links to www.collegexpress.com Could I have something messed up or is google confused with our two sites? In the past I am told that CollegeXpress referred to the careersandcolleges.com page but that has been there for many many years and this SERP change only started to show the first week in march of this year. I looked and there are a handfull of anchor text links from external sites using some form of the "CollegeXpress" brand linking to www.careersandcolleges.com but not that many, and they are not new. If I do a search the other way for "careersandcolleges" I see it correctly return is own site #1 but www.collegexpress.com is shown to me as #3. I checked and we dont have any redirects or mod rewrites between the two sites. They are on two different IPs Any help that can point me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Branding | | GeorgeLaRochelle0