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Former Google Contributor

Re: What reason to use when removing a place?

@Keith A @Flash @EdwinJ @iyudhi @wasaweb

Hi Keith, I assume you mean Google Maps when you say "Local Guides"? Local Guides is a program, but we make all of our contributions through Google Maps (though some edits from Map Maker also count toward the progam). 

 

I won't touch on Map Maker or GMB policies and processes here as we focus on Google Maps, but will attempt to answer this question within those confines. 

In short, if you find a place on the Map that does not exist at that location, you can follow these steps to report the issue. It sounds like you are asking specifcally about how to report a Service Area Business which incorrectly has a POI on the Map.

 

If you are using Google Maps for Mobile (GMM) or Google Maps on your desktop computer, your best option is unfortunately to ignore the incorrect POI as we don't have sufficient options to allow for this kind of nuanced reporting and the business does technically exist. We recommend reporting the POI in the Google My Business (GMB) forum where the Google team there will be able to take the appropriate action. 

 

We are working with the Google Maps and Map Maker teams to improve the editing and moderation experience in Google Maps and this will definitely be a use case we share with them. 

 

Want more info?

Check out the Google Maps and Google Map Maker and Google My Business Help Forums. 

 

Level 5

Re: What reason to use when removing a place?

Gregg as far as I understand these listings should be marked as SAB's. That particular option is not available for us (the business owner does have the option).

Level 10

Re: What reason to use when removing a place?

@Corrie

 

No, I actually meant local guides. Maps is the tool, but we use it as local guides. Local guides are the ones encouraging and being encouraged to use these tools, and local guides are the ones who will be looking for advice from threads like this.

 

To your main point, I have to say I am disappointed and not a little frustrated. Maps, and Google in general is supposed to be about helping the users, not protecting the interests of the businesses who abuse this free service for their own gain.

 

Businesses use this free service to gain free advertising, and have nothing to lose by misusing the system.

If they cannot use the system correctly, then why is the removal of their business a bad thing? How will they ever learn if there are no negative consequences for their actions...?

 

 

But, to get off my soap box for a moment, I hope we can go back to the original question: what do the choices we are presented with when removing a place actually mean, when can we use them, and can you give us some examples of when each is appropriate?

Half of them are obvious, but not:

-Spam: what constitutes this?

-Does not exist: doesn't exist here, or at all? What is the line between this and spam?

-Private: what is private? Is this by invite only, or is it just a private house? Why would these be reason for removal?

 

 

Finally, if we are not allowed to delete claimed businesses, why are we given the option?

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Connect Moderator

Re: What reason to use when removing a place?

Edwin, that is correct, they should claim the feature, mark it as a SAB, and check the right boxes so that they don't appear on the map anymore.

 

When they don't, they are then to be deleted, as they are not eligible to be on the map.  Only businesses that can be visited by the public and have staff waiting to help walk up customers are to be on the map, otherwise Maps becomes an untrustworthy source.

 

If they are not claimed in GMB then they are to be deleted.

 

If they are claimed in GMB and marked as an SAB, then the edit would go to the GMB team and they should be able to take the same actions that going the round about route of posting in their forums would result in.

 

We had tool called Map Maker Buddy so that we could work on such things while mobile, but it has been withdrawn and we're now told to use Maps when mobile.  So we are just looking for the correct options.

 

Flash - LG Connect Moderator, Maps Platinum Product Expert, Map Maker Platinum Product Expert, RER and Regional Lead

Due to the volume I receive, I do not respond to unsolicited private messages

Former Google Contributor

Re: What reason to use when removing a place?

Hi @Keith A

 

I understand your disappointment but also have to say that we are always working to make improvements across all Google products. Although we don't currently have a solution in Google Maps to report SABs, some Google users like Regional Leads have additional tools and guidance on how to deal with these type of issues.

 

To address your concerns, we consider spam anything that is of a malicious intent and it's not related to "Does not exist" which is intended for places that actually do not exist in the real world. Private places are for points on the map where users add their own home, for example.

 

Gus M.

 

 

Due to the volume of private messages Google Moderators receive, I do not read or respond to private messages.
Please post publicly so others may benefit from your discussion. Thank you.
Level 8

Re: What reason to use when removing a place?

Thanks @Corrie and @GusMoreira: would you agree that the current state is not ideal and there is a lot of room for improvement? I think all stakeholders in maps and local data have a common interest in helping to produce the most accurate and useful map possible, and that it would help to have a common set of policies and clear set of processes that everyone knows, whether someone approaches the issue from the perspective of Local Guides, Map Maker, Google Maps, or Google My Business? The products seem to be somewhat disjointed and it feels like that this disconnect is hampering progress.

Level 8

Re: What reason to use when removing a place?

Hey All,

 

I wanted to chime in here since I'm a Top Contributor over at the GMB forum. 

 

First, I haven't seen Google suspend a listing for failing to hide their address in years. When they first introduced the policy they did this a lot and it resulted in massive headaches so I'm guessing they decided to stop doing it. The truth like Corrie stated is that these listings aren't spam, they just show the address instead of hiding it.  

 

Second, I don't think reporting them on the GMB forum will accomplish anything. I've never seen anyone over at GMB "hide" an address on a listing for a business as a result of them failing to do so. I believe Google's main purpose in coming out with this feature was that so people who WANTED to make sure their address was private had a way to do so. With that line of thinking, people who leave it exposed don't really have any action taken on it. It makes zero impact in ranking so I don't really see the harm other than the concept that users "might" show up at the owner's house. I have yet to see any complaints about this happening on the forum in the last 4 years I've been a TC there so I don't really think it's a big issue.

 

Third, I personally hate the hidden address feature. I find all it does is give spammers a better way to hide their tracks and makes SABs that set up multiple listings harder to find. It's also a way that people hijack listings all the time and hide their tracks. I hate the MapMaker history disappearing on a feature.  

 

So my advice is to ignore these as it doesn't impact the search results in any way.  I would highly suggest if you find someone with a PO Box or Virtual Office that you remove it via MapMaker as spam or "doesn't exist". Those are the real spammers that we should focus our attention on.

 

Level 10

Re: What reason to use when removing a place?

@Corrie

Although I understand the difficulties you are facing in dealing with GMB, what I do not understand is why it is taking so long to find a simple solution.

If I was to report every business that I find which needs to be hidden via the forum, I would have no time to do anything else, and nor would the hard-working TCs at GMB like @JoyHawkins.

At the end of the day, these reports would still and up with the same people, just via a different route.

 

By improving the Maps reporting tools, you have made it massively more easy to report places that have problems, especially via mobile, where most people have more free time when commuting for example. Previously Mapmaker was the only option, and this is basically unusable via mobile.

By promoting the LG program as you are, you are inviting so many more people to fix problems, who will be finding these tools for the first time, but until you make the tools work properly people will just be turned off.

 

At the moment, every claimed edit I make goes to review by Google, where a human can make the best decision based on their guidelines - even if I do not agree with the decision, I can accept it has been made in good faith. And actually, quite often when I review these decisions I can see that they have made the right choice and hidden the address and marker - not always, but at an improving rate.

 

This shows me that the reviewers do have the correct tools to do what is required, even if our side doesn't completely match up yet. At present, this is still massively more efficient than forum reporting.

 

Now that @GusMoreira has clarified the options, it is clearer that we do not have quite the right options to help the reviewers in making the best decision.

Imagine how much streamlined it could actually be if you gave us a simple list option marked "Hide" or "SAB"/"Service area business only". Even if it goes to the same queue as "doesn't exist", it would make the reviewers job that much easier.

 

 

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