Merging Duplicate Yelp Listings: Tutorial for Business Owners (and Analysts)

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Having duplicate Yelp listings for your business may make it difficult for potential clients to find you and is not ideal for your Local Campaign.

If you are a business owner, but not necessarily Yelp-savvy, you might not be aware that you created duplicate listings for your business. This can happen while you’re trying to create a listing for a different location, update your business info, or change your business name – which was the case for our client.

If you have a similar issue, this tutorial can help you, or at the very least, point you in the right direction.

When merging duplicate Yelp listings, make sure you are logged in as a business owner because it will make things much easier. In the back-end, there will be a number provided: (877) 767-9357. This is the number for the Yelp Advertising department.

When I called, I was helped with my request by a Senior Account Executive. Luckily for me, the executive emailed some info regarding my request, and now I have access to his email as well as direct line for future inquiries. However, if you are not emailed by someone who works at Yelp, you should still ask for their contact info for your reference. Now, back to merging listings.

In detail, let whomever is helping you know exactly what you’re trying to achieve. In this case, I was trying to merge two duplicate listings into one and update the business name.

In this instance, since we were working with a doctor’s personal listing as well as his practice, he had to give written consent to Yelp. The executive at Yelp emailed me the following statement to forward to the doctor to sign:

I, __________ , give Yelp my consent to merge my individual Yelp listing with my practice listing. I understand that this will not be undone in the future, and I will lose out on the ability to take any photos, reviews, tips, videos, or other content with me in the future should I move locations or practices.

It took some time, but I got this back from the doctor and emailed it immediately to the Yelp executive. I did not hear back from him for a couple of weeks, so I called his direct line (again, I strongly urge you to record someone’s contact info at Yelp).

The Yelp executive said he remembered our first conversation and would complete my request right away. I checked the listings about an hour later, and…

TA-DAH! The listings had been merged.

Merging duplicate Yelp listings can actually be quite simple. The whole process should take about a week or so if you are checking on it regularly. It will take effective communication and possibly some phone calls, but you can do it too!

Your Google Listing Has Been Flagged for Non-Compliance

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Do I even have to say it?

stop

It’s. A. Scam.

Google themselves warn that “Google does not charge for inclusion in Google Maps. Be wary of invoices for services received — especially if nobody in the business remembers purchasing those services. Make sure to perform due diligence on any financial transaction.”

This is just the old 29 Palms scam, dressed in different clothing.

Google Maps is free to create, free to edit, and free to verify.

 

Before You Move Your Business

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You are a business owner and you have decided to relocate your business to a better situated spot in town.

Everyone can agree moving is not fun but moving an entire business can be especially daunting. Amidst the boxes and bubble wrap, there is something really important you might not be remembering— your local listings.

If you don’t have a good handle on your business listings, this might be a lengthier process for you. Claiming your listings on directories allows you to change and update information as needed. These changes are usually approved within a few days. At TastyPlacement, we do all this for you. However, each directory has informative FAQs that will let you know how to complete the steps to claim your business listing.

You might be thinking, “I don’t have time for that.” It might sound like a great idea and an easy fix to create new business listings. Do not do this. In the long term, it will hurt your business tremendously if you have hopes for ranking on Google Maps. It will create duplicate listings with outdated information and since your business name, address and phone number don’t match up to the rest of the information online, expect your business listings to end up on the dark void of map search results. Most importantly, you will make it incredibly difficult for clients to find you, especially on mobile and local searches. If clients can’t find you, they don’t pay for your services.

So keep in mind this short list before your next big business move:

1. Narrow down a solid reopening date. If you’re a TastyPlacement client, make sure to let us know and we’ll work on getting your listings updated as soon as possible.

2. Update all your listings with the new address as soon as the new address is officially determined. If you are not able to receive mail at the new location, contact the United States Postal Service to place a hold on your mail. Many search engines like Google, Yahoo and Foursquare require postcard verification to update the address on your listing.

3. Focus on the big directories: Google, Yahoo, Yelp, Localeze. Changing your information on larger data aggregates will eventually trickle down to lower-authoritative directories.

4. Place a banner on your website informing clients of the anticipated move either in the footer or as a static image on the home page. After the official move, leave the banner on for at least eight more weeks.

5. Update your social media accounts with images of your new location. Seeing these images will prompt clients to better visualize your new location.

