Comments on: Google changes Bulk Uploads to Unverified in LBC – leads to loss of rank? http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/01/17/google-changes-bulk-uploads-to-unverified-in-lbc-leads-to-loss-of-rank/ Developing Knowledge about Local Search Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:38:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Google Maps now offering a Whitelist Bulk Upload Beta for the LBC? » Understanding Google Maps & Local Search http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/01/17/google-changes-bulk-uploads-to-unverified-in-lbc-leads-to-loss-of-rank/comment-page-1/#comment-394041 Google Maps now offering a Whitelist Bulk Upload Beta for the LBC? » Understanding Google Maps & Local Search Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:07:06 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=2208#comment-394041 [...] Center. Obviously the bulk uploads as they were originally construed led to spam and have been devalued as a source for trusted information. This beta appears to be a response to both the need for [...] [...] Center. Obviously the bulk uploads as they were originally construed led to spam and have been devalued as a source for trusted information. This beta appears to be a response to both the need for [...]

]]> By: Rodrick http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/01/17/google-changes-bulk-uploads-to-unverified-in-lbc-leads-to-loss-of-rank/comment-page-1/#comment-323185 Rodrick Tue, 20 Jan 2009 21:10:47 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=2208#comment-323185 Maybe that is so, but even if I change information in the listings in my LBC home, they don't offer a verification method, making any way to verify my listing impossible. Maybe that is so, but even if I change information in the listings in my LBC home, they don’t offer a verification method, making any way to verify my listing impossible.

]]> By: Mike http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/01/17/google-changes-bulk-uploads-to-unverified-in-lbc-leads-to-loss-of-rank/comment-page-1/#comment-323173 Mike Tue, 20 Jan 2009 19:08:42 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=2208#comment-323173 @Roderick They could very well be dinging you for use of these suites...or perhaps there is some sort of new sandbox that waits for a period of time or other verification before reranking? Mike @Roderick

They could very well be dinging you for use of these suites…or perhaps there is some sort of new sandbox that waits for a period of time or other verification before reranking?

Mike

]]> By: Rodrick http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/01/17/google-changes-bulk-uploads-to-unverified-in-lbc-leads-to-loss-of-rank/comment-page-1/#comment-323121 Rodrick Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:06:19 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=2208#comment-323121 Well I can say this, in our business we use executive suites across the country to conduct business and in each of these suites there are businesses. We also do and I think that those addresses being used over and over again are causing us to look like spam since we are relatively new. Our company is only 2 years old but it thrived from a houston based company to nation wide with over 4000 people under us. This single movement made by google has left us completely 100% dead in the water. We have lost about 95% of the business we had compared to last year. Until our listings fell on maps, we had a record high in hits on the site and phone for work. We went from 17 gigs of bandwidth to 6 hits on the site overnight. We NEED maps. It is what our business is based on completely. The only business we get are repeat customers, and we only briefly touched the surface of the market so that is not many repeating customers to be had. If they are trying to establish trusted companies then they need to call such companies and speak with a representative or the founder of said company and work WITH companies, not drown them out in our dying economy. Well I can say this, in our business we use executive suites across the country to conduct business and in each of these suites there are businesses. We also do and I think that those addresses being used over and over again are causing us to look like spam since we are relatively new. Our company is only 2 years old but it thrived from a houston based company to nation wide with over 4000 people under us. This single movement made by google has left us completely 100% dead in the water. We have lost about 95% of the business we had compared to last year. Until our listings fell on maps, we had a record high in hits on the site and phone for work. We went from 17 gigs of bandwidth to 6 hits on the site overnight. We NEED maps. It is what our business is based on completely. The only business we get are repeat customers, and we only briefly touched the surface of the market so that is not many repeating customers to be had. If they are trying to establish trusted companies then they need to call such companies and speak with a representative or the founder of said company and work WITH companies, not drown them out in our dying economy.

