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Connect Moderator

Best Practice: The best order for suggesting edits

[As an experienced Local Guide, I now sometimes come across inconsistencies or notice that errors have been made that I used to make myself when I started out. So I am publishing a few 'best practice' posts, in the hope it can help others.]

Sometimes you come across a point of interest (POI) where more than one data point is either incorrect or missing: no telephone number, incorrectly spelled company name, no website, pin located incorrectly, etc. As I already explained in a previous post, you should not submit all changes all at once, as this will certainly increase the chance of running into a 'not applied': if one of the edits is not accepted, your entire contribution will be marked as the notorious 'not applied' (look around a bit on this forum to find out how much frustration this is causing).

 

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But then another question can be raised: does it matter in which order to suggest the edits? My experience (as mentioned in the disclaimer ot the bottom: pure speculation, I have no hard evidence for any of this) suggests: yes, it does. Two different factors might be at play here. The first is reputation, a topic already discussed in a previous post. Just as you can build up a reputation for certain types of edits, you possibly also increase your chance of getting an edit approved for a POI if other edits you made for that same POI were already approved. So: submit the types of edits for which you have an excellent track record before the ones where you have less experience.

The second factor is the different 'weight' Google seems to be giving the different types of data points. Some are almost always approved within seconds by the algorithms, others almost always go into 'pending' and need to be reviewed. To make that more specific: my suggested pin location changes have almost never been rejected, even when I was at much lower Local Guide levels, and even when working on the desktop version (so: without GPS indication that I was near the actual location). At one point I came across a little hobby-shop that had apparently moved to another town over 100 km away, but where a combination of the info on Maps (where then new address was already showing), Street View images and company info on the website (e.g. still the same mobile phone number) made it clear that this was actually the same shop at a completely new location. When I moved the pin to the new location (not an easy task... multiple zoom out / scroll / zoom out steps were needed), it was - somewhat to my surprise - approved within seconds. (I have no idea what would happen if you suggest to move a pin to an obviously incorrect location, like the middle of the ocean - and I'm not going to try to find that out... reputation, remember?)

On the other end of the 'weight' spectrum are websites. Those usually will need to be reviewed, unless the URL is a main page referring very clearly to the POI name (e.g. 'www.fake_example_shop.de' for a shop somewhere in Germany called 'Fake Example Shop' and not something like 'www.germanshops.de/berlin/fake_example/shop'). Also telephone numbers can be quite hard to get approved. And with addresses and names I've experienced that it can make a difference if the suggested edit is a tiny one (correction of just 1 character or merely removing a superfluous legal term) or a more comprehensive one (as mentioned in detail in the post about improving your reputation).

This 'weight' factor is then something you can use to determine the order in which you suggest your edits for a POI: submit them one by one, and start with the ones that will get approved most easily (thereby possibly strengthening your reputation for that POI) and then proceed to the ones that are tougher.

Other posts in this series:
Best Practice: Entering Opening hours
Best Practice: ALL CAPS / all lowercase
Best Practice: Correcting pin location
Best Practice: Choosing a more specific category
Best Practice: Submit changes one by one
Best Practice: Find the right zoom level
Best Practice: Reporting duplicates
Best Practice: Adding places without house number
Best Practice: Correcting errors you accidentally made
Best Practice: Filtering 'Check the facts'
Best Practice: Find the right category
Best Practice: Create on mobile / Complete on desktop
Best Practice: Improve your reputation

Best Practice: Get rid of legal names

Best Practice: Attempts to add bus stop or train station


Disclaimer: the practices described here as best practice are my personal interpretation, and I don't claim any level of official endorsement.

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3 comments
Level 10

Re: Best Practice: The best order for suggesting edits

This is a combination of practical and reliable information on editing Map.

At once I was 5th, and after adding more than ten phone numbers, I was shifted to 4th. So I have noticed that I will never edit in one sitting. After finishing whether my edits are pending or not, I will add more.

Thank you for your information @JanVanHaver

BHASI BAHULEYAN
Level 7

Re: Best Practice: The best order for suggesting edits


@JanVanHaver wrote:

 As I already explained in a previous post, you should not submit all changes all at once, as this will certainly increase the chance of running into a 'not applied': if one of the edits is not accepted, your entire contribution will be marked as the notorious 'not applied' (look around a bit on this forum to find out how much frustration this is causing).


 This is the most useful bits of information I have come across and am now keen to try to put it into practice.

Having said that I have managed to lose track of all of the missing places that I had tried to add which resulted in the dreaded (and unhelpful) "NOT APPLIED"  response.

The edit history list seems to be limited and so I was not able to locate any details about my earlier unaccepted edits.

The only ones that I came across where those which had been marked as "pending" and that was only because Google Maps sent me an e-mail confirmation of that fact but absolutely NOTHING when it came to the "NOT APPLIED" submissions.

Another oversight on the part of the system designers ?

One of the other gems that Jan placed into the public domain was the fact that it isn't a good idea to add the website as part of a Place Creation edit as the Bot might flag it as spam.

Most of the "add a missing place" attempts included the official website so as to make it easier for someone (rather than some thing) to verify that the company details were genuine.

Thanks to Jan's wise guidance I know now that it was a "mistake" on my part but one that was never mentioned in the official "guidelines" (or "rules").

...


■ "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes ?" ■ "Who watches the watchers ?" ■ the satirical poet, Juvenal ■ 1st century Rome ■
Connect Moderator

Re: Best Practice: The best order for suggesting edits

@aka_Rὁn, be cautious with this advice.  This is a common way for spammers to attempt to get their information on the map and can lead to you being falsely flagged.

 

There is also no best order to make edits in, especially since you should be making them all at once.

 

The lack of information as to what was wrong with your edits is purposeful.  It's not that Google is trying to make it more difficult for you; but the bad actors out there; spammers, those that make malicious edits and those that try to follow their own version of the rules; would be given a road map as to how to get away with as much as possible.

 

As always, if you're having issues please do provide some details so others can assist you.

 

 

@JanVanHaver, regarding your example in your post about moving the hobby shop, I hope you moved it using the "Delete - Moved" option.  For that and all edits the likelihood of it being immediately approved by the algorithms is going to be a largely a combination of what Google already knows about the place (perhaps they've had hints in other data that they collect), the confidence they have in the current data, and the trust you've earned over time.

 

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