Business Listings?

Why does Google make it so difficult for local business owners to control their Google Places listings?

• Considering that Google Places are now integral to local search rankings, it seems odd that business owners have such little control over their listings. Google seems to automatically generate listings for one's business at will. These automatically generated listings oftentimes interfere and conflict with one's main Google Places listing and forces the business owner to use resources to claim these new listings and try to remove them. In addition, oftentimes changes that are made to a listing from the Google Places administration area do not go live at all.

• Answer:

  The Google Places database is huge, made up of both millions of claimed listings around the world and millions of unclaimed listings, generated by third party providers and information about local businesses on the web. It's a lot of data to keep correct and dynamic at scale, and we have a complex system at work on the backend to get the right information to users on both desktop and mobile. You mention "control.” When a business owner verifies their listing, what we’re doing is giving them additional features within a Google account (access to analytics, etc). We do not guarantee complete control over the listing data that is displayed to our users. Because many of our listings aren't owner-verified and many contain spam, we simply don't allow for complete control. Google Places is not perfect, but we're working daily to make it better and better so that as an owner, you can update your info quickly and with little hassle, while we ensure to the end-user that it's accurate and free of spam. From your question, it sounds like you've experienced a duplicate listing. So, why do they exist and how do you fix them?Why: We have data spread across multiple databases — made up of sources from across the Web — and we bring all that information together to create your local listing. Occasionally, you’ll see duplicates of the same listing appear as a result of not all that listing information being reconciled together properly. Also, sometimes, when listing data differs enough (eg., location, title, phone number), we’ll create separate listings.How to fix: If the duplicate listing is listed at a different address, it is OK to claim it and make sure the information is accurate. If the duplicate has the exact same basic information (address, telephone), then eventually they’ll combine together into a single listing. Give it time; every several weeks, we push out a giant housecleaning update to that very large index of listings I mentioned above, including duplicate cleanups (our system targets listings with like information, and merges them together). If you’ve waited several weeks and still nothing, get in touch with us via this Help Center troubleshooter (we’ll merge them for you, and get back to you via e-mail about it): http://www.google.com/support/places/bin/static.py?page=ts.cs&ts=1386120 There are many information inputs to the listings database — this adds more complexity. I've mentioned third-party providers, and of course, business owner edits via Google Places. But end-users also help us keep listing information up to date using: Google Map Maker (http://mapmaker.google.com) - a free web-based mapping tool that, among other things, allows you to add and edit places. When edits are approved by trusted moderators, they'll go live on the map and generate a listing. Here's the full list of countries and regions being mapped: http://support.google.com/mapmaker/bin/static.py?hl=en&topic=1094318&guide=30028&page=guide.cs&answer=155415. Report a problem - On the bottom right corner of the Google Maps homepage (http://maps.google.com), we link to a button called "Report a problem." You can get to this via the "More" dropdown at the top of a business listing (or click "Edit This Place", top right). Those are reviewed by a moderation team, and when approved, those changes will go live on the map.