Understanding Google My Business & Local Search
Google Alerting Business Owners to Recent Questions in the New Search Dashboard on Mobile
Google Q & A has been one of the most problematic recent introductions because the questions can so readily impact the reputation of a business.
And even more problematic because there is not active notification of the business owner that a new question or answer exists and these questions are not yet visible on the desktop although there have been lots of sightings of them on the desktop in the wilds. (To view these on the desktop read this article: Hack: Seeing Google Questions & Answers on the Desktop).
While it is possible to get in front of the Questions with a good plan, a partial solution seems to be at hand with the new Google Dashboard in Search on mobile where there is a very clear indication of the existence of a new question:
When the business owner clicks on “Respond” they are taken to this screen and offered the opportunity to provide and answer. Perfect? By no means but a small step for the SMB for sure.
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Comments
9 Comments
Thanks for the update, Mike. Random question: what are you currently using to take mobile screenshots?
@Miriam
My iPhone. iOS 11 has a really brilliant ability to capture, mark up and store screen shots.
At least its a step. But it’s so frustrating to have to constantly check your listing for any alerts from Google. Hopefully, they will add notifications soon!
So these don’t show up in the desktop version of the GMB dashboard in search?
@Joy
That’s correct. It shows in the search dashboard for mobile but NOT the search dashboard for the desktop. At least not today
we have had questions asked for our business but we get no notification. Kind of annoying. We had someone ask a very obscene question which looks wrong when it comes up on your phone. It looks as if the business posted them as FAQ’s. Had to call google to get it removed. Their bots or algorithm doesn’t pick it up.
Mike, thanks for this update.
There *is* a way to get notifications, but it’s not ideal. The business owner would have to be logged into the Google Maps app with their GMB account. I tested it this morning and got a push notification (I have an Android device).
After I clicked on the notification, it gave me the option to turn them off: https://imgur.com/CtUX146
Not sure if it works on iOS, but I assume it would. Might be worth testing…
Maps alerts are Android only
Mike Sir, thanks for putting this information. I searched with at
least 20 – 25 big local brands from India but didn’t see any Q&A things. Is it only coming from US or is it already rolled out across the world?
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