Listening to Local Business Owners

We've heard many stories and talked personally to business owners who have had great experiences with the Local Business Center, as well as ones who have come to our Help Forum and other resources looking for answers. Many of the questions surrounding our help resources have been brought up by local SEOs, people who work very closely with business owners every day. We recognize how important it is for business owners to be able to list their business accurately on Google Maps, and how frustrating it can be when this is harder than it should be.

Since we can't respond to every problem individually, we put a lot of effort into helping users help themselves, and each other. When creating help resources for the Local Business Center -- the User Guide, the Help Center, the Help Forum, and the Water Cooler blog -- we do our best to give business owners access to the information that will help fix their problems. By constantly working to improve these resources, our goal is to help to the greatest number of users we can, as quickly as possible. We also do this by creating troubleshooting tools to resolve what we've found to be some of the most common issues, like when a listing does not appear.

Recently, we've also been using the Water Cooler blog to shed some light on the more technical aspects of the Local Business Center. That way, business owners can get insight into some of the processes that help create their listings, and where glitches and delays can sometimes happen. And, as always, we're listening. The individual concerns and issues voiced in the Help Forum help shed light on ways our help resources can be improved. We may not have found the perfect way to address each problem and question that comes up, but we're always on the lookout for new ways to help as many business owners as possible.