Entries from Search Engine Roundtable tagged with 'google local business center'

Google Maps has been a extremely important area for SEOs and SEMs to focus on for their clients. Ranking in the Google results that have a maps result is often critical to these businesses and those map results come up...

Posted on March 11, 2010 9:07 AM

A couple months ago, Google mailed businesses Google Maps decals that they can proudly place in their store windows. There was some early confusion about how they worked and some bugs that caused a bit of a panic amongst business...

Posted on February 15, 2010 8:36 AM

Remember, a few months ago, I wrote how some Google Maps reviews were being posted on competitors Google Local Business listings? In summary, a Doctor was complaining that his competitors were obtaining his reviews, even though his business has a...

Posted on January 22, 2010 8:32 AM

There are two bugs to report in the Google Maps space. The first is that the Google Maps Terrain view has removed the country labels from the maps. The second is that categories are being added to business listings without...

Posted on January 20, 2010 9:02 AM

The Google Lat Long Blog announced businesses can now add real time information to their business listings. How does it work? It is honestly a bit tricky. You would think you would "Edit" your business listing in Google Local Business...

Posted on January 18, 2010 8:32 AM

Ever wonder if there is a limit on the number of business listings you can have in your Google Local Business Center? A Google Maps Help thread has Maps Guide Linda saying that limit is currently 100 listings. Linda said:...

Posted on January 13, 2010 8:26 AM

This is a pretty bad slip up by Google. The Google Maps and Local team seemed to have sent out a batch of updates on how well a business's Google Maps listings are doing, but to the wrong businesses. Last...

Posted on January 7, 2010 8:59 AM

A week or so ago, we reported how Google removed SEOs from local pack in the search results. The move caused a pretty big debate in the industry where many SEOs felt this was a nail in the coffin for...

Posted on January 7, 2010 8:49 AM

Google Maps Guide, Cecelia wrote in a Google Maps Help thread that Google will be enabling Google Local Business Favorite places to reorder lost or damaged Google QR code decals. Ever since Google has been sending these out, I have...

Posted on January 7, 2010 8:17 AM

Mike reported how Google likes you to report Google Maps business listing spam to them. Google Maps, especially the local business center, has been a target for spammers in the past couple years. Google has tried numerous ways to have...

Posted on December 30, 2009 8:20 AM

Starting over the weekend, if you tried to update a Google Maps business listing in the Google Local Business Center, you would get a weird error. We have many reports in the Google Maps forums, many. The error sometimes looks...

Posted on December 14, 2009 8:48 AM

Google also announced that they are sending out stickers to be placed in shop windows that have QR barcodes. The goal is to allow people to scan the sticker and look up more information about that place. You can see...

Posted on December 8, 2009 9:32 AM

A DigitalPoint Forums thread reports seeing a new type of Google AdWords result. This AdWords result seems to be combined with a Google Maps result, where it shows a blue pin, and address information on the right hand side of...

Posted on November 23, 2009 8:04 AM

I spotted this old thread at Google Maps Help that has very useful information and yet, we have not covered it (go figure). In short, the thread goes through the possibility of having a single business listed in your Google...

Posted on October 29, 2009 8:41 AM

Linda from the Google Maps team posted a thread at the Google Maps Help forum announcing a new feature in the Google Local Business Center that helps businesses see their own listings on Google Maps. Linda said: Today, you'll see...

Posted on October 21, 2009 8:31 AM

The local SEMs are buzzing about how Google dropped three listings from the local space in the Google search results. Now, instead of showing the "ten pack" of ten local search results pulled from Google Maps on the Google web...

Posted on October 12, 2009 8:18 AM

A Google Maps Help thread has several business owners complaining that they keep getting an error from the Google Local Business Center category field that says: Select at least 1 category that matches suggestions as you type The issue is...

Posted on September 14, 2009 8:09 AM

I have been noticing a recent spike in the number of complaints about their business reviews going missing in Google Maps. One of those complaints has a response from a Googler. A Google Maps Help thread has one business listing...

Posted on September 3, 2009 9:13 AM

Google Maps Guide, Brianna, announced in a Google Maps Help thread that there is a brand new verification form for those who use the bulk upload process, to upload their business listings to Google Maps. Google has struggled with spam...

Posted on August 17, 2009 8:11 AM

There is an unusual spike in complaints in the Google Maps Help forum that the Google Local Business Center is not functioning correctly. People are saying that although they are updating the information in the local business center, those updates...

