Google Places for Business Help - Will Not Update Clients URL

[Colan Nielsen]

Hi Folks,

I have a client who has a couple different URL's for his website. The one that is currently displaying is a re-direct. I edited the URL in our account so that we are using the proper URL that is not a re-direct, as Google doesn't seem to like forwarding URL's.

The change didn't go live for a couple weeks so I sent in a troubleshooter report. Google responded basically saying that they aren't going to update it because the URL forwards to the URL that I want to use anyway. Here is some of their response:

It appears that the url manhattan-insurance.com .com is a display issue which correctly goes to the proper website James B Lavelle - State Farm Agent in New York, NY.

Our moderation team have determined that the url should remain as it is since it directly takes you to the proper web site.


Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I could respond to this in order to get them to make the update?

Has anyone encountered this before?

Oh...and good morning everyone

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks for sharing Colan,

This is interesting to me on a couple levels.

First I always assume Google does NOT like redirected or forwarded domains so would have thought THEY would want to change it.

Second, may be better for you to have that city/keyword domain: manhattan-insurance.com instead of statefarm.com/agent/US/NY/New-York/James-Lavelle-5NXJQ1YS000 in the listing anyway???

Are you thinking he'd rank better with the Statefarm URL or did you just want to change in case Google didn't like the other domain forwarding?

 

[Colan Nielsen]

I thought you would find this interesting

 

[Linda Buquet]

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I could respond to this in order to get them to make the update?

So if you still want it changed maybe reply back something like:

Our understanding is that Google does not like re-directs and business owner really would like the listing go directly to their OFFICIAL State Farm URL.

Could you possibly reconsider updating the domain to match what is in the dashboard for us?

Something like that. Who knows if will work. But worth a try?

Or see if Gregg or Andrew would do some MM magic for you?

 

[Colan Nielsen]

I just responded with your suggestion. I'll let you know what they say.

Thanks Linda!

 

[Linda Buquet]

If they give you a big fat raspberry back - it ain't my fault!!!

 

[Colan Nielsen]

I won't hold you responsible, Linda. On the other hand, if they come back and they accept my request, I will kowtow to you

 

[Andrew Sawyer]

Hi Folks,

I have a client who has a couple different URL's for his website. The one that is currently displaying is a re-direct. I edited the URL in our account so that we are using the proper URL that is not a re-direct, as Google doesn't seem to like forwarding URL's.

The change didn't go live for a couple weeks so I sent in a troubleshooter report. Google responded basically saying that they aren't going to update it because the URL forwards to the URL that I want to use anyway. Here is some of their response:

It appears that the url manhattan-insurance.com .com is a display issue which correctly goes to the proper website James B Lavelle - State Farm Agent in New York, NY.

Our moderation team have determined that the url should remain as it is since it directly takes you to the proper web site.


Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I could respond to this in order to get them to make the update?

Has anyone encountered this before?

Oh...and good morning everyone

Colan you are quite correct, re-directs are bad. The MapMaker guidelines state:

Website:
Add the home page of the official website for your feature.

• If the website has a subpage that is specific to the feature, use that link instead.
• The website address is displayed in the information window on Maps.
• You can also add official government websites for features like famous parks and landmarks.
• Please refrain from entering third-party websites, under construction websites or websites with malicious content.

So you should be adding James B Lavelle's official StateFarm.com profile page as the State Farm Manhattan Insurance - Auto, Home, Life, Renters one is a redirect aka "third party page."

Currently I see that your page has a pending edit that can't be Reviewed as a bot rolled in afterwards. Did you make the edit? I will try and report it but if you can see an edit pending in your Places or MapMaker account I suggest undoing it.

Also the "State Farm" name has to go because this is a Professional listing.

 

[Linda Buquet]

So you should be adding James B Lavelle's official StateFarm.com profile page as the State Farm Manhattan Insurance - Auto, Home, Life, Renters one is a redirect aka "third party page."

Thanks Andrew for checking in and posting!

Actually if you check the 1st post again HE DID change it. It's correct in dash with the State Farm link.
But live listing would not update to the correct URL. So he contacted support via the troubleshooter and support replied saying the REDIRECT LINK was good enough and they would not change it.

So that was the purpose of Colan's post. How to get support to fix it because it's correct in the dashboard.

 

[Andrew Sawyer]

Thanks Andrew for checking in and posting!

Actually if you check the 1st post again HE DID change it. It's correct in dash with the State Farm link.
But live listing would not update to the correct URL. So he contacted support via the troubleshooter and support replied saying the REDIRECT LINK was good enough and they would not change it.

So that was the purpose of Colan's post. How to get support to fix it because it's correct in the dashboard.

Sorry Linda, I should have been more on point with my response.

There are many ways to change it. In his situation where the Places people are unaware of the MapMaker guidelines, his best bet it to (or have someone) make the edit in MapMaker and have an RER push it through (provided this is an office location that is actually staffed by him during his office hours).

The problem is if its done now the edit can't be approved because there is a pending edit. Old edits have to be approved first in MapMaker so because the name change one can't be reviewed right now because of BOT interference the website edit would just sit there.

