Test...enter your address into Google...

[Morticia]

...what do you get? Inquiring minds want to know what shows up. A map of that address? The correct map of that address? A list of websites? Is your B&B one of those websites? Is your B&B mentioned in any or all of those websites? Do you recognize any of those websites?
I had some very interesting results entering my address...

 

[Big Bri]

It shows the Kappa Alpha Order frat house on the University of Missouri campus.
Guests have actually called me front their front porch asking if its the right place.

I have since put a note on my Driving Directions page of my site that if they rely on Google maps they will end up there. To help those out who use a GPS system, I went in and found my exact GPS location and i have that lised on my site now along with downloadable driving directions should anyone wish to stay in the 20th century and not by a TomTom. Personally, I dont own one, but like cell phones (dont own one of them either, couldnt be happier) they are becoming more and more the way people use technology.

 

[JBloggs]

crap! Dang you innshopper and your being so efficient. It shows something else below...that I am not sure I want to be showing there.
Edited to say - I just removed my street # on the listing. Too late I am sure for google tho it doesn't have short term memory loss.

 

[Copperhead]

I do this quite regularly. 1st is my website with map to the address (correct map) A list of websites with our website first, then many others - of the first 2 pages I recongnize 80-90%.
My address does pose a problem as it is a person's name which can be spelled a couple of ways as well as the fact that it is a possessive (i.e. Bell's View or Belle's View) and the apostrophe presents a problem in some databases... in my case the correct spelling has an e's.

 

[Morticia]

I do this quite regularly. 1st is my website with map to the address (correct map) A list of websites with our website first, then many others - of the first 2 pages I recongnize 80-90%.
My address does pose a problem as it is a person's name which can be spelled a couple of ways as well as the fact that it is a possessive (i.e. Bell's View or Belle's View) and the apostrophe presents a problem in some databases... in my case the correct spelling has an e's..

I don't get my website at all. I get a Google map that is wrong and lists a completely different B&B (changed it up and added the zip code, got a different B&B at the same wrong location. Changed it again and added the zip + 4 and got a totally different B&B at a completely different location, none of them even close to me).
Almost all of the websites were for restaurants. Or were directories.
What annoys me most is that the only page on my website that DOES show up is for restaurants. For some reason, Google has made the assumption that address is a restaurant and has piled on restaurant websites on that page.
My address is on my website. Top of the page and bottom of the page. And Google can't find it.
If anyone were to use that map that shows up they would NOT end up in my town and certainly wouldn't end up at my place. And how come my website doesn't place prominently in that list? (Except the restaurant page???)

 

[swirt]

It shows the Kappa Alpha Order frat house on the University of Missouri campus.
Guests have actually called me front their front porch asking if its the right place.

I have since put a note on my Driving Directions page of my site that if they rely on Google maps they will end up there. To help those out who use a GPS system, I went in and found my exact GPS location and i have that lised on my site now along with downloadable driving directions should anyone wish to stay in the 20th century and not by a TomTom. Personally, I dont own one, but like cell phones (dont own one of them either, couldnt be happier) they are becoming more and more the way people use technology..

It shows the Kappa Alpha Order frat house on the University of Missouri campus.
Guests have actually called me front their front porch asking if its the right place.

I have since put a note on my Driving Directions page of my site that if they rely on Google maps they will end up there.
Have you had any luck logging into your Google Local account, verifying your business and then repositioning the marker?
To help those out who use a GPS system, I went in and found my exact GPS location
Unfortunately that will only help the 10% of people that actually know how to enter coordinates into their GPS (its is not the standard way they work anymore) and the 5% that read (results in half of 1% )

 

[gillumhouse]

It shows the Kappa Alpha Order frat house on the University of Missouri campus.
Guests have actually called me front their front porch asking if its the right place.

I have since put a note on my Driving Directions page of my site that if they rely on Google maps they will end up there. To help those out who use a GPS system, I went in and found my exact GPS location and i have that lised on my site now along with downloadable driving directions should anyone wish to stay in the 20th century and not by a TomTom. Personally, I dont own one, but like cell phones (dont own one of them either, couldnt be happier) they are becoming more and more the way people use technology..

