EP 195: Unlocking Google Business Profile Secrets with Brad Wetherall

The Podcast Deets

00:00 Introduction to Brad Wetherall and His Background
04:04 Google Personnel Policies Leading to a Loss of Google Local Institutional Knowledge
17:57 Communication Challenges During Review Issues
23:41 Trust Scores and Local Guides' Impact on Reviews
28:46 Identifying and Reporting Spam Listings
32:58 Engagement and Business Verification Challenges
36:44 Improving Video Verification Processes
41:17 Handling Duplicate Listings
44:07 Managing Business Hours Effectively
47:30 Differences in Support Quality between Countries
48:59 Exploring Paid GBP Support Options
53:27 Understanding Google’s Data Sources
56:34 The Impact of AI on Local Listings
57:19 Trust Score and User Management


The Near Media team and Google Product Experts Claudia Tomina, Ehab Aboud and Vinay Toshniwal interview (grill?) Brad Wetherall on various aspects of Google Business Profiles. Everything from how internal mobility at Google might cause issues with maintaining institutional knowledge, and the complexities of Google review filtering to the recent discrepancies in review counts, the importance of communication from Google, and the impact of trust scores on Local Guides. The discussion covers creative strategies for enhancing review authenticity, the challenges of video verification, and the implications of operating hours on business rankings.

Takeaways

• Google encourages internal mobility to retain talent which might cause a loss of Local institutional knowledge.
• Documentation is extensive but not always utilized effectively.
• Algorithm adjustments can lead to review discrepancies.
• Proactive communication from Google is often lacking.
• Trust scores influence the acceptance of edits.
• Creative strategies can enhance review authenticity.
• Multiple signals are considered when identifying spam listings.
• Engagement signals impact visibility in search results.
• Maintaining a corporate email domain is beneficial for trust.
• AI-generated content is monitored and regulated by Google.