Unwanted Postmates Link on Google Maps Knowledge Panel

[JoyHawkins]

I don't know of a way to implement the Ordering URL if you don't have it already. That form is only if you want to opt out.

 

[hajnasiewicz]

Sure thing.

It actually doesn't have the Booking button and instead just has an "order" link.

In your GMB Dashboard you will find "Booking" in the left nav bar for any location that has "Order: postmates.com" in its knowledge panel.

 

[Doubtful]

If I am reading this correctly, it is stunning that Google has the audacity to insert itself in the ordering/booking process of a business without their permission.

Is this "permission" buried deep in the GMB terms of service?

Google needs to be reined in via strong anti-trust legislation, and soon.

 

[Jen Currier]

I heard back from Google on this.

There are 2 things you can do here.

On the Google side, if you want to prevent these 3rd party links on your listing, you can opt out here: Opt Out of Online Food Orders on Google - Google My Business Help (yes, even though this isn't a restaurant).

Additionally, as Ben mentioned, you can contact Postmates to have them remove it.

Thank you for the solution! Have a client who delivers food by subscription only - therefore the grocery delivery services like postmates.com are not a fit. We are recommending to proceed with Opting Out based on the information shared here.

 

[Cordell Crowley]

For anybody interested, this has apparently become a widespread thing here in the floral industry beyond just my clients. See:

SAF Asks Google, Postmates to Delete Unwanted Links

The Society of American Florists reached out this week to Postmates and Google, asking the companies to remove the courier service’s links from florists’ local Google Listing pages and prevent those links from automatically populating in the future. SAF is also discussing the legality of this...

safnow.org

Curious to see where this goes; it's nice to see someone stepping up and attempting to do something about this. Maybe the Society of American Florists will do my job for me. *shrugs*

 

[hajnasiewicz]

For anybody interested, this has apparently become a widespread thing here in the floral industry beyond just my clients. See:

SAF Asks Google, Postmates to Delete Unwanted Links

The Society of American Florists reached out this week to Postmates and Google, asking the companies to remove the courier service’s links from florists’ local Google Listing pages and prevent those links from automatically populating in the future. SAF is also discussing the legality of this...

safnow.org

Curious to see where this goes; it's nice to see someone stepping up and attempting to do something about this. Maybe the Society of American Florists will do my job for me. *shrugs*

I just got off the phone with Postmates and although I emailed specifics last week they were not yet addressed and so the rep began the process while I was on the phone. Postmates rep indicated 3-5 business days before we will realize the removal in our business profiles. We are in the Grocery business, not Floral, and Postmates does not appear to even conduct business in the cities where we conduct business. We are not a partner with them and I hope to learn how they were able to integrate links into our business profiles without our knowledge. I will continue to follow this topic and share what I learn here. Have a terrific day!

 

[JoyHawkins]

Thanks for continuing to update us guys. A bunch of us here have been passing a lot of this feedback to Google and they are very aware of the issue now, so thank you!

 

[hajnasiewicz]

Hopefully one of the outcomes will be to learn 1) how Postmates was able to integrate their links into our profiles without our knowledge, 2) Google enable business owners to utilize the "Order" link, 3) hoping that Google will not take away the "Order" link as a result of this debacle, and 4) make the "Order" link available in our GMB profiles so that we may promote our own proprietary online ordering system for our customers. @JoyHawkins can you run this past your partners at Google? Thank you everyone for sharing on this topic.

 

[andrewthorn]

Hi @hajnasiewicz , We are doing some research on this now, It appears some of what you are showing is from Attributes such as the following:

url_inventory_search
url_appointment
url_menu
url_order_ahead
url_reservations

We have the same problems in Australia, With some of our listings showing Deliveroo.com.au ( Which is an ordering food app. But when we query the listing via the API there is no attribute there for Order_Ahead, Or Menu.

It. appears some of these people can put this into. the GMB directly is our early research.

 

[hajnasiewicz]

The postmates.com links have been removed from our knowledge panels. And the link to our own online ordering/delivery service remains! So now I need to figure out how to get the link for our own online ordering/delivery service included in the knowledge panels for all locations that offer this service. Any advice appreciated!

PS: I did not learn any of the desired outcomes listed as 1-4 in my message above. If anyone has insights there I would appreciate a knowledge share.

 

[hajnasiewicz]

Can any of the Google Product Experts here reach out to Google regarding this help doc: Local business URLs - Google My Business Help

I believe this help doc is outdated because the only URL section in GMB dashboard for each location is for the website URL, there are no further URL options.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Can any of the Google Product Experts here reach out to Google regarding this help doc: Local business URLs - Google My Business Help

I believe this help doc is outdated because the only URL section in GMB dashboard for each location is for the website URL, there are no further URL options.

Carolyn,

The URLs vary based on the business category on the listing.

 

[hajnasiewicz]

Carolyn,

The URLs vary based on the business category on the listing.

All locations have the same business categories, none have additional URL option so I'm not sure which category would trigger it. Further, only a few have "Booking" which results in the "Order" link in the knowledge panel (I want). So my categories are not triggering the additional URL option or "Booking"

 

[hajnasiewicz]

I'm ready to throw in the towel on this soon. "Booking" is no longer in my GMB Dashboard for any location, yet the "Order" link to our own online shopping/delivery remains in the knowledge panels (yay!) for just a few locations that previously had the postmates link. Primary/secondary categories don't seem to determine if "Booking" shows up in my GMB Dashboard.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Carolyn,

If you want to start a thread on the GMB forum - I can ask Google. It might be something they can set manually. However, there is a possibility that they come back and tell me it shouldn't be there at all and remove it from the few listings that have it.

 

[nnw]

I did this and our listing was suspended. Don't change your category