2022
Thanks once again to the numerous local guides attending the Local Guides Clean The Map session during Community Live 2020. There will be a recap post soon, but as there was no time left in the session to answer the interesting questions the attendees submitted, here's a post to already take care of that.
Should you not have had the opportunity to attend the event or should you have attended, but only came up with a question afterwards: feel free to post your question in the comments, so I can add them in the post later.
Q: Can we correct misspelled business names? (@chamodhk )
A: Definitely! The name shown on Maps should match the name as it displayed on the storefront (or website), so if there is a spelling mistake in it, you can just suggest an edit to correct it. But do be careful: some business owners include awkward spellings of certain words as a play of words of for marketing reasons, so do make sure that the correction is needed. Also for claimed businesses it can be difficult to get the edit approved, so in those cases it will be better to get in touch with the business owner to suggest her/him to make the correction.
Q: I took the photo of a small train station; when I added the photo, automatically a name was displayed "domanoy sa, Vigneron". I try to change it but impossible how can i change this? (@Mmessmi )
A: Can you please share a link to that place here? Then we can have a closer look at what might have happened.
Q: Sometimes while exploring places on Maps, we find some pictures, videos not at all related to that place, something like selfies or TikTok-style videos not even recorded at those places. Should we report such content when we haven't visited that place ever by ourselves? (@RamboRazor )
A: Yes, please do report those. The easiest way to do this (well, I should really say, the least difficult way, as it is still a lot of work) is to open the picture on a mobile device and then tap the flag in the top right corner. This will open a menu where you can select a reason as to why you want to report this. Unfortunately there is no way to report more than 1 picture or video at a POI in 1 single operation, so you need to repeat this process for each one.
If you have never visited the POI yourself, you need to make sure that you can collect enough information to report the picture, but selfies or blurry pictures (reason: Poor quality) can always be reported. To my knowledge the fact that you have never been there will not negatively impact your reputation, as long as the feedback you send is reliable and credible. And another unfortunate thing: this is not rewarded with points (to avoid abuse?). My personal experience is that those pictures disappear quite quickly after reporting them.
And in case of selfies, it might also be a good idea to check out the Maps profile of that local guide, as there might be loads of selfies there - in which case it makes more sense to report the user profile as a whole.
Q: What is the best way to report lead gen only businesses on Maps? (@RasmusGi )
A: Alert the press to attract attention from Google 😎 An alternative would be to collect some details and then publish a post here on Connect where you tag a Google Moderator asking him/her to escalate it. You can also mark them as spam, which can get them removed (as in the locksmith case study), but it's a lot of work.
Using the redressal form as @MortenCopenhagen mentioned in the chat is of course also an excellent option.
Q: Sometimes the location of place is wrong, when i tried to edit the place and remove the wrong one it just gets declined over and over again! Why does it happen? (@Shreeya_99 )
A: In some areas/countries certain types of edits are not allowed, usually as there has been a lot of abuse in the past. If that is the case for those edits in your region, there is not much you can do about it, unfortunately. If some of the edits do get approved, but a lot of others do not get approved, there might be sometinh else at play: your 'trust score' for that type of edit might not be high enough yet. I'm not going to go into detail on that topic here, but I can refer you to episode 25 of the LetsGuide Podcast, about the edit verification process.
Q: Does it help to add a photo also for verification? I think this would be of better assistance... yes? (@TheRealKristin )
A: The option to add a photo is not available for each type of edit, but when the option is there: sure, definitely do that.
Q: Why merge when there is a change of brand? The reviews from the old brand will merge with the new brand. Seems undesirable to me. (@JeroenM )
A: I purposely included a few small mistakes in the session to see if people were paying attention 😉 Just kidding. You are right, of course: merging is not the best option if the chain was taken over. The best option is then indeed to mark the old POI as permanently closed to avoid outdated pics and reviews to show up at the new POI.
Q: Will the company we remove off Google Maps, will they know it was ME? Will it shows our name as having it removed? I wouldn't want them coming after me... (@TheRealKristin )
A: No, this information is only visible to you and to Google. (Unless you start publishing posts on a public forum such as Connect with all the details of course.)
Q: Spam or fake entries are really dangerous especially in such pandemic. Doesn't Google verify when some changes or entries are made? (@MAKSiddiqui )
A: Yes, all edits and newly created places are verified, but as this a largely automated process, still a lot of incorrect stuff gets through. Please also check out episode 25 of the LetsGuide Podcast, about the edit verification process to learn more on this topic.
Q: I was looking for my bank's nearest ATM it showed place where there's a playground. The actual location of the ATM is 2 miles away from that point, inside UT Dallas. So I tried to report the wrong location. But it wouldn't take my edit as it's a bank. What should we do in such case? (@SoniaK )
A: In this particular case, as indeed edits to banks are typically not applied, I would suggest to mark the POI in the playground as closed (reason: either 'Permanently closed' if it was there in the past or 'Never existed' if it was not), as those can get approved and then add a new ATM POI at the correct location if it is not listed already.
Q: I just want to know, if we edit the map, who will response on it, a person or a machine? I personally think that it is a machine, so that when my school"s address has been change by someone, I ask teachers to make an edit about the address, and in two days, our origin address is back :). Is it true? (@Marianis )
The first line of verification is indeed an algorithm. Please also check out episode 25 of the LetsGuide Podcast, about the edit verification process to learn more on this topic. I have had a similar experience with a chapel near to my house: I corrected the pin location several times and a few days later, it was back to the wrong location (only 10 meters off). My most recent attempt (the 5h or so) is now 2 weeks ago and the pin is still at the correct place... fingers crossed.
Q: Is it easier/better for us to do these changes via phone app or website on computer? (@TheRealKristin)
A: Depends on your personal preference if you ask me. I do most oof my edits on mobile, as I often do them whenever I have a few minutes (e.g. waiting in line in a shop).
Q: When we report for a place as permanently closed, does it eventually result into being removed from Maps completely or we can still find it always and see that it is closed? (@RamboRazor)
A: This actually depends on the reason you select when suggesting the removal. If you select 'Permanently closed' the POI will remain on the map, but if you select 'Never existed' or 'Spam or Fake' the POI will disappear if you edit gets approved.
@JanVanHaver (The Detective)
Thank you very much for sharing this complete Q&A with us. It is really useful 👍
Thanks a lot, dear friend @JanVanHaver
Really a treasure of information.
Shall keep it as a reference manual.
With regards
Agree with @TravellerG
This is a treasure of information that can serve as a reference manual.
I have also bookmarked this article @JanVanHaver Thanks a ton...! 👍
Thanks dear @JanVanHaver for this interesting session. We enjoyed and reviewed some methods again. Especially by the live view.
But one thing that I mentioned during the chat is that "Permanently Closed" for duplicate points that haven't any data like reviews/photos/Q&As is not the best choice because the wrong point still remains on the map (even if it is not visible or not included in search results) and this is some additional data. Even maybe sometimes one user opens it again (I experienced it) and the situation again will come back.
So in such cases, I only mark the point as "Duplicate" (since it is a duplicate point although it has no data) or "Spam" (since it is an additional useless point). By this edit, no additional point will remain on the map, neither for users nor for the system.
