Question

Topic: SEO/SEM

Google Map/google Places Issue

Posted by Anonymous on 3/29/2012 at 2:06 PM ET 100 Points
I have a client who was partner in a law firm, but when the firm decided to close the office in his city, he opened a new firm using the same phone number but in a different location. I am assisting the client with their Google Map/Places set up. After adding the business information to Google Maps/Google Places, I encountered a few issues.

1) When adding the business information, Google had me enter a phone number to search for any existing listings. It pulled up the business that is now closed; therefore, I edited the name, address, etc and had Google send a postcard in the mail with a verification PIN. Received postcard and entered PIN. Listing for client is showing as validated.

2) When I search client name by going to maps.google.com, two old/incorrect business listings are showing up in Google search results; therefore, I used the Report A Problem feature to have the incorrect information removed from Maps. Has anyone ever used this, and if so, was it successful in resolving your problem?

3) As noted above, I am able to get client's listing to display by searching in maps.google.com; however, if I go to Google.com and type the business name or "tifton attorneys" in the search bar, no map displays. I see maps for other attorneys in my area, but not my client. Their website has been tagged with the appropriate meta data, including the words "tifton attorneys," and I have selected "attorneys" as one of my 5 categories in Google Places.

Any insight?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by excellira on 3/29/2012 at 2:13 PM Accepted
    It may just take G.com index to catch up with places. How long was the time between your changes in Places and the google.com query?

    Also, you reference "meta data". What specific elements are you referring to?
  • Posted on 3/29/2012 at 2:48 PM Author
    Thanks for your response, excellira. I originally thought the issue may have been related to needing time to index; however, the Places account was set up in February. I periodically checked for the map throughout February and March, but it has not shown up through doing a regular Google search. Therefore, I tried the "report a problem" feature today.

    For the "meta data," I am referring to the title tags and page tags on the client's website.
  • Posted on 3/29/2012 at 6:35 PM Accepted
    I had a similar issue. It took Google Places about 6-7 months before they got it right.

    To make matters worse, Google Maps has the wrong addresses on my client's street location, so their pointer is actually to a competitor's location! (We figured out how to "fool" Google Maps by giving them an incorrect address that displays in the right place.)

    Now after about 10 months, everything is just about right. But sometime we just don't show up on the listing (for certain keywords). Other times we do.

    Go figure!
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