Google Places Quality Guideline Update

Nyagoslav Zhekov pointed out to me that Google has recently added the following to their Google Places Guidelines: Marketing, promotions, or other contests Any promotion, marketing, contests, or other giveaways should clearly link to the terms of the activity and provide clear guidelines and qualifications. All such promises, given or implied, should be adhered to. …

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Thanks to All

I have not been very present of late. I had some health issues that have been resolved which kept me from posting. For the past nine days I have been speaking in the Northwest and while I have had time to eek out a few posts I haven’t been very present in the comment sections. …

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Google Places Account Suspended- All is Not Lost

Linda Buquet notes that in some situations (where you have not received the start over email) Google is still apparently resuscitating some suspended accounts. From the post: Your account’s been suspended. See my response on this other related thread: Listing not live on Maps anymore, or, it is live and it’s not owner-verified? Use this …

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“We Currently Do Not Support This Location” Bug Being Fixed

Apparently there is a new bug (or is it an old one that has resurfaced) causing a number of listings to be erroneously noted as “We Currently Do Not Support This Location” . Google’s Places Forum Community Manager Vanessa has noted in the forums: A bunch of you have reported seeing “We currently do not support this …

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Google Places Now Requesting Business Licenses?

Dave Oremland of Professional Bartending School in DC, alerted me to the fact that Google Places is now apparently going so far as to request a business license from some businesses to verify their authenticity. In this Google Places forum post the Commonwealth Sunoco of Boston asked: I received an email from local-help@google.com. They are requesting a scanned …

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GetListed Local U – Edmonton

If you are in Edmonton today, be sure to stop by and say hello. Here are articles that go into greater depth around the topics raised in my presentation: Reviews – Jumping Into the Void Slide 4 – Google FAQ on Review Issues And some of the ways they might get lost Slide 11 – Trust in …

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Google Removes Adwords Express from Places

Google has removed Adwords Express from the Places Dashboard and installed the product into its own area of Adwords. In accounts that did not have an AdWords Express ad, the AdWords Express Tab has just disappeared. In accounts that had an AdWords Express Ad, Google has reconfigured the ad at adwords.google.com/express/. AdWords Express has moved to adwords.google.com/express/. …

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The Venice Shift from Local Pack to Blended Results

The Venice update that started in late January had significant impact on Google local search results. We saw an increase in the display of the PlusBox, an increased search display of Blended results, reduced display of Local Pack and an increasing number of city level results being inserted in the organic SERPS (See Mike Ramsey’s …

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