Google Warns Local Businesses: You Have 3 Weeks to Save Your Places Listing
-
Has anyone heard anything about this Google warning that was supposedly sent to some Google Place owners recently.
The message says:
We are making some changes to Google Places for Business and Google Maps so we can continue providing people with the best experience when they're looking for local businesses. As part of this process, we're asking business owners to review and confirm some of the information in their Google Places accounts so we can keep showing it to Google users. We know this will be a few extra steps for merchants, and we apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your time.
We have sent business owners affected by these changes an email entitled "Action Required: You have 3 weeks to save your Google Places Listing". Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2327744/Google-Warns-Local-Businesses-You-Have-3-Weeks-to-Save-Your-Places-Listing
I haven't found much other information in the SEO community but I just wanted to see if anyone has actually received this notice or not?
Someone suggested it may just be a test in Australia/Austria. (Not sure which one it is as the comment in the above list references both countries)
Thanks for any information you have on this topic.
-
It's definitely us down under here in Australia.
The thing I would recommend is getting started on reconfirming your categories and your listing addresses now. Google has started heavily validating categories and making sure only one of each type of business is at an address (is it possible to have 8 photographers in one building? Sure, but not likely.)
Just review things now, while you have the chance. We're re-validating a LOT of clients and it's a lot of work.
-
Hi Samantha,
It was posted on a Google forum Feb 2nd of some users experiencing this
Picked up by SERoundtable on the 6th, and then by others.
However, I haven't seen anything but this instance of it. It might be rolled out to other areas possibly.
Hope this helps
-
I had heard this recently as well and saw the post you reference. Not sure if it was there when you saw the post, but there is a comment from someone who claims to have spoken with a Google rep and confirmed that is is only in Australie for now.
Ken
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
-
Star rating not showing up in local pack, and knowledge panel pulling in healthgrades
Hello, I have a client that when you Google just their business name a couple of odd things are happening. First off, they show up in the map pack, but it's now showing their review rating. They have 29 reviews, with an average star rating of 4.6, but at first glance, it doesn't look like they have any reviews:
Reviews and Ratings | | ElaineBushey0 -
Client wants to delete Google My Business Due to Bad Review
My client has received a bad review on Google and although has other good ones, wants to delete the current Google My Business page and open a new one. I disagree with this strategy but need some evidence to back it up. They are ranking well and so I don't want to upset the cart. I need reasons not to in terms of potentially harming rankings. Am I right that this could impact?
Reviews and Ratings | | AL123al3 -
I just found original business name for client - its not the same as GMB or any aggregate site. What to do?
the business filing with the Secretary of State is a name of an individual (e.g. Matthew Smith, M.D.). This is on reflected on Localeze and such. However, the business is operating under a name "Healthy Body and Minds Clinic", which is the Facebook, Google My Business, and website name and info. So, how is it best to get consistency in NAP with the two different business names being used? (Ideally, no change in State registration or filing for a DBA). Thanks much! One idea I have seen is to include both and separate them by a colon. As in "Healthy Body and Minds Clinic : Matthew Smith, M.D." I appreciate any suggestions or tips to help. Thanks.
Reviews and Ratings | | Marky_Mark0 -
Why does this business have an average of 4.8 and not 5?
I was doing some research today and came across a business that has 5 reviews, all 5 stars. For some reason, their average is showing as 4.8, instead of a perfect 5. Looking at some other businesses, I see one with 4 5-stars, 1 4-star, and 1 1-star. 25/6 = 4.1666666. That would round to 4.2, but Google lists them as 4.3. Is Google just bad at math, or are they using some other factor in calculating these averages?
Reviews and Ratings | | irapasternack1 -
Local Reviews.
Hi I was wondering if someone can tell me if I understand this correctly or at least my observation has been right? Does Yelp pick up the reviews left of Google and post it on yelp, if you are using the same gmail to log in to both your yelp and google account?
Reviews and Ratings | | LittleDog0 -
Customers can review business on New Google Plus
Google Plus for businesses has switched to a new Google+ page that does not have a "WRITE A REVIEW" button available for customers to leave a review for a business. This is preventing us from sending a link to our Google Plus business page directly to customers soliciting a review for our business. Has anyone else noticed this update migration and does anyone have a work around for how to send a link to our customers so they can leave a review on our Google+ business page?
Reviews and Ratings | | bcannon130 -
Fixing Google Review (it's technical, not about an unhappy client)
We have six 5 star reviews for our Tampa office...but for some reason, our rating is a 4.8. Why is that? And, more importantly, how do I get it fixed? https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=kemp+ruge+green+tampa+twiggs&lrd=0x88c2c48aec26ee65:0xaa2e3a3569ca3602,1 Thanks, Ruben
Reviews and Ratings | | KempRugeLawGroup0 -
Publishing testimonials on your site that are from your Google + (or other review sites page)
Ive got a site with some good Google + Reviews and some other good reviews on other sites that id like to be able to publish on a testimonials page on our website, but im worried about being penalised for duplicate content. Any idea of the best way to get these reviews on to our website, i was thinking about placing the text in as an image, but id prefer to do something semantic if at all possible. (I know that some review sites have javascript widgets you can use to pull in your reviews but for most of the sites we are reviewed on they dont)
Reviews and Ratings | | Sam-P0