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What is designed to be a way for users to let Google know when a business has been closed is, in some cases, being abused by local competitors.  Since it is so easy to mark a business closed in Google Places, some business are being tagged as closed when they aren’t.  When enough people mark a business as closed, Google will review whether or not this is true, though their review process isn’t public.

Google seems to be doing what they can to address the issue.  In the past, an interim notification would appear on the Google Places page, “Reported to Be Closed”, which users could mark as “Not True”.  However, imagine if someone came looking for your dealership online and was greeted with that message.  The chances of them investigating whether or not that was actually true are slim–they would just head to the next dealership.  Luckily, Google no longer shows this interim message, and will only show a business as closed once reviewed.

To help protect your business from having this happen, make sure your dealership follows Google Local Places best practices like:

Claim Your Google Places Page: This ensures your dealership has control over their own listing.  If you haven’t, go to your Places Page, and in the top right corner you’ll see a link that says “business owner?”.  Follow the steps to claim your page.

Check the Email Listed: Google will attempt to verify with the email address listed with the Places Page when a business is marked as closed.  If you don’t respond, you may just be out of luck.

Update Your Listing Often: The more often you’re adding reviews, keeping products and hours up to date, etc, the less likely someone will be able to get away with marking your business as closed without it looking suspicious.

Has anyone had trouble with your dealership being marked as closed?  What did you do to fix the issue?

I try to spend at least a little time each day reading forums and blogs from outside the auto industry because I think there is a lot to learn from other business communities.  Today, I found an interesting question up for discussion, and would like to pose the same to you.

What would it take for you to leave the auto industry?

More money? More interesting work? Better benefits, or hours?

And reversely (and I think I’ll get more responses to this question than the previous),

What are the reasons you wouldn’t leave the auto industry?

The community?  Your love of cars?  The thrill of the sale?

Regardless of how you initially got into the industry, I would argue that those that stay do so because they truly love something about their job.  Working in a car dealership isn’t for just anyone, so what is it about the auto industry that you wouldn’t give up for the world, and what could a different industry offer you that you just wouldn’t be able to turn down?

Google has just bought Zagat, a company that provides ratings and reviews of restaurants, entertainment venues, and travel locations.  Known primarily for their yearly restaurant book guides, they have been doing quite well with their online subscription based site and community.

Google plans for Zagat to be the “cornerstone of our local offering”, helping them  to compete directly with Yelp and other online review sites.  Think it was a coincidence that Google recently removed these other review sites from their Google Local pages and search results?

While Zagat doesn’t have a history of rating small businesses, like car dealerships, this only adds to the credibility that Google Reviews will continue to have.  Google seems to realize that online reviews are becoming more and more important to consumers, and doing all they can to make their offering the most trusted, reliable, and complete place to find review information.

So, what is your dealership doing to make sure your customers looking for dealer reviews will find your dealership on Google?