Category: Google Maps

A new study from Sterling Sky shows that putting keywords in the local reviews on business listings does not help improve the local listings ranking in Google Search. The study said, “it does not improve rankings.”

A few months ago, we reported Google was testing an expanded menu to manage your Google Business Profile in Google Web Search. Well, now it seems to be fully rolled out, where Google is giving business owners the ability to quickly edit their business …

There are some signs that Google web search results are displaying the local pack, the local search results box, less often and for fewer queries. The most shocking state is from Mozcast which says it use to show for around 40% of queries but now it i…

A few months ago, we spotted Google testing a dynamic search bar refinement interface in the core search results. Well, now it seems Google is testing a similar variation for the local panel interface in Google Search.

Google Maps and local panels have shown booking, appointment, reservation, and other ordering solutions from third parties for many years. And while we have a way to opt-out, it is still causing a lot of confusion and frustration for these small busine…

There are numerous reports of Google doing some mass pruning and removals of reviews from the local maps results, from Google Business Profile listings. This is done every now and then, it is unclear if this is a bug or some new filter being applied t…

Google seems to be grouping photos together by category for some business profile local panels. So if there are several photos of the location’s bathroom, Google will group those together and show how many photos they have of that category.

Google seems to be testing a new local finder for local queries that trigger the local pack. Andy Simpson spotted this and posted some screencasts and screenshots on Twitter.

Google seems to be testing a new local feature that has a section named “preview this place.” This shows an image carousel from the local business profile of that business in search.

Google seems to have launched or is testing a feature to have Google Search read details about a local business listing. This might be in only some regions, as I cannot replicate this in New York but I received a few reports from India about this feature.

There are reports from some local SEOs that Google is pushing out previously held reviews in Google Maps. Some are seeing dozens, if not over a hundred reviews being posted to local business profiles in Google Maps, some dating back a year or more.

Google has added some new features around attraction and tour operators including the ability to edit your ticket prices directly in Google Business Profiles.

Google may be testing (or this might be old) a new user interface for the local pack map interface. In the example below, Google is showing the fuller local card with some photos, business name, ratings, number of reviews, some hour details, and more.

Google has updated its Google Maps contributor guidelines to disallow “discouraging or prohibiting negative reviews, or selectively soliciting positive reviews from customers.”

There are some reports that in some industries, like the auto dealership industry, there is a bug with Google Business Profile insights reporting. There shows a large and unaccounted-for spike in traffic from Google Local and Google Maps for some of th…

In September 2020, Google added a new section for “health and safety” attributes to Google Business Profiles (formerly Google My Business). Those remained as an option until last week, Google removed those health and safety attributes late last week.

There seems to be a much higher level of Google Business Profiles suspended in the past couple of weeks than one would typically see. So a higher number of businesses set up in Google Maps are being suspended and removed from the Google local search re…

Over the past 24 hours or so, there has been a ton of complaints that the Google Posts submit button is not working. I personally tested it and it seems to work for me, but a Google My Business help thread has tons of complaints about the Google Posts…

A couple of weeks ago we reported on a possible Google local search ranking update that turned out to not be an update but rather a bug. Well, that bug seems to be fixed or being fixed now and rankings are beginning to return for these local service ar…

Did you know that in some countries, like Germany, if you report a review as being fake or spam, Google will email the reviewer about the objection and see if they respond? Mike Blumenthal spotted that in a Google Business Profile help thread.