It’s been exactly one week since the latest revision of the Google Places My Business Quality Guidelines.
Of all the changes, arguably the biggest change was that Google put the kibosh on “descriptors” – words that you could add to the name of your Places page.
Some people abused the short-lived provision, but many used descriptors wisely. Now Google’s saying nobody can use them.
To what extent has Google enforced its new rule against descriptors? Only partially, it seems.
Of the six clients of mine who are using descriptors, only one might have taken a hit. He only started using a descriptor within the past couple of weeks, right before Google threw the wet towel on them.
The other five clients – two of whom have multiple locations and multiple Places pages with descriptors – are ranking as well as ever, as of this writing.
Sure, Google is full of surprises, many of them bad. But what I have not seen is a crackdown like the Great Service Area Inquisition of 2012.
Should you use a descriptor now if you weren’t using one before? No.
Should you remove the descriptor from your Google Places name if it doesn’t seem to be helping you in any way? Yeah, probably.
Should you remove the descriptor even if it’s seemed to help your rankings? I wouldn’t – at least not now.
I have a two-part theory:
- Even Google is unlikely in this case to punish businesses that followed the old rules for descriptors. (I assume you were following the spirit of the rules.)
- Google is even less likely to punish those businesses if they seem to be quality results – if searchers tend to click on them. As Darren and I have preached recently, searchers’ behavior seems to be a huge influence on rankings.
That’s just my guess, but it explains what I’ve seen so far. It’s all subject to change, of course. Google might crack down on descriptors in one way or another, or only go after the abusers, or do nothing. Who knows?
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What’s been your experience with Google Places descriptors recently? What do you think Google will do – and why do you think that? Leave a comment!
