Comments on: Google Maps Updates Business Listing Guidelines

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:01:39 +0000

“Full legal business name” was added to the guidelines and within a week was removed. I do believe that Google will need to enforce naming in a more rigorous way so it is always the safe bet to have a DBA.

By: Njtorada

Njtorada — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:25:08 +0000

Has the “full legal business name” has been part of the guidelines for a while now? In my opinion it is (or was) a very gray area Obviously, the title of the business is a key factor and now I wonder if it is worth recommending a business to spend the money to get a “DBA” that includes keywords.

By: Leah

Leah — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 03:50:09 +0000

I’m surprised the new guidelines didn’t stipulate the physical address must be zoned for business. The maps are address sentitive to what zone they fall in too….so ??? That might be next, who knows?

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:14:35 +0000

Hi Cindy

Each location can certainly have its own places page and lbc entry.

Google wouldn’t disapprove of them going to one page BUT the user experience would be better and Google (I think) would encourage each Places Page to go to a page specific to that location.

By: Cindy

Cindy — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:01:49 +0000

I just found your post while doing some research on Local SEO for a medical center with 11 different physical sites, all located within a 50 mile radius (multiple small towns in a large metro area). Would Google approve of creating a separate Place Page and LBC listing for each physical location, with all of them linking to the corporate homepage? That seems to me a logical way to proceed — and to collect citations for each. Does this approach fit within the rules you list here?

By: TG

TG — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:55:39 +0000

By: phil

phil — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:35:46 +0000

I wonder..! Me, I’m just a SME ( small company) ..no ways we can make waves like the Big Blues etc.. ( Holiday Inns…) So that leaves us out in the cold… we need the help more than Big Blue I would say…!
Credentials wise…. not sure…. give Google access to our books!…

I would say the best option is to charge a small fee and let everyone build a highly useful feature on Google maps. Me, I thinks its invaluable to be able to see which building a company is located in.

Maybe even a “Google Business Maps” server…

That’s my tuppence
Phil

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:03:29 +0000

@Phil

The question I have is how does a business give google the confidence to add your business to the base layer of the map….anybody?

By: phil

phil — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:52:58 +0000

Hello Mike,
Very kind of you to respond and quickly too….

Ok, so its up to Google and not the individual to have ones name… It seems such a good feature..often I look for a company (via post code ) get to the general area and cannot pin point which building I need to go to……. at least with the company names attached on the aerial view it makes life a lot easier.

Just have to wait for Google to give us the ability…. Hope that’s soon!

Again thanks
Phil.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:57:10 +0000

@Phil

When google has a very high degree of confidence in a business at a location, they add it to the base map layer. They are particularly interested in certain business types (like restaurants & hotels) but will add others as well. It is not documented actually what it takes for the designation.