]]> By: Mike http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/01/17/google-changes-bulk-uploads-to-unverified-in-lbc-leads-to-loss-of-rank/comment-page-1/#comment-323097 Mike Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:49:57 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=2208#comment-323097 Thanks for stopping by and contributing. I have little direct experience with bulk uploads so your reporting out is valuable. I think that Google is trying to establish "levels" of trust in the bulk uploads. In the past they have spoken about a trusted agency program that would involve a close relationship and higher trust. My sense is that what we are seeing is the first step in that delineation. I was speculating as to the purpose of the change being to make it harder for spam to list. It could very well be something else. But...a number of folks have reported that not all bulk uploads were so tagged. Clearly the ones that were met Google's criteria in some way to be reclassified as "Unverified" and thus needing additional verification. Mike Thanks for stopping by and contributing. I have little direct experience with bulk uploads so your reporting out is valuable.

I think that Google is trying to establish “levels” of trust in the bulk uploads. In the past they have spoken about a trusted agency program that would involve a close relationship and higher trust. My sense is that what we are seeing is the first step in that delineation.

I was speculating as to the purpose of the change being to make it harder for spam to list. It could very well be something else. But…a number of folks have reported that not all bulk uploads were so tagged. Clearly the ones that were met Google’s criteria in some way to be reclassified as “Unverified” and thus needing additional verification.

Mike

]]> By: Rodrick http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/01/17/google-changes-bulk-uploads-to-unverified-in-lbc-leads-to-loss-of-rank/comment-page-1/#comment-323065 Rodrick Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:36:14 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=2208#comment-323065 Hey there Mike, I see you actively on the forums and read your blog as of late also. I was curious about this, I find that some of my listings even though they are unverified can appear at the number 1 spot if they had the correct needs by the current worm met to be at that position. Which this time around was "Categories". If the categories matched the search terms then they were boosted in ranks regardless of label. So I don't think being unverified is a bad thing so much except when searching by city and not zip code. Ex: search term used : court reporter 90210 The answer is the letter (E) A1 Court Reporter is one of our companies. An unverified listing on the first page. But if you looked up Beverly Hills we would be on page 9 or so. This begs to ask the question, why make listings unverified? If they can still rank at all, why not just delete all bulk uploads and restart them. I also noted that the 1Mb filesize "limit" on the Bulk upload utility via their site is more of a guideline then an actual rule. y stack is 5 megs large and I am able to upload it, though I have to babysit the computer for a bit it was well worth it to make sure that my company listings were up. So why not just delete bulk loads that were bigger than a certain filesize the help lose the mapspam? Their are a lot of ways they could have gone in this but they failed miserably with the way they handled this particular situation. If I were simply trying to mapspam I wouldn't be putting up such a fight for my listings nor would I care to be known, spammers don't want to be in the spotlight. I just want my business back. Hey there Mike, I see you actively on the forums and read your blog as of late also. I was curious about this, I find that some of my listings even though they are unverified can appear at the number 1 spot if they had the correct needs by the current worm met to be at that position. Which this time around was “Categories”. If the categories matched the search terms then they were boosted in ranks regardless of label. So I don’t think being unverified is a bad thing so much except when searching by city and not zip code.

Ex: search term used : court reporter 90210

The answer is the letter (E) A1 Court Reporter is one of our companies. An unverified listing on the first page. But if you looked up Beverly Hills we would be on page 9 or so.

This begs to ask the question, why make listings unverified? If they can still rank at all, why not just delete all bulk uploads and restart them. I also noted that the 1Mb filesize “limit” on the Bulk upload utility via their site is more of a guideline then an actual rule. y stack is 5 megs large and I am able to upload it, though I have to babysit the computer for a bit it was well worth it to make sure that my company listings were up. So why not just delete bulk loads that were bigger than a certain filesize the help lose the mapspam? Their are a lot of ways they could have gone in this but they failed miserably with the way they handled this particular situation.

