Category: Google Maps

There are many many complaints about Google My Business working properly now. We know the support hours have been limited due to the outbreak. We know features and functions have been removed or stalled. But it seems that there are tons of issues wit…

If you login to your Google My Business account and click on edit your information, you will be given a new option to “mark as temporarily closed.” Previously you were unable to do this from Google My Business.

Google has suspended accepting and posting reviews and Q&A on local businesses during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Google posted in its help document “New reviews, review replies, and new Q&A will be unavailable during this time.”

Google is making a rule exception to what you can use in your business name for some restaurants. You can write in your business name that your restaurant has “delivery available” or “takeout available.” This is just for the time being, and is normal…

Andy Simpson shared a screen shot (that I cannot replicate) of Google Local showing a summary of how many people mentioned a phrase in the comments. In the example below it says “4 people mention atmosphere” and “3 people mention kids.”

Google said it is using Duplex, Google’s AI based phone calling service, to call businesses to check if business hours have changed or if the business has closed. Google wrote “using our artificial intelligence (AI) technology Duplex where possible to…

Google is sending out email notifications to business owners through Google My Business asking businesses to update their details if the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) affecting your business. The email asks “Is the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) affe…

Google posted in the Google My Business help area that it wants businesses affected by COVID-19, the coronavirus, to update your profile to provide the most accurate information. This might mean updating your business hours or more, Google said.
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Google can show you a list of business profiles you manage in Google My Business directly in the web search results. It depends on your query and the number of listings you manage, but you might be able to trigger it. I should note, I don’t think this…

Google said yesterday that now before it publishes any of your photos or videos you post in a Google My Business or Google Maps listing, it will manually review it before it can be published. Google said “We’ve made changes to our photo and video cont…

Google has updated its help documents to allow car dealerships to have multiple Google My Business listings within Google Local and Google Maps. Google said a single car dealership can have a listing for each brand it sells, plus a listing for each br…

Colan Nielsen shared a new feature he spotted in the Google My Business dashboard. Under the products tab (not everyone will see this), Google is providing “suggested categories” for you to add based on how Google understands your business.

Google announced this week that what it has done in 2019 to combat Google Maps spam and violations. Google removed 4 million fake business profiles from Google My Business in 2019. It also removed 75 million policy-violating reviews from local profil…

Back in 2016 we reported that Google Maps ads can and do show a purple ad label next to the local listings that are ads. But that has changed over the years and now Google is once again testing the purple ad label in the local ads, even on desktop.
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Did you know you can now upload multiple photos or videos to your Google Posts in Google My Business? Previously, it was one image or video per Google Post but now you can do up to ten, I believe.

Remember when Google added that keywords in business descriptions is a local ranking factor? Then Google pulled some of that information from the help document after local SEOs said it is not true? Well, Google just said on Twitter, days after this de…

One of the more annoying things I run into with the Google local panels is a link to order online that simply does not work. In fact, I see it so often that I do not trust the links Google shows in the local knowledge panel. Instead, I go directly to…

Francisco CV shared a screen shot of Google My Business emailing him after a review was deleted from his (or his clients) Google local listing. The email comes from Google My Business with the subject line “We have deleted a review of your business pr…

Earlier we reported that Google My Business was rejecting a huge number of Google Posts images. Well, it looks like my assumption that this was a bug was correct. Mike Blumenthal, a top contributor for Google My Business, said on Twitter “The Google …

Google My Business does send out emails asking those who have not logged into their Google My Business account in a while, to log back in to stay verified. The email does not appear to be a phishing scam, but rather something Google has done for a whi…