Facebook Privacy Issues- See where it says “automatically share my information with identity thieves, criminals offenders, and all of my psycho exes” Yeah you're gonna wanna unlock that box.

New to Google local business center…

So google wants to be updated? Whatever for…???

This new feature is going to force… umm… allow you to be more interactive with google and your customers.  Absolutely a great tool for local restaurants, clubs, and such.  Still a good tool for services, as you can run promotions and events here.  What google is asking for is interaction.  What they want is your time… and time is money.

Great tool to add to your onslaught of Google Maps.

On the down side…

Here is a glimpse of the the before and after Google maps recent service area changes.

Google had results by service area… and then they didn't

So this is a shot of my trend… what happened?

Google changed their results to show service companies by the service area… My Phoenix pest control location, which is located in metro Phoenix but addressed in Peoria AZ, was granted the service area of Phoenix.  So if you searched Phoenix Pest Control, Bulwark showed up in the maps.  Yahoo!….. (no pun intended)…. And google then snatches it away almost as quickly has they had given it… #fail

So now they are back to only listing businesses addressed in the city searched… a search for Austin pest control shows only locations within the city of Austin…. urghh.  I mean I love it in Austin, as we rank #3 but I am not about to buy up property within every city limit to land in the maps.

The Awkward Google Map Dance Continues….

So you know when you are walking down a semi crowded corridor and you end up face to face with someone going the other direction, and then you do this little shuffle left to right to left… feeling awkward… and hoping the dance will end as you each establish which way you are going to take…. Here in lies the Awkward Google Maps Dance…

On using an employees address that works a route from his home… Matt Cutts… “Grey hat.  How can we let guys that work from home do it and not a legit business?”

Google stance on P.O. Boxes… “NO!”

On getting a mailing address in the city… the Fishkin… “Setting up a DBA and a mailing address is totally legit white hat. Its like getting .AU to do “local” business with the Aussies. I don’t see a problem with that.”

So the mixed messages…. Left… Right… Left… the Awkward Google Dance Continues.

Are you getting this? When I search the maps now I am getting a “Review by A google user” instead of the actual user name and a link to the users reviews… Check out the 3 reviewers in this image:

This is a cropped screen shot of the reviews section of a local business listing in google.

What is google maps doing now? Are they trying to hide the reviews? Please help me understand!

I have always found it helpful to click on the users to see what other reviews they have and to make sure they are legit. I trust reviewers that have more than one review and that have both a mix of good reviews and bad reviews… from what I understand google is moving that direction as well.  I believe they are attempting to identify “Super Reviewers” or as they would put it “Trusted Reviewers”.  According to Matt Cutts google is all about determining who they can trust…. and for good reason. But what about your useres that want to see the math worked out… Why hide the reviews?

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Matt Cutts for fixing your google maps! (Not sure if he deserves all the credit but he was the google employee that reassured me that this would happen).  I must say that I am very optimistic about google maps and the direction they are heading.  Here are a couple of things you may want to be aware of when it comes to the future of google maps:

1st and most important…

Google Map extends to service areas of businesses!

This is the best news I have had all week!  In fact, Matt Cutts and Google will be receiving thanks in my Thanksgivings giving celebration this week! I had the pleasure of addressing my concern to Matt at Pubcon two weeks ago, thanks to an introduction given by Kate Morris, an SEM Gem.

Matt essentially admitted that google was cleaning up the mess it had accumulated from mining the information that was out there for local search. He assured me that the most recent update in the google maps was that they were now pushing their own information for the map results, not 3rd party info.  I mentioned my concern in that the current maps only showed listings within the actual metro city and that this was not reflective of the service areas of many service companies, (cough “Pest Control companies” cough). Matt assured me that they were aware of this and that they were working to correct this….

Two weeks later I get this…

Phoenix Pest Control Map in Google Maps

So if you notice the map title “Pest Control near Tempe, AZ” … Go through the results and you will notice that the first listing “A” falls right on the town of Tempe.  But “C” Bulwark Exterminating is not within the Tempe city limits… Awwesoooome!

Again… Tempe results show Bulwark Exterminating… not in Tempe… Actual address…

Two weeks ago this search would only give results in Tempe.  Now it gives results of companies that service Tempe but don’t fall within Tempe, AZ.  Thank you Google! FYI I have only experienced this phenomenon in the Phoenix area. But I have high hopes that this will roll out to our cities.

2ndly an update for the San Fransisco maps…

Google is currently beta testing their google maps for advertising:

Search done for San Francisco Attorney

Good? … possibly. What if I were already in the top 7, would I get charged for the click? And when they click on the map the sponsored listings no longer show.  The down side I see to this is that the sponsored listings don’t show the reviews. Reviews are huge for CTR.  I would prefer the sponsored list show my reviews and take you to the google review page. But as I have not tested this yet, I really have no constructive input. Just making you aware of what is on the horizon. Great thing about the internet is that you can always test… the bad thing is that you are always testing.

So as always… “The Future is so Bright that I’ve go to wear shades.” (Yes I am singing in my head.)

What a great day!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!