Google Plus / Map Maker / Places Q & A with Nyagoslav from NGS Marketing

[Andrew Forster]

Hi Gang,

Hopefully this is o.k to post here, as well Mike Blumenthal wanted me to share the link when the blog post went live.

I had a nice 2 hour chat with Nyagoslav late last week about Map Maker edits, Categories not syncing up properly - when to use Map Maker vs the Places dashboard so forth and so on. I tried asking difficult questions, that weren't readily available already here or on Mikes blog. The blog post can be found here:

Google Plus Local Optimization. Tips for Google Places, Google Plus, Map Maker & More. - The Adster Online Advertising Blog! - Adster Creative

Hopefully there's some useful tidbits for you guys, lemme know what you think

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks Andrew!

Quality content like this, from valued members like you, is always welcome here.

Can't wait to read it and as you know lots of consultants here are chomping at the bit to get more MM knowledge too.

Not many will see this tonight, but in AM our 1st newsletter is going out to all members and this will be included near the top, plus tomorrow when more folks are online I'll Tweet this as well.

 

[Andrew Forster]

Thanks for your help and support Linda

 

[Linda Buquet]

Sure thing Andrew. Great job and great info Nyag!

 

[Phil Rozek]

That was an awesome interview, Andrew. You covered a good range of both basic and more-advanced stuff. Thanks to you and to Nyagoslav!

 

[Flash]

Re: Google Plus / Map Maker / Places Q & A with Nyagoslav from NGS Marketing

His understanding of Map Maker is beyond the normal person's, but he's off on numerous points. I started to write a long reply to it, but when the points went beyond Map Maker (Carpet Cleaning Service does not break the rule against "What you are, not what you do. Carpet Cleaning would break that rule, adding Service fixes it), I realized I was going to end up writing something as long as the blog post. It's good information, but not all is correct, so don't take it as an authoritative article on Map Maker.

---------- Post Merged at 12:05 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 12:03 AM ----------

Ops, I edited a poor sentence, and managed to edit out my congrats. Those were great questions and it does provide good info overall.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Re: Google Plus / Map Maker / Places Q & A with Nyagoslav from NGS Marketing

(Carpet Cleaning Service does not break the rule against "What you are, not what you do. Carpet Cleaning would break that rule, adding Service fixes it)

Have to admit I didn't read the whole thing with a fine tooth comb and totally missed that part or I would have been all over it!

The exact quote was: "Additionally, some of the suggested by Google categories are against their own guidelines (the category should depicts what the business is, not what it does, or what it sells), for example: ?Carpet Cleaning Service?

Really disagree with that statement and want to give my viewpoint.

1st off that category and others with the word service DOES comply with the guidelines.

The way teach about the IS not DOES rule in my training is: As long as the sentence "I am a ?" OR "my business is a ?" OR "I own a ?" makes sense then it usually complies IMO.

My business is a Carpet Cleaning does not work.
My business is a Carpet Cleaning Service DOES work.

Same thing with Teeth Whitening for example. It's not in cats BUT Teeth Whitening Service IS!

IMO if it's in the default cats then it complies with the IS not DOES rule and I feel very certain Google would agree.

Adding service, company, specialist, practitioner, provider, contractor to most category keywords turns it from a non-compliant DOES to an IS.

FYI, there was an update and I have some exciting category news. Stay tuned. Post coming later this AM.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Thanks Linda. Can't wait for the news!

I'm wondering if you find this odd. On the page linked below Google states:

Don't be afraid to choose specific categories instead of broad ones. The important thing is that the categories are accurate and describe your business well. Google's search algorithm makes sure that users looking for "Book Stores" will see businesses in more specific categories like "Used Book Stores," "Comic Book Stores," and "Rare Book Stores" too.

I'm wondering how plural vs singular works in. Because it doesn't make sense to say "I am a comic book stores".

Optimize your listing to help users find your business - Places for business Help

 

[Linda Buquet]

HA good catch on a couple levels Colan. Especially interesting they are using examples with plurals.

Just realized my category news won't be that exciting to most consultants - just geeks like me that do lots of support and troubleshooting in the G forum - but it'll come in handy for you too!

 

[Flash]

That was kind of my point, you can get "all over" that quote about the categories. Well there was a lot about Map Maker that he was off on also; such as the moderators (or reviewers as they are properly called). I'm not sure if he was complaining that they are off shore and don't understand the US, or if they are in the US and don't understand other countries; because the fact is that they are in both. Additionally, reviewers specialize; I deal with a bunch that only do Canada. I'm not sure if they are located at Google Canada or in Seattle, I suspect the latter; but they are definitely not overseas and the specialization means that it doesn't matter.

Add on top that their guidelines call for them to only deny items that don't depend on local knowledge and that there are RERs doing the reviewing also that definitely know the local area; and I come to the conclusion that he uses Map Maker only occasionally (which he admits) and thus is not fully aware of what is going on.