Update 10:00 pm: Google has confirmed that this is a permanent feature.
Update 01/09/12 11:09 am: Google has confirmed that phone support is US- only and just English at this point if an agency is managing the listing, they should be able to get support.
Google+ Local had a rough 2012. But it appears that at the start of 2013 there has been at least one upgrade that is worth shouting about (here’s hoping its permanent).
Google is actually providing phone support when a business runs into verification issues.
Just to be sure that you read that correctly, I will repeat it:
Google is actually providing phone support when a business runs into verification issues. And not just phone support but support that is staffed (at least currently) by US based, English speaking personnel.
To initiate a call in go to the Google Places for Business I’m having a problem verifiying my listing(s) troubleshooter and select the option “I tried PIN verification for a single listing” and indicate that you asked for a postcard and have waited the requisite 15 days. At the bottom of the form you will a link to “Please either call us or complete the following form:”
When you select the call us option you are taken to a call back form. I tested it to see if it was actually working and within 10 seconds of filling it out Google rang me up, an automated attendant asked me to press one for support and Darrel answered. He said when I asked: “This line is primarily to provide support for verification issues”. I would suggest that this quote should be filed along with Neil Armstrong’s “One small step” quote if not for its eloquence at least for its significance.
After I picked my jaw up from the floor I thanked him and let him go on with his day. Needless to say I was shocked.
Wow. Talk about a Category 12 earthquake from Mountain View to start the year!! Let’s keep ‘em coming!
Comment by David Mihm (168 comments) — January 8, 2013 @ 5:54 pm
Maybe the end of the world is near? I have had three of my locations in postcard limbo for months now (funny thing is I did get a postcard just yesterday that was about 45 days past due). I’m going to jump on this right away while the option still exists and I’ll report back if it works for me!
Comment by Robert Reeves (1 comments) — January 8, 2013 @ 5:56 pm
hell. freezes. over.
Comment by earlpearl (784 comments) — January 8, 2013 @ 6:00 pm
@David
Right you are. It is an earthquake. I am amazed. But Google has done such a good job of not providing service that when they offer a modicum of support it is perceived as an earthquake.
Comment by Mike Blumenthal (1946 comments) — January 8, 2013 @ 6:04 pm
Mike – thanks for the great news. Looking forward to trying this out firsthand.
Comment by milestone_local (1 comments) — January 8, 2013 @ 7:53 pm
YAY! Good move in the right direction to start off the new year.
Google just emailed us an official announcement about this, so I just shared the news on the forum too. I was trying to get here to check comments but Mike’s blog was down for me for awhile. Did the earth shattering news cause Mike an avalanche of traffic?
Hopefully there will be some aftershocks and more support improvements follow this one.
Comment by Linda Buquet (293 comments) — January 8, 2013 @ 7:56 pm
Lookout….duck…..WHOOSH….
Sorry had to warn you to duck so that you’d not get hit by that flying pig!
Cool, G….cool!
Jim
Comment by Jim Rudnick (164 comments) — January 8, 2013 @ 8:05 pm
This is what I call a “black swan” event – the good kind
Fingers crossed that they don’t get flooded and have to revert back to being, how shall we put it…parsimonious.
Comment by Phil Rozek (98 comments) — January 8, 2013 @ 8:28 pm
Earthquakes, hell freezing, flying pigs and black swan events.
You guys crack me up!
Joel did you have any idea you guys were going to cause this much of a stir???
(In response to: https://plus.google.com/111115200870367736787/posts/QKCrw4sXf1J?hl=en)
Comment by Linda Buquet (293 comments) — January 8, 2013 @ 8:34 pm
Great News – Lets hope that the scope of their support will broaden to provide support for profiles with problems such as “location not supported,” etc.
Comment by Jeff Bridges (1 comments) — January 8, 2013 @ 9:05 pm
Mike, congrats on being the first to break the news. You’re a legend.
This is a pretty big deal…kind of. Don’t get me wrong, I’m shocked by the news, but I’ve dealt with Google Adwords support enough to know that 99.9% of the time I know more than the customer service rep, and that’s not saying much as I still have a lot to learn.
I’m a PPC guy, but right now I am helping my brother who is an orthodontist in Woodland Washington with his SEO as well. He ranks #1 organically, but not on the map. Funny thing is he is the only orthodontist with an address in Woodland and his listing is verified. I am going to try and call Google and see if by chance I can get some help with the issue, but most likely they won’t be able to help me with that.
