{"id":12077,"date":"2012-01-19T12:33:53","date_gmt":"2012-01-19T16:33:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/?p=12077"},"modified":"2012-01-19T12:33:53","modified_gmt":"2012-01-19T16:33:53","slug":"the-long-and-winding-tale-of-trying-to-fix-a-merged-listing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/19\/the-long-and-winding-tale-of-trying-to-fix-a-merged-listing\/","title":{"rendered":"The Long and Winding Tale of Trying to Fix a Merged Listing"},"content":{"rendered":"

This person posted<\/a> this detailed log of his efforts to resolve his merged business before the new unmerging repair process<\/a> was in place in the Google Help Forums. He had previously posted<\/a> this information at Linda Buquet’s blog as a counterpoint to her article<\/a> about improving Google customer service. It very much reinforces the issues<\/a> that Matt McGee had and is having with his wife’s listing.<\/p>\n

He suffered the unfortunate \u00a0but all too common reality of attempting to fix a merge prior to there being a formal process<\/a>. He witnessed the results of having too many inputs into the system. While it is much easier now, it points out the near heroic efforts that an SMB will make to get this squared away and how the lack of a clear process from Google dramatically increased both his and their costs. And he still has a merged listing.<\/p>\n

********<\/p>\n

PROBLEM:
\nWe have had a Merged Google Places listing with a competitor since 9\/12\/11 that has yet to be fully resolved.<\/p>\n

Our Places page<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Our correct information:
\nMorris Law Firm, P.A.
\n111 Second Avenue NE, Suite 515
\nSt. Petersburg, FL 33701
\n(727) 388-4736
\n(877) 353-8408
\n(727) 388-9639 (Fax)
\ncriminalattorneystpetersburg.com<\/p>\n

BACKGROUND:
\nWe are a law firm (please don\u2019t hate us) in a large office building with a Suite number for a physical office.\u00a0 A Competitor that practices the same type of law, in the same building and has a different Suite number that refers to a mailbox (PO Box).\u00a0 They do not have a physical presence in the building (note that we believe this to be a violation of Google Places terms of service).\u00a0 We believe that the similarity in address information, phone number, firm name, and category information caused the Google algorithms to merge our listings (and continue to merge our listings).\u00a0 Also note that we are an AdWords Express customer.<\/p>\n

HELP REQUESTED:
\nWe are requesting any help available to get this issue resolved once and for all.\u00a0 We are happy to provide any and all information to help identify the issues and even act as a case study for Google and those interested to help others in the future.<\/p>\n

INFORMATION:
\nWe have compiled the following timeline to explain the chain of events, actions taken, and results to date:<\/p>\n

9\/12\/11
\nISSUE:\u00a0 We first realized that our Places page had been merged with the competitor. Competitor information replaced ours for the page title, URL, phone number, pictures (with our pictures), and address information as well as \u201cComments from the Owner\u201d and \u201cReviews from around the web\u201d and \u201cAt a glance\u201d information.
\nACTION: Panic set in. We attempted to make changes (ill-advised) in our Dashboard that resulted in having to be re-verified through a post card.
\nSTATUS: Our listing showed different combinations of our information and our competitors.<\/p>\n

9\/27\/11
\nACTION: Contacted Google and later received an email stating the listings would be separated and would take several weeks to see the changes.
\nSTATUS: Listing reverted to our URL and address, phone number still the competitor\u2019s.<\/p>\n

10\/19\/11
\nSTATUS: Listing reverted to our phone number, pictures of the competing business went away. \u201cComments from the Owner\u201d and \u201cReviews from around the web\u201d still from competitor.<\/p>\n

11\/9\/11
\nSTATUS: Merged again.\u00a0 Listing information same as 9\/12\/11 above.
\nACTION: Emailed Google support.<\/p>\n

11\/9\/11
\nSTATUS: Received email from Google \u201cImportant: Your listing on Google Places will soon be updated\u201d that contained competitor\u2019s business information to be updated in our listing.
\nACTION: We followed the instructions in the email to reject the pending change (Places Dashboard, Edit\u2026Submit).\u00a0 Emailed support and received reply saying they would look at it.<\/p>\n

11\/10\/11
\nSTATUS: Exact repeat of 11\/9\/11 above.<\/p>\n

11\/15\/11
\nSTATUS: Received an email from someone on the Google AdWords Team that consulted with the Google Data Quality Team and who was working to de-merge the listings.\u00a0 Told that it would take a \u201cfew\u201d weeks.\u00a0 Later the same day the only merged data is \u201cReviews from around the web.\u201d<\/p>\n

11\/21\/11
\nSTATUS: Received two (2) emails from Google \u201cImportant: Your listing on Google Places will soon be updated\u201d \u2013 information in email was correct, EXCEPT that the phone number listed was our secondary toll free number, not our primary local number.\u00a0 Also received an email from AdWords support stating that, \u201c\u2026 the Data Quality Team has split your listing\u2026\u201d and would take 3-4 weeks.
\nACTION: We followed the instructions in the email to reject the pending change.<\/p>\n

