Blog - Local Splash

First Impressions

Early this year, Google rolled out phone support for local business listings. This was a big step for them, as Google has been very difficult to contact with regards to most of its products. It is also an especially welcome accomplishment because Local in general has been such a mess lately that any step toward dealing with the scores of problems that we see on a daily basis is a welcome one. Recently, I was setting up Google Places accounts for a few clients, most of whom were not able to receive mail at their addresses and therefore they were not eligible for PIN verification I figured this would be an excellent opportunity to try out Google phone support for verification.

During my first call, I was asked for the email address of the account in which my listing was located. I provided it and then was asked to confirm the business information (Name and Address) of the listing, which was easily done. Next I was asked what was wrong with my listing and I explained that I was unable to receive mail at the entered locations.

Here’s where things got a little hairy. The first guy I talked to asked me if I was the business owner, to which I replied that I was not. He then told me he could go ahead and verify the listing for me. I hung up feeling extremely satisfied with my experience. (After taking the phone survey, of course. Who wouldn’t take the survey after such a pleasant and smooth experience?) I was told to wait a week for the listing to be verified, which I did. No results. I waited another week for good measure. No results still.

Nagging Works!

I made my second call to check up on how this listing was doing. I answered the questions as asked and told the customer service representative that I had called previously but had gotten no results. He mentioned that he saw that someone had touched the listing, but now he needed confirmation that I was allowed to verify the listing. He asked if I was the business owner, and when I said no, I was told that Google would have to contact our client so the client could give Google permission to verify. I was hesitant to tell Google that I was from an SEO agency, but fortunately the rep seemed completely fine with this. He let me know that they would be sending me an email so that we could set up a time for him to call my client and the client could verify that the listing was his.

Seems gravy right?

The email never came. A week later I checked the listing and — OH WAIT! it’s verified.

I assume Google sent a message not to the account that the listing was in, but to the email named in the listing, which went directly to my client. The email must have asked if the business could be verified, and the client must have responded in the affirmative.

Easy Peasy Mr. Freezy. Or not.

Using phone support to get listings PIN verified CAN be fairly smooth experience. In my experience the fastest way to do this is to call in, tell the customer service representative that this listing is for your client and said client is unable to receive mail at that location, and ask them to call your client to confirm that you have authority to verify the listing. They’ll put you on hold while they call the client, and if all goes well your listing will be verified within the next 2 minutes.

Unfortunately, there are other situations you might encounter that will give you mixed results. I once tried to verify a listing and the woman on the phone told me that my business address was not legitimate. (The business was a fishing charter and the address was the address of the marina.) She asked me to confirm the address with my client and call back to get it verified. I hung up, promptly called back without contacting my client, got a different operator, and was able to get the listing verified easily.

Other complicated situations involve efforts to claim listings that are already verified by your clients. I had 2 clients who had verified listings in their own places accounts, but either didn’t want to share the login credentials with us or couldn’t remember their usernames and passwords. The Google support team usually has a different plan of action for each scenario, so you’ll just have to roll with it. If the client’s Google Places account has been inactive for a while, Google can remove the listing from their account and allow you to claim it. If the client’s account is active, Google can call or email your client and request that you be allowed to control the listing by deleting it from their account. However, if your client wants to continue owning the listing without giving you login credentials you may be SOL.

The conclusion I have drawn about Google phone support is that everyone’s experience may differ somewhat, and your efforts may not always produce the expected results. Calls to different operators with the same request have yielded different results and there have been a few times when an operator has told me that they would take action and a few weeks later I’m still waiting for something to happen. Whatever the case, speaking with someone on live support who can outline a plan to deal with your Places problems is infinitely preferable to submitting a form online and not ever knowing if anyone got your request or even whether they care enough to deal with it. Phone support for Places is a GOOD thing that everyone should take advantage of if you’re having difficulties with anything in your listing; it can only get better from here.

At the Google I/O keynote a new Google Maps interface was rolled out in beta form. This new user interface is the first major overhaul of the Maps product in almost 10 years. Besides the UI overhaul, it fundamentally alters the way that users interface with Google Maps. What does that mean?

Big changes!

This new interface is absolutely visually stunning, if not a little difficult to navigate. The most important new change? You guessed it!

No more Peg Man!

The list is dead! Long live the list!

In all seriousness, probably the most important change as far as local discover and local SEO is that searches for businesses or locations are no longer displayed in a list. Instead, they are displayed in a more organic fashion on the map itself:

Not only does this have the potential to impact the discovery of local businesses, but for those of us in the local search marketing space, it will most likely break your rank tracking tools. Especially since Places was removed as an option from Google Search. Fear not! There still is a way to get to a hierarchical list of places. Simply click the “Go to list of top results” after you perform a search in the new Google Maps interface:

Once you click on this you are taken to the same list of Places results that Mike Blumenthal recently showed on his blog. There is lots of speculation on whether or not this will replace Places in Google after the previous version was eliminated, however, only time will tell. At least right now, you will have to get your rankings report and conduct deeper dives into local rankings data through the new Maps interface. It’s not perfect, but it is doable.

Integrating with Google Plus and other Google products

Before the Google I/O keynote there was lots of speculation that the new Maps UI was going to more fully integrate with Google Plus/Plus Local and that is definitely the case. It is possible to sort Maps results through both your Google Plus circles, as well as the top reviews.

To access the Maps beta I have to be signed into my Google account, so I assume that filtering through your Google Plus circles goes away if you aren’t signed in, but cannot verify. Regardless, it adds a new social layer and level of personalization to Google Maps that some will appreciate and some won’t. This new integration also further fuels speculation that Google is not so much redesigning their local search products as much as they are integrating them into Google Maps and Google Plus. Given some of the other changes to Maps, that likely seems their strategy. Speaking of which…

Another change in the new Google Maps interface is a deeper integration with other Google products like Google Ads and Offers. Specifically, Google Ads campaigns with local extensions now show up on the map with a purple pin and are clearly labeled as ads.

