Usability Consultancy, Website Reviews, Website Optimisation

Although it is not a common issue, I do see many people hitting the same barrier when adding their business to the Google Maps / Google Local Business Centre. So, despair no longer, here is a very easy to follow guide to getting you Google Local Business Centre listing out of 'Flagged' status, and make it 'Active'.

Google Maps Entry is Flagged - Background:

1. Your business listing in Google Maps (Local Business Centre) will be marked as ‘Flagged waiting for content check’ if the text you've added contains a word or phrase that, for reasons unknown, Google's system finds suspicious.
2. As many buisness owners have found, after waiting months and months for the 'flagged' status to disappear, Google staff do not seem to ever do the 'content checks' - so it is entirely up to you to correct the problem.
3. One of the biggest problems for you is that the offending text could be anywhere in your listing and Google gives you no clues as to which text it doesn't like. Sometimes I've found the problem was in the text in the category selections (manually entered), occasionally (but rarely) in the business name, and most often the problem is found in the description.
4. Unfortunately I have yet to find a specific pattern to the words or phrases that cause problems so I am never surprised when listings are Flagged - it's then just a case of trial and error to get it Active.
   
5. You will get there! When you have removed the text that Google doesn't like, and subsequently resubmitted your listing, it will instantly change to ‘Awaiting next update’.
6. Don't get too excited at this stage though, because your Local Business Centre listing could remain in the 'Awaiting next update' status indefinitely. But...
7. When your listing status has changed to ‘Awaiting next update’, you have successfully removed whatever it was in your text that Google didn't like.

So how do we get your Google Listing into Active state?

1. First, make a note of your listing details. Write down everything or simply take a screen shot and paste it into any image editing app or even word document etc., The important thing is that you remember everything abou the listing.
   
2. Now, starting with your description, remove each bit of text one sentence or phrase at a time, resubmitting after each change to see if the status has changed. Keep doing this until the listing changes to ‘Awaiting next update’. It may mean editing many of the sections on your listing - but even if you end up with very little text left, you will get your listing free of the 'Flagged' status.
3. If your edits to description do not resolve the problem, remove each category, one at a time. You will get there, it never fails.
4. When you have isolated the word or phrase, you should then re-enter the information you just removed, one bit at a time. This way you can find out if there was more than one word or phrase that Google didn't like in your listing. When you have re-typed all of your details (obviously it will now be slightly different to the version you had before) submit it again and you will have the status of 'Awaiting next update'.
   
5. Final step. Because you do not want to leave your listing in the 'Awaiting next update' status, you now need to create a brand new version of your listing using the exact text you ended up with in the previous step. Submit this new listing and, after confirming your telephone numbers (if Google asks for confirmation) you will find it has bypassed the 'Awaiting next update' and gone right to 'Active'.

The last remaining thing to do is delete your listing that is still in 'Awaiting next update' status as it will, most likely, sit in that state indefinately.

Hope this has helped and you now have an active listing in the Google Maps / Local Business Centre.