All searches with only Zip codes go to Ukraine

[Tabitha]

I updated WordPress as well as all of my plugins today.  Unfortunately, now the map goes to northern Ukraine with any zip code search.  If you use a whole address, it works fine but if you use only a zip code, any zip code, you’re sent to the Ukraine.  Please let me know what I might be able to do.  Thanks!!!

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[Cici]

Hi Tabitha

Is this your site , Sydney candle? (see attached)  I entered ONLY my zip code 29464 and it went to Mount Pleasant SC,,, bingo

I then searched another zip code I know, 01886 it went to Westford MA…perfect..

What are you searching that is coming up different?

Make sure you have the Google Map domain and the callback long/lat set where your main stores are located so that if Google server  is busy it doesn’t come back with crazy locations.

I mention this because, your site with the map page on it was slow to load but that is probably because you have PHP 5.3 and I am guessing you may be on a shared hosting site…that will effect the time of loading and also will effect your Google map queries.

Let me know if you are still having issues after you clear your cache and refresh. (See WP forum support about 4.5 and clearing caches, other plugins were not updating)

 

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[Tabitha]

Hi,

Thank you for getting back to me so quickly.  I’m attaching 3 versions(Chrome, Firefox & Opera) of what I see when I enter 44505 (Youngstown, Ohio).  I’ve also tried it with a few other local zip codes and I get the exact same location.

Also, I don’t know if you saw it, but there is another post in this forum saying they are also sent to the Ukraine with a zip code only search – https://wp.storelocatorplus.com/forums/topic/zipcode-doesnt-work/

I know the server is a bit worky and the site is pretty loaded but this has never happened before.  It started when I updated everything and other people, in other locations, are seeing it too.

I suppose I’ll have to do the deactivate plugin dance to rule out conflicts but I was hoping there was an easy fix or it was known issue 🙂

If you can think of any other suggestions, I would love to hear them.  Thanks again for getting back to me!

 

[Tabitha]

Apparently my attachments exceeded the allowed file size.  So, here are some compressed jpgs…..

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[Tabitha]

Also, here’s a screenshot of a whole address using 45505 which works properly.

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[Cici]

Hi Tabitha,

Oh Blech, that is bizarre I just tested that zip code on my site and I got thrown into Poland (because I have no locations in my map with a 44505 zip code)   So I added an address using 44505 Younstown Ohio and then searched and you are right I got thrown into Poland or wherever…yet Google loaded the correct lat/long..

I am baffled!

The post you showed was from 2013. and all that was fixed , but Lance had a link in there for a blog…and I am wondering what the heck Google is doing now!  Lance has multiple Blogs about Google Maps.

There were some issues a while back when Lance changed the Google Map domain to go international the way  the Google business people told him, found out that method was not kind to people in Australia, and other countries.

The article he posted about Google Maps

Of course none of this is  helping you.  I am putting this on LAnces radar to see if he can find out anything that may be causing google maps to not read the post code correctly…otherwise everyone in Ohio will be taking a plane to Poland …or Ukraine.

🙁

 

 

ps API

[Cici]

Hi Tabitha

The developer is investigating and he is baffled as to why Google is deciding that 44505 is not in Ohio even when we have our maps set to US domain.

This is very important to us to figure out, thank you for revealing this issue…the midnight oil is burning, hoping that Google wakes up before the morning.

 

 

[Tabitha]

Hi Cici,

Sorry about the link.  Didn’t notice the date.  Anyway, yeah it’s bizarre 🙂  Not sure how that region became some sort of default location either.  Maybe Google was hacked by Ukrainians 🙂  Regardless, I know this stuff happens.  Until there’s a fix though, I’ll just add a note for people to use the whole address for accurate results.  Please let me know if anything pops up.

