This policy outlines the mandatory requirements and quality standards for all Point of Interest (POI) data submissions and brand configurations by third-party partners (VSS providers) to ensure a safe, high-quality, and reliable user experience for Local verticals. Non-compliance with these policies will result in data or brand localization rejection and potential offer suppression.
I. Policy for User-Facing Data Fields
You must ensure all data submitted for display purposes adheres to the following content standards:
A. Place / Business Name (name field)
The business (POI) name must accurately reflect the business's real-world name, as used consistently on its storefront, website, stationery, and as known to customers.
- Prohibited Content:
- VSS providers are strictly prohibited from adding extraneous information
that is not part of the business's real-world name, including:
- Marketing taglines (e.g., "Store - Best Coffee in Mountain View").
- Store codes, special characters, hours, or open/closed status.
- Phone numbers, website URLs, or service/product information.
- Location/address details or containment information (e.g., "Store at Stanford Shopping Center").
- Extraneous keywords.
- Descriptions of the business (e.g., "Store: serving de-caf and small pastries").
- VSS providers are strictly prohibited from adding extraneous information
that is not part of the business's real-world name, including:
B. Category Name (category field - free text/display value)
The category name must objectively, accurately, and concisely describe the primary type of business, service, or point of interest. It must describe what the business is, not how good it is or what it sells specifically.
- Allowed Content Examples: "Coffee Shop", "Hotel", "Plumbing Service", and "Art Museum".
- Prohibited Content:
- VSS providers are strictly prohibited from including the following:
- Promotional or subjective language: Words that imply quality, ranking, or price (e.g., "Best," "Top-rated," "Cheap," "Luxury," "#1").
- Keyword stuffing: Listing multiple distinct services (e.g., "Plumber HVAC Electrician 24/7").
- Location information: Adding city, neighborhood, or street names (e.g., "Museum in London").
- Products/Amenities: Describing specific items sold rather than the establishment type (e.g., "Sells running shoes").
- Formatting abuse: Emojis, special characters, or excessive ALL CAPS.
- VSS providers are strictly prohibited from including the following:
C. Display Address (display_address field)
The display address must accurately and objectively reflect the official, precise physical location of the business using standard postal formatting. It must only contain information necessary to geographically locate or navigate to the establishment.
- Prohibited Content:
- VSS providers are strictly prohibited from including the following:
- Promotional or descriptive language: Any marketing text, landmark descriptions, or subjective commentary about the location.
- Navigational instructions or cross-streets: Directions, intersection names, or proximity hints in place of or appended to the actual address.
- Extraneous contact information: Adding phone numbers, email addresses, or website URLs.
- Keyword stuffing & broad location targeting: Unnecessarily repeating city names, neighborhoods, or adding regions purely for search visibility.
- Non-physical locations: P.O. Boxes, remote mailboxes, or virtual offices.
- Formatting abuse: Emojis, excessive ALL CAPS, or special characters (unless officially part of the building name or unit number).
- VSS providers are strictly prohibited from including the following:
D. Price Range (price_range field in local_data)
This field must accurately reflect the typical expected cost per person to access, visit, or experience the establishment or primary service across all categories.
- Format and Content:
- Data must be submitted as a structured numerical lower bound (minimum) and upper bound (maximum).
- The currency submitted must strictly match the official local currency of the country where the POI is physically located.
- The upper bound must be strictly greater than or equal to the lower bound, and neither value can be negative.
- Range widths should be standardized, rounded, and meaningful to the user's decision-making process (e.g., "10 - 20" recommended; overly precise ranges like "13 - 17" or overly broad ranges like "1 - 200" are heavily discouraged).
- For attractions, the lower bound must represent the minimum price required for one standard adult to enter, access, or use the primary offering. Ancillary add-ons or secondary fees that don't grant standalone adult entry or service (such as audio guides, locker rentals, parking, or child-only rates) must never be used as the lower bound.
- If only a single flat price exists, submit it as the lower bound and leave the upper bound blank. Submitting an upper bound without a lower bound is strictly prohibited.
- If the service, product, or experience is entirely free, input 0 for both the lower bound and the upper bound (0 - 0).
II. Policy for Brand Configuration and "See More" Links
The "See More" button links out to the highest ranked blue link for the VSS for the query. If a blue link is not available, then Google uses the See More URL Template that you configure, allowing users to explore additional local places on your website.
When you configure a brand localization in Actions Center > Configuration > Brands > Local VSS, you must provide a See More URL Template for each country and language. Google uses this URL to generate the "See more" link (for example, "More on [Brand Name]") on your brand unit.
Your See More URL Template must meet all of the following requirements:
- Consumer-Facing Local Search or Browse Experience: The URL must lead to a consumer-facing page where users can actively search, browse, or explore local businesses, services, or attractions (for example, through a search bar, category filters, or a browsable directory).
- No B2B or Corporate Marketing Pages: Pages designed to promote software or services to businesses—such as B2B corporate homepages, agency marketing sites, or merchant sign-up pages (for example, "List your business", "Certify your brand", or "Book a demo") are strictly prohibited.
- Broad Category and Country Scope: Because the See More URL Template is a static link for each country and language localization, it must work across all searches where your brand appears. Single-business pages, single-city pages, or category-filtered URLs that lock users into a single category when your brand serves multiple categories are prohibited.
- Domain Alignment: The URL must match your brand's consumer-facing domain configured for that brand localization (and must not redirect to an unrelated third-party domain). The brand name and logo displayed in your unit must match the domain of the landing page.
- Country and Language Match: The destination page must match the Country and Locale (language) configured for that brand localization.
- Direct, Unrestricted Access: The URL must start with
https://and resolve to a working page (HTTP 200). Users must be able to view and browse local results on the web without logging in, creating an account, hitting a paywall, or downloading a mobile app.