{"id":2567,"date":"2009-03-04T21:09:26","date_gmt":"2009-03-05T01:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/?p=2567"},"modified":"2009-03-04T23:42:18","modified_gmt":"2009-03-05T03:42:18","slug":"lbc-use-case-when-not-to-delete-an-lbc-listing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/04\/lbc-use-case-when-not-to-delete-an-lbc-listing\/","title":{"rendered":"LBC Use Case: When NOT to delete an LBC listing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated<\/strong> by Joel 03\/04\/09 9:00 PM EST<\/p>\n

The question of how to suspend\/delete a duplicate listing in the Local Business Center has always been somewhat confusing. Several readers had reported, and I had experienced, the outcome that if not done properly EVERYTHING IS REMOVED from Maps. It leaves one a little gun shy.<\/p>\n

Here is a recap of a recent interchange<\/a> between myself and Joel, a Google Employee, that has been frequenting the Map’ support areas<\/a> and providing incredibly useful answers.<\/p>\n

My hat is off to Joel and if this is a trend, to Google, for actually putting someone in the Help forums<\/a> that answers questions and increases our understanding of Maps and the LBC:
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Question:\u00a0How do I know which listings I can delete?<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n <\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/h2>\n
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Stevenash<\/a><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Level 1 2\/27\/09<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
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I have three listings all with the same name and address.\u00a0 One has photos the other two don’t.\u00a0 All three say they have each displayed\u00a0the\u00a0same number of times.\u00a0 The only one I\u00a0ever actually see\u00a0displayed has\u00a0is the one with the photos yet when I deactivate the other two, none show in the search results.\u00a0 What’s going on?\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

All answers<\/h3>\n
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Joel H<\/a><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Google Employee 2\/27\/09<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
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Hi Steve, I see three duplicate listings in your account. It appears as if you’ve suspended two of these listings. These listings are conflated on our maps, and when you choose to suspend one entry in your account, it will suppress the entire listing on Maps. I suggestion you do the following:<\/div>\n
1. Click\u00a0Resume display on Google Maps<\/strong>\u00a0for each suspended listing. The listings now appear with two links:\u00a0Edit\u00a0<\/strong>&\u00a0Delete<\/strong>.<\/div>\n
2. Select\u00a0Delete<\/strong>. A confirmation window appears with two options:\u00a0Remove this listing from Google Maps<\/strong>\u00a0&\u00a0Remove this listing from my Local Business Center account<\/strong>.<\/div>\n
3. Select\u00a0Remove this listing from my Local Business Center account<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/div>\n
This way, the listing on Maps will continue to appear. Otherwise, we think you’re trying to remove it. Since all three listings are PIN verified, we accept the last action as the final action on the listing.\u00a0 Hope that information helps. Cheers, Joel<\/div>\n
***<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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mblumenthal<\/a><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Contributor 3\/1\/09<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
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Joel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
When you remove the listing from the LBC account and it returns to the index as not claimed<\/div>\n
1)Is this not a violation of the Guidelines?<\/div>\n
and<\/div>\n
2)Is the listing not eligible for community editing?<\/div>\n
Mike<\/div>\n
***<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Joel H<\/a><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Google Employee 3\/1\/09<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
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In this case, Steve just has a bunch of duplicates. Notice that he indicates that all three have the same display counts? That’s a clue that the multiple listings in his account are being combine into a single listing on Maps. Removing the extra listings, in my opinion, makes account management a bit simpler.<\/div>\n
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I’m not sure what part of the guidelines you refer to – I assume you mean having multiple listings for one business? In Steve’s case, it appears he added extra listings by mistake – not to keyword\/location spam our system. These mistakes are tolerable and don’t violate the spirit of our quality guidelines.<\/div>\n
If\u00a0all<\/span>\u00a0listings are removed from the account, the listings must be re-added & verified in order to update the information, by Steve or anyone else. They aren’t community editable. That functionality may change in the future, but for now, it remains ‘locked.’<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
*** <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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mblumenthal<\/a><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Contributor 3\/1\/09<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
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OK but then there will be another listing floating around the index that\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
1)may not have current information at some future point and\u00a0<\/div>\n
2)may accrue reviews.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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That doesn’t seem optimal.<\/div>\n
Will it ultimately be merged with the original or deleted from the index?<\/div>\n
Mike<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
*** <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Joel H<\/a><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Google Employee 12:50 AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
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I’m sorry if there’s confusion.<\/div>\n
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The listings are already merged. All the listings in Steve’s account are associated with a single location & listing appearing on\u00a0maps.google.com<\/a>. That one listing has the current information and accrues reviews.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Make sense?<\/div>\n
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\u00a0***<\/p>\n<\/form>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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mblumenthal<\/a><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Contributor 6:42 AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
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Joel<\/div>\n
I am a little slow on the uptake. The English language is all I have and it seems to be failing in this moment.\u00a0<\/div>\n

