Glad to be commenting.

Dang, its nice to have you back.

It is my thinking that customer support as you and I know it, is not in Google’s DNA. It would require a seismic shift in their thinking for them to place the algo based strategy last in the customer relations steps rather than first when it comes to Maps. Not clear its going to happen.

I would just as soon have other rich topics to talk about though.

Mike

A couple of thoughts hit me. At Screenwerk, Chris Silver Smith focused on the problems associated with data collection. That is a topic about which he knows a lot. Its an enormous difficult problem. I know that first hand. For years I worked as retail real estate leasing agent for a major firm in a major market. The thing that got me started was in depth strip mapping of every major retail corridor in my territory with every store, retailer,property owner etc. over many corridors. It was a monumental task. It was also incredibly invaluable. Yet that was a micro micro micro effort compared to what Google and the other engines have tried to do.

Take it a step further and Yipit has made an effort to create detailed information on one category in Manhatten. A bigger effort than mine. It appears they have better info than the engines. I’m sure they put more time, money and effort into it….and expect…and hopefully generate revenues from the effort.

Then there is the service issue, addressed by so many, yourself included.

Whether paid (as Will has suggested) or not….I simply don’t undertand why it is lacking. Google is the de facto source of information. Its market share increases all the time. The mistakes create ever bigger problems for a greater number of businesses. I personally strove to assist a business whose customers regularly suffered from misinformation that Google failed to address for months after months after months. The business suffered the potential customers suffered. Google received regular requests from this business. Nothing was done. How pitiful. Multiply that by thousands.

At Greg’s post, Tim suggested that Maps is a tiny aspect of Google that might not merit the time and investment. Of interest, Steve Espinoza’s research commentary at his newsy blog on local suggests that searchers hit organic results before 10-pac results by a significant amount.

Outside of Google we still don’t know. How much activity does Maps get and how much does the 10-pac showing in organic results get. Despite the volume and problems maybe it still isn’t that great.

Anyways this has been a fascinating set of comments.

…….Assuming Google doesn’t implement a reasonable customer service methodology anytime soon…..you will have a lot of rich topics for a long time to come…….:D…….

In any case, that scathing attack on you should have toughened your skin….which is quite helpful during this brutal cold weather period. Happy x-country skiing. Stay warm.

Mike

Source Data Quality Issues
Local Business Center Flaws
Local Business Center Process issues
Customer Support and Relation issues

To my way of thinking, steps #2, #3, and #4 would ALL overwhelm #1 if implemented well. If there were a well-publicized, easy-to-understand LBC from the pt. of view of SMB’s, and that LBC did a phenomenal job of cutting down spam, and if there were a well-publicized support team for people who experienced problems with the LBC, the quality of Google’s data set instantly skyrockets.

We’ve already seen the positive effect of claiming a business on rankings–suggesting to me that there is something algorithmically that consolidates even incorrect citation data from other providers into a more powerful, singular listing for a particular business.

Specific suggestions incur the problem of being easy to shoot down. It is why I hesitate to make specific suggestions as in the end we have no idea what Google’s internal limitations and biases are, we can only surmise them.

That being said, we who deal the results of Google’s decisions and pay the price of those decisions, can correctly identify the problems. It really is up to them to fix them (or not).

In Google’s case, I think it breaks down into 4 area for the current discussion (there are certainly more that are germane but not necessarily to this conversation):

Source Data Quality Issues
Local Business Center Flaws
Local Business Center Process issues
Customer Support and Relation issues

Chandu Thota did a thoughtful piece in response to the data quality issues which we have not really dealt with here.

I am of the opinion that Google should be able to solve these issues. As you point out, Google should be able to put on the solution hat. As Chandu noted in his comments: Good software coupled with a great process is achievable with proper execution...

It is high time Google follows that dictum in the LBC.

@Matt
The word was a tad harsh, it is often difficult to achieve nuance in a brief, written way.

Mike

Mike

I’m not trying to be a jerk, but I think obtuse is appropriate in this instance.

As well as I know Mike and many of his other frequent commenters I can unequivocally state that they are people committed to finding solutions.

My problem with your previous reply and the one given here is you’re not adding to the solution discussion. You’re pointing to a roadblock.

Clearly you’re a smart guy, so put on your problem solving hat and help address the small business owner / service provider roadblocks and frustration.

Problems are yesterday, solutions are today satisfaction is tomorrow

Will