Posted on August 7, 2009 8:45 AM

The Google Maps Help forums posted an announcement that there will be scheduled downtime this Wednesday, July 29th. The downtime will be between 1pm - 2pm(edt) / 10am-11am(pdt). I assume that after 2pm on Wednesday, we might be in for...

Posted on July 27, 2009 8:39 AM

A Google Maps Help thread has a few business owners and consultants suggesting that Google should allow multiple Google accounts to gain access to a single business listing. I cannot agree more. This is a feature that is currently supported...

Posted on July 24, 2009 8:01 AM

The other day, Google announced improvements with analytics for the Google Local Business Center. I thought I take you through detailed screen shots of how my business listing appears in the LBC. (1) Analytic Graphs plotting both "impressions" (views) and...

Posted on June 4, 2009 8:29 AM

Google Maps updated the business listing quality guidelines over the weekend. The new guidelines are welcomed by those who have noticed an influx of spam or borderline spam submissions to the Google Local Business Center over the past couple years....

Posted on June 1, 2009 9:05 AM

In the past couple of weeks, we showed how Google Maps can cause real pain for some business owners. I first showed you how you can close down competitors on Google Maps and then I showed how your business listing...

Posted on May 7, 2009 8:14 AM

I found a very disturbing Google Maps issue via Google Maps Help forums. Mike Blumenthal has uncovered that Google is merging competing businesses that have nearby addresses. Let me say that again, but show you an example, that was uncovered...

Posted on April 29, 2009 8:30 AM

Google has created a comprehensive user guide for the local business center. You can via the user guide over here. It is broken down in seven sections: Getting startedAdding a listingAdding more than 10 listingsVerifying a listingYour Local Business Center...

Posted on April 14, 2009 8:07 AM

A Google Maps Help forum thread has a post from Steve Thornton, the IT administrator at Solid Ground, an organization that does a lot of good. In short, Steve posted his extreme displeasure with how Google Maps is listing a...

Posted on April 7, 2009 8:02 AM

It appears that the Google Local Business Center is not working for many businesses interested in updating their Google Maps/Local business listing. A Google Maps Help thread (well, there are a few) reports the issues from several users. In short,...

Posted on April 2, 2009 8:11 AM

A business owner is showing his frustration with Google over Google Maps listing his business as closed. In a Google Webmaster Help thread, this business owner said: The search result from Google shows our office as closed (the exact phrase...

Posted on February 20, 2009 8:41 AM

We have several business owners complaining in two different Google Maps Help Threads that the upload picture feature in the Google Local Business Center is not working. Basically, they are trying to upload pictures to their business listing but they...

Posted on February 18, 2009 8:32 AM

Google is trying really hard to educate business owners to validate their business listings in Google Maps. If every business owner did this, it would solve a lot of issues for Google. That being said, Google just announced in a...

Posted on February 18, 2009 8:22 AM

Mike Blumenthal has been covering Google Maps spam since Google Maps came out. I guess he got sick of covering the issues and not much being done about stopping it. He decided to do something a bit extreme. He hijacked...

Posted on October 31, 2008 7:40 AM

A Google Groups thread reports many business owners having difficulty accessing the Google Local Business Center. The error people are getting is: System Error We're sorry, but we are unable to serve your request at this time. Please try back...

Posted on October 6, 2008 7:44 AM

A Google Groups thread reports a possible bug in Google Maps. In March, Google launched the ability to add videos to your Google Local Business listing. But it seems that if you add a video to your business listing, then...

Posted on August 12, 2008 8:47 AM

Maps Guide Sirene announced in a Google Groups thread that Google Maps has finally added the "fix incorrect marker location" back to the Google Local Business Center. If you login, and edit your business listing, you will see a link...

Posted on July 31, 2008 8:09 AM

Google's Local Business Center, the place businesses go to add or edit their local business listing at Google Maps, is having some major technical issues. A single post by Google Maps Guide at Google Groups really sums it up quickly:...

Posted on June 19, 2008 7:41 AM

Back on March 8, 2007, I reported at Search Engine Land how Google Local Business Center Adds Photos, Attributes, Maps Corrections & Stats. I went through how I added photos and updated some attributes. But since then I have been...

Posted on April 26, 2007 7:55 AM