In addition to the new ad display, when you click on a business location that has a Google Offer, it shows the offer in the UI; if you click on it you are taken directly to that company’s offer page.

Hopefully this will provide more value for local businesses that attempt to fully integrate with the Google idon’tknowwhattheyarecallinglocal experience.

A look at the new business listings

The classic business listing also got a much needed visual and information overhaul:

The new business listing has several components, and are much more robust then they used to be. The features include:

The business name and address
Today’s hours (which when clicked on brings up an overlay of the complete business hours)
Directions (because it wouldn’t be Google Maps without directions)
The ability to save a location
The website associated with the listing (and if there isn’t one it references the Google Plus Local Page)
Phone Number
Street View
Photos associated with the business listing
A 360 degree panoramic view of the inside of the business (if the specific business has one)
A star rating and average if the business has more than 5 reviews
A menu, that as far as I can tell comes from menupages.com or viewmenu.com
Pricing displayed as dollar signs
Google categories, which if clicked produces a new search with the category as the query
A description taken from the associated Google Plus Local page, if there is one

Like I said previously, I really like the new interface, although it is harder to manage. Unfortunately, what that means is another complication for local business owners to navigate when dealing with Google’s convoluted and oft changing local ecosystem. Did anybody notice anything else? If so, I would love to hear about it.

“Press one to reach our customer service department. Press two for our sales department…For all other inquiries, press star. Press the pound key to return to the previous menu.”

Surely you’ve heard this one too many times: calling to complain about a T-Mobile phone bill after being charged with hidden fees, scheduling a doctor’s appointment, or getting in touch with Yahoo! in regard to your local listing. Whichever the case may be, it’s a headache, a vicious cycle, and you end up not resolving anything!

There is hope. As opposed to Yahoo! and Google, Bing offers a live chat to ease your worries. It’s no automated machine, nor is it a person ready to direct you to the wrong department. It is a real person, real conversation and chatting with you – real time.

No more dealing with phone calls you dread making, as you try to get past the automated machine. Bing Business Portal Support offers a virtual chat session and will assist you with any Bing related issues. The chats are personalized and tailored to your immediate request and they are super friendly, too! Bing’s support chat is dedicated to their Microsoft and Bing users. Their reps provide answers and discover solutions to Bing business listing issues you may be experiencing. A few problems may include:

Previously claimed listings
Removing duplicate, competing listings
PIN numbers not registering when verifying your listings
General questions
Log in issues
Any other issues you’re struggling with

Get What’s Yours

So you’ve claimed, prepared, and optimized the listing you wish, but arrive at a verification screen that displays this message: “This listing has been claimed and verified by another user.” Hey, it happens. But there is an easy fix.

Bing’s support chat will help release the claim on the listing you want. To expedite this, the Bing representative will request a verification email from the email associated with your business. For example, if your business is Panera Bread, Bing will request an email from *****@panerabread.com, verifying that you are connected to the business. This is so not just anyone can claim your business listing.

Once Bing receives an email from your business’ email address, the listing will be approved under your ownership. Bing representatives also will verify your listing after releasing the claim from the previous owner. No need to endure the long days of having your listing screened as you wait impatiently, unaware of what is going on behind the scenes. The listing is now yours and it is verified.

Duplicates: Say Bye-Bye to PIN-Verify

With Bing, there are several ways to remove duplicate listings. One of the most common ways is to claim, PIN verify, and then hide them on Bing Maps. This tactic works and may take 2-6 weeks for Bing to remove the duplicate off Bing Maps; in some instances it may take longer. Google offered the same strategy for removing dupes before they released Map Maker.

Another way to deal with duplicates – although it may not be the ideal practice – is running a community edit on the listing itself by clicking “Report a Problem.” There is an option to mark the business as closed. This may or may not remove the business from Bing Maps.

Using Bing’s support chat is a viable process for removing your duplicates. It’s simple. Once you’ve gathered all your duplicate listings, save the URLs until you meet a Bing rep on chat and instant message them those URLs. A Bing rep will take it from there, verifying and ensuring the URLs you’ve sent are legitimate duplicates – and that you are not some pretentious, first page-invested business owner who wants to wipe out all competing listings conflicting with yours. To verify true competing listings, Bing reps require an email from your business verifying that the business is active and located at the address provided. Other times, Bing reps call the phone number on the duplicate listing you want removed. The help is flexible. If you prefer one method over the other, discuss with them and determine which process is better for you.

Bing Support chat may not make up for its search engines’ struggling popularity – proven by the majority of internet users, consumers, entrepreneurs and the remaining Google-elitists – but they aren’t the least favored either.

According to a recent statistic by eBiz (April 2013), Bing trails Google by over 700 million users, with an Alexa rank of 22 versus Google’s Alexa rank of one. (Alexa is a well-known ranking system that audits and retrieves a website’s rank depending on its page visits. Webmasters and advertisers may use Alexa to measure their website’s efforts and that of their competitors). Bing does exceed Yahoo by 5 million users compared to past years, when Yahoo held the lead.

No machine-operated calls, unattended forum posts and headaches over your questions and concerns! Bing Live Chat is committed to taking the initiative in providing solutions that best fit your situation. It’s free. It’s easy! All you need is a contact email and name to start the conversation. No more waiting. Help is a keyboard and mouse click away!

*Bing Business Portal has recently migrated to Bing Places for Business. Updates and changes (due to the new interface) has taken effect and few things mentioned in this article are subject to change.

What to Expect When Using Google Phone Support for PIN Verification