BIG New Problem? Businesses Getting MOVED by Mistake?

[Linda Buquet]

Heads up. Have not even had time to research yet, but getting wind of a problem that seems to be a new pattern popping up.

Think this may be a bug or unintended consequence of the new move feature.

Just sharing a quick FYI, then I'll investigate and let Google know.

You know the new feature that shows a business MOVED locations? It WAS only showing in map search, not on the G+ L page.

Well it's showing on the G+ L page now BUT these businesses are saying.
"HELP I never moved and my page says I relocated to a different address!"

Huge problem - please help - Google Groups

Hi guys. I have a huge problem with my listing. http://goo.gl/PjZEB . For some reason google relocated it! But i havent moved and my address is hidden and everything is according to the guidelines. Any ideas? Please help me, i dont want to loose my place.

Here's the listing: https://plus.google.com/106556413313230925640/about?gl=US&hl=en with the bogus relocated message.

Wondered at 1st if competitive sabotage, but looks like a BOT did it.
Map Maker Link: http://goo.gl/tPm4C

Another one...

Please help me. - Google Groups

Something terrible happened http://goo.gl/wiuhs my business relocated for no reason! My correct address is 6907 S Himes Ave, Tampa, FL 33611 and there are signs as it can be easily seen that proove that. I have no idea why google decided to close/relocate my business but i will need your help guys. I have no idea what to do..

Link to live: https://plus.google.com/100210403925907676415/about?hl=en with the bogus relocated message.

In MM it looks to me like a bot did this: http://goo.gl/Cykbf

Off to investigate. I have a feeling more like this may be coming into the G Business forum but I have not gotten there yet.

UPDATE: 2 PM It seems this was NOT an artifact of the new move feature and it was not done automatically by the algo or a bot as it appears to be in Map Maker. See details below, post #8.

 

[Flash]

Just on a coffee break so can't say much, but that first guy actually posted in the MM forums first. I could have simply fixed it for him by marking him reopened, but what I found was that he has major merge issues in his history and the "closed" was not done in Map Maker (and thus not in community edits/maps/report a problem) but rather was imported from another database, likely Places. I thus told him to use the troubleshooter to log a ticket, but another user told him to post in Places.

The problem lies in the fact that the way Google has set this up is that if you are marked closed then you get a "This business has closed or relocated - Not true?" marking that links to a way to mark yourself as reopened, which will then be reviewed in Map Maker.

What Google has done is if the algorithms can find what it thinks is the same business in a different location, it assumes you moved and replaces that message with "Business has moved to XXXXXX". Now there is no way for the non-Map Maker user to mark himself as still open! This includes if you click on Edit Details or Report A Problem.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks Gregg.

I was just researching MM history and just added MM links above. Yes, the bots are doing this and it could get messy really quick. Think it's just the tip of the iceberg.

I'm letting Joel, Jade, Abby know about this now so they can nip it in the bud.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Just noticed another potential problem with this move feature.

This listing https://plus.google.com/100210403925907676415/about?hl=en
is a SAB and has address properly hidden. BUT the move notice SHOWS the address.

Again, they never even moved, this was a mistake, BUT if they really had moved I wonder if it would make the address visible like that?

 

[Colan Nielsen]

I was just looking at that. It actually looks like the address on the G+ Local page is incorrect. Their website has a different address listed.

---------- Post Merged at 02:43 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 02:41 PM ----------

Something seems fishy with all of this

 

[Linda Buquet]

I was just looking at that. It actually looks like the address on the G+ Local page is incorrect. Their website has a different address listed.

Something seems fishy with all of this

Colan are you talking about the Plumber?

In his MM post he said address is really: 6907 S Himes Ave, Tampa, FL 33611
And that's what's on the site.

The G+ L page has address hidden as it SHOULD.

The "relocated to" address G made up. He never moved.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Ah, just re-read your post. All good

 

[Linda Buquet]

OK so have had a ton of long and confusing communications with Google going back and forth on this, but in a brief nutshell.

It seems this was NOT an artifact of the new move feature and it was not done automatically by the algo or a bot as it appears to be in Map Maker.

There was human intervention, the businesses were called and were told they had moved so the database was updated. The bot edits we see were just bots copying over the info that had been changed in the database.

So not sure why the Googlers were told via phone the business moved, when the business owners are claiming they never moved.

Just wanted to clarify this is not what I originally thought and seems to be a coincidence that both these listings had this problem at the same time just when the new moved message showed up on the G+ Listing. (You can see where I would jump to that conclusion thought based on the evidence at hand.)