Google Is Now Requesting Local Searchers Report Any Wrong Numbers They Find In New York City

Google Searchers have now been given the ability to report wrong numbers when they come across business listings with local search or on Google Maps. Google has done this because many have reported to them that it’s frustrating when they go through the process of finding a company and then the business listing is a wrong number. In an effort to help their searchers, Google has made it easy to report these wrong numbers because in the end, they hurt businesses through lost leads and they leave the consumers frustrated and with their needs unfulfilled.

If you’re using Google’s local listing or maps and you find that a business number is wrong you will be immediately prompted to indicate if it was a wrong number once the call has ended. To date, this prompt only appears with local listings and when you make a local phone call from your cell phone. All you have to do once you end the call is to return to the browser window and you will notice a small yellow box where you’ll be able to indicate if the number was correct. Consumers will be helping other searchers when they use this functionality.

What Are The Benefits?

Business owners may be wondering what is good about searchers being able to report the number is wrong. Because the responsibilities of a business owner are tremendous, if they don’t have a company to help with their SEO in New York City, then they may find it difficult to keep their information updated. Google is simply giving its customers, which are the searchers, an easy way to report false or wrong numbers to reduce the frustration of their searchers.

Google believes that this will substantially reduce the amount of false and wrong numbers that are showing up in local search. For companies that maintain up-to-date information, this will serve to help them and those that are not keeping their information up to date will simply have their information removed. The big concern is if marketing teams choose to try to use this as a way to remove the competition’s information.

Concerns And Uncertainties

What’s uncertain at this point is if Google will inform business owners that their number has been reported as wrong before removing it from the local search. It’s also unknown what Google will do for local businesses to help them to fix any problem that comes up from this new functionality. It’s possible that Google may use other sources to change the number to a correct one.

The great concern for local businesses is if Google will use these reports to automatically remove business listings off of local search or if they’ll use some type of verification before doing so. It’s also unknown if there will be any difference in how they handle these reports with verified and unverified numbers. There are even concerns over whether the reception of the phone call is bad that causes it to appear as though the number was wrong when it wasn’t, meaning it was the user’s phone that was at issue and not the number.

These lingering questions leave business owners with many concerns and uncertainties. Competition is running as high as ever in local listings and with this new functionality, it leaves the distinct possibility of sabotage by competitors. There is a rumor that Google will be adding additional functionality to local listings and so it’s a matter of waiting and seeing what they will do. For these reasons and others, it is imperative that companies get the assistance of a quality company for their SEO in New York City.

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