the company says this is not an enhanced version of Google support – although many may be tempted to see it that way. Support, Google says, is intended for troubleshooting around discrete problems, such as reinstatement or merger of duplicate listings.

The program cannot be used for real-time GMB verification.

anywhere from between 60% to 70% of SMBs don’t work with marketing agencies and are trying to manage digital marketing in house.

If Google cares this much about ratings, review text, responses, and emerging elements like place topics and attributes, any local brand you’re marketing should see these factors as a priority.

In 2017, when I wrote the original version of this post, contributors to the Local Search Ranking Factors survey placed Google star ratings down at #24 in terms of local rankings influence. In 2020, this metric has jumped up to spot #8 — a leap of 16 spots in just three years.

local SEOs have noticed patterns over the years like searches with the format of “best X in city” (e.g. best burrito in Dallas) appearing to default to local results made up of businesses that have earned a minimum average of four stars.

The increase in this type of spam likely explains why we’re also seeing an increase in the number of suspensions.

it’s a very good idea not to have tons of managers on your Google My Business listing.  Having more users increases the likeliness that one of them could accidentally click it and give an unauthorized party control of your business listing.

Google My Business suspension is when your GMB listing is no longer visible on Google and Google Maps or you have lost control of your listing (your business listing is essentially “unverified” and you can’t manage it.)You will know that your listing has been suspended when you see this notification in your GMB dashboard:

If that person is “trusted” enough by Google, it is possible that their suggestion to remove the business listing or make negative edits could take effect almost immediately.

A hard suspension is when you do a search for your company’s name and city and your Knowledge Panel doesn’t show up online

We were able to get the listing reinstated a few weeks later after going through the process of proving the location is real, providing photos, videos, and showing staff members at the location.

she has noticed listings which get suspended when several fields are updated at once

GMB suspensions are a bit insane right now. I’m hearing stories of people making a single edit and causing a suspension

There are a few main reasons to add a Google map to your website: It helps customers or website visitors get directions to your business and saves customers the steps of opening a new browser window, leaving your website, and finding directions. Customers can simply use the map on your website. Your business contact information is easy to find. The data an embedded Google Map provides is your business address, phone number, website, directions, reviews, and review stars. A Google map can highlight nearby points of interest, parking areas, restaurants, theaters, parks, etc. Visitors can reference nearby areas if they are not exactly sure where your business is located.

Added note to clarify that ratings do not directly impact order of search results Emphasized 'The Role of Examples in these Guidelines' as an independent section in the introduction Added clarification that Special Content Result Blocks may have links to landing pages; added illustrative example Updated guidance on how to rate pages with malware warnings and when to assign the Did Not Load flag; added illustrative examples Changed the order of Rating Flags section and Relationship between Page Quality and Needs Met section for clarity Added 'Rating Dictionary and Encyclopedia Results for Different Queries': Emphasizes the importance of understanding the user intent and query for Needs Met rating; added illustrative examples

If you aren’t creating video content, now is the time to get started. Not convinced? Here’s food for thought: According to Cisco, video is projected to surpass all other content forms in terms of consumption.

If it works in a browser, it should work for search. "//" is generally considered a bad practice though, since what it's really saying is "use https"

Google can deploy “smart bidding” strategies depending on goals of the campaign (target CPA, target ROAS, maximize conversion and maximize conversion value). But third-party tools often work better. This includes tools like those from Marin Software, Kenshoo and Acquisio.