I got an interesting bit of info on how Apple treats individual practitioners in Apple Maps during the Must Have Local Search Tactics panel I participated in at SMX West this week.
Before I get to the practitioner stuff, here’s the presentation on my latest Apple Maps intel I gave.
And I highly recommend you check out the presentations from the other panelists: Greg Gifford’s awesome presentation on Google Places optimization – How To Kick Ass on Google+ Local When You’re All Out of Bubblegum, Phil Rozek’s on The ZigZag Approach to Requesting Reviews From Your Customers and Dana DiTomaso’s Stalking Finding Potential Customers in Your Area.
So during the Q&A we were discussing the fact that Matt McGee’s wife, Cari McGee, the best realtor in Kennewick tried to get listed on Apple Maps with no luck. Someone in the audience who would know – we need to maintain a cone of silence here as we are talking about Apple – claimed that Apple does not allow individual practitioners in a location that contains multiple practitioners (e.g. realtors, doctors offices, etc.) to have a their own listings on Apple Maps.
I have been trying to think of a solution to this issue, but have not come up with a good work-around as of yet.