How can a SAB protect their address privacy in maps?

[Lloyd Silver]

When a service area business is created in GMB, is the default that a pin marker be placed in Maps at their exact location? So yes, technically their address is not displayed but if anybody goes to Maps they'll know right where they are.

The concern, of course, is residential addresses for safety reasons.

If this is the case, is there anything that can be done to ensure their privacy?

I had a client go into Maps on their own (yes, reprimanded afterwards) and move their marker. I found out because I got a warning in GMB about the discrepancy.

Thanks

 

[Linda Buquet]

No it should put marker in center of what they set up.

Could be coincidence that their home is located right in the center of that zip.

Have them change service radius to city, no zip and it will put their marker right in center of town.

 

[Lloyd Silver]

Maybe the page was setup not as a service area business to begin?

It's an odd one so maybe just a glitch.

If I re-save the address will it fix the maps issue?

Right now it's setup correctly with a city and radius and the pin is definitely not in the right place.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Lloyd, I've seen a couple cases where an SAB with hidden address had the marker dropped at their actual address. I think it's more of a bug.

Are you able to share any specific details about this listing? Maybe a screengrab of the service area settings in the dash? Never hurts to ask

 

[Lloyd Silver]

Thanks, Colan.

Here are a couple of screenshots:

2014-10-23_1749 - LloydSilver's library
2014-10-23_1750 - LloydSilver's library

The page is: https://plus.google.com/+Photoperfectweddings

It looks like it's setup correctly but the client did say that he moved the pin marker himself when he saw it was on top of his house (before we started working together).

There are a couple of other odd things:

1. The category displayed publicly is Video Production Service. The current primary category is Wedding Photographer although Video Production Service is still listed. I should probably just remove that category. He selected it because he wanted to put something in there about video and technically he produces the videos after they are created, I guess. There are no pending edit messages.

2. If you search in maps, the autofill will be Photo Perfect Wedding and Event Photographer which I changed since it was a descriptor violation. However, if you click on the name (while searching in maps) it doesn't bring up anything. If you search for Photo Perfect Weddings specifically, then his listing comes up fine.

With the wrong category being displayed and an odd behavior in maps, I'm wondering if there's some kind of sync issue.

I couldn't find any other pages for the business.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Lloyd Silver]

Still can't figure out what's going on with this maps listing if anybody can take a look.

Thanks

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Lloyd,

It used to be in the guidelines something like "do not move your map marker to a different location". Spammers were doing this. I'm pretty sure it's a violation of an unwritten rule.

For the location issue...

I logged into my account which is set up exactly the same and it put my marker in center of town, which is far from where I actually am.

I would deselect service area just for a sec and see if it automatically puts marker in the right place - on his actual house.

Then reselect service area. I'd also change radius to 20 miles and see if that fixes it.

Re cat, I think if you want the other cat to show you need to delete all cats and start over with the cat you want in the top spot.

Your Q in #2 I'm not following what you mean at all. Need to specify which maps and post a link or something so I can see what you are referring to.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Hi Lioyd,

I would have suggested the same thing as Linda. Deselect and reselect the service area and see what happens.

I noticed something really interesting. The pin marker is in a different spot if you switch between new and classic map.

Also, in new maps the marker appears as the teardrop and in classic maps it's a circle.

 

[Lloyd Silver]

Thanks guys, I'll try those suggestions.

Colan, interesting find. Classic maps is showing the circle where the client moved the location to. New maps is properly displaying the pin in city center. Odd. No clue what that means.

Let me try and explain the name issue differently. The official name was "Photo Perfect Wedding and Event Photography". I changed it to the correct "Photo Perfect Weddings".

If you go into maps (either) and start typing "Photo Perfect Wed" it will show as one of the suggestions to click the old name. And if you click on it, the listing does not show. Instead you just see the map with no listings. If you type in the new name and do not click on the suggested and instead press enter to do a true search, it will find the page. To me this suggests something odd is happening although I don't know what. It's like there are remnants of the old name in the system, which could also be related to the pin location differences in map versions.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Lioyd,

I would have suggested the same thing as Linda. Deselect and reselect the service area and see what happens.

I noticed something really interesting. The pin marker is in a different spot if you switch between new and classic map.

Also, in new maps the marker appears as the teardrop and in classic maps it's a circle.

Thanks Colan, good observation about the marker location between old and new maps.

(But as far as marker shape - I believe all new maps markers are teardrop even if hidden address.)

Colan, interesting find. Classic maps is showing the circle where the client moved the location to. New maps is properly displaying the pin in city center. Odd. No clue what that means.

New maps is working most correctly I believe. Classic is still using an old. DC. New maps has been updated.

But when I checked mine I was using Classic. So I think it may have something to do with manually moving marker or something.

If you go into maps (either) and start typing "Photo Perfect Wed" it will show as one of the suggestions to click the old name. And if you click on it, the listing does not show. Instead you just see the map with no listings. If you type in the new name and do not click on the suggested and instead press enter to do a true search, it will find the page. To me this suggests something odd is happening although I don't know what. It's like there are remnants of the old name in the system, which could also be related to the pin location differences in map versions.

Ahhh, I see now what you are saying. Same thing for me. However I see that happen all the time when someone change name the old still shows in that particular time of search. So it's not unique to this listing.

I checked cache of the page to see if old name is still listed, but it's been updated.

 

[Lloyd Silver]

I changed the service area settings and re-saved. Now, both pins (Class and New) are on top of the home.

So the new maps listing was moved from city center. And the classic maps was moved from down the street.

Any suggestion on what to do next?

And I wound up just deleting the video reference and the category is now correct.

Thanks.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Hi Lloyd, try GMB support. Explain the concern and see what they say. Maybe they can move the marker or at least try to provide an explanation.

 

[Lloyd Silver]

Sounds good. Wasn't sure if I should suggest an edit in Maps and provide the explanation there. But since this seems like more than just a bad marker location doing that probably would be sufficient.

 

[Linda Buquet]

No I wouldn't do this via maps or edit details I would def call support as Colan suggested.