Google acknowledges problems with Local Business Center

The Local Business Center has never been perfect but since being upgraded late last week, the complaints have been streaming into the Google Maps Business Owners Group and the Google Maps Troubleshooting Group. There have been problems with bulk uploading, coupons, image uploading, location pin adjustment and more in the new interface. Google Map’s Guides …

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Google Maps Local Business Center Upgrade: Bulk Upload MIA

The recent upgrade to the Local Business Center has appeared in Australia and Canada as well as the US. It still is not visible in Europe.  There were several changes that I noted on Friday that seem to be spam prevention mechanisms. One I missed though and of more import is that the bulk upload …

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Does IYP market share matter?

Does the IYP/online business directory market share matter or has the battle already been decided? Has this category been relegated to just another niche search area where money can be made but market dominance is not possible? A recent press release noted that www.local.com, ranked fifth in the Business Directories online industry category. This was …

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Google Maps: Coupons not functioning; Upgrade coming?

Update 9:20 PM 6/16/08: As of this evening, the coupon feature started working again. I was even able to add an ending date. I received the following when posting a new coupon: “Your coupon was successfully created and saved. Your new coupon should appear on the details page for your listing in Google Maps within …

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Local Links of Interest

The Growing List of Things You Can Do With Google Maps – Brian Ussery, Blogoscoped.com Great summary of the many new features rolled out for Maps over the past 6-8 weeks Google and Yahoo! lead for mobile search traffic – Alex Farber, nma.co.uk Google and Yahoo! account for 79% of all mobile internet search traffic, …

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Google Map Local Business Center Update – New Interface & Features

Update 6/16/08: According to Brett Gilbertson, the new interface is available in Australia and in Canada but according to Martijn Beijk not in Europe as yet. Also of note is that the bulk upload capabilities are not included in the new interface. For a work around for the absent bulk upload, read the comments below. Google appears to …

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Does Google Maps hate Advertising Agencies?

I spend way too much time looking at Maps and so I often see the “mistakes” that remind us the Google is human too. EarlPearl, the moderator of Geo Targeting Forum at SeoRefugee, pointed out to me the odd results on the search advertising agencies + locale on which he wondered “What does Google Maps have …

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Local Links of Interest

BBB Reliability Report for MerchantCircle – Better Business Bureau of San Jose Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the BBB due to failure to respond to one or more complaints and or two or more otherwise unresolved complaints. However the business has resolved most complaints presented to the bureau. The …

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Local Links of Interest

When Will ‘Mobile Search’ Overtake the Internet? – Greg Sterling, LocalMobileSearch.net While it might take some time for mobile to pass Internet search in the US or Western Europe, in context of the entire world it’s not hard to imagine mobile search volumes exceeding the desktop Internet, in the aggregate, within 5-7 years. Google Goes Back …

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Google Maps Mapspam: Abogados en San Diego

Recently in the Mapspam arena I had reported on the first sightings of bilingual English Spanish Mapspam in LA and International Mapspam targeting Spanish speakers in Barcelona. Now I can also report Spanish only Mapspam in (where else?) Southern California. I have no idea how big the market is for the search phrase: “Abogado en …

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