Best wishes,

Tabitha

[Tabitha]

We must have been posting at the same time 🙂  Sorry to throw a monkey wrench in your night.  It sucks how these things crop up out of the blue.  My client is actually the one who brought it to my attention.  I may not have noticed for weeks.  I tell you what though, you guys are massively on top of things.  I deal with so many support forums, it’s scary, and you are definitely in my top five for excellent support.  Just FYI.  Best of luck to you and Lance in sussing this one out.  Wish I could help 🙂

[Cici]

Thank you for the kind words….if you wouldn’t  mind posting that in our WP SLP reviews. We don’t pay people to post great reviews like some other plugin authors do (its not legal in WP so I am only allowed to mention it) so you get to see the good bad and the ugly.  And some people do not seem to like my support.

🙁

 

[Cici]

We wish you could help, to…. even on Google Map API developer site they are sending us to the Ukraine, maybe you are right, maybe they have been hijacked. Lance has just shared this with me:

Here is a way to test if region influence works:

http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Toledo&region=ES  
Versus
http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Toledo&region=US

[8:23]

Top one is Spain.   Bottom is USA.

[8:23]

[8:23]

Have an address that is not working?   Try this first…

When your map domain in USA the &region=US is what we send to Google…. this URL uses the same service as the Google Maps JavaScript API.

 

Now back to the regularly scheduled channel…The only thing that is helping is the append feature in Enhanced Search or the Experience Add-on…which isnt actually good for customers with international sites who do not wish to steer everyone to one country.

BTW:   Are all your locations in US..?

 

 

[Tabitha]

Well, that’s probably people who don’t have an inkling about how these things go.  No one ever wants to admit to user error or plugin conflicts.  In the rare case where there is an issue with the plugin an immediate fix is expected.  You’re a brave soul working in a support forum….  I couldn’t handle it:)  I would be cursing much more often….

[Tabitha]

No, there is one in Costa Rica.  It’s the only one outside of the US though.

[Cici]

Kudos to you for even searching the forums for answers. I have been on the WP4.5 master list researching issues and monitoring this site. Sometimes it is an easy solution to help people, but this one is not one of those times. we are searching a lot of different versions and customer sites to see if it is universal.  So far it is universal,,, 44505 is in the Ukraine..its definitely Google API

 

[Tabitha]

Google maps goes by regions huh?  Well, we do have a city named Poland nearby which some might consider a small region.  Not sure what that’s worth to you though.  I did try some zips in Texas that I know and they came up correctly.    But thinking back, the zip my client used was 25117 which is in Florida.  It too gets shunted to the Ukraine but central, not northern Ukraine.  Go figure.

[Tabitha]

P.S. Poland is next to Ukraine, hence my mental connection 🙂

[Cici]

On further investigation we have found that ALL plugins or demo sites that use Google Maps API are throwing off some zip codes into a “state of confusion” no matter what you do. It is the Google API, it is even coming back incorrectly on Googles own developers API tools.

@ Tabitha,

You are using the Best Solution to this Google issue:

For others who read this post ,  until someone can find a workaround to trick Google Maps API to behave properly add   verbiage to require visitors to your site to search by adding more information in the address search box .

See  the  instructions label (found under Experience/Results/Instructions)  that can assist you in defining what info is needed in the event that No results comes back.     “enter your city and state and/or  zip code   for better results”…or your own  verbiage.

 

 

[Gerry]

I’ve been caught by this as well. You can see it going wrong if you look at Google Maps itself. An example from above is 44505. If you click on the Country Club there, it says the address is in ZIP code 44410! There appears to be two 44410’s and no 44505 in their mapping data at present – search for 44410 and it gives both Cortland and Youngstown.

When you search for 44505 it picks the ‘nearest’ place with that ZIP/Postal code. It’s not the API not reading the data correctly. The correct data just isn’t on the map in the first place.

[Cici]

@ Gerry

Interesting. There were also issues reported in the Developers Google API support threads that complained about a lot of areas in France not showing up at all.   So apparently Google does not make the connection of  a list of zips incorporated or updated.  As Tabitha reported, this was working correctly before (I believe) and recently started coming back with mismatch search results.