Comment by Stuart Draper (1 comments) — January 8, 2013 @ 11:00 pm
Stuart
It is only a big deal because its lack has been so obvious. At this point it is clearly just for verification issues so I would not hold out much hope that will be willing or able to solve other issues.
Comment by Mike Blumenthal (1946 comments) — January 8, 2013 @ 11:09 pm
Mike, great update. However, I just clicked the link and, wouldn’t ya know it, I already got this message:
“Contacting Us
Our goal is to help you get the fastest answer to your question. Here’s how you can find what you’re looking for:
Talk to a specialist
This service is temporarily offline. Please use one of the other contact options provided. ”
I’m wondering if this is either a really, really early beta… ooooooor, they have already been inundated by so many callers because of the trainwreck (as you so greatly put it) Local has become, they had to temporarily shut it down? Maybe there will Craigslist ads for call center reps in Mountain View shortly
Comment by Josh (11 comments) — January 8, 2013 @ 11:36 pm
That is great news Mike! As always, thanks for sharing your knowledge and insight, it never goes unappreciated. Great step in the right direction to kick off the new year! (I think it also speaks volumes to the influence you have on their product, couldn’t be a better person for it.)
Thanks again!
Comment by Matt Gregory (2 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 12:45 am
Is it April Fool’s Day already…?
Fantastic news!
Comment by Matthew Hunt (77 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 1:06 am
Does this mean I’ll no longer need to call you for help Mike?
Comment by Donovan Dikaio (1 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 1:42 am
That is cool. Thanks for sharing Mike. I wonder if that # would support an incorrect map location issue for a business address.
Comment by Jason Nelson (1 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 2:30 am
I just wanted to try out and got that message: “This service is temporarily offline. Please use one of the other contact options provided.”
Do they provide that service outside US, too?
Comment by Petra (7 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 2:46 am
Is the call support applies only for US, and English-speaking countries ?
Comment by Thao (3 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 6:49 am
I can’t wait to try this for my ‘one-off’ listings I’m trying to verify that only give the phone verification option and no postcard option.
Frustratingly these happen to be my customers that have auto-attendants on their system.
I’m so excited!
Comment by Trina Frizzle (5 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 7:52 am
I received an email from Phil linking us to your post with this great news. I wonder if the person that helps with the verification issue, will then help you with other issues with the same listing or send you back to the troubleshooter. We have had verification and then other issues with the same client listing, which I’m sure many others have too.
Thanks Mike and Phil! I’m going over to the Local Search Forum to read Google’s official announcement Linda shared.
Comment by Susan Walsh (33 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 9:21 am
@Thao & Petra
It is not in the UK at the moment so I am thinking it is US only but I am trying to get confirmation.
Can anyone confirm that the service is in or not in Canada?
Comment by Mike Blumenthal (1946 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 9:32 am
@Donovan
Great question. Who knows…
Comment by Mike Blumenthal (1946 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 9:34 am
@Matt
I do not think that my articles influence outcomes much one way or the other. I think that the underlying motivator is $.
Comment by Mike Blumenthal (1946 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 9:35 am
This should make life a little easier for us responsible for setting up and managing those pages. I wonder how many support staff they will end up needed or how long wait times will be.
Comment by David (32 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 10:05 am
I can’t wait to tell my customers about this one! Thanks for the great share, Mike.
Comment by Chad Kimball (26 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 10:30 am
Thanks Mike! This is great news. I have 3 clients in different verification situations and awaiting our last effort to verify by postcards. If they don’t work hopefully I can now speak to a Google specialist and get them all sorted in one go! Can we keep this info between ourselves for now so that their phones don’t get too jammed up. Hmmm, I suppose it is probably a little late to ask that now ;-D
Once again, nice work Mike!
Comment by Adam Zahler (7 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 10:35 am
@Mike Blumenthal
thank you for your awnser, i confirm you that it’s not working in France.
But i don’t know for Canada.
Comment by Thao (3 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 12:02 pm
@Thao
I have heard back from google and they confirm that it is US only at this point.
Comment by Mike Blumenthal (1946 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 12:09 pm
@Mike Blumenthal
Okay, thanks alot for your awnser.
