Need help with a weird bug with a hotel listing on Maps.

[NevenaIvanova]

Hello,

I am writing to share a bug that is preventing a legit Google page from being displayed for relevant Hotel keywords. It's basically not detected as a hotel page, and is filtered out of all related generic searches on Google Maps, Google Travel, etc.

When we look at the page details, everything seems to be perfectly normal - DoubleTree by Hilton St. Anne's Manor · London Rd, Wokingham RG40 1ST, United Kingdom.

Please take a look at the attached video to understand more what the issue is. The listing is reachable for brand keyword, but then when we search for hotels in its area, it's not detected as one. We can see only an Ad result.

I will be super grateful if you had a clue what might causes this, and suggest a way to fix it. I already turned to all kind of Google supports, but none of them had managed to find a solution.

Best,
Nevena

 

[ABuck]

Might be because you're logged into Google and have that GBP in your account? I do see your hotel in the Hotels list, following the same process.

 

[NevenaIvanova]

Thanks for taking a look, but you are seeing the Ad result on your end.

The GBP listing is reachable for brand keyword, but then when we search for hotels in its area, it's not detected as one and that's the issue I am concerned about.

I would appreciate it if you could remove the "Solution" label.

 

[SeoSaur]

@NevenaIvanova - Look into local filtering. The experts here have lots of details on it. It might be that another listing nearby is filtering your location. You might try to play with the categories to see if it ranks, as long as there is the requisite volume of course.

 

[NevenaIvanova]

Thanks, I already tested several variations of categories, and what I concluded is that:

• the listing ranks for categories like spa, wedding venue, restaurant
• the listing is filtered out for any hotel-related searches.

Since it ranks for some keywords, I guess this means it's not filtered out?

 

[SeoSaur]

Filtering - please correct my logic experts - applies to the categories specifically. So I'm assuming from the video you're filtered for hotels and not for other categories. To rank for hotels you'd need to look at other elements, including on-page, reviews, citations etc.

 

[NevenaIvanova]

I've been managing the listing for more than 10 years and I can assure you it's perfectly optimized across the whole local ecosystem.

However, a few years back, the page was irregularly merged with the listing of the hotel's previous brand, and this is when the troubles had started.

I am out of ideas how to overcome this, and I really hope that anyone would be able to share the magic trick.

 

[NevenaIvanova]

Just dropping a quick note to poke the thread.

 

[JS Girard]

Hotels are not a vertical in which I have any experience, but this is still a complete stumper for me. I'm grasping for straws with this, but I have seen before unusual addresses interferingwith where Google thinks the GBP is supposed to rank. The old falsehoods about addresses meme. So could this odd address with no street number be somehow a factor?

 

[NevenaIvanova]

Hotels are not a vertical in which I have any experience, but this is still a complete stumper for me. I'm grasping for straws with this, but I have seen before unusual addresses interferingwith where Google thinks the GBP is supposed to rank. The old falsehoods about addresses meme. So could this odd address with no street number be somehow a factor?

Thanks for the suggestion. I think that the address is not a factor here, as the listing used to rank good in the past. Things had changed however, when the business was penalized for a while.

 

[NevenaIvanova]

Poking this topic, as the issue is still on the table.

In summary, this accommodation listing does not appear in any hotel-related searches, regardless of how much we zoom in on the map. However, it does rank for other keywords such as spa, wedding venue, and so on.

Any advice would be highly appreciated.

 

[Lluc]

Hi Nevena! I’ve looked into this a couple of times but I’ve never seen or heard/read of a similar issue… and to be honest, I have no idea what the issue could be.

I’ve only seen the listing rank for a hotel-related search in Local Services, and only for wedding queries.

I’ve searched for spa, pet friendly, indoor pool, etc. + hotel in/near Wokingham in Google Maps, Local Finder, Local Services, and Google Hotels and have not seen it (only Ads)

The strange thing is that the hotel appears in the Map, in the correct or usual pink hotel icon (reviews + hotel category) but it is never listed.

I have a few questions:

1. You mentioned that the profile was merged with another profile a couple of years ago, was it a duplicate profile of the same hotel or the same hotel but operated by another brand?
2. In GBP Insights and GSC (filtering for the UTM) are there any non-brand hotel-related queries? More specifically, any non-brand queries that you are not using for your paid campaigns. (Unfortunately, both paid and organic show up in GBP Inisghts - but not in GSC)
3. Have you tried removing all categories, except for hotels, to see if there is a change?
4. Have you received any warnings from Google Hotel Center relating to price accuracy or availability?

My suggestion would be to contact (you’ve mentioned you’ve contacted all types of Google Support, but not specifically Google Hotel Ads) your Account manager at Google Hotel Ads and explain to him the issue. I think it might be more related to a bug/configuration/integration issue with Google Hotels than GBP or Google Maps.

 

[NevenaIvanova]

Hi Lluc! Thanks for taking the time to look into this peculiar case.

Let's dive into your questions:

1. The profile it merged with was from the previous hotel brand, operating under Hilton St Anne’s Manor, Bracknell. We diligently followed the guidelines, created a page for the new brand, marked the old one as permanently closed, but somehow they got merged, and that's when the issue began.
   
   
2. No, there aren't. It's worth noting that all top keywords are brand-specific, which aligns with the current lack of visibility for generic terms.
   
   
3. Yes, a couple of times, trying various approaches.
   
   
4. No.

Thank you for your help. We've elevated the case with Google Support to a higher level, but they are having difficulty grasping the core of the issue, making it challenging for them to offer a solution. We're hopeful that they'll be able to resolve it soon.

Best,
Nevena

 

[JS Girard]

We've elevated the case with Google Support to a higher level, but they are having difficulty grasping the core of the issue, making it challenging for them to offer a solution. We're hopeful that they'll be able to resolve it soon.

Best,
Nevena

yeah, let's just say that "we aren't showing when we should" is not the kind of query that support is typically inclined to help with.