• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, June 22, 2017

Google search queries sometimes display a map with a pin asking the searcher whether they know what is located at the location marker when data is missing in Google Maps.

Germany appears to be the backdrop for this test. Jennifer Slegg, founder of The SEM Post, reports that this Google test is a way to get information for Maps in organic search results after being tipped off by Frank Sandtmann, a sales consultant in Hamburg.

Beneath the question mark pin on the right rail, Google asks: "Do you know this location? Add this location to the map, so that also other people may find it," Slegg explains. A button reads “Add to Google Maps.”

It's one more piece of information landing in Google Maps or in search results that doesn't require the searcher to click through to a Web site. Search for a hotel in a specific area and Maps show prices for specific hotels. Flights to and from a location also serve up prices.

Asking searchers to add information to Google Maps for non-location-specific queries certainly puts a twist on how Google relies on crowdsourcing to update its data.