Google Local Reverts To Old Phone Verification Process
So for the last couple of days I’ve had to do some Google Local listings for clients and I noticed that Google has perhaps reverted back to it’s old phone verification process. For some time now you were given the option to have Google call you immediately or in 5 minutes. However, upon clicking finish when adding or updating a list and selecting phone verificationI have since been receiving the following screen:
Seems that Google has gotten a bit impatient with the whole phone verification process, which sucks for those of us who need to follow up with the client first. The good news is that you can still go back in and request the call again later, but I’m pretty sure one of my clients has gotten two random calls in the last couple of days wondering why the hell they are getting an automated PIN via phone. Shame, shame Google!
UPDATE: Upon doing some more work with the listings it now appears that Google has changed the phone verification process completely. In the past you would get a PIN and enter it when they called you. Now, instead, they call you with the PIN and you have to input it online. Talk about a pain when it comes to setting these up for clients!
6 thoughts on “Google Local Reverts To Old Phone Verification Process”
Hey…I have been getting lots of problems recently with their phone verification service. I usually do 50 listings per account & then verify each one of them through different phone numbers…..I forward all calls to a single landline & my operator approves the listings.
But since the system has changed I am not able toe receive any calls. Not sure whats the reason is but the screenshot you displayed above is the only message I get. Never receive calls.
Do you have any possible solutions for this?
Dubbs,
I haven’t had any issues with actually receiving the calls, in fact as soon as Google implemented this new process we had clients informing us that they were getting the calls, but had no idea what they were. Since I noticed the change these seem to be working just fine, it’s just a new process. I looked into it a bit on Google’s end and they are reporting the phone verification has had some problems as of late and right now they are asking that if people experience this to let them know so that they can get a handle on it.
Here is a link to their known issues page where you can click on the phone verification problem and then let them know what you’re experiencing. – http://maps.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=known_issues.cs
We used to be given 2 options for verification; phone or mail. Now, we’re not given the phone option – just snail mail. To say the least, it’s a nuisance when you have to edit and wait for a PIN. Thanks for posting the link to report issues – we’ve already done that.
Since the post we have had a couple of issues with our Google Local submissions, but it seems to be hit or miss. In some instances we are only getting the mail option and in others we are still getting both.
However I used to see that a lot in the past as well so it doesn’t strike me as a huge deal, though inconvenient. Google has been having a ton of issues lately on what seems like a global scale. My guess is that they are probably trying to revamp the verification process to either make it more efficient or less spamable. Hopefully they will get it sorted out soon enough, as it does make it inconvenient for SEO agencies and web design firms.
This is foolish stuff! We are still not able to approve our listings. Do you think this has something to do with a particular state phone numbers? Because I read in some forums that few state phones are working fine.
Dubbs, It’s really hard to say and I wish I had more answers for you. With Google totally revamping the Local Business Center dashboard I am sure we are going to see bugs, glitches, and annoyances for at least the next couple of months. Your best bet is probably going to be the help section in the Local Business Center. If that still doesn’t work then just break down and do the post card verification until they get it working again. It may take longer, but is certainly better than nothing.