This post could also be called “Lessons learned from making 55.000 edits on Google Maps”
Even though the guidelines are clear and businesses can be listed for free on Google Maps, large numbers of businesses violate the simple and fair naming rules from Google.
This is where we as Local Guides can help by removing such clutter and thereby make Google Maps more usefriendly, quick, and smooth to use while at the same time earning some points.
The business naming rules can be summarized like this: Business names should reflect the real-world name, as used consistently on storefronts, websites, stationery, and as known to customers. Any information having a dedicated field should never be placed in or repeated in the name. And obviously, adding unnecessary marketing terms in the name is wrong. You can find the rules in this document: Guidelines for representing your business on Google Maps.
Based on my experience with cleaning the map, I compiled this list of the most frequent naming violations. They are sorted by abundance.
Top 6 business naming violations
- Using ALL CAPS
- Unnecessary legal jargon
- Adding the owner’s name
- Location stuffing
- Category stuffing
- Marketing slurs
In the following, I will briefly explain the 6 naming violations with guideline references and comments. And in the reply section below this post, you will find 9 interesting case studies explaining the steps needed to find, check, and clean naming violations.
1. ALL CAPS
Sample violation: BURGER KING |
Should be: Burger King |
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To me using ALL CAPS is the equivalent of shouting. ALL CAPS are harder to read and hence slower to read. This is not helpful to Maps users.
I understand why marketing people want a business to look bigger and louder in an effort to stand out from its competitors. But I also find this is unfair, and imagine if this escalated so all businesses feel they need to use only capital letters in their names on Google Maps.
Learn more in Case study 1: MALVE found here.
ALL CAPS references:
Business names must not include:
Fully capitalized words (with the exception of acronyms).
Not acceptable: ‘SUBWAY’
Acceptable: ‘Subway’ and ‘KFC’
Source: The naming Guidelines
2. Legal jargon
Sample violations: Burger King® Burger King Ltd. Burger King LLC Burger King AB Burger King GmbH, e.V. |
All should be: Burger King |
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Google phrases it “irrelevant legal terms should not be added unless they are part of your business’s real-world representation”. In some countries, businesses are mandated to add such legal extensions to their names in official documents, but these are of no interest or relevance to Maps users. And Google Maps is not an official document. I happily remove them to ensure Maps users don’t get exposed to unnecessary clutter that can make it more time-consuming to find what we are looking for.
Many of the extensions found here in Denmark (A/S, IVS, ApS, A.M.B.A.) stem from the automatic import from Business Registries to whom the legal business types are important. What are the most frequent unnecessary business abbreviations in your region?
Luckily such legal abbreviations are easy to remove and the edits are normally approved by Google within minutes. If you do a text search for such abbreviations you can very quickly run up your points while cleaning the map.
I wish Google would just remove them automatically!
Learn more in Case study 2: GM GmbH found here.
Legal jargon references:
Business names must not include:
Trademark/registered signs.
Special characters (e.g. %&$@/")
Irrelevant legal terms unless they are part of the business’s real-world representation.
Not Acceptable: ‘LAZ Parking Ltd’
Acceptable: ‘LAZ Parking’
Source: The naming Guidelines
3. Owners name
Sample violation: Jill’s Hair by Jill Lapoor |
Should be: Jill’s Hair |
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This is a very common practice in Denmark. Many business owners in categories like podiatrists (foot care), real estate agents, kiosks, and fruit & veg shops must like to see their personal names on Google Maps! Podiatrists might be considered under Individual practitioners like dentists and lawyers, but the rest I will happily shorten to remove the names of the individuals.
Having shorter business names makes it faster for Maps users to find the business they are looking for - both on search result lists and directly on the Map. Also, more pins will fit on the Map, when business names are shorter without such irrelevant information.
Sometimes the owner’s name is integrated into the name like ‘Sam’s joint’. Such names are OK and should not be changed.
Learn more in Case study 3: English Bookstore by Beth Merit found here.
Owners name references:
Including unnecessary information in the business name is not permitted.
Source: The naming Guidelines
Also, this post on Connect is relevant.
4. Location stuffing
Sample violations: Goldfish on Broadway PopSoup near Clocktower McD Central Business District Hairspray [Zip code] BoBi Bar, Shoppingcenter Blue Bottle Brooklyn |
Should be: Goldfish PopSoup McD Hairspray BoBi Bar Blue Bottle |
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Location information such as zip/postal codes, neighborhoods, landmarks, and street names should never be added to business names in an attempt to help Maps users find the places. As you know Google Maps offers way smarter navigation.
Some chain stores may believe that adding location information to their individual stores will make them look more important or sophisticated to consumers. Or they add this redundant information simply to guide their own staff. Or they realized that Google will inexplicably show their business earlier in the search results, the more keywords they add!
I consider location stuffing to be inconvenient clutter. When scanning the Map for a particular place it’s not helpful to see the city name repeated over and over in the business names. Maps users already know which city they are in or have zoomed in on. For Maps to work efficiently we don’t need redundant information preventing other pins from showing up. In lists of search results, parts of the address are shown nearby or on the adjacent map. So there are no good reasons for adding such redundant information in the business names.
Unfortunately, Google offers one rule exception: City names can be added, but only if they are consistently used and recognized real-world representation like in “Holiday Inn Salem” and “University of California Berkeley”. This exemption is often used to add city names in Google Maps even though the city names are not added on storefronts etc.