It shows the Kappa Alpha Order frat house on the University of Missouri campus.
Guests have actually called me front their front porch asking if its the right place.

I have since put a note on my Driving Directions page of my site that if they rely on Google maps they will end up there.
Have you had any luck logging into your Google Local account, verifying your business and then repositioning the marker?
To help those out who use a GPS system, I went in and found my exact GPS location
Unfortunately that will only help the 10% of people that actually know how to enter coordinates into their GPS (its is not the standard way they work anymore) and the 5% that read (results in half of 1% )
.

I have done my Google Local at least twice and verified it and show up when I log in to my account with my pretty coupon and everything but no one else finds me on Google Local. WHY?????

 

[swirt]

It shows the Kappa Alpha Order frat house on the University of Missouri campus.
Guests have actually called me front their front porch asking if its the right place.

I have since put a note on my Driving Directions page of my site that if they rely on Google maps they will end up there. To help those out who use a GPS system, I went in and found my exact GPS location and i have that lised on my site now along with downloadable driving directions should anyone wish to stay in the 20th century and not by a TomTom. Personally, I dont own one, but like cell phones (dont own one of them either, couldnt be happier) they are becoming more and more the way people use technology..

It shows the Kappa Alpha Order frat house on the University of Missouri campus.
Guests have actually called me front their front porch asking if its the right place.

I have since put a note on my Driving Directions page of my site that if they rely on Google maps they will end up there.
Have you had any luck logging into your Google Local account, verifying your business and then repositioning the marker?
To help those out who use a GPS system, I went in and found my exact GPS location
Unfortunately that will only help the 10% of people that actually know how to enter coordinates into their GPS (its is not the standard way they work anymore) and the 5% that read (results in half of 1% )
.

I have done my Google Local at least twice and verified it and show up when I log in to my account with my pretty coupon and everything but no one else finds me on Google Local. WHY?????
.

It is almost wierd how invisibile your local listing is.... Try going through this help file and answer the questions as you go...it may lead you to a resolution
http://maps.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=145585

 

[Mary at Bridgewater Inn and Cottage]

Got a map of my B&B ,my bbonline site, more of my sites.I guess this is O.K. Mary in Bridgewater.

 

[swirt]

It shows the Kappa Alpha Order frat house on the University of Missouri campus.
Guests have actually called me front their front porch asking if its the right place.

I have since put a note on my Driving Directions page of my site that if they rely on Google maps they will end up there. To help those out who use a GPS system, I went in and found my exact GPS location and i have that lised on my site now along with downloadable driving directions should anyone wish to stay in the 20th century and not by a TomTom. Personally, I dont own one, but like cell phones (dont own one of them either, couldnt be happier) they are becoming more and more the way people use technology..

It shows the Kappa Alpha Order frat house on the University of Missouri campus.
Guests have actually called me front their front porch asking if its the right place.

I have since put a note on my Driving Directions page of my site that if they rely on Google maps they will end up there.
Have you had any luck logging into your Google Local account, verifying your business and then repositioning the marker?
To help those out who use a GPS system, I went in and found my exact GPS location
Unfortunately that will only help the 10% of people that actually know how to enter coordinates into their GPS (its is not the standard way they work anymore) and the 5% that read (results in half of 1% )
.

I have done my Google Local at least twice and verified it and show up when I log in to my account with my pretty coupon and everything but no one else finds me on Google Local. WHY?????
.

If you get to the end of that test and your listing should appear but does not, you can report it here on Google's forum. They seem to be pretty good at responding
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/maps/thread?tid=0d8c1a2879530d34&hl=en
If you have never posted in it before you have to click "post a question" then essentially create a username and agree to the terms, then you can go back to that page and will be able to post a reply to report your listing not showing up.

 

[Big Bri]

It shows the Kappa Alpha Order frat house on the University of Missouri campus.
Guests have actually called me front their front porch asking if its the right place.

