Category: Google Maps

There has been this ongoing bug with Google Maps / Google My Business where for some service area businesses they end up being placed in the middle of the United State of America, in Independence, Kansas. I am not sure why and I don’t fully understand…

In July 2020 Google told us they would begin to notify businesses when they are suspended from Google My Business. Instead of just being suspended and being labeled as such in Google My Business, Google would send out email notifications. Well, now I…

Back in December we reported Google was testing a “new” label in the local business reviews for reviews about a month old. Well, that new label seems to be live now in the local reviews for all to see.

Joy Hawkins is saying she is noticing evidence that Google is testing, testing heavily, showing a two-pack instead of a three-pack. I personally cannot replicate this and I only rarely ever see two results in the local pack (for extremely remote queri…

Google announced this morning new features to improve Google Maps, including improved curbside pickup and delivery options. Plus, the company announced improvements to indoor live view navigation, air quality data and driving directions that are eco-f…

The Google My Business team is looking for ways to improve and sent out an survey to a bunch of businesses asking them for feedback. Andy Simpson shared some screenshots of the survey on Twitter.

Google has a bug in Google My Business when you try to verify or update an address. The form seems to bug out and show a blank screen. So if you need to update or verify your business address, you will be out of luck until Google fixes the issue.
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Google’s local panel allows you to message or now chat with some businesses that enable the messaging feature in Google My Business. Previously, Google always called it “message” in the local panel but now Google is testing calling it “chat.”

Google is now testing a “not helpful” button in the local reviews within local listings in Google Maps and Google Search. Tom Waddington spotted this and posted the screenshot below on Twitter.

Google My Business has launched a new tool where you can not only see the reviews for your business, but also quickly report those reviews for policy violations and even better, check the status or reviews you already reported. Plus, if that review wa…

Bryant Suellentrop spotted a new ad placement in the Google Maps interface that Ben Fisher confirmed with me is new. In short, if you are browsing Google Maps and click on a business pin, Google will overlay the local result on the map interface. Now G…

Google in the local pack is now expanding its “justifications” (weird word for this) to show not just general justifications about the business and not just what is on the menu but highlights from the menu. Luca Bove noticed this and Mike Blumenthal …

Google lets businesses that do not want to display their addresses (like home based businesses) on Google Maps or Google Search the ability to label their business as “service level businesses.” But starting last Friday according to Tricia Clements (@y…

Google Local, I believe part of the local service ads product, is testing a feature to show estimated prices near you for specific types of queries. Anubhav Garg spotted this box for a query on [roofing companies hackensack] which showed estimated pric…

Google has added a local restaurant or businesses online ordering forms to the call to action overlays it provides in Google Maps and the local pack. Previously, Google only showed 3rd party integrated platforms in this overlay, not the custom URL ord…

There may be a bug with the Google My Business Google Posts feature. There is a spike in the number of complaints about rejection notices for Google Posts. So when a business owner posts an update to Google Posts, those updates are more likely to be …

Google has updated the directions icon it uses for its local search results. Before the icon had a shape with an arrow in white within it, now it has a simple arrow upwards. This is present both in the local pack and in the Google Maps listings on mob…

Google has updated the Google My Business “available performance metrics” help document to talk more about the new performance reports. Google added a section for “users who viewed your profile” and added more details to the other section.

Generally when it comes to a Google local ranking algorithm update, you need to wait a week or so to see the chatter from the local SEO community. I am not seeing that chatter yet but BrightLocal’s tracking tool is lighting up over the past two days, …

Google wrote about some of the efforts it takes towards preventing and removing “fake and fraudulent contributed content” on Google Maps. The numbers of how much Google has removed from the Google Maps ecosystem is pretty amazing.