Just A Thought…

Remember my last rant about how Google, as powerful as they are, definitely missed the bar when it came to verifying a mass listing of businesses under one corporate entity?  Well, I finally finished up the process that Google has set up, which included developing a mass spreadsheet document with all 180+ business with information such as office hours, websites, phone numbers, and correct addressed.

I went ahead and submitted the feed to Google and the listings appeared within an hour in my Local Business Center account.  I submitted the Bulk Feed Verification Form, which currently is being verified case by case by the folks at Google, and just received notification the other day that my feed was verified.  PHEW!

Whether or not the blog post helped to make sure that my listing got verified, but I’m definitely happy that the feed got verified and all of the listings should push live within the next few weeks so that is one project (and a big one at that) off my plate.

At least that is what I thought when I took it under my wing as a project to “claim” all of the businesses on Google Maps for the company I work for.  The company I work for has one main office with multiple facilities (over 150) under its umbrella so I decided to claim each one and make sure all of the information on Google was accurate and up-to-date in the hopes that this would increase the SEO of each specific location and the overall company.  This is great business planning and marketing and, for small businesses, works wonderfully.

For those of you who don’t know, Google allows you to place your business listing, with all of the fun information including hours of operation, photos, videos, and categories through their Local Business Center.  This hooks up into your Google account, much like AdWords, Analytics, etc. do as well, and then you can manage, after a verification process, what information is linked to your business.  For one or two businesses, this works great because the verification process is performed by phone or postcard.  The PIN number Google provides allows you to verify your business and “lock down” your listing so it can’t be moved, deleted, or edited by anyone but you.

However, for a corporation such as the one I work for, where there are over 100 different businesses all housed under one corporate umbrella, Google is lacking.  They do allow for a bulk upload using a spreadsheet CSV file.  However, until recently, these bulk uploads were unable to be verified and locked down.  So you could add your many businesses but they would join the rest of the feeds from DexKnows, Yellow Pages, Super Pages, etc. and be in the jumble of erroneous feed listings that are out there.  Of course, you can spend most of your time submitting deletions of other locations and duplicates of your business, but Google is very slow to respond to these updates.

Now that the verification process is in place for bulk uploads, of which I am currently in the process of doing a spreadsheet in place of the individual claiming (which I did for the past week), Google is slow to respond to these verification requests as well.  They will be “locked down,” but not for at least 6 weeks or so.  Also, these listings can only contain certain information (no photos, no videos, etc.); just the bare minimum of hours, addresses, cities, etc.  This could present a very big issue when it comes to lost business and clients in a certain market.  For a business that tops most of the lists for best business practices and treating its employees well, Google doesn’t impress me in this regard.

With all of the money and resources that Google has at its disposal, I think they should look at some personnel designed to deal with the listings on Google Maps and how to properly handle the business listings… it’s currently like reading the phone book with 6 numbers for one location and only one is correct.  Which one?  Well, just keep trying until you figure it out.

I’ll keep everyone posted, and Google, I love you to death, but help a brotha out!

That’s right, kids… looks like one of the photo competitions I entered actually moved me on to the second round of the competition for September 2009.  What does this have to do with you?  Well, it looks like I need votes from all of you fine people to win.  It’s not a huge deal, but if you could follow this link, register as a user to vote, then choose my photo “Prerogative,” I would appreciate it.  Help out a local Peorian as well as a local artist.

Thanks!

P.S. The photo to look for is the one shown here.