Google Maps and local signs have shown reservations, appointments, reservations and other third-party ordering solutions for many years. And while we have a way to opt out, it still causes a lot of confusion and frustration for these small businesses.
We covered that problem years ago with restaurants not wanting orders sent to a random third party that they may or may not support.
But Colan Nielsen recently posted on Twitter about a dental practice dealing with this mess. He said “I really don’t like it at all. Zocdoc’s appointment options are built into the company’s knowledge panel. This dental clinic doesn’t want that and has to bribe Zocdoc whenever a user makes an appointment through it.”
He’s right, it’s super frustrating and I bet most of these offices have no idea that these 3rd party dating systems show up on their local Google listing.
Here is the tweet showing this example:
I really don’t like it at all. Zocdoc’s appointment options are integrated into the business knowledge panel. This dental clinic does not want this and has to bribe Zocdoc every time a user makes an appointment through them. Have you ever seen this @rustybrick ? pic.twitter.com/joQM8oQTIt
— Colan Nielsen (@ColanNielsen) October 19, 2022
So I brought this to the attention of Danny Sullivan and he offered the help document for removal of third-party links. But as it says first “Contact support team or 3rd party vendor technical contact”.
Google told Colan that the only way to remove these links was to contact the third party.
We already did the GBP support step and they told us there was nothing they could do and asked us to contact Zocdoc directly.
— Colan Nielsen (@ColanNielsen) October 19, 2022
I understand that Google knows these businesses and offices are too busy to update their Google Business Profile listings with details, let alone appointment links. So Google is looking for ways to automate this, but sometimes it can be too much. I know of many restaurants that see their orders come from a third-party supplier that they don’t work with. This therefore leads to frustrated customers and potentially negative reviews. It’s like pulling teeth – sorry, I had to…
Discussion forum on Twitter.
Update:
It looks like ZD may have flipped a switch on the backend that’s supposed to turn it off. I still see it in the wild, but imagine Google having to do some sort of refresh before it’s gone. I think the dentist also has the option to disable it in their dashboard.
— Colan Nielsen (@ColanNielsen) October 21, 2022
