Google Maps Acting Up For Businesses, Showing Street View Images

Google Map cell phone

Who’s looking out for your business online? I’m constantly on my laptop and cell phone checking out my client’s Google My Business (GMB) listings. GMB profiles look different on different devices.

Last Friday, I noticed a glitch on the Google Map. It started showing a “street view” image for a service area business (SAB). These are businesses that don’t have a physical location for clients to visit. For instance, I’m a service area business. I work from my home office and I either visit clients at their business or we have a phone or zoom call.

Your biz watchdog google my business profile

The issue I found on the Google Map concerned me because of the privacy and security issues it raises. I immediately reached out to my SEO colleagues to see if it was a widespread problem and then Google was alerted to the problem. It does appear to be happening quite a bit, but it’s not occurring on every listing.

You can read about it in the Search Engine Roundtable article, which mentions me.

I screenshot my GMB listing and pointed out the street view image so you can see what’s coming up. It shouldn’t be there and hasn’t been there in the past.

What Do You Need To Do?

For now, we wait. You can search your business on Google Maps and see what it’s showing, but I’ve also seen different images come up based on the location of the person searching.  So, again, it’s inconsistent. 

Google is aware and I’m hoping they put a priority on this fix. I’ll be keeping watch on the Map to see when the issue is resolved.

Do you need help with your GMB profile? 

Tricia Clements

I help small businesses get found online. My work focuses on your business’s Google Profile (Google My Business), Implementing a Review Strategy, Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization), business branding, and website optimization.

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