With Thanksgiving this week in the US and more holidays ahead, use the season as an opportunity to give back to your customers. Whether you already have a great holiday deal or are looking to create one, you can post it to your Local Business Listing for users to find! Here are 5 reasons why this is great for both you and your customers.

1. New! Reach users on the go with Local Business Center mobile coupons. This new form of coupon allows your customers to search for savings via phone. A customer can pull up the coupon on his or her smartphone device and present the device at checkout to redeem. It's easy for everyone! Learn more about mobile coupons.

2. Coupons help you measure the value of your Local Business listing. You'll know that any customer carrying your LBC-specific coupon made it from your Google Maps listing all the way to your business.

3. Coupons encourage Google Maps users to interact with your listing. By adding more than just the basic elements, you invite customers to interact with your listing. As a result, you may find that more customers are compelled to write a review or share the listing with a friend.

4. Coupons keep you at the head of the pack. By offering more to your customers, you can ensure that you remain competitive and stand apart.

5. Customers look for deals over the holidays. Year after year, searches for the term 'coupon' spike during the holiday season. Customers will appreciate any relief your coupon gives their pocket books.

Ready to get started? Learn how to create a coupon for your listing.

Helen L. and Cecelia

New Help Forum Topic Structure

Today we changed the topic structure in the Google Maps Help Forum, creating more granular category levels for a few reasons:

• To help you find answers to your questions more quickly.
• To make it easier for Google Guides and Top Contributors to identify issues, find resolutions, and circle back in a more efficient way.
• To help generate discussions around Maps features.

You may have also noticed that some of the new categories already have several threads within them. The reason for this is that we had to rename some of the old topics rather than completely deleting them. Deleting a topic would also delete all of the content within it. We definitely didn't want to get rid of all of the valuable tips, questions, answers, and suggestions that many people have provided in the past. Here's a clearer idea of what we did with some of the old topics:

Old Topic ---> Renamed

Problems and Errors ---> Map Won't Load
For Business Owners ---> Verification Issues
How Do I? ---> Base Map Data

The rest of the topics are brand new additions.

We're always looking for better ways to help users find the assistance they need, and we're excited about this update!

Brian B

Please note the following scheduled downtime for the Local Business Center:

Monday, November 23, 8pm EDT/5pm PDT

Thanks for your continued patience,
The Google Maps Team

In our Help Forum, we have seen and heard our users' issues with PIN verification. As a result, we've created a troubleshooter to address the issues users are experiencing. While the troubleshooter may not solve all problems, it does offer more guided assistance and information about the verification process.

I just wanted to share the results from the Suggest a Feature page in the Maps Help Center for the month of October. Click the image below to get a better look:



A lot of you asked for new, updated Street View imagery, and I'm happy to let you know that we just launched a new set of data. Check out this Street View Gallery for some of the new hotspots you can check out.

Keep the suggestion votes coming, folks! I'll be providing more of these types of reports in the future.

Brian B.
Google Maps Team

Once you submit a new business listing, you'll have to verify it before it appears in Google Maps. We've created a video that explains exactly how to verify your listing by phone call or postcard. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXth5HIQYeY

Based on feedback received from users, we've made a change that allows business owners to see their active listings on Maps by clicking a link from their Local Business Center account.

After verifying your listing, you'll see a new link under Dashboard > Locations > See your listing on Google Maps. This will take you to the business location listed in your account.

If there are problems with the way your listing appears after you've claimed it, please make sure your business location is correct in your account. If there's still a problem, please describe the problem in our Help Forum and we will do our best to resolve it. We hope this new feature will help you easily find your business on Google Maps.