According to the USPS , zip code 44505 is indeed Youngstown, Ohio   you are correct the Google Map query is calling back based on a bunch of different criteria, lat/long, a number or a street in the address, what is searched most often etc.  I double checked , i.e. address Country Club Ave Youngstown Ohio, It Geocoded correctly in my SLP locations file (according to Google) : https://www.google.com/maps/place/41%C2%B002’60.0%22N+80%C2%B037’22.5%22W/@41.0499952,-80.6404369,14z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0

But when I search by zip code, and also  forcing the US map domain  and also appending country with  US,  The google query for 44505 comes back with

Main St, Delta Junction, AK 99737, USA

Next, Using the  Premier add-on and checking the box called “Google Influenced Guesses”., and “defined boundaries” ”   when I then type in a zip code  search  44505, still  no results , but if I type in Youngstown, my location appears below the map in the results but  not with the zip code * I entered but a different one .

 

So luckily I have another  box in Premier  that I checked “Show Address Guess ” ( If checked, replace the address the user typed into the address box with what Google thought they meant.)

I then get a result of what Google thinks I meant:  Youngstown, OH 44514, USA

Note:  I do not have that address zip code in my Locations database, I entered 44505.   but at least now  it is coming back with a reasonable response.

So again,  more detail in search is needed, and if you really want to trick or see what Google is thinking, must have Premier installed..

@ Tabitha

See second screen shot, is this what you meant about Poland… There actually is a Poland Street or Road  in Youngstown Ohio, nearby I wonder if that along with an unrecognized (by Google) zip code  might make Google go to the Ukraine , ie. absent  all the tricks above ..?  We may never know

 

 

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[Tabitha]

See, now, I thought it was a useless factoid but if the zip that Google returns when forced to stay within a nearby region is in fact 44514 then that IS for the city of Poland.  Your screenshot isn’t showing Boardman – Poland Rd, it’s showing the cities of Boardman and Poland which are next to each other.  If you look at my screenshot you’ll see the city outlined in red showing a zip of 44514.  So yeah, maybe it’s not nothing….

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[Tabitha]

Also, when searching 44505 through Google maps on their site, I was getting the right area just a few days ago.  Now it insists on changing the zip to 44410 instead.  It seems my neighborhood has been blacklisted by Google 🙂  I mean, it’s a bad neighborhood but that’s a bit much 🙂

[Tabitha]

P.S.  When I search my actual whole address it also changes my zip to 44410 and the street above me is 44504.  What the heck?

[Cici]

Oops, Maybe its my fault, I just added the location using Country Club lane, but I also added the city as Youngstown ohio…so maybe there isnt a country club lane in Youngstown Ohio so Google decided I meant country lane in Poland Ohio… I would think that the city /state/zip  would have preference over the street address.  I wonder if Lance can put in some tweaks to override the query to Google…to say look at the zip or state before the address…

Google has a grudge against certain areas apparently…my guess is that someone on their developers team has added some algorithms or whatever to try and guess based on different criteria than what it was before. That happens a lot.

So I now am following Gerry’s theory that we have bad addresses according to Google… next test looking at the GOOGLE COMMERCIAL , Public MAPS

There are many zio codes in the  common Youngstown area, which kind of blows my mind for a small city.

Apparently this address is 44505  but Google says it really isn’t Youngstown, Ohio

391 Whipple Ave

Campbell, OH 44405

 

[Cici]

Tabitha…..according to the USPS the address you had is not correct zip code:

2200 ELM STREET 

YOUNGSTOWN OH 44505

Here’s the full address, using standard abbreviations and formatting.

The address you provided is not recognized by the US Postal Service as an address we serve. Mail sent to this address may be returned.

But if I enter this address I do get a response from the USPS .perhaps you need to double check some of these addresses to see if the zip is correct, perhaps your business address doesnt get Mail?

2201 ELM ST

YOUNGSTOWN OH 44505-2511

[Author]

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