Comment by Thao (3 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 12:15 pm
Thanks for the heads up Mike. I do feel sorry for the predictably small amount of staff that will head this up and the hordes of calls they will get once this becomes more public to the masses lol.
Comment by Jozef Foerch (2 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 12:54 pm
FWIW, I called in yesterday about a duplicate listing that I claimed but could never seem to get verified. I had a bit of difficulty getting the rep to understand what I wanted, but once we were on the same page he asked permission to work on it and call me back. About five minutes later he called and the listing had been deleted. Mission accomplished.
I can’t say that I’m particularly impressed as it was a very simple transaction, but this combined with the recent sucessful email assistance regarding a merged listing, is a step in the right direction.
Comment by Clark Dray (1 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 1:09 pm
Wow is right, I almost wish we had issues with verification so I can call the support hot line and hear this for myself.
Thanks for the heads up, it will be a great 2013!
Comment by Gabriella Sannino (1 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 2:11 pm
Nice update Mike
Comment by Andy Kuiper (232 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 2:40 pm
@Josh – we provide support during US business hours. We’ll make that more clear on the page you reached last night.
@Jason – not yet for map location issues, but stayed tuned as we learn more from the initial launch for verification issues.
While we restrict phone numbers to the US, US business hours, and English, the team should be able to work with any location where Google Places for Business is launched.
Thanks for the feedback so far.
Comment by Joel Headley (2 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 2:41 pm
@Joel
THANKS for chiming in!
Comment by Mike Blumenthal (1946 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 2:57 pm
@Gabriella
It will be great IF Google can finally get the Dashboard and the rest of their local product working right. I am hopeful and ever the optimist that will happen.
Comment by Mike Blumenthal (1946 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 2:59 pm
So excited to learn of this news! Hopefully this will ease the panic and frustration many business owners have experienced since the migration to Google+ Local in May. Can’t wait to hear how effective this is in terms of actually solving verification and listing problems!
Comment by Katy Gibson (1 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 3:00 pm
@Katy
It is exciting but initially it is meant for verification issues so other listing problems still need to be handled as you always have for now.
Comment by Mike Blumenthal (1946 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 3:41 pm
This is shocking. But I was under the impression that Google Places was ging to be handled under the auspices of Google Plus Pages? So will this get both the Place and the Page verified, or just one of them?
Comment by Michael Ehline (6 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 3:59 pm
@Michael
The Dashboard will likely continue to exist for those not wanting or needing a social presence. This process to help with verification will work regardless of whether a business is using the Dashboard or the G+ Plus Page verification system.
Comment by Mike Blumenthal (1946 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 4:04 pm
@Joel – Thanks for the update on the hours! Certainly would be good to see what they are.
@Michael – I tried this out this morning and the rep I spoke with said that they could do either. It appears to be only accessible in the Places for Business help currently, but my question was about a Plus listing and they had no problem with that.
Comment by Josh (11 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 4:07 pm
@Josh – They had no problem with verifying the Plus Business Page?
Comment by panzermike (225 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 5:12 pm
Hi Mike,
Do you know if this support relates to verified listings that are Active but not showing impressions? Several of my clients (who are service-area businesses) have verified listings that are in this category. Or, is it just for non-verified pages.
Thanks for posting this wonderful news. You’re a fantastic resource!
Comment by Kathy (3 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 5:15 pm
@Kathy
At this point Google has said that it is for verification only. I have not tried using it for other reasons. With service area businesses it is incumbent to check to see if when you view the listing whether you get a “We currently do not support” message or not. Does the verified listing show in search
Comment by Mike Blumenthal (1946 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 5:26 pm
@Panzer
Verification is verification. It is the same whether it is driven by the dashboard or the Plus environment.
Comment by Mike Blumenthal (1946 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 5:27 pm
Mike said: “Verification is verification. It is the same whether it is driven by the dashboard or the Plus environment.”
Although as I reported in the forum quoting Jade directly from the email she sent us:
“**only for postcard verification issues in the Places dashboard**”
So I took that literally to mean only for Places verification issues NOT for G+ verification issues???
I see verification on each platform separate with potentially different issues. Lots of new verification issues can come up with G+ verification that are diff that the standard Places verification issues.
Plus they each have their own separate troubleshooters that I think may go to different support departments.