Happy Moving!

 

New Places for Business Bulk Upload Tool

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New Places for Business Bulk Upload Tool

Bulk Upload Tool Missing

Yesterday at I/O, Google announced many new features for Local and Maps.  Some of the features aren’t available yet, but we’re already seeing the new Google+ and Places for Business dashboards. If you’re setting up a new Places for Business account, you may be wonder where to find the new Places for Business bulk upload tool. We wondered the same thing, and couldn’t find the answer in Google’s help articles. So, we turned to Twitter for our answer.

New Places for Business Bulk Upload Tool Coming

Google Places Bulk UploadAccording to @GooglePlaces, the new bulk upload tool isn’t supported, yet. For now, use this link to access the old bulk upload tool. This takes you to a landing page with a message box that reads “Are You Sure You Want to Use The Bulk Upload Tool?” Read the prompt carefully. If your business meets the requirements, click submit. Next, you’ll see the old bulk upload interface. It might look familiar and is fairly easy to use. If you receive an error message after submitting your .csv file, crosscheck your file with Google’s bulk upload template.

How to Speed up The Verification Process

Getting local listings verified can be stressful and time consuming. To save time try these 3 tricks:

  1. Use a domain level email account to manage your listings. This helps Google verify you’re the authorized manager for your business.
  2. Inappropriate information in Address line 1. This field is only for street number and name. If you need to add a floor or suite number, make sure you use Address line 2.
  3. Avoid custom categories whenever possible. If you aren’t sure if your category is supported check this comprehensive list of Google’s supported categories.

Sign Up for The New Google Maps

Finally, after you’re finished uploading your listings, don’t forget to sign up for an invite to the new Google Maps. Google is releasing a lot of new features for Google+ Local, so it’s important to keep your knowledge current. The key to a competitive local search strategy is adaptability.

 

Google Places Update: How to Find Missing Google+ Local Listings

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How to Recover Missing Google Places Listings

[deprecated, 2019, due to Google+ shutdown]

This morning Google started rolling out a global update to Google Places. The entire service has finally merged with Google+ Local. If you try to go to the normal Places login, you’ll be automatically redirected to a gateway to Google+. For most people this isn’t a problem, but if the email address you use to manage your Places listings doesn’t already have G+ activated, you’re probably going to find a screen like this where you should see your business listings.

Empty Manage your pages

If that’s the case, don’t panic. You can still recover your work. This morning, we received a Google Places verification post card for a client. They are eager to gain a presence on Google Maps so that they can start gaining leads. Unfortunately, the client’s listing was in the middle of the verification process when update hit.

01-Verification-Postcard02

This client’s listing was brand new, and, as mentioned before, had yet to be verified. It wasn’t already a part of the G+ Local ecosystem, which meant that we thought we lost all the work we’d done to create their local listing. But after exploring the new dashboard and Google Maps, we found a way to reconcile what would have been yet another stray listing.

If you have a Google Places listing that you need to recover, follow these steps:

1. Go to your old Google Places dashboard

Sign into the Google account you use to manage your listing. Since you can’t access the Google Places dashboard using http://www.google.com/places you’ll need to go here.

<https://www.google.com/local/add/businessCenter?hl=en&utm_campaign=ww&utm_source=placepage-badge&utm_medium=et>

02 Unverified Listing in Places Dahsboard

2. Enter your verification PIN

Enter your verification PIN to verify your listing. You should be redirected to the standard verification screen for Google Places.

03 Listing Verified

3. Submit your Places listing for early upgrade

Once your listing is verified, go back to your Google Places dashboard by clicking the logo on the upper left side of the PIN verification screen. You should be redirected to your dashboard and find your listing marked as “Pending: Being reviewed.”

04 Listing Pending Review

If you look at the top of the page you’ll also notice a message explaining that Google Places is being upgraded to Google+ Local. Follow the link in the message to go to Google’s article explaining the changes in detail.

05 Update Message

 

At the end of the article, there is a field to submit your page for early upgrade to G+ Local, under “Who can use the new Places dashboard?”Submit your listing, and wait on Google to update your Places listing to a Google+ Local listing. (This is probably a good idea because it sends a signal to Google that your listing is monitored by a real human being, and that you care enough about your listing to proactively submit it to G+ Local.)