If I were simply trying to mapspam I wouldn’t be putting up such a fight for my listings nor would I care to be known, spammers don’t want to be in the spotlight. I just want my business back.

]]> By: AhmedF http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/01/17/google-changes-bulk-uploads-to-unverified-in-lbc-leads-to-loss-of-rank/comment-page-1/#comment-322960 AhmedF Tue, 20 Jan 2009 06:51:35 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=2208#comment-322960 Sorry Miriam - I was saying that is what we (iBegin) do - we let the claimer schedule a call for later. As for bulk uploading, we basically have an agency program - trusted partners (whose listings we randomly verify) that can bulk upload with an instant 'verified' label. Both things I am sure Google could easily do (though I am sure their volume for an agency program would be very high). Sorry Miriam – I was saying that is what we (iBegin) do – we let the claimer schedule a call for later.

As for bulk uploading, we basically have an agency program – trusted partners (whose listings we randomly verify) that can bulk upload with an instant ‘verified’ label.

Both things I am sure Google could easily do (though I am sure their volume for an agency program would be very high).

]]> By: Mike http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/01/17/google-changes-bulk-uploads-to-unverified-in-lbc-leads-to-loss-of-rank/comment-page-1/#comment-322764 Mike Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:41:51 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=2208#comment-322764 @Joan The only comment from Google was the one made above to a number of complaints of the message showing up and lower rankings... @Jaon+ Martijn I would be useful to know what Google is using as the criteria to tag...it would seem likely to me that they are referencing a database rather than the KML files but who knows given the limited information made available. Mike @Joan

The only comment from Google was the one made above to a number of complaints of the message showing up and lower rankings…

@Jaon+ Martijn
I would be useful to know what Google is using as the criteria to tag…it would seem likely to me that they are referencing a database rather than the KML files but who knows given the limited information made available.

Mike

]]> By: martijn beijk http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/01/17/google-changes-bulk-uploads-to-unverified-in-lbc-leads-to-loss-of-rank/comment-page-1/#comment-322704 martijn beijk Mon, 19 Jan 2009 20:12:31 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=2208#comment-322704 btw they should fix or workaround that phone problem they have where you are sometimes unable to verify by phone with certain PBX systems (it doesn't recognize the buttons pushed for PIN ). btw, one big account I have isn't showing any unverified listings.I used bulk upload and KML. btw they should fix or workaround that phone problem they have where you are sometimes unable to verify by phone with certain PBX systems (it doesn’t recognize the buttons pushed for PIN ).

btw, one big account I have isn’t showing any unverified listings.I used bulk upload and KML.

]]> By: Joan van Hilten http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/01/17/google-changes-bulk-uploads-to-unverified-in-lbc-leads-to-loss-of-rank/comment-page-1/#comment-322635 Joan van Hilten Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:04:11 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=2208#comment-322635 wow - this is going to make life a bit long winded. Giving someone 5 minutes to call isn't enough time if they are at home trying to claim a listing - unless they call forward their biz number to their home number for that point in time. using a cell phone will only drive the calls to that number as the main number, once you try to change it back to the main number if it's a land line restarts the PIN verification process over again. I'll take some time out of my schedule tomorrow and go over my bulk uploads and see if there are any currently that say - unverified. Did Google provided a timeline as to going forward or uploads as of a certain time will carry this 'unverified' mark of shame? Joan wow – this is going to make life a bit long winded. Giving someone 5 minutes to call isn’t enough time if they are at home trying to claim a listing – unless they call forward their biz number to their home number for that point in time.
using a cell phone will only drive the calls to that number as the main number, once you try to change it back to the main number if it’s a land line restarts the PIN verification process over again.

I’ll take some time out of my schedule tomorrow and go over my bulk uploads and see if there are any currently that say – unverified. Did Google provided a timeline as to going forward or uploads as of a certain time will carry this ‘unverified’ mark of shame?

Joan

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