The other suggestion is to make the edit via G+ local and mention there is a pending edit in MapMaker that needs to be resolved also. Not sure if those editors can clean up those edit errors, but I'm sure it would get escalated.

Right now that pending edit is holding up the works. Once its gone magic can happen!

 

[Flash]

Sometimes support can be frustrating; you almost have to explain the guidelines to these "experts". As such, perhaps a while lie might be appropriate in this case? You could tell support that State Farm Manhattan Insurance - Auto, Home, Life, Renters is going to be taken offline in a couple of weeks and you're getting everything set up ahead of time.​

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Wow, thanks guys! As soon as I get a response from Google support in regards to my request to reconsider their decision to not update the URL I'll move forward with my next move.

Andrew, is there anything I can do to get that pending review updated, or removed? I notice that the change that is pending has already been made to the listing anyway.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Hi Andrew, I checked my MM account and I don't see any pending edits for the listing. Are there other options for having that pending edit removed? As I mentioned earlier, the edit that is pending has already gone live on the listing anyway.

A Google employee got back to me in regards to my second request to have the proper URL display on the listing:

"Since this is more of a display issue that is determined an algorithm we cannot influence how the url is displayed. Since the url essentially takes you to the correct website, our moderation team has determined that the url is displaying appropriately on your listing."

 

[Linda Buquet]

A Google employee got back to me in regards to my second request to have the proper URL display on the listing:

"Since this is more of a display issue that is determined an algorithm we cannot influence how the url is displayed. Since the url essentially takes you to the correct website, our moderation team has determined that the url is displaying appropriately on your listing."

You what this says to me? This in addition to many other things, like the way we have to handle moves, like the way she won't remove practitioner dupes any more and many other things lately...

Something I've said for a long time is that the scraping algo is just either broken or out of control.

What all this says to me is that support is either tired of fighting the scraping algo OR have been told to stop fighting it and just let the algo "in it's infinite wisdom" scrape and change things how ever it wants!

And if it AIN'T broke don't fix it. So if URL went to wrong site it would be broken and they'd fix it. But if it resolves to correct site EVEN IF it's wrong in the business owners eyes and not the way he wants it - tough cookies. They aren't going to keep fighting the algo to try to change it because they realize it's like just going to keep getting changed back!

 

[Colan Nielsen]

I have similar feelings about the whole situation. I have another similar situation that I am currently communicating with Google about. I will post if I get a response that reveals more insight.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

What all this says to me is that support is either tired of fighting the scraping algo OR have been told to stop fighting it and just let the algo "in it's infinite wisdom" scrape and change things how ever it wants!

And if it AIN'T broke don't fix it. So if URL went to wrong site it would be broken and they'd fix it. But if it resolves to correct site EVEN IF it's wrong in the business owners eyes and not the way he wants it - tough cookies. They aren't going to keep fighting the algo to try to change it because they realize it's like just going to keep getting changed back!

More to this, here is another response to a similar issue -

"Thanks for your email. After further review, It appears that the myagentmo.com currently displaying on your page is essentially correct for your business. Therefore, we are unfortunately unable to manually moderate the proposed changes to your listing. However we are further troubleshooting the business title issue and I'll be happy to follow up with an update for you next week.

Please note that listings on Google Maps are built from multiple sources of information including but not limited to owner provided data. In our efforts to bring the most comprehensive data to our users, we may display information that differs slightly from what you have entered in your account. As long as the information is essentially correct, we will not be able to moderate it."

 

[Linda Buquet]

Well there you have it! I guess that last paragraph sums up their current stance.

So much for even TRYING to get NAP consistency!!!

 

[Andrew Sawyer]

More to this, here is another response to a similar issue -

"Thanks for your email. After further review, It appears that the myagentmo.com currently displaying on your page is essentially correct for your business. Therefore, we are unfortunately unable to manually moderate the proposed changes to your listing. However we are further troubleshooting the business title issue and I'll be happy to follow up with an update for you next week.

Please note that listings on Google Maps are built from multiple sources of information including but not limited to owner provided data. In our efforts to bring the most comprehensive data to our users, we may display information that differs slightly from what you have entered in your account. As long as the information is essentially correct, we will not be able to moderate it."

Their response is bull crap and doesn't conform to Map Maker guidelines. Feel free to change the URL on MapMaker citing this short URL goo.gl/eLgNC and hit my up with a PM or share the GMM edit using G+.

I agree with Linda that they're pussyfooting on changing the URL. It doesn't meet Map Maker guidelines but I wouldn't be surprised if they even knew that. I am befuddled they would think a redirect/3rd party is preferred over the official page.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks so much Andrew! Nice to be able to get the REAL scoop from you, when in doubt based on what G tells us!

 

[Andrew Sawyer]

Thanks so much Andrew! Nice to be able to get the REAL scoop from you, when in doubt based on what G tells us!

Not to rag on people who work for Google in Places, but in my experience, they aren't quite up on their MapMaker guidelines. I have seen things pushed through that shouldn't and Colan's situation highlights the other side of the coin.