I have since put a note on my Driving Directions page of my site that if they rely on Google maps they will end up there. To help those out who use a GPS system, I went in and found my exact GPS location and i have that lised on my site now along with downloadable driving directions should anyone wish to stay in the 20th century and not by a TomTom. Personally, I dont own one, but like cell phones (dont own one of them either, couldnt be happier) they are becoming more and more the way people use technology..

It shows the Kappa Alpha Order frat house on the University of Missouri campus.
Guests have actually called me front their front porch asking if its the right place.

I have since put a note on my Driving Directions page of my site that if they rely on Google maps they will end up there.
Have you had any luck logging into your Google Local account, verifying your business and then repositioning the marker?
To help those out who use a GPS system, I went in and found my exact GPS location
Unfortunately that will only help the 10% of people that actually know how to enter coordinates into their GPS (its is not the standard way they work anymore) and the 5% that read (results in half of 1% )
.

Have you had any luck logging into your Google Local account, verifying your business and then repositioning the marker?

Yes, I have done the whole claim your business thing with Google and set up my account, moved the marker and all that other BS a long time ago. The problem is that the previous owners of the B&B had it as University Avenue B & B. when my wife and I bought the business, we could not use that name on our LLC filing because it was being used already (previous owners), so we had to change it to University Avenue Bed & Breakfast. Dont ask me to explain that further, this town we moved into is full of city employees who I think are itiots somtimes and for every question I have asked, I have recieved a different answer from 3-4 people who work in the same department. Its just stupid.
Anyway, in doing that we changed all of our other documentation to reflect the extended name. When I went into Google to set up my account, I put it in as University Avenue Bed & Breakfast. The previous owners, who were 2 business partners, neither of which lived in the home except when guests were here, were not computer savy and had never set up an business account with Google, it may have been possible that Google Local was not even around then. But, since they listed the B&B as University Avenue B&B on the internet and Google listed as such, there are now 2 listings for the business. One that is on the corner of University Avenue & Blair Ct (where the home really is), and the other, according to Google, is in the parking lot of the fraturnity.
I have tried to contact Google about this, but I never recieved a reply back. I got a automated response saying that someone would review my question, but I have never got a call or email back.
Unfortunately that will only help the 10% of people that actually know how to enter coordinates into their GPS (its is not the standard way they work anymore) and the 5% that read (results in half of 1% )
Well,....thats the GPS users problem then (where did you get those statistics...just curious), they need to read the instruction or have a support member from the place they bought it/rented the car from to show them how the unit works. That is the reason I have on my Driving Directions page the 2 best ways to get to my B&B. Save and print the directions or use the GPS co-ordiantes, either one is going to get a person here. And my driving directions are very precise. I personally went 10 miles out of town from all 4 cardinal directions and drove back to my B&B writting down exits, street names, mileage (in tenths of a mile), etc. Took me about 1.5 hours to do it.
I work for a company part time that does market watch reports for B&B's and I have seen on many of the sites people have listed the co-ordinates for a GPS. So if most of these people are doing that, someone must be finding it useful and that was the reason I put it on ours.
I dont worry about it to much though. Again, like I said, I have done all I can and will do to get people here.

 

[The Farmers Daughter]

I just did so and found us without problem. Additionally I found a bogus review describing a place that was not even us. I reported it as inappropriate. Hopefully they will remove it.

 

[swirt]

It shows the Kappa Alpha Order frat house on the University of Missouri campus.
Guests have actually called me front their front porch asking if its the right place.

I have since put a note on my Driving Directions page of my site that if they rely on Google maps they will end up there. To help those out who use a GPS system, I went in and found my exact GPS location and i have that lised on my site now along with downloadable driving directions should anyone wish to stay in the 20th century and not by a TomTom. Personally, I dont own one, but like cell phones (dont own one of them either, couldnt be happier) they are becoming more and more the way people use technology..

It shows the Kappa Alpha Order frat house on the University of Missouri campus.
Guests have actually called me front their front porch asking if its the right place.

