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Category: Local Listings

Examine the impact of maintaining consistent and accurate local listings on your local SEO strategy.

  • timcbambrick


    Hi All, We are an SEO company based in Brisbane Australia. We help lots of clients, most of which are now on page #1 for the majority of their keywords. Except for 1: US! Organically we float between page #2-3 for the term "seo brisbane" and page #1-2 for the term "search engine optimisation brisbane" However, when it comes to the local pack we are nowhere to be found. Not only are we not in the top 3, but when you click "more places" to see how far out of the local pack we are, we are not there at all!! For whatever reason, we can't get google to believe that we really are a SEO supplier. I'm embarrassed to have to ask, but we just can't seem to work out why. Would anyone have any ideas? We know that our current website is letting us down and are 90% of the way through the build of a new one and we are confident that will help with our organic rankings but when it comes to why we are not showing at all in local results, I am at a loss. Has anyone got any advice or troubleshooting they could help with ?

    | timcbambrick
    0
  • marketingdepartment.ch


    Is this a real thing? Do they actually do this? Should I be concerned and train my receptionists to know their surroundings?

    | marketingdepartment.ch
    6
  • capsquare


    I have a client that has ~30 office locations. Normally, if a business has 1-2 locations then I just submit through Moz Local. However, the marketing director won't approve a $1000+ annual local submissions package. My question: What strategy or service do you recommend that would allow me to submit these 30 locations to the best directories that I can without spending an excessive amount of budget and time? More specifically, if you had around 4 hours and ~$300 to spend on submitting 30 locations, how would you do it?

    | capsquare
    0
  • pdrwebsolutions


    Hi there, I was wondering if I could get some assistance for my Maps Listings. Our property management company, Bay Management Group (https://www.baymgmtgroup.com) started in Baltimore, then added an additional location in Maryland in 2015. We’ve had great success getting both locations to rank organically and in Maps listings for most related terms (property management in Baltimore, Baltimore property management, Maryland property managers, etc.). We have recently expanded and have opened up a new office in Philadelphia. Organic rankings have been pretty good for this location, and Maps listings were gradually gaining in the rankings throughout the summer, however, around the last week in August/first week in September, we started noticing our Maps listings decreasing in the rankings (organic has remained about the same). At first, it was just the Philadelphia Maps listings that were affected, then that started to spread into the Baltimore and Maryland related rankings (again, just in Maps listings). While Baltimore and Maryland Map rankings have started to improve again, we’re struggling to get Philadelphia related rankings back on track. We have tried the following items, but still aren’t seeing much of a rebound. All Maps listings have been claimed in Google (Baltimore and Maryland were claimed ~2010 and 2015 respectively; Philadelphia was claimed in June 2017) Yext and Facebook have been updated to exactly match the phone number and address to how Google Maps has it listed The phone number and address on our website (https://www.baymgmtgroup.com/philadelphia/) exactly matches Google and Yext listings (note that the site has Call Tracking Metrics in it to change the appearance of the number when coming from Adwords or organic search) Updated all business information in Google Maps (NAP, hours, photos) and have used the new “posts” section to publish company updates Last week, we also updated our site speed to perform better in Google’s Pagespeed Insights. The site is responsive and has AMP on the blog posts as well. We've also been keeping an eye on Search Console and there aren't any manual actions against the site. Any thoughts on what we could be overlooking here that’s hindering our listing from rebounding (and improving) on Philadelphia-related Maps listings? Has anyone else noticed significant changes in their Maps listings since the end of August? Thanks in advance for your feedback!

    | pdrwebsolutions
    0
  • FlynnZaiger


    I have a question about local SEO. I do the marketing for a multi-location medical facility. When I search the facility on Google, the website appears on the left and the Google My Business information for the nearest facility to me appears on the right. However, I would like to see a map-pack of all facilities appear under the website information as well. How can I make all locations appear in the map-pack form below my basic website information?

    | FlynnZaiger
    0
  • william2039


    We manage a website santamaryflorist.com - a local Ohio florist. She is #1 ranked on Google Local results (and also on Yahoo and Bing). The site's homepage was previously #1 ranked for Organic but has disappeared from Organic ranking over the past few days. It shows occasionally as #1 in organic, like every few hours, but typically does not show.  - Sub-pages are still showing on organic but not front page- Last week we had some issues with crawl errors but those seem to be resolved for several days (pages not available)_Why would the site be showing #1 in Local but only occasionally as the #1 result in organic but most of the time not showing in Organic results at all? _

    | william2039
    0
  • coolhandluc


    Hi there I have been contacted by a small business to help them with their <acronym title="Search Engine Optimization">SEO</acronym> effort. 
    The business is a children's club offering drama classes, music classes etc... Looking at their online visibility shows they don't even have a Google my business profile which is where i was going to start however, they operate from a local school after hours. The local school already has a GMB profile, obviously with the same address and postcode. Is it possible to set up a GMB for the children's club anyway? Many thanks

    | coolhandluc
    0
  • David-Kley


    We have a client that has an old G maps listing that keeps popping up. The newer listing (less than 2 years) has over 150 legit 5-star reviews, but the older, crappy listing (about 4-5 years old) with 5 reviews keeps coming up in maps. I noticed that Google has new options available, and you can now request that the listing be removed from maps. In the past, this type of option did not "remove" the listing, but rather marked it as "permanently closed." We want to completely remove it from maps altogether but cannot allow the time to reverify and activate if it marks it as permanently closed. Both have the exact same address and different business names. Both are located in our Google manager account. What is the fastest and most efficient way of getting this removed without risking the "permanently closed" showing up and having to re-verify/reclaim? Calling GMB directly?

