I wrote a while back that Google Maps Guide Jen offered a way to demerge merged listings in Google Maps. Well, while things seem to have gotten better, it appears that the filtering on Google Maps still isn’t perfected. Consider these reviews of a hotel. The reference to a hostel is due to a sister business being located in the building’s annex.
Great hostel!…?? – May 11, 2008| It was very clean and tidy, close to all the nicest clubs, bars and restaurants. The staff will give you all the information that you may possibly need. Also, a very important part …? |
 I would say find a better one…?? – Jul 2, 2008
More from Tripadvisor.com »
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And this one:
Dirty, smelly, and possibly disease-ridden?? – Aug 16, 2006| They don’t mention anywhere on their website that they are also a hostel. Not to mention a very bad hostel who puts its guests in the musty basement. I am so sorry for anyone who …? |
The hostel isnt a hostel and so noone…?? – May 31, 2008| knows where it is if you say you are staying at Montreal Backpackers. Its a nice place but if you want to meet people you will be lucky to as there is only 20 beds available in dorm rooms – total! …? |
Note: Another problem with Google Maps is that like the main Google algo, it gives preference to older reviews. The issue is that showing reviews from 2005, 2006 and even 2007 to an extent, doesn’t allow for a business’ ability to improve itself over time and earn better reviews. And in fact, for the above-mentioned hotel, the 2008 reviews are generally better than those of previous years as a result of renovations, etc.
But if you’re a casual user in a hurry, all you see are average/mediocre reviews [partly due to merged listings and partly due to a previously lower-quality offering] and not the improvement. We all know that people only look at the first page of SERPs; relegating the fresh material to page 3 results in inaccurate reviews appearing and poor user experience.
On a related note to all this, I noticed this on Google Maps explanation of how it ranks sites:
“Sometimes our search technology decides that a business that’s farther away from your location is more likely to have what you’re looking for than a business that’s closer. ”
Interesting… I would love to hear Dave, Martin, Mike Be., Mike Bl., Miriam, Chris S., Matt, Andrew, Greg, Ian‘s and any other local experts’ thoughts on the topic.
Source: http://maps.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=7091&topic=13435
Looks like the centroid is becoming less important, perhaps?
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