The Power (and complexities) of Google Locations
- Kidsfirst
- Nov 7, 2023
- 2 min read
Each kindergarten's Google Location continues to be an important source of information for prospective whānau, and is often the first 'shop front' whānau will see when they're searching for an early childhood education option near them. Surveys say upwards of 93% of consumers are influenced by online reviews, with 81% of customers using Google to research businesses. This is particularly true for the age group we are looking to reach.
You can influence your kindergarten's Google ranking, and even drown out low star rankings, or unfair reviews, by encouraging whānau to leave a review to support you in spreading the word about your kindergarten and the benefits of Kidsfirst.
While it might feel uncomfortable the first time, many people are happy to help – as evidenced by the deluge of positive reviews kindergartens received when Kidsfirst recently posted on Educa to ask whānau to leave one. We're still working our way through replying to these, getting through nearly 50 over the weekend. Just as we clear them, more flood in, so please don't worry if there are still some outstanding at the time this story gets to you.
The good news is these are one of our most-visited channels, and aside from a handful of outliers which we continue to work to have removed, nearly every review brings kindergartens a 5-star rating.
The bad news is these are also one of the trickiest channels to manage, due to Google's habit of randomly – and usually with no warning – making changes to our listings driven by crowd-sourced data and other forms of artificial intelligence.
The nature of these changes varies – we've seen permanent amendments to directions to entrances because temporary construction was happening; opening hours shifted because whānau were regularly gathered outside for early morning coffee and AI decided it must be open for business; variations around which accessibility data is listed between desktop and mobile platforms, and more. An ongoing battle we continue to have is in the use of macrons, which were removed by Google's AI and replaced by us more than 15 times before we admitted defeat. We have raised a 'ticket' with Google – there is no other way to get things done with them, even if issues are legal in nature. Like so many things big-tech in nature, there are no humans to talk to, and no easy path to escalation.
Some of the toughest issues kindergartens face are unfair or factually wrong reviews that drag down their average star rating, and create a bad impression to those visiting the online location. There are two in particular that remain, despite our best efforts to have them removed, and we haven't given up. In the meantime, the best solution and the one we actually have control of, is to solicit some positive reviews to balance things out.
If you haven't already acquainted yourself with your kindergarten's Google Location listing, just search up your kindergarten in any browser, and you should see it pop up on the right hand side.
If you spot something unusual going on with your Google listing, get in touch with william@glasstower.co.nz to let us know.