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<img src="http://marketing-blog.catalystemarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/GMBguidelines.jpg" alt="GMBguidelines" width="35%" />
Google has been working on updating the Google My Business guidelines to try to make them clearer and they just went live. There are a lot more examples and many of the guidelines are spelled out in greater detail.
Some important things have changed as well so be sure to read VERY carefully.
2 ITEMS TO NOTE:
DESCRIPTORS NO LONGER ALLOWED
There was a reversal of the recent guideline that said you COULD add a descriptor. (One of the reasons I've advised against adding one, is I was pretty sure this would be overturned.) Now we are back to real-world names only.
NAME
Your name should reflect your business’ real-world name, as used consistently on your storefront, website, stationery, and as known to customers.
Any additional information, when relevant, can be included in other sections of your business information (e.g., "Addresss", "Categories"). Adding unnecessary information to your name (e.g., "Google Inc. - Mountain View Corporate Headquarters" instead of "Google") by including marketing taglines, store codes, special characters, hours or closed/open status, phone numbers, website URLs, service/product information, location/address or directions, or containment information (e.g. "Chase ATM in Duane Reade") is not permitted.
More details + examples in this section - so be sure to read.
CATEGORIES
Categories help your customers find accurate, specific results for services they’re interested in. In order to keep your business information accurate and live, make sure that you:
Use as few categories as possible to describe your overall core business from the provided list.
Choose categories that are as specific as possible, but representative of your main business.
Do not use categories solely as keywords or to describe attributes of your business.
More inside this section - so be sure to read.
Read all the new guidelines here:
Guidelines for representing your business on Google
There is a lot more detail about practitioners and several other things as well.
Overall I think they did a really good job. The guidelines are much more granular and many things are spelled out much more clearly. I think all the detailed examples will help SMBs understand better too.
What do you think???
Please point out anything else noteworthy below.
The Top Contributors got a preview of an initial draft, but changes have been made since then, so I'm still reading the final version. I may have more things to point out once I get through it all.
ADDED 12/2 - Copy of previous guidelines below. (Quick copy/paste didn't take time to format.)
<meta property="og:type" content="article"><meta property="og:title" content=""><meta property="og:description" content="Major guideline updates - see inside">
<meta property="og:image" content="http://marketing-blog.catalystemarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/GMBguidelines.jpg">