Switchfast Blog: The Future of IT
What Google's Acquisition of Zagat Might Mean for Small Businesses
Monday, September 12, 2011 by Michelle Hartley
With its infinite buying power Google has now acquired Zagat,
one of the first and most trusted rating and review systems for
restaurants and hotels. Started more than 32 years ago by Nina and
Tim Zagat, the company began from the couples desire to spread
around the best places to eat, drink, sleep, and shop.
It was huge success story in a world before the internet. The
Zagat Survey inspired a generation of entrepreneurs and small
business owners everywhere. The guide was printed in a tall and
skinny format so it could fit in a back pocket. Now, Zagat's
database of reviews will be integrated into Google's search and
Maps to help increase Google's location-based network. Previously,
Google reproduced reviews from Yelp and Citysearch, but dropped the
service due to the threat of an anti-trust law suit. These reviews
will be combined with Google's database of addresses, phone
numbers, and hours. Now, Google strives to be the main source of
review finding for all markets.
This news comes at a time when Google has been criticized for
the negative effect it has had on some small businesses. A recent
article in the New York Times related several businesses' stories
concerning problems Google has created for them. Several companies
have found their Google Place's listing has been marked as
"Permanently Closed". This problem originates when a user clicks on
a section titled "report a problem with a listing" and then
clicks "this place is permanently closed." Google states they
review the claims and they do their "best to ensure the accuracy of
a listing before updating it," but to the fair number of healthy
businesses labeled as closed demonstrate otherwise.
At Switchfast, we can vouch that this is a real issue. This
exact problem happened to a client of ours. Luckily, our SEO team
was able to work with the business to resolve the issue quickly.
While our client was lucky enough to catch this problem early, many
other businesses out there aren't so lucky. Some businesses don't
check their online presence every day or other businesses who find
this problem quickly often have to wait a few days or weeks before
Google can re-review their claim and correct it.
What we can all hope is now that Google has acquired Zagat, they
will focus on making Google Places more user friendly for both
businesses and patrons. With that in mind, hopefully Google will
take more time to review these alleged claims before labeling a
thriving business "permanently closed."
Only time will tell if this problem will be solved. As a fair
and necessary warning to all businesses -- be aware of your online
presence. Finding problems like this early is important to ensure
you won't lose business over a vicious competitor and a careless
mistake.
Until next time -
Michelle Hartley
Switchfast Technologies
Chicago IT Support &
Consulting
DC IT Support &
Consulting
Outsourced Marketing Services
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