Major Google Local Guidelines Update - Rules Have Changed and/or Have Been Clarified

Hi guys,

I made an announcement for Google yesterday that affects anyone working in the Google Local space and wanted to make time to get over here to share the news in case you have not heard.

Google made a long overdue and very extensive update to the Google My Business Quality Guidelines.
(Google Places Guidelines)

The new guidelines are much longer and more detailed with lots of examples that should make it easier to understand what's allowed and what is not.

Several really important things have changed, so be sure to read these Google guidelines VERY carefully.

Guidelines for representing your business on Google

Some of the key areas that changed are.

No more descriptors (like city or service) can be added to the business name. Real names only. (They changed that rule to allow a single descriptor back in Feb, but I advised folks not to, because I knew that rule would be overturned.)

Categories - Radical change. They now want the most specific category, not every broad category that's a potential fit.

Virtual offices like Regus have always been prohibited (unless its a full time staffed office you actually work at daily). But now they are spelling it out, so hopefully that will weed out some of those that try to game the system.

Lots of changes too regarding departments, brands and practitioners.

So read with a fine tooth comb!

Let me know if you have questions. We've been running lots of questions by Google management that have been coming up since I made the announcement, so if you have a specific Q, I might have additional insights or can point you in the right direction.