    | David-Kley
    0
  • fencepencil


    I'm wondering what version of my website I need to use on Google My Business and link building etc.. I have setup https and am using a 301 redirect for all http traffic. My question now is, do I need to go to all of my current citations/links and update them to https? I would think the citations/links in-place will hit the 301 and it won't matter what I set. Duplicate content isn't a problem since the canonical version of the page is https. I can't get a clear answer on the web and can't find anything on Google's site that suggests one way or the other. I'd just like to have some feedback from my fellow Moziopians 🙂 -fencepencil

    | fencepencil
    1
  • GrouchyKids


    We have 2 Google Places listings (due to 2 Google Accounts). One listing (the one with the wrong address) outranks the correct listing. Am working on updating citations and have updated the website with the correct address.  I do note that Google has not picked up that the contact page has changed and has not seen the changes to many of the citations. Do we: Update the incorrect listing with the correct address for the time being to resolve issues with clients. Remove the old (incorrect) listing. Or is there a better way to sort this out am concerned that removing the listing will lose us our Google Places rank.

    | GrouchyKids
    0
  • Thomaspdt


    My search query is "façadier bastogne" in google.be which in English would translate as "plasterer" and bastogne being the local city I am targeting. I can't seem to understand why my site peintre-plafonneur-facadier-bastogne.be/fr would rank higher than our local directory "Pages d'or" (Yellow Pages) which has a high DA and almost always ranks first for similar searches as "peintre bastogne" (painter)? Not to mention my site was created by Pages d'Or. How did they manage to rank this so high whereas if you look at it you'll see that they have not made any SEO work on it whatsoever. Could anyone help me understand this or tell me which way to look in order to get that information? I really need this as I am paying a lot to this directory for my site and was planning to launch my own WordPress website.

    | Thomaspdt
    1
  • pooja.verify07


    Hi there, I am Newbie to SEO, So please Help me come out From this Query, I have Client Who serves @ 4 Locations. I have Registered main Business Location in Google business listing , But What if i Do, if want to add My Other 3 Locations With Different Address?? as Website, Business Name, Same, So, I am Little bit confused, What Step i can do to make that Other 3 Listing on Gbl too??? Thnx in advance,
    Rohit.

    | pooja.verify07
    0
  • liamvansteps


    We have recently switched the calgaryhomepros.com domain, which used to be a point2 site, to our current site, which is hosted by a Real Estate webpage hosting company called Redman. When we replaced the domain for the Redman site, the old point2 site stopped existing, and because the link structure didn’t line up perfectly to the new host, there were a bunch of 404 error pages which rank high-ish in the SERP. My question is, outside of manually redirecting the high ranking 404 pages to our current site, what can I do to improve my SEO in this situation? Is there anything else I should be doing, and is this hurting my SEO drastically?

    | liamvansteps
    0
  • TylerAspen


    Hello, I have a company building out a website and wanted to get the community opinion on how we should set-up the domain network (separate domains or subdirectories). Our company has several locations across the country and really act as their own entity in those locations (Austin, Norman, College Station, etc.). Currently, we have all the locations under 1 domain like so... maindomain.com/our-locations/norman. This clearly isn't they way it should be set-up and it was done a long time ago, so we are changing to either: Separate Domains already purchased Subdirectories such as maindomain.com/norman I would like to know what would be the best strategy for our communities in regards to SEO? Thanks!

    | TylerAspen
    1
  • attic


    Hey guys, Do you know how to change my Google business account to be a non local business? I want my Google Knowledge Graph to be clean and neat like this. Does it mean that this company doesn't claim the business? Will removing the address from the Google My Business solve it (which I don't know whether we can take down the address)? Thanks

    | attic
    0
  • lina_digital


    I am trying to arrive at an agreeable format for consistency across the ecosystem for our multiple locations. Is there a character limit for the location name?

    | lina_digital
    0
  • Bee159


    Hi all, I've optimised an existing GMB listing that has been in place for over a year. The client is a yacht/boat broker and marine repair outfit based in Mallorca. When I search for terms that they 'should' be ranking for on Google and on a Maps search, they are nowhere to be found, yet their listing does show when you type in their company name. I've read lots of Local SEO guides and followed their advice but I'm not sure what I'm meant to do next?

