I’ve heard nothing but good things about Google+Local phone support ever since it came out last month. And it sounds like the folks at Google are still doing a good job.
But apparently now they’re making you jump through a hoop (not that that’s necessarily a bad thing).
According to this new comment by Janelle Gilbert on my earlier post, Google now is asking business owners who contact phone support to verify their requested changes by email. Here’s what Janelle wrote:
Update to my earlier comment: I used Google Phone support again today, and they now require authorization from the client in the form of an email–from the client’s domain–in order to approve changes an agency rep makes. In this case, I needed to manually verify a listing while simultaneously merging duplicates. Google sent an email to the utility Gmail account I set up for my client, “ABC Corp.” Google’s rep gave me verbal instructions, and here’s the actual email text:
Hello,
We spoke earlier today regarding your business verification. In order to verify your listing, we need to confirm that you own or have the authority to represent this business on local Google+ pages. Please complete the following steps in order to do so:
– Respond to this email and carbon copy (CC) a person who has an email address with the relevant business domain. For example, if we were attempting to verify a listing for Google, we’d CC someone with an @google.com email address.
– This person should ‘reply all’ and give written permission for Google to verify the listing. The response can be as simple as ‘Please verify the listing in the Google Places account, example@gmail.com.’
Their response will assist us in manually verifying the listing. If you need any additional assistance or questions feel free to reply to us.
This is a recent change according to the Google rep, and I can verify (pun intended) that statement since my last contact with Google Phone Support was mid-January and client approval was not required at that time. I hope this helps other agencies out there!
Have you contacted Google+Local phone support and been asked to jump through any verify-by-email hoops? To what extent is this news to you? What’s been your experience with the new support feature so far? Leave a comment!
An added hoop..but hopefully a step in the right direction without the muck and mire of increased bureaucracy. Sorry, too close to tax time!
Great reporting Phil, and thank you Janelle for sniffing out the enhanced +Local changes. (intended)
Hey Chris, thanks for stopping by. I agree: this red tape has Uncle Sam written all over it 🙂