Search failure on zip code – Store Locator Plus® for WordPress

Tagged: Google can't locate zip code

This topic has 8 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 4 months ago by Cici.

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May 20, 2021 at 10:39 AM #81793

Greg
Participant

Environment:
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Search page:
https://innersenseorganicbeauty.co.uk/find-near-me/

Problem:
The search feature is returning an error when searching for European postal codes. The location is correctly geocoded.

Example search:
D07 KT67

Expected result:

The Curly Look
5 Berkeley Road
Phibsborough, Dublin 7 D07 KT67
Ireland

I found a 2019 thread on Google map API failures when searching for postal codes containing spaces. Some suggestions were made including enabling some advanced search features like autocomplete however I have not had success with those.

May 20, 2021 at 11:32 AM #81799

Cici
Keymaster

It works if you search 500km. This indicates there may be an issue with some of your settings.

I cannot see which WP version you are using because the copy and paste you used was not done correctly above.

I Added your location from above and from your map to my test site and when I saw what Google commercial Maps had as location it returned this

6 Berkeley Rd, Phibsborough, Dublin 7, D07 X657, Ireland

So something is fishy between where Google thinks that address is and the returned postal code as far as the algorithms as we mentioned in many other articles.( Google thinks they own the lat long and mislead , use false data returns or conversions every once in a while.)

If you search the address lat long they added when the address was geocoded and load within the Google Commercial MAPS and look in browser you will see this pathway they converted it to is NOT the same as what they geocoded. this shows a perfect example of how google is changing based on their own algorithms

https://www.google.com/maps/place/5+Berkeley+Rd,+Phibsborough,+Dublin+7,+D07+KT67,+Ireland/@53.3581079,-6.2714719,17z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x48670e7fa24c2e19:0xdea78187171e5824!8m2!3d53.3581047!4d-6.2692779

As you can see above I searched with the geocode from the back end provided when I added the location to my test site and when loading the geocode from back end by right clicking the location shows was transferred to a different lat long.

Using Bing with general address no zip code it returns this 53.358100, -6.269280

Check other Map software and find the accurate Lat Long

You can report this to Google ,

or

Go in your back end under location and try adding the correct lat/long This is nothing we can ddo. If you were to use the Enterprise SaaS we would add the correct location to our database.

Next check your Map center and radius info. and results settings at start up , order by and search… All the settings are available in the back end look under documentation not forums and search by keywords for settings.

See all the News articles about this Google Trickery under the NEWS google-maps-api-returning-inaccurate-results

May 21, 2021 at 11:12 AM #81804

Greg
Participant

Thank you for your response.

Searching for “D07 KT67” does NOT work when I change the search radius to 500km. And why would the search radius matter? Is there something I can do to adjust this?

I’m sorry I did not provide the plugin environment info in the correct format. I’ve attached a screenshot which I think you prefer; the “read before posting” instructions are not clear on this and could be simplified a bit in my opinion. 🙂

The geocoding for this address is correct. The original coordinates loaded are correct and very close to what you found: 53.358105, -6.269278

I’m not clear on what you want me to change my initial settings to? The initial search radius is 1000km centered on London and I’m not limiting the results. I see my problem location on the initial map (in Dublin), yet when I perform the search, it disappears and I’m still getting the Google API error.

But I’m not sure what my initial settings have to do with later searches? I’m performing a new search, looking for a postal code and everything within a given radius of that result (and not my initial location, right?). Or do I misunderstand how the search works?

Thank you

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May 24, 2021 at 1:59 PM #81812

Cici
Keymaster

How search works, the technical aspects

D07 KT67 is Not recognized by Google as a valid search

Google is not recognizing it. If I search using Bing Maps it comes up immediately but in Bing it auto adds in results a more complete address Dublin 7, D07 KT67, Ireland

That location is shown on your initial map because you have the settings to display initial.

Search criteria through Google is different and outside what we can force them to show (this is why I mentioned the SLP SaaS because we add the random Google locations to our database and it searches the list in addition to Googles)

Stesp to take

1) Report to Google that the “zip code”D07 KT67 does not return a value.

Also of note tell them, Bing Mapsdoes return results as Dublin 7, Do7KT67…

In the meantime

2) add discrete additional instructions telling your customers to add additional details such as city name and zip code, or street address

Example,

I added these instructions in my test site search box:

Go to SLP/Settings/Search/ Label Address Placeholder add something like this

“Try adding a city name and/ or street address for more accurate results.”

The message or instructions shows up in the search box form for address/zip code

When I searched on your site adding the additional criteria of a city , “D07KT67 Dublin ”

the results loaded instantly including that zip. (Try adding that one little extra criteria in search yourself)

in summation The nag Google and convince them that the “zip code” is valid and to fix their algorithms.

May 26, 2021 at 11:52 AM #81824

Greg
Participant

Thank you for the explanation.

I’ve been testing the geocode API and found that if I add the words “postal code” to the search, it works as expected. Obviously this needs more vetting but a feature request: should a user search return an error or zero results, run a second search with “postal code” appended.

For now we will add some instructions for the users on the search page.

Thank you for your help

May 26, 2021 at 11:53 AM #81825

Greg
Participant

To clarify, when I search for “postal code D07 KT67” I get the correct location. Anyways, thanks again

May 26, 2021 at 12:52 PM #81826

Cici
Keymaster

Yep sounds like some Google tomfoolery requiring you to add more information for results. Again since you are using the stand alone DIY SLP plug-in with add-ons , send Google a ticket . You shouldn’t need to add more for one specific address as compared to other addresses.

May 26, 2021 at 1:04 PM #81827

Cici
Keymaster

P.S. As far as a new feature requests. The developer considers new features for the SaaS Enterprise platform only ( but then again, your issue isn’t a problem there). SaaS works across multiple platforms not just in WordPress and that is the wave of the future

July 1, 2021 at 11:39 AM #81892

Cici
Keymaster

@Greg

The developer did some updates because of the way Javascript was loading an issue similar to yours was happening where some of the time the search worked for me and other times it would fail depending on the random way the javascript was loading. You may want to update WPSLP. to the latest version. Since you area Premier subscriber, (the latest WP SLP base plug-in which is no longer listed on the WordPress plug-in) , all the latest versions of the plug-ins and add-ons are available under your account/downloads

See the authors update news.
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