Category: Google Maps

Google announced yesterday that both restaurants and their customers can add popular dishes to their Google local panel results. Google also said machine learning can help, “The popular dishes feature is powered by a machine learning algorithm that ma…

Google is testing using company logos in map pins. Darren Friel spotted an example of this with the Early Settler brand. Here is that screen shot.

The folks in the Local Search Forums spotted Google showing green map pins in the local pack map for Google local pack ads. Can you see them?

Mike Blumenthal spotted Google renaming the Google Posts section in the local knowledge panel from “Posts” to “Updates.”

Google announced Google Trips, a more consolidated view of using Google for trips, travel and vacations. Google will put hotels, flights, things to do, places to eat, weather, packages and more right in a central place.

It looks like the folks at Google My Business are testing and maybe rolling out yet another new design for the Google My Business console. The new design lets you update the cover photo easily, the new navigation at the top and up-selling G-Suite serv…

The folks in the Local Search Forums are complaining that some of their clients are showing weird reporting glitches within the Google My Business Insights section. It is supposedly not too uncommon to see weird dips and/or data glitches in this repor…

Google is sending out a survey to some local businesses asking if they would be willing to pay a monthly fee in exchange for Google My Business listing services.

Last week we reported how many businesses in Google My Business were noticing Google adding a new category to their listing named “POI Establishment.” Google supposedly began fixing this Thursday evening but now many are noticing it read “Point of Int…

There are numerous reports of Google Maps listings, Google My Business listings that have had their suspension removed then seeing all of the reviews they had on their listings vanish. Joy Hawkins at the Local Search Forums wrote “listings that are su…

I am seeing reports of business owners and local SEOs saying they are seeing a new category being added to some of the business listings they manage. The category is called POI Establishment and folks are confused what this is about, espesially because…

You’ve seen the Google local services ads before, they have the Google Guarantee label on them. But when the Google Assistant started showing ads, people asked how does one not pay to show up in the local listings if you need the guarantee label but t…

Google posted on Twitter that within Google My Business you can now highlight and post automatically suggested reviews as customer testimonials. Google said “Google My Business now provides suggested posts to help you showcase positive reviews. These …

A thread at the Local Search Forums has different local SEOs saying different things about how Google Posts helps their local rankings in Google Maps and local. Some say it helps, some say it doesn’t help and some don’t know either way.

Google My Business is rolling out a new feature to let businesses define their short name and URLs within Google My Business. This way you can when you share your short name, customers can enter the short name URL in the browser’s address bar, like “g….

Does your business still have a fax number? I’ll be honest, I spend about $10 per month to have one and I use it maybe once every several months. Did you know Google can list the fax number in your local knowledge panel? They can. Here is one for on…

Google is experimenting with a new dashboard for the Google My Business section. The new dashboard shows larger cover images and photos that you can change for your business.

Last month we reported Google launched a new form to report Google My Business/Google Maps spam. After a few weeks in, local SEOs are reporting how fast you can see action after a spam report is submitted. It seems it currently ranges from 1.5 weeks to…

A few weeks ago I spotted a thread at the Local Search Forums where someone shared a new user interface for the Google My Business Dashboard or a newsih business being verified in GMB. Now Google kind of gamifies the process of completing your Google …