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Understanding Google My Business & Local Search

A Step By Step To Recover Your “We Currently Do Not Support This” Location in MapMaker

Pending Google’s recovering listings that had been erroneously removed from the Local index, Google advised businesses that they could try to recover the listing themselves via MapMaker.

Jeff Maltz asked the question as to the specifics of how this was to done. I thought the question deserved a thorough and technical answer so that others in the same place could enter MapMaker partially armed. Not being fully versed in the arcane world of MapMaker, I asked Dan Austin, a long time MapMaker user and expert to explain the process in detail.

Jeff’s question:

I’m curious if anyone out there has actually been successful at getting a listing that was removed from Places, but still showing up on Maps, back on Places per Google’s note

“If you’re confident that your business fits within our guidelines, then search for your business at mapmaker.google.com and see if it has been marked as removed. If you’re able to find it, attempt to undo the removal and reinstate your listing on Maps. It may take a couple of days for your reinstatement to be processed.”

How do you undo a removal from Places? What are the exact steps i should take here? My listing is still showing up in Maps just not Places.

Thanks for your help in advance!

Jeff

Dan Austin’s answer:

The trouble is in finding it [a record that has been removed from the Places index] in MM. Most business owners never bothered to save their Place page URL, but if you can recover that, about 50% of the time you can recover the original MapMaker URL. The other half of the problem is some POIs are not recoverable from MM, no matter what you do. That is the “widespread technical” issue that Google is talking about.

I’m also confused by his terminology. Visible on Maps but not Places? I assume he mean Map Maker:

1. Go to the Place page. If it shows the message We don’t support this location, that isn’t an issue.
2. Recover the CID number from the Place page, which should look like this:
http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=705997672099256085 (The Place page is visible if you click on Edit business details or Edit details on the Google+ Page. It also recoverable by clicking on the Map pin to the right of listing.)
3. Plug the CID number (which is only a number—no letters: 705997672099256085) into this formula:
http://www.google.com/mapmaker?gw=90&cid=
…so it reads:
http://www.google.com/mapmaker?gw=90&cid=705997672099256085
4. Cut/paste the URL into the address bar of your browser. Open that location.
5. If it comes up with an error message, then the POI is most likely irretrievably lost. Go to step 16.
6. If it shows as Removed or Closed in details view, click on Edit.
7. If it doesn’t show as Removed or Closed, open it for editing to check the status.
8. If there are checkboxes for Remove or Closed, uncheck them.
9. If there are no checkboxes, then look for any recent edits that say Place removed or Place closed in history. Undo that edit, choose reason as Correcting poor data. If there are no recent edits with that status, then it’s likely unrecoverable. You can try to undo the most recent edits that have no status message, but this may or may not work, since you don’t know what you’re undoing.
10. If you’re able to uncheck the boxes or undo the edit, save the edit. Any error messages means it’s likely unrecoverable.
11. Copy/paste the MM URL from your pending edits, and go this forum:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!categories/google-mapmaker/review-edits-requests
12. As the title, post the location (NY, NY)
13. Explain what you’re trying to do.
14. Wait for approval from either Google Map Maker Reviewers (GR) or an Regional Expert Reviewer (RER). Post again if you don’t get a satisfactory response within 48 hours.
15. Place page should reappear within 24 hours (often instantly). If it doesn’t appear, then there’s other issues that can’t be resolved in MM, and you’ll need to use Places support.
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16. Search for the POI in MM (http://www.google.com/mapmaker), using the search box. Is it a dupe that you’re editing, rather than the original?
Here’s how to check if it’s a dupe, or if it’s the original:
16a. Open the POI in a separate tab. Right click on URL, open in separate tab.
16b. Edit. Click history. Does the history match with the changes you’ve made? Does it have a history? If no on either question, then it’s likely a dupe, and your original Place page is unrecoverable.
16c. To check further, right click, Find cid. Does the CID match the original Place page URL? If you don’t have the original Place page URL, plug the copy/pasted CID number (example: 705997672099256085) into the following URL formula: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=
so it reads http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=705997672099256085
16d. Open this URL. If it’s a We do not support this location or a page that doesn’t match your original listing, then it’s not your claimed listing.
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Best practices for managing Place pages.

Record the following URLs:
1. Google+
2. Place
3. Map Maker

Example for Good Food Store:
1. Google+: https://plus.google.com/107937670594974239538/
2. Places: https://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=705997672099256085
3. MM: http://www.google.com/mapmaker?gw=39&fid=0x535dcddf42144869:0x84ed04d79b4b8549

If you have that info, then almost any POI is recoverable and editable, no matter what it’s status.