Category: Google Maps

Google updated its Google Posts content policy with a fun new policy line. It reads “Google My Business is not meant to be a forum for general political, social commentary, or personal rants. Content that does not meet this standard will be removed.”
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Google has always showed a direct answer for when you search for a business name and hours. But here is a screen shot showing Google displaying hours by department and special pick up hours, which I suspect come from the new expanded more hours featur…

Google has launched new square-shaped map pins named promoted pins. It is aimed to help you make your listing stand out from the normal shaped pin like pins in Google Maps.

We have seen Google add the “get online care” details to a local panel, when you click on a medical and health related local result in Google. But now Google has added the “online care” icons to the higher level, local pack.

In early March, Google added a feature to Google My Business that allow car dealerships to have multiple Google My Business listings within Google Local and Google Maps. But now it seems that for some dealerships, the service listing is showing above t…

It looks like Google My Business is able to pull data from Facebook to show in the Google Maps and Google Search local panels. Here is an example from Tom Waddington of a plumber listing that shows the owner’s name and the source of that information s…

At the beginning of this COVID-19 pandemic, the Google My Business team added a new option for temporarily closed. But it seems like some businesses are not currently or temporarily closed and cannot change the status to open in Google.

Google’s Danny Sullivan said the company is looking into reports of new spammy listings in the Google My Business listings around garage door installation companies. Ben Fisher, a local SEO, said there are “thousands of new listings are popping up cou…

Google released a new feature within Google My Business to let you set “more hours.” More hours are by categories of types of hours; like if you are a supermarket and you have special hours for seniors, or you have special pickup hours for a hardware s…

Andy Simpson shared a screen shot on Twitter of a featured snippet on Google but is also mixed as a local one pack. The search query was [med mal lawyer washington dc] and this is what this featured snippet local one pack looks like.

Ben Fisher noticed that the Google My Business local business reinstatement request form added a new field. You can now upload a file that shows proof that your business should be reinstated in Google My Business. The form added the ability to upload …

Google’s John Mueller was asked if the Google May 2020 core update or any core update can have an impact on the Google My Business reports. He said no, core updates in Google Search are unrelated to Google My Business. But yes, we did see many local …

Google suspended displaying new business reviews in Google Local/Google My Business in March. Well, now, Google seems to be showing new reviews and backfilling old reviews that were submitted between now and then.

A couple weeks after Bing Places added integration with GoFundMe, Google My Business follows suit and also integrates with GoFundMe for donation links in your Google local listing. Well, Google also added PayPal as another option. In addition, Google…

Did you know that if you mark your business as temporarily closed in Google My Business that Google will remove the buttons on your listing to go to your web site or call your business? Amy Toman shard this on Twitter and this is something a lot of bus…

Tim Capper, a local SEO, said you should be aware that in many cases, if you post a Google Post using the COVID-19 update, then it will likely replace any other normal Google Posts you add. He said on Twitter “it would seem that COVID-19 post in GMB a…

Google can now show if a specific location, pharmacy, etc, is a COVID-19 testing center and what requirements there are to be tested. Mike Blumenthal shared a screen shot of a Walmart store that has this testing set up and that in this one, you do need…

Google has added a new feature to Google My Business for hotels. This is a new feature lets hotels add if they offer free or discounted rooms for COVID-19 responders. Many hotels are being used to house COVID-19 responders so these responders do not p…

Google is now showing a “get online care” and “see COVID-19 info for visitors” links to a medical or hospital facilities local listing in Google search. We knew this was coming but now it is visible for searchers.

Google is now offering free printable posters for your local business with messages related to COVID-19. The posters can be hung in your business door window and they range from messages about takeout and delivery and no contact delivery.