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Originally shared by Nick Rink

Smart Local Roundup - Map Maker edits, new Support forums, Facebook adds calls and G+ orphan Pages

Just like the weather, the only constant in local search you can be sure of is change. So this week the roundup is focused on a couple of Google related changes along with a neat additional feature to Facebook ads that could prove very useful for local business owners and marketers. There's also a great article at the end on how to take control of a previously verified Google My Business listing. Enjoy!

Google Map Maker edits suspended
In response to some rather amusing but also serious attacks recently, Google has decided to temporarily suspend edits on their Map Maker platform. For anyone passionate about mapping and for local search pro's this is less than ideal but somewhat understandable. While the specific attacks that caused this suspension are unknown it's thought to be things like Ed's Snow Den showing up in the White House http://smrtl.cl/1bU15Dd As well as appearing in the usual tech press the Map Maker story has also made it to more mainstream outlets, so big news!
Read more:
☞ http://smrtl.cl/1bTZ75N via Pavithra Kanakarajan
☞ http://smrtl.cl/1bTZdue via Search Engine Land
☞ http://smrtl.cl/1bTZeyj via BBC News

Google rolls out new support forum design
If you clicked on the first link above to the Map Maker support forum then you may recognise that the design is a little different. Google rolled out updates to most of their forums yesterday and while you can still access the old style the new design now shows as the default setting. I haven't dug into it too much yet so there's a handy piece below from Mike B that goes through what's new and what's missing.
Read more:
☞ http://smrtl.cl/1bTZgWP via Google
☞ http://smrtl.cl/1bTZjlo via Mike Blumenthal

Facebook adds calls to local ads
Facebook's Local Awareness campaign is all about helping business owners connect with local consumers. Earlier this week they rolled out a click to call button within mobile ads, which look to be super simple to set up. Once you've got your ad running you can track how many calls the ad has delivered from your dashboard, helping to measure how effective the campaign has been. Will be interesting to see what sorts of impressions to calls ratio people can achieve.
Read more: 
☞ http://smrtl.cl/1bTZkFZ via Facebook
☞ http://smrtl.cl/1bTZopf via Adweek
☞ http://smrtl.cl/1bTZtcG via Marketing Land

How to deal with orphaned Google+ Pages
An orphaned Google My Business listing is one that has previously been verified but you can't find the listing owner. Frustrating for a variety of reasons and while there are options available through the GMB help pages it can take quite some time to get things sorted. If you want to get things moving along a little more swiftly then this great article takes you through the necessary steps. Definitely one to bookmark in the Google My Business troubleshooting collection!
Read more:
☞ http://smrtl.cl/1bTZux9 via Gene Maryushenko

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Curated by Nick from Smart Local Marketing