Google Expands Users’ Abilities to Update Google Maps
You probably already know that Google Maps is an excellent platform on which to promote your business. Not only does it help your customers find the physical location of your business, but also provides them with important information about your business, including customer reviews. Given that your business’s profile on Google Maps is a free perk of Google My Business, which is itself free, promoting your business with this powerful tool is a no brainer.
But did you know that Google Maps is updated for the most part by “local guides” and that you can help improve Google Maps even if you are not an avid local guide? In fact, if you have ever added a business, left a review, rated a business, answered a question or added a photo or video to Google Maps you are already acting as a local guide. To be an official local guide, though, you have to sign up with Google.
Local guides aside, Google recently initiated new changes to make it easier for anyone with a Google account to contribute their local knowledge to the Google Maps platform. Any local knowledge added helps Google Maps users with their decision-making and helps ensure that Google Maps provides valuable, up-to-date information for everyone.
Highlight Places and Experiences by Posting a Photo Update
Anyone can now share their experiences about a business or location with the Google Maps photo update. You can upload a recent snapshot of a place and short text descriptor information without leaving a review or rating. You can see all of the latest photo updates shared by merchants and customers under the Google Maps “Updates” tab, from which you can also download your own.
Photo update options are only limited by your imagination. Love a new entree offered by one of your favorite restaurants—take a pic and turn it into a photo update. Wowed by natural beauty while hiking an unexplored scenic trail—photo update. Found a new coffee shop with the best java in the city—photo update.
Help Google Keep Up to Date by Adding Roads
Google Maps is exceptionally accurate, but urban planning and road building makes for a near-constant expansion of the world’s roadways. Google now allows people to report road changes and make proposed edits about roadways with an immersive desktop road editing tool. You can find the “Missing Road” tool under the “Edit the map” menu item. The tool lets you provisionally rename roads, change directionality of one-way roads, delete roads, and designate road closures. You can also draw lines to initiate the presence of newly developed roads and input textual information relating to all roadway changes. Google vets the accuracy of all suggested changes for accuracy prior to publishing them on Google Maps.
Show Your Local Love by Contributing to the Community Challenge
With a goal of updating information on 100,000 businesses across America, Google has initiated a “Local Love Challenge” that allows Android users to easily add ratings, reviews, and important information supporting local businesses they visit. Feedback from this pilot program will be used to guide future Local Love Challenge campaigns in additional countries.
Local Guides Connect Celebrates Fifth Anniversary
If you are interested in learning more about being a Google Maps local guide and its associated perks, the Local Guides Connect forum is a great resource. The community based forum, which celebrates its fifth birthday this year, is the go-to space where local guides share tips, ideas, and information about everything relating to Google Maps and its local guides updaters.
Moxxi Marketing Keeps Tabs On Updates to Google My Business Tools
Moxxi Marketing is a keen believer in the marketing power of Google My Business and Google Maps. As such, it keeps close tabs on all developments relating to their expansion and evolution. If you would like to learn more about how Google tools and platforms can help boost your digital marketing efforts, consult with Moxxi Marketing by contacting us today at 239.330.6236.