Here is the G+ verification troubleshooter. Different questions and flow than the Places verification troubleshooter. http://support.google.com/business/bin/static.py?hl=en&ts=2535756&page=ts.cs
Maybe we need clarification on that point?
Comment by Linda Buquet (293 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 5:42 pm
Surprise cold shower is how this feels for me. I can’t believe this is happening.
Comment by Vedran (12 comments) — January 9, 2013 @ 5:42 pm
I just tried it on one listing where a suite change (SUITE # MOVED TO SECOND ADDRESS LINE), and on another listing with a “Pending Review”.
Google auto called within 30 seconds, pressed one, and was transferred to “Dwayne” immediately.
Explained the issues. They have access to an in-house dashboard that shows all the transaction history for each listing. I asked if he was looking at Map Maker, he said NO.
They are also able to load your google places dashboard, and review the info there.
He was super friendly, and American, but could not disclose his office location.
Very proactive, is escalating the issue for resolution and promised contact by email within an hour or a phone call back if he needed any additional information.
Comment by HR (2 comments) — January 10, 2013 @ 12:29 pm
The past 2 days, I’ve used the Google Plus Local phone support 6 times. Very helpful for the most part.
I also spoke with Duane, he’s been the best so far. He gave me his email address, and you can also email him concerns.
Here are their hours:
9AM – 3AMEST
Isn’t that great!
I’ve had them remove rogues and remove listings with out a pin verification by phone or mail too. Very helpful.
Comment by Derek (1 comments) — January 10, 2013 @ 9:29 pm
@Linda, the phone support is for Places verification — you’re correct. Verification issues on Google+ are still best resolved using the specific troubleshooter: http://goo.gl/fyKli
Comment by Jade W (1 comments) — January 11, 2013 @ 1:02 pm
Hey Jade, thanks for stopping by and for confirming.
Comment by Linda Buquet (293 comments) — January 11, 2013 @ 2:08 pm
By any chance does the US support operate in different countries?
I mean, I’ve some troubles while supporting an Italian customer.
Comment by Andrea Moro (1 comments) — January 11, 2013 @ 2:16 pm
That is my finding as well. Strange. Google says that they will not verify a prevously verified places page of ours (all of a sudden one day was just not verified), as it does not have enough followers . . . but I can talk to a sales representative?
The Page has about 80 followers and would have more, had Google not created two duplicates of the same Plus local business page that diluted the page we have in our acount and administer. Reported more times than you can count hairs on the head.
But I see Plus local pages with two or three followers that are verified. So the question is, are different standards being applied to different users in this regard? Google requires some local pages to have hundreds of followers and others to have two or three? Very strange. I was talking with Neil Ferree about this the other day and he mentioned you. Seems like the idea of merging the accounts is not working out.
Comment by Michael Ehline (6 comments) — January 11, 2013 @ 2:43 pm
Andrea
At this point the support line is for English speaking US Businesses. When (or if) Google will expand the support to other languages and other countries is unknown.
Comment by Mike Blumenthal (1946 comments) — January 11, 2013 @ 2:58 pm
It’s a pity the new feature isn’t available in Europe and on other continents as well. I see more and more corporations targeting their web products on the USA (just think of Yahoo Places and Bing Places, which are still only available in the US). I think “European” local SEO is about 1-3 years behind the main trend and with each year the gap becomes larger..
Comment by Dorothea (2 comments) — January 11, 2013 @ 4:49 pm
@Dorothea
Google is a world wide company and builds things at scale. Thus one would think that sooner or later this might reach beyond English and beyond the US but I would also think that even Google has limited resources and needs to role these things out in a way that is both successful and sustainable aiming at the biggest chunks first… who knows I certainly don’t speak for them nor do I know their plans but I am sure that they are thinking along international lines.
Comment by Mike Blumenthal (1946 comments) — January 11, 2013 @ 4:55 pm
This is awesome! I have several clients that I can use this for immediately. I have always told clients that Google is about as fast to move as the Federal government! Now we may just be able to get some things accomplished.
Comment by Bradley Benner (1 comments) — January 11, 2013 @ 8:39 pm
Well its great for users of Google in the US…. As for us down in South Africa I guess its hang on and hope that the local Google offices introduces this policy soon.
Comment by Chris Irwin (1 comments) — January 12, 2013 @ 2:45 am
Hello..
