Keep An Eye On Your Google Local Business Listing

Writing by Nick Stamoulis Tweet

Local search engine optimization keeps getting better, but sometimes what is perceived to be an improvement is not necessarily an improvement. At least, not in the short term.

Such is the case with Google’s recent inclusion of Street View photos of businesses in Google Maps.

Now, let me start off by saying that it may very well be an improvement. The jury is still out. But as Blumenthals points out, there is the danger that StreetView could have the wrong photo and that Google could associate another business with a particular address. Or worse, it could be a competitor. And that would certainly lead to some hacked off small business owners.

The lesson here is you’ll need to keep an eye on your Google Maps listing to ensure that doesn’t happen. If you are one of the lucky businesses to see your StreetView go up first then you can check it right up front to ensure its accuracy. But don’t think that things couldn’t change in the future. You’ll need to check in from time to time to be sure that Google hasn’t switched your photo with another.

In my eyes, this makes local optimization more difficult. Not easier.