Google My Business

[SusanMay]

I can’t help you I’m afraid but I’m struggling to see the potential opportunity you mention. If someone puts the word 'holiday' in their google search then my cottage, known by Google My Business as a self-catering accommodation, is not even a dot any more on its map, or listed underneath the map. Miss out 'holiday' and up pops my cottage.

Nope, I can’t see what the properties that are listed / dots have in common, what makes google display them. They all have the category 'holiday flat' although most of them aren't flats. If you click on one you get the "check availability" box included. You are right it’s not that they use booking.com which is what I previously thought as the vast majority I looked at seem to. I am struggling to see what they do have in common. Some seem to be tripadvisor, homeaway. The ones I've looked at all seem to be with an OTA of some size. Some of their websites links don’t even go to their properties (one I looked at just went to Airbnb front page).

So Google seems to be working against the cottages which don’t use OTAs (of some form or other!), and ignoring it’s GMB info, when anyone puts the word 'holiday' in their cottage search. But what to do to get back in there if you don’t use an OTA that Google is now hooked up with? No idea.

[Ben McNevis]

The opportunity is to get rid of the OTAs. Google won't stand still with this, they will almost certainly progress it to the stage where it is aware of availability calendars. Then, there's no reason for anyone to book through an OTA unless they want to.

Susan, I didn't think you're right that all of them are associated with an OTA entry. As some of the entries are "unclaimed" AND don't have a website link BUT do have photos.

But then, if you click on the photos, it does seem that they are all stamped with "Booking". Even though, in the box there's no mention of booking.com.

So I think we have the answer but not a definitive one. To get on there, you need to be listed on BC. I wish that wasn't the case.

[Ben McNevis]

The more I look into it, the more strange it gets.

It does seem that all of the images come from BC. But it shows the phone number (always) of the owner. That won't have come from BC surely?

It shows (on a lot of properties) the owner's website link. That certainly won't have come from BC.

And although the layout looks very much like a GMB entry, I've checked that out and many of these places don't have a GMB entry. So Google has another way of getting owner phone, web and the address data and it merges that with data from BC.

[SusanMay]

Yup you're right. By looking a bit harder I've found one I thought wasn't on booking.com is, so I expect it's the same for them all. So I was thinking it was a combination of info in GMB and an entry on booking.com, but reread your last post and you've found entries which don't have a GMB entry. That's really weird because they need to get the website and phone number from somewhere. It's as if booking.com has provided google with "GMB ish" data.

As for the opportunities to do away with the OTAs the I do see what you mean. Google could, if it wanted, do that if it created listings based on location and linked in with our calendars. Sadly by tying up with booking.com that can't be their intent. For those of us not on booking.com it's now much worse than if they used the GMB info to display maps / listings. Plus most people using google won't realise they are only seeing the booking.com entries in the map / list box.

[Ben McNevis]

Plus most people using google won't realise they are only seeing the booking.com entries in the map / list box.

Indeed. That's pretty naughty and way below Google's normal ethical behaviour. I would hope that it's a temporary situation while Google sorts out sources of data. Obviously it's easiest for Google to use as few data sources as possible in order to keep things simple. That could be seen as bad news for us as it makes us dependent on OTAs. But, provided they willingly show the owner's website and phone number then it's more a help to us than to the OTAs.

It's still weird because if it is really freely getting data from Booking.com, then it should be able to show a nightly price for all entries, not just some.

[GRL]

I am not on Booking and depending what you put into Google sometimes I am there as a dot (no price marker) and sometimes I am not there at all. I do seem to turn up if you use the word gite (I am in France) but not with holiday rental, holiday flat or cottage. If you zoom right in on Google I am on there with a marker but you do have to get very close so I doubt anyone would find me that way. I suspect we will see many changes with how Google shows holiday properties as they decide what is he best way forward for them ... and whether that will mean we have to pay to be visible or on an OTA remains to be seen.

[SusanMay]

Just reread the link Jenster posted earlier in this thread. Plus this one:

https://www.blizzardinternet.com/news/i ... ls-google/

"So far, channel managers such as RedAwning, BookingPal or NextPax are the only ones on Google’s list to be able to integrate vacation rentals with Google."

Looks like BookingPal links with HomeAway, airbnb booking.com etc so I think it is the source of google's data. But it is odd. By giving up the address, phone number and actual website people can bypass the OTAs so what's in it for them?

[Ben McNevis]

I've been asking questions on the Google product forums. I did get some answers but not crystal-clear ones.

Google's Vacation Rentals listings take data from Google Maps (not GMB) plus Google's own scraped data plus (when available) a 3rd party feed which would be one of the Hotel Ads partners.

Our properties both have GMB entries, and they don't appear on these lists.

I did an experiment. I added a Maps entry for a friend's apartment that had never had exposure on Google Maps either as a Maps entry or a GMB entry. Within 24 hours, it appears on the list (as a dot, not a price flag) and with the owner's phone number.

I also tried adding Maps entries for our properties, but failed because Google Maps already knows about them through their GMB entries.

I asked on a forum whether an entry can be migrated from GMB to Maps and the answer was that I have to mark it as permanently closed on GMB, possibly remove the web pages that Google associated with that entry, then I can add the map entry. Now, that's a bit extreme, because I don't want to kill off my websites or lose the lovely reviews that we've collected on GMB.

I've also asked one of the Hotel Ads partners about how to participate. Yes, we can sign up, either for the PayPerClick product with bidding for clicks, or a PayPerAcquisition model which costs 12% on each booking and, as the latter involves a 3rd party handling the bookings there's no way that we are interested in that. The PayPerClick sounds like it has potential though. I need to ask more questions.

Meanwhile, I continue prodding to see if adding a web address to a Maps entry works too (it seems to take longer to verify) and to find out exactly what it takes to generate a Maps entry where previously a GMB entry existed.

[Tom Hart]

Interesting! I am in Google My Business in Portugal. I am not a member of any of the large agents. If you search on holiday apartments central portugal, the list usually includes a map, plus a list of three choices, I am often one of the choices. The map can be expanded out to show a large area covered in pins showing nightly prices. Some are hotels and others are private establishments.

[Ben McNevis]

It is interesting! And inconsistent as far as I can see.

I've just Googled for "holiday home Viseu" and it came up with the usual little box with just 3 hits and a static map. I click on the bottom of the box for more and zoomed in at where I think Tom's property is, and it didn't appear at any level of zoom.

Just in case I'm looking in the wrong place, here's what I see (with the place I was expecting the dot circled in red):



p.s. don't ya just love the way it calls it "Best match"!

[Tom Hart]

Your circle is spot on, so if I don´t appear what does that mean?

[Tom Hart]

My search on your terms gets me three independent holiday apartments in Viseu. As far as I can tell nothing to do with any major site.

[Ben McNevis]

If you click on any of those three, then click on one of the images (except for the Streetview one), you'll see "Booking.com" just above the large version of the image. Also a "Visit Page" button which takes you to BC.

I think that all of those are there because they are listed on BC.

Can you get yours to show at all in that box? If so, please tell me how. Thanks.

[Tom Hart]

Agreed. If I put in holiday apartments central portugal, only one of the three choices has Booking.com.

[Ben McNevis]

I'm not seeing the same as you then. If I try Googling for "holiday apartments central Portugal" I just get the normal search results page without any curated accommodation box.