Using this loophole was recently contradicted by a Googler in this post where she shared the “Blue Bottle Brooklyn” example.
Furthermore, individual clothing stores, accessories, hair, and food places started adding “Copenhagen” to their names. Maybe to sound more international, fresh, and chic (just like some LGs!). Checking the Phone Directory or the Business Registry can quickly justify the removal of such additions.
Removing city names can be difficult since most chain stores are claimed, or they regularly upload their store names from a spreadsheet or via a Location Management Tool simply to overwrite legitimate and approved edits from Local Guides. In the next tutorial in this series, I hope to share some tips on how you can counter this.
For an example, please see Case study 4: iExpert | Herning found here.
Location references:
Business names must not include:
Location or Containment information, such as neighborhood, city, or street name, unless it is part of the business’s consistently used and recognized real-world representation. Names must not include street address or direction information.
Not Acceptable:
‘Apple Store at Stanford Shopping Center’
Acceptable: ‘Apple Store’
Source: The naming Guidelines
5. Category stuffing
|
Sample violations:
Restaurant Noma
KeyLock | Your locksmith
Sam’s joint - Tapas & Osteria
Gorki Café Bar
Ria Money Transfer & Currency Exchange
|
Should be:
Noma
KeyLock
Sam’s joint
Gorki Café
Ria
|
| - | - |
Many business owners have a legitimate wish to explain that they offer more than what is encapsulated in one category. For this reason, business owners can add a few extra categories after they have claimed and verified they are the rightful owners.
But few business owners know this or they failed to claim their listing, so instead, they try to add extra categories in the business name as seen in the examples listed above.
As Local Guides, we can help keep the Map clean by removing such category dirt. Make sure though that categories are not part of the official name and as used on websites etc. To check this I check storefront photos, open the website, look up the phone number in reverse and if needed I also check the Business Registry. In my experience restaurants and cafés can often have the category included in the official name.
When checking storefront photos and websites I consider bylines and text in smaller fonts to not be part of the real-world name.
For a step-by-step example, please see Case study 5: Sans Souci Restaurant & Wine Bar.
Category references:
Including unnecessary information in the business name is not permitted.
Business names must not include:
Service or product information.
Service information is best represented by categories.
Not Acceptable: ‘Midas Auto Service Experts’
Acceptable: ‘Midas’
Source: The naming Guidelines
6. Marketing slurs
Sample violation: Decoplant. Best indoor plants for decoration. CityBikes - Power your bike |
Should be: Decoplant CityBikes |
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I have seen and removed excessive marketing stuffings spanning several lines. They can include special offers, new opening hours, web addresses, product appraisals, festive messages, and proclamations related to new ownership.
Fortunately, this kind of stuffing is getting less widespread, and it is not difficult to get the needed corrections approved. Also, these are quite easy to spot since the names are usually quite long.
These days, I see more attempts to add extra brand names or chain names to existing local businesses without removing the old name. Double names are not acceptable. Hotel names are notorious for adding branding/chain (and location stuffing) in their names.
For insight into some of the research needed when removing marketing slurs, please see
Case study 6: Greenrider and Case study 7: Cykelexperten found here and here.
Marketing slur references:
Business names must not include:
Marketing taglines
Service or product information
Including unnecessary information in the business name is not permitted.
Not acceptable: ‘TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank’
Acceptable: ‘TD Bank’
Source: The naming Guidelines
The 6 naming rules and abuses explained above are often combined with other violations. And some business names violate more than a single naming rule. Also, it’s smart to check other pins belonging to the same chain of stores as violations are often repeated systematically.
A well-designed text search applied after your zoom out on the Map can give you tons of naming violations to fix in quick succession.
In a future post, I hope to share some tips on what to do if you find naming violations that are difficult or impossible to fix. Some name corrections get approved by Google, but then get overwritten immediately and automatically by Location Management Tools put in place to protect and reinstate the improper naming. There are a few tricks you should know about. Leave a comment below if this is of interest to you.
Let me conclude by sharing a few tips on how to find naming violations:
- Simply zoom in and pan around in a neighborhood you are familiar with and start scanning for name violations.
- Do text searches to get lists you can browse over to spot violations.
- Remember to pan or zoom out if you want to expand or continue a search that is doing well.
- Some categories are more prone to naming violations, these include mobile phone repair, hair, nail, and beauty salons, sun parlors, locksmiths, building materials, car dealers, contractors, and hotels. Hotels are well-protected.
- Open your city on Google Maps and click on some of the cards shown for Hotels, Night clubs, places to visit, etc.
- Go to your contribution lists (photos or reviews) and scan for naming violations.
- In the Maps app go to Updates then Following. Fix the naming of the places your friends have contributed to.
One last tip: Be aware of the language setting in Maps. Each place can have different names in different languages. I recommend you stick to your local or most used language. Cleaning names in more than one language can be tricky.
Now it’s your turn. Please memorize the 6 violation types, and you are ready to start hunting for stuffed business names. Together we can make Google Maps cleaner, more helpful, quicker, and smoother to use. Let go!
All the best
Morten
PS: This is not an official tutorial, this is based on my understanding of the guidelines and experience from #LGCTM. I will be happy to make corrections should I have misinterpreted something. Please get in touch.
PPS: Thanks for reviewing the draft, friends!
