Google Ensures That Places Entries Are Up-to-Date, by Giving More Power to the People

In the quest to provide up-to-date but also accurate info in Google Maps, Google uses a hybrid approach.

It relies on info from trusted partners, users and business owners to provide the best picture possible. But with more than one source, the issue of overlapping and conflicting data arises.

Data from partners or from business owners updating their Places entries may be more authoritative and therefore more accurate, but data provided by regular Maps users tends to be more recent.

Google is now making a small, but significant change to the way it sources data for Places listings, in certain cases, it will allow info from regular users or data partners to replace the info provided by business owners.

Google Places is a great way for local businesses to set up a presence online that should help their customers find the stores or restaurants faster and easier.

Places also provides a great source for info such as business hours, location and so on. But small businesses, by definition, are quite nimble and things change, fast.

At the same time, owners may not be too tech-savvy or simply may not have the time to update the info in their Place pages.

"Previously, verified business listings would always reflect the information provided by its owner - even if we received data about an updated name, address, or hours of operation," Lior Ron, Google Places product manager, wrote.

"But now, if a user provides new information about a business they know -- or if our system identifies information from another source on the web that may be more recent than the data the business owner provided via Google Places -- the organic listing will automatically be updated and the business owner will be sent an email notification about the change," he added.

This ensures that the data is always up to date, but also that the owners still have the final say in what is displayed on their Place pages. Google notes that the changes have no effect over the info used in ads, which is always supplied by owners.