My local listing is verified and I have uploaded my company details according to the Google guidelines but I have not getting my company name in search results
what should I do now anyone help me pls…
Thank you
Comment by Ravi Adepu (1 comments) — January 12, 2013 @ 3:18 am
This is a God Send if true! I currently an issue with two accounts. I followed the steps but it appears they are closed for Saturday. It tells me the service is ” temporarily off line” . Is that correct. If I check back Monday morning at 8 MST will it be open?
Comment by Reed (2 comments) — January 12, 2013 @ 12:17 pm
Mike:
I was contemplating the irony involved with regard to google phone calls after reading this thread in the places forum:
https://productforums.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/business/G_DtgMCFmlg
One phone call from google. A rather specific response though somewhat voluble, but explanatory.
Google takes down the guys places record. The business is f*cked. The guy sounds incredibly reasonable.
Google is big. The rest of us are small.
Comment by earlpearl (784 comments) — January 12, 2013 @ 2:00 pm
Looking forward to it being rolled out in Australia!
I suspect we may be waiting a while… Thanks for breaking the news Mike!
Comment by Marisa South (1 comments) — January 13, 2013 @ 6:58 pm
I’m curious about, how long the phone support is active or in the other hand they will roll out this feature in ohter countries. Whatever – in my opinion it is a step in the right direction!
Comment by Mathuseo (1 comments) — January 14, 2013 @ 10:42 am
Just wanted to share with everyone that I was able to verify a Canadian business. So it seems to be good to go in the Great White North….
Comment by Colan (6 comments) — January 14, 2013 @ 4:04 pm
I can’t believe how STUPID the support line is. I just had to explain the difference to the support person between Google Places and Google+ Local. That’s like taking my car in to a mechanic and explaining where the engine is.
Comment by Kate (5 comments) — January 17, 2013 @ 12:58 pm
Three of the most useless phone calls of my life. Nothing gained going on 9 months now of trying to get a listing corrected.
Comment by Justin Brantmeier (1 comments) — January 21, 2013 @ 11:51 am
Thank you soooo much. Worked like a charm. I’ve been pulling my hair out for months trying to figure out how to get our Google plus page verified. After receiving the postcard with the pin number, and going numerous times to the referenced url: google.com/local/verify I always was told that there were no pending verifications for my email address.(huh?) There was no way to handle the problem until I stumbled on your post and followed your instructions. Literally within seconds I received a phone call. The guy I spoke to understood the problem (evidently a huge situation) and ensured me that the Google team would be merging our Google local map listing with our Google plus page and that once done, the site would be officially verified. The guy even sent me a follow up email within 5 minutes of me talking to him. Can’t believe it.
Comment by Sherry (2 comments) — January 24, 2013 @ 5:04 pm
When I heard about the Google phone verification, I also thought it was too good to be true. After using it, it’s a great feature for Google to have added, and it’s about time! With all the snail mail issues with Postcard verification, this is a great change. Thanks Google!
Comment by Emily K. (1 comments) — January 25, 2013 @ 12:39 pm
[...] night Google announced that they had formally upgraded their Local listing phone support rolled-out in January to include data issues in addition to the previous phone support that had been added [...]
Pingback by Google Local Announces Upgraded Phone Support | Understanding Google Places & Local Search — January 30, 2013 @ 8:30 am
So I had trouble with a couple listings for several months. I called and was able to clear up both of them. Both listings have now moved from needs action to pending being reviewed. After talking with them on the phone “pending being reviewed” is normal after pin verification and can take several weeks. Is this true?
Comment by Reed (2 comments) — February 1, 2013 @ 12:02 pm
@ Reed – Yes, “pending review” can take months for Google to get around to even look at the listing. Sometimes it’s a matter of a few weeks but I’ve seen listings that are still in a holding pattern 6 months after the fact. Maybe another call to Google might help because the first call appears to only partially solve your problem.
Comment by Charles (4 comments) — February 14, 2013 @ 2:49 am
Great news if you live in America! When do you think they might be rolling this out to the southern hemisphere? Namely Australia… waiting…
Comment by Andrew Riedel (2 comments) — March 6, 2013 @ 10:17 pm
The above article instructions for calling google does not work. I tried it and was NOT provided any way of contacting google via phone or for them to contact me. When clicking on the CALL US link, it took me right back to the textual help section! Google SUCKS!!
Comment by Ron (5 comments) — April 20, 2013 @ 2:02 pm