Google Places Search on the iPhone and Android now offers an option to show only business that are open. The feature is available in Places search and filters out not just restaurants that are closed but restaurants for which Google is not confident of their hours. I performed the following search yesterday afternoon for Restaurant Spokane:
All Places:
Only Open Places option selected:
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It is not totally obvious from the screen shot but the ranking was significantly altered when the top two Places listing completely disappeared. Not because they were actually closed but because the listings were not claimed and Google had been unable to find their hours elsewhere on the net.
Bing recently noted while presenting at the GetListed Portland seminar that 50% of all restaurant queries are now originating on mobile phones. If that fact and this feature is not enough to motivate business owners to claim their listing and populate it with accurate information, I am not sure what is.
Great feature if it’s obvious that it’s turned on. Nice to see where you can actually go for a meal after a movie.
Comment by SKOM (1 comments) — February 26, 2011 @ 1:47 pm
So I guess this means that everybody is going to be open 24/7…
Comment by Dennis (47 comments) — February 26, 2011 @ 2:28 pm
Oh, and it must suck to be Mizuna above Had they been closed, we would not see that review.
Comment by Dennis (47 comments) — February 26, 2011 @ 2:35 pm
Neat find Mike – …pays to fill in the hours of operation. Thanks
Comment by Andy kuiper (232 comments) — February 26, 2011 @ 3:08 pm
@Dennis
That’s one way to deal with the hours… although with local being so immediate and the user likely to be in close proximity that seems a risky strategy…unless of course you are a locksmith
Review management and monitoring is becoming more important every second, eh?
Comment by Mike (2500 comments) — February 26, 2011 @ 3:09 pm
Great info to be aware of and add to knowledge box. Thanks a Million
for sharing.
Comment by Trish (1 comments) — February 26, 2011 @ 3:46 pm
It’s little subtle distinctions like this that belie the ease of use of Google products. At first glance you just enter some info into a form and that should be it. But if a business isn’t paying close attention to these fine points then they will pay dearly.
Comment by James (31 comments) — March 2, 2011 @ 8:36 am
Hopefully this will help motivate business owners to start claiming and optimizing their listings.
Comment by Gina (5 comments) — March 2, 2011 @ 5:03 pm
Dear Lior (from Google)
This is the big mouth (what is the blog commentator equivalent of a big mouth? ie someone with hundreds of comments in Mike’s blog
)
I copied the above article and gave it to an SMB owner of a restaurant. I’ve been bugging/nagging/suggesting he claim his listing in Google Places for months and months.
He has been reluctant to do so. Ultimately he doesn’t have great trust in Google (big brotherish….don’t know). (btw–that didn’t come from me)
After he read the above article he claimed the listing in about 15 minutes. It was easy. Google instantly confirmed by phone.
So, Lior; chalk one up for me, helping you guys get one nervous SMB to claim a google places listing.
Now why don’t you do something for us…..maybe fix something…toote suite!!!
Comment by earlpearl (784 comments) — March 8, 2011 @ 1:41 pm