11\/28\/11
\nSTATUS: Received another email from AdWords support stating, \u201d the issue was resolved. It is no longer merged with the other advertiser.\u201d<\/p>\n

12\/14\/11
\nSTATUS: Received another \u201cImportant: Your listing on Google Places will soon be updated\u201d information in email was correct, EXCEPT it had our competitor\u2019s URL.\u00a0 Places listing showing \u201cComments from the Owner\u201d including his phone number, \u201cReviews from around the web\u201d linked to the competitor, and \u201cAt a glance\u201d information from the competitor.
\nACTION: We followed the instructions in the email to reject the pending change.\u00a0 Emailed AdWords support.<\/p>\n

12\/15\/11
\nSTATUS: Places listing completely gone in all searches. Came back much later in the day after performing the Dashboard Edit\u2026Submit. Still some merged data in the listing.<\/p>\n

12\/29\/11
\nSTATUS: Received two (2) more \u201cImportant: Your listing on Google Places will soon be updated\u201d\u00a0 that had all correct information except the phone number.\u00a0 Competitor\u2019s phone number still showing on our Places listing.
\nACTION: We followed the instructions in the email to reject the pending change.<\/p>\n

12\/30\/11
\nSTATUS: exact same as above, 2 emails \u2013 again.
\nACTION: Emailed Google support. Received a response they were working on it (again).<\/p>\n

12\/31\/11
\nSTATUS: Competitor\u2019s phone number still showing on our listing.
\nACTION: Attempted our own Edit this Place action (changed phone number to our correct number) and received a \u201cGoogle Maps Edit \u2013 Action taken\u201d email, though there was no change on the Places listing \u2013 still the competitor\u2019s phone number. Also attempted for the first time to use the Google Places Troubleshooter (we had just noticed it as an option), then we received a \u201c[#XXXXXXXX] Google Places for Business Help\u201d email saying they were investigating.<\/p>\n

1\/1\/12
\nSTATUS: Competitor\u2019s phone number still showing on our listing.
\nACTION: Attempted another Edit this Place from another Google account.\u00a0 Got the same \u201cGoogle Maps Edit \u2013 Action taken\u201d email, but still no change on our Places listing.<\/p>\n

1\/3\/12
\nSTATUS: Spoke with competitor who was going through similar Google Places pains.\u00a0 He was going to move offices as a result.\u00a0 Said they would be working to change Google Places address info and\/or delete their Places page and start over.\u00a0 Idea of competitor deleting his listing made us nervous as the listings may still be merged. Still wrong phone number for us.<\/p>\n

1\/4\/12
\nSTATUS: Received a new type of email, \u201cGoogle Maps Problem Report received\u201d \u2013 this time from Reporting a Problem on Maps.<\/p>\n

1\/5\/12
\nSTATUS: Received a \u201c[#XXXXXXXXX] Google Places for Business Help\u201d email from using the Troubleshooter. This one has a new timeline, \u201cWe have taken the necessary steps to make sure that your business information will appear correctly within 6-8 weeks.\u201d Phone number remains wrong.<\/p>\n

1\/10\/12
\nSTATUS: Phone number correct on our Places listing.\u00a0 \u201cReviews from around the web\u201d still linked to competitor.<\/p>\n

1\/17\/12
\nSTATUS: Phone number reverts to being the competitors.
\nACTION:\u00a0 We use the Google Places Troubleshooter and Report a Problem link again.<\/p>\n

1\/18\/12
\nSTATUS: We receive an \u201cImportant: Your listing on Google Places will soon be updated\u201d with the wrong phone number information.
\nACTION: We followed the instructions in the email to reject the pending change.<\/p>\n

LATE 1\/18\/11
\nSTATUS: Received a \u201c[#XXXXXXXXX] Google Places for Business Help\u201d it says, \u201cThank you for letting us know about incorrect information showing on Google Maps. With your guidance, we’ve made changes to our data and the updated information is now visible on Google Maps.\u201d\u00a0 Our phone number now appears correctly.\u00a0 \u201cReviews from around the web\u201d still linked to the competitor.\u00a0 Our Places ranking has been lost, we no longer appear in the 7-pack.<\/p>\n

SUMMARY:<\/p>\n

\u2013 Too many ways to report a problem.
\n\u2013 Changes are happening before we can attempt to stop them using the Dashboard Edit\u2026Submit.
\n\u2013 We don\u2019t understand where the changes are coming from.
\n\u2013 Fixes don\u2019t seem to stick.
\n\u2013 There appear to be duplicative emails sent (\u201cImportant: Your listing on Google Places will soon be updated\u201d)
\n\u2013 Support is better, but underlying Merge issues still exist.<\/p>\n

Our opinion:
\nClaimed (verified) business Dashboard information should be real time and override all other information.<\/p>\n

Any help or comments accepted and appreciated. Hope this timeline and information is helpful to those out there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This person posted this detailed log of his efforts to resolve his merged business before the new unmerging repair process was in place in the Google Help Forums. He had previously posted this information at Linda Buquet’s blog as a counterpoint to her article about improving Google customer service. It very much reinforces the issues …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-google-maps-google-local"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12077"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12079,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12077\/revisions\/12079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}