I have since put a note on my Driving Directions page of my site that if they rely on Google maps they will end up there.
Have you had any luck logging into your Google Local account, verifying your business and then repositioning the marker?
To help those out who use a GPS system, I went in and found my exact GPS location
Unfortunately that will only help the 10% of people that actually know how to enter coordinates into their GPS (its is not the standard way they work anymore) and the 5% that read (results in half of 1% )
.

Have you had any luck logging into your Google Local account, verifying your business and then repositioning the marker?

Yes, I have done the whole claim your business thing with Google and set up my account, moved the marker and all that other BS a long time ago. The problem is that the previous owners of the B&B had it as University Avenue B & B. when my wife and I bought the business, we could not use that name on our LLC filing because it was being used already (previous owners), so we had to change it to University Avenue Bed & Breakfast. Dont ask me to explain that further, this town we moved into is full of city employees who I think are itiots somtimes and for every question I have asked, I have recieved a different answer from 3-4 people who work in the same department. Its just stupid.
Anyway, in doing that we changed all of our other documentation to reflect the extended name. When I went into Google to set up my account, I put it in as University Avenue Bed & Breakfast. The previous owners, who were 2 business partners, neither of which lived in the home except when guests were here, were not computer savy and had never set up an business account with Google, it may have been possible that Google Local was not even around then. But, since they listed the B&B as University Avenue B&B on the internet and Google listed as such, there are now 2 listings for the business. One that is on the corner of University Avenue & Blair Ct (where the home really is), and the other, according to Google, is in the parking lot of the fraturnity.
I have tried to contact Google about this, but I never recieved a reply back. I got a automated response saying that someone would review my question, but I have never got a call or email back.
Unfortunately that will only help the 10% of people that actually know how to enter coordinates into their GPS (its is not the standard way they work anymore) and the 5% that read (results in half of 1% )
Well,....thats the GPS users problem then (where did you get those statistics...just curious), they need to read the instruction or have a support member from the place they bought it/rented the car from to show them how the unit works. That is the reason I have on my Driving Directions page the 2 best ways to get to my B&B. Save and print the directions or use the GPS co-ordiantes, either one is going to get a person here. And my driving directions are very precise. I personally went 10 miles out of town from all 4 cardinal directions and drove back to my B&B writting down exits, street names, mileage (in tenths of a mile), etc. Took me about 1.5 hours to do it.
I work for a company part time that does market watch reports for B&B's and I have seen on many of the sites people have listed the co-ordinates for a GPS. So if most of these people are doing that, someone must be finding it useful and that was the reason I put it on ours.
I dont worry about it to much though. Again, like I said, I have done all I can and will do to get people here.
.

there are now 2 listings for the business. One that is on the corner of University Avenue & Blair Ct (where the home really is), and the other, according to Google, is in the parking lot of the fraturnity.
Claim and authenticate them both, then delete one. This is a pretty common fix I have run into several times.
I work for a company part time that does market watch reports for B&B's and I have seen on many of the sites people have listed the co-ordinates for a GPS. So if most of these people are doing that, someone must be finding it useful and that was the reason I put it on ours.
Those are really an example of catching on too late. In the early days, GPS was designed for boats (SatNav) and lat-long coordinates were the norm...then hikers started using them as they got smaller and battery powered. Early adopters used these to do general navigation by car..... then they came out with the versions for cars with driving directions. Those from the beginning have relied on the more natural method of using street addresses for identifying locations. Early users of GPS were the technical types who could also figure out how to drill down to where they can enter coordinates ... Now that the cost has gotten reasonable and everyone is giving them to their parents and anyone else who drives, you have the majority of users being not that technical. So the coordinates go wasted. I'm pretty technical and have owned a GPS for a couple of years have only twice entered a set of coordinates into it (once to enter the coordinates of our dock, for when using it in the boat, and the other time to enter the location of hiking trail I read about). Its just not a common practice, so most never need to bother to learn how.
(where did you get those statistics...just curious)
I generated them from the people I know that have GPS's. Of the ~20 people I have personally seen use them, only ~2 would be able to enter the coordinates I gave them....and that includes someone I know that keeps her GPS in her trunk in case of emergency LOL

 

[ginocat]

Pages and pages of my web site, other places listing me, reviews, etc. etc. etc.