I am going to repeat my understanding, you nod your head yes if I have actually understood…<\/p>\n

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We have 3 claimed, not suspended (?) listings in the LBC which are identical. They each show the same impressions and views which means that Google has in fact merged\/conflated them to one visual record in Maps but has not done so in the LBC.\u00a0<\/div>\n
The above directions are to:<\/div>\n
1. Click\u00a0Resume display on Google Maps<\/strong>\u00a0for each suspended listing. The listings now appear with two links:\u00a0Edit\u00a0<\/strong>&\u00a0Delete<\/strong>. <\/span><\/div>\n
2. Select\u00a0Delete<\/strong>. A confirmation window appears with two options:\u00a0Remove this listing from Google Maps<\/strong>\u00a0&\u00a0Remove this listing from my Local Business Center account<\/strong>. <\/span><\/div>\n
3. Select\u00a0Remove this listing from my Local Business Center account<\/strong>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
So when I choose\u00a0Resume display on Google Maps<\/span>, they will not actually resume display in Maps independently of the conflated cluster and of the main record that I still have in my account?\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
***
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Joel H<\/a><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Google Employee 9:38 AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
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Head nodding yes \ud83d\ude42<\/div>\n
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mblumenthal<\/a><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Contributor 10:04 AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
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Never one to stop at 3 when my understanding could be improved with 4 questions…..\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Are there cases where the same listings do not yet have the same impressions\/views and are thus not yet merged? Would the procedure in this case be the same?<\/div>\n
Mike<\/div>\n
***<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Joel H<\/a><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Google Employee 10:09 AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
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In the case of differing statistics (impressions\/views), they are distinct listing on Maps, and\u00a0Remove this listing from Google Maps\u00a0<\/span>is the right option. It’s likely you’ll want to choose the listing with less impressions or views.<\/span><\/div>\n
***<\/span><\/div>\n

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Joel H<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
Google Employee
\n8:57 PM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
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UPDATE<\/span>: I got this a bit wrong. I apologize.<\/span><\/div>\n

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The only time you want to remove the listing from Maps is when the business is\u00a0<\/span>permanently closed\u00a0<\/span><\/span>OR you\u00a0<\/span>never<\/span><\/span>\u00a0want it to appear on Maps. If there are duplicates in your account, keep them. When I initially posted, I didn’t think about the ongoing process we have to merge duplicate listings on Maps. Because we do our best to merge duplicate listings on Maps, it’s possible that selecting\u00a0<\/span>Remove this listing from Google Maps\u00a0<\/span><\/span>may actually suppress a preferred listing in the future (the process of conflating listing happens regularly). We’ll keep our eye out for duplicate, Local Business Center verified listings, and work to refine our systems to merge the right listings as soon as we can. Until then, keep the conversation going on this topic, and we’ll be happy to continue to help as best we can.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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————————————————————-<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

In the case of differing statistics (impressions\/views), they are distinct listing on Maps, and\u00a0Remove this listing from Google Maps\u00a0<\/span>is the right option. It’s likely you’ll want to choose the listing with less impressions or views.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Updated by Joel 03\/04\/09 9:00 PM EST The question of how to suspend\/delete a duplicate listing in the Local Business Center has always been somewhat confusing. Several readers had reported, and I had experienced, the outcome that if not done properly EVERYTHING IS REMOVED from Maps. It leaves one a little gun shy. Here is …<\/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-2567","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\/2567","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=2567"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2589,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2567\/revisions\/2589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}