06 What’s happening to Google Places for Business

4. What if my previously verified listing disappeared?

If your listing was previously verified and you know the URL, recovering your listing is simple. First, sign into the Google account you use to manage your listing. Next, go directly to your listing and click on “Manage this page.” If you don’t know where this is, you can find the button in the lower right sidebar.

01 Manage This Page Button

You should be redirected to the old Google Places dashboard where you can still send verification postcards.

06 Google Places Dashboard with Pending Listings

Don’t forget to take the time to also submit your unverified listing for an early upgrade, lest you lose hours of work.

At the end of the day, to succeed in this new local search environment that Google+ Local offers, you must make sure that your Places listing is managed by an active account, currently enrolled in G+.

How to Get a Google Maps Business Panorama, a Step-by-Step Guide

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Awesome New Google Business Panoramas Extend Street View Technology

We recently noticed business panoramas appearing on Google Places/Maps pages for a number of businesses in Austin, TX. These business panoramas operate just like Google Street View, and in fact, in some cases you can follow the street view right through the doors of a business and into the inside. You can try it by visiting local restaurant J. Blacks Google Places Page (just follow the arrows out the door!).

Here’s a screenshot of our new panorama, and it links to the panorama itself:

Google Maps Panorama

 

How to Get Google Business Panoramas for Your Places Listing

We got our panorama up in about 8 days from start to finish–you’ll need an outside vendor to do it. Here are the steps you’ll need to follow:

  • Start with a Google Places page. You’ll need a verified Google+ Local/Google Places/Maps listing. If you’ve got duplicate listings, you’ll want to clean that up first. Also, if you have multiple locations, you will need to secure (and pay for) separate panoramas.
  • Find a Google-authorized provider. You can’t shoot these panoramas yourself. You need to select from a list of authorized providers (“Trusted Photographer”) and make your own deal with them. You can go here to find a Google Trusted Photographer in your area.
  • Arrange your photo shoot. You’ll arrange a time and price with the Trusted Photographer. We got an appointment the next day from Olive Tree Photography in Austin (sadly, as of 2015, Olive is no longer offering this service), and they came out the next day.
  • Your Photographer does the rest. Your Trusted Photographer has a special camera, special software, and back-door access to your Google+ Local page, so they’ll make the upload to your page on their own. Ours was posted in 6 or 7 days after the shoot. We also got about 20 high-quality still shots for our local page. Check with your provider, this service might be optional, but ours was included in our price of about $270, we opted for a bare-bones service. The range will generally be $250 to $650.

About the Photo Shoot

We were obviously interested in the technology involved, and were expecting a camera more like the spaceship-shaped cameras used on Google’s mapping vehicles, but the camera setup was surprisingly compact and ordinary looking:

 

Google-Photo-Shoot

 

Pictured above is the Olive Tree team at work. The entire shoot took about 25 minutes.

The SEO and Marketing Benefits

We see the business photos as obviously beneficial to a company’s marketing program. Google Maps is still the king within the world of local listings, at least for the time being, and having a view of your business available to new customers is a great way to introduce yourself.

Furthermore, we surmise that adding this feature to a Google+ Local page serves to enhance the listing, which is always beneficial for ranking within the local system. It may also serve to give the listing further verification and authority.

In short: it’s a no-brainer.

Embedding the Panorama

More good news: you can embed the panorama just as you would embed a map. You simply browse to your panorama and play with it until you have the exact orientation you want and then click the link icon at the upper left of the panorama window. You’ll see the familiar link menu pop up. You can see our panorama embedded on our TastyPlacement team page.

If you do choose to go forward with a panorama, good luck with your photo shoot!

 

Google Hides “Dead” Girl on Google Maps: “This Image Is No Longer Available”

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Google Hides “Dead” Girl on Google Maps: “This Image Is No Longer Available”

Last week, we reported on the apparent dead girl on Google Maps. As it turned out, the dead girl was “playing” dead in the street just as Google’s imaging van drove by. The widespread media frenzy over the photo ultimately prompted Google to remove the image from Google Places, reporting a blank image with the message This image is no longer available. You can see the removed image here.

No longer available

The Daily Mail of the UK reports that Google has been forced to remove some images from its “Street View” feature throughout the UK based on privacy protests.

Here’s a screenshot of the original Maps entry showing the young girl in the street: