Category: Google Maps

A number of local SEOs are stating that Google is now requiring businesses that had their Google Business Profiles suspended to reverify at a higher rate than normal. Meaning, the business needs to go through the verification process again to be activa…

Google seems to be testing a new ad unit for hotel or nearby listings that have big blue buttons to book at the site being listed. I am honestly not sure if this is new but I am told it is.

Google seems to be testing (or maybe it is a bug) the local panel sub-menu under the main search bar, under the search box. Normally, these sub-menu items would be grouped in the local panel on the right side of the page (normally on mobile) but here i…

A couple of years ago, we covered a report by the NY Times on the ongoing issues with review scams and blackmail. Well, the issue is not gone, despite Google responding to that report. From what I am told, it is still relatively common and our own Bi…

Google updated its service areas business guidelines help document to add “Do not add countries or states as a service area.” Google also updated numerous parts of the document.

Google seems to be expanding the feature where they turn off the ability for some local listings, Google Business Profiles, to allow posting reviews. We covered this before during the UK and limited release, where you would get a notice that says “Pos…

Google will be ending the ability for hotels to manage their hotel rates by themselves, instead they will need to partner with a central reservation system, Internet booking engine or other partner to manage those rates on Google Search.

Google is testing moving the social profile links above the Google Posts section in the Google Business Profiles / local listings within Google Search. This seems to be being tested right now.

Google is testing new report reviews options in the Google Business Profiles reviews section. You can access it, if you are in the test, by looking at your local reviews in Google Search and clicking on the report / alert icon next to any review.

Google has rolled out a new interface to view your historical Google Posts within Google Business Profiles. Now the interface is a scrollable list view.

Google seems to be flip-flopping between calling it Google Posts and Google Updates within Google Business Profiles. When a business owner wants to post an announcement of sorts on their Google local listing, they can click “Add update” or now “Posts” …

Google seems to be testing displaying local ads at the bottom of the Google local map pack in the Google Search results. Normally the sponsored ads are at the top of the local pack, but here they are at the bottom.

Google is testing adding product tags to photos within Google Local carousel’s photos. These tags are overlayed on the “explore through photos” unit.

Over the past week I’ve been hearing that some Google Business Profiles are vanishing or disappearing. I am told that Google is aware of the complaints and are investigating, but that was last week.

For the past several months, we’ve been seeing signs that the Google Maps and local questions and answers feature is being phased out. Well, it seems like it is not going away but rather changed when it does and does not show.

Google added a new type of data point to the Google Business Profiles performance reports named Chat Clicks. Chat clicks show you how many people are clicking over from your chat conversations in the local and maps results within Google Search and Maps.

I am seeing some complaints within the local SEO community about a surge or spike in name changes happening to Google Business Profiles. It is unclear how widespread the issue is, or if there is a pattern to the issue or not – at least at this point i…

For the past few weeks or so, Google has a bug where the right side knowledge panel goes missing for business owners when you try to bring up your business listing in Google Search. This is not impacting everyone and it can be random but Google is supp…

Last month we shared the spam efforts the Google Maps team announced – but did you know that in 2024 Google had almost one billion reviews published within Google Maps? That is 999 million reviews, 752 million photos and videos and 94 million place ed…

Google is rolling out a new feature for Google Business Profiles named What’s Happening. This feature is for bars or restaurants to better promote events, deals, and specials prominently at the top of their Google Business Profile.