    | Bee159
    0
  • BigChad2


    I'm looking for articles/evidence that if you have a high ranking organic listing that it will improve your chances of being in the local pack.  I came across this about a year ago, but I have had trouble finding articles to support this. Does anybody know of any recent articles and/or studies that show a correlation of high organic listings and local pack visibility? Thanks!

    | BigChad2
    0
  • BigChad2


    A client of mine asked about the new Google Posts feature that can be used via GMB.  The question is can you use Google posts to give updates to visitors about emergency closures?

    | BigChad2
    0
  • platinumhouse


    my boss is insisting that I duplicate a site that is ranking well and then roll it out across the UK on new domain names beginning with targeted city names in the domain name. I will then be going through each duplicate site changing the location keywords to the target city location Along with images etc. what effect will this have? Do you have any advice on the best way to tackle this? thanks

    | platinumhouse
    0
  • Advancify


    Hey Community! My agency has been working with more companies that are Incorporated lately who are requiring SEO assistance. A few of our customers have their business listed to include the Business Name, Inc. in the Google/Facebook listing and some of them don't. What would you guys recommend we go with when dealing with an incorporated business? One of the businesses we're working with is Blossom Childcare and Learning Center, Inc. Thanks
    -Kris

    | Advancify
    0
  • BigChad2


    Recently one our clients noticed that their GMB knowledge card is showing multiple opening hour sets for different departments. Is there anyway to directly influence these results?   We know schematic markup helps but are there any other options to manage these different department hours? Thanks

    | BigChad2
    0
  • Gavo


    In Australia, some businesses are Pty Ltd (Proprietary Limited) hence, their business name ends with xxx Pty Ltd. How accurate do we have to be when building citations or updating citations that Pty Ltd is included in the business name? We've got clients who have left out Pty Ltd in their previously built citations and we're wondering if it's worth the time to actually update them to include Pty Ltd. Also, does changing a business name affect its rankings? This is more than just "Pty Ltd", it's changing from XYZ to ABC. We've previously had to change a client's address on their GMB and this had a negative effect on the client's rankings. Will changing the business name have an adverse effect? Thank you in advance for your advices!

    | Gavo
    1
  • SeoSheikh


    Hi folks, I know the majority of you are based in the US, so won't be experiencing the same problem as me. I have set up a Google My Business account for a company here in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The only problem is that I can't verify it using the normal methods like a postcard being sent out as the UAE doesn't have a postal service, so there are no postcodes to target an address. Basically I go through the process of creating a GMB account, setting the address details and map marker, then try to verify the account by postcard (this is the only way). I wait 14+ days but still no postcard arrives for obvious reasons - no postal address! So - my question is, how do we get round this problem? I know it can be done as there are plenty of businesses out there in Dubai that are verified on Google maps and GMB. Any advice or input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

    | SeoSheikh
    0
  • Edward_Sturm


    I watched the Whiteboard Friday Video about this, but didn't hear it deal with directories exclusively. Should an online only store use online directories- and if so, how? Would there be a NAP involved?

    | Edward_Sturm
    0
  • iepl5


    Hello, I want to change my business listing search image, Which appear while Searching My business For related keywords. How should i change it?? have uploaded but Google still uses old image . is there any way to  change it ??? Thank you in advance
    falguni

    | iepl5
    0
  • paulfoz1609


    Can I use a shortened version of our company name for local search or does it need to match the name registered at companies house exactly?

    | paulfoz1609
    0
  • paulfoz1609


    Ive checked with the Moz Local and put my company name in.  theres two listings showing up Ones verified but is in a slightly wrong format - it says Street Name, Unit Number, Town, Post Code The other ones not verified but correct - its unit number, street name town, post code Will I need to edit the verified one to make it the correct format like it is on companies house and with Royal Mail?  Or can I use the none verified version?

    | paulfoz1609
    1
  • maghanlinchpinsales


    A client of mine owns a business that is a service (i.e. they do not have a storefront). They service three major markets - Atlanta, GA; Charlotte, NC; Nashville, TN. When talking to the Google My Business team, they said we needed to set up only one listing based on where we were headquartered (which is Atlanta) and then list that we service the other markets so that it shows in the listing. So we have one business listing set up as a service but headquartered in Atlanta and show the service area as Atlanta, Nashville and Charlotte. Does this seem correct? There is a lot of competition for them so looking to boost local search as much as possible. Thanks!

    | maghanlinchpinsales
    0
  • FPK


    While my client's websites have been ranking well in SERP for their keyterms I'm at a lost on what I can do to improve their Google business/map presence. I'm referring to their listing where the top three come up or when you search on Google Maps.
    https://gyazo.com/26ec78ed7f712157ec72492199545431 Ex 1. Several months ago my client was ranked #1 both for SERP and maps until they dropped to 2nd on maps. Now they're ranked 1st in search yet 2nd for local business rankings as you can see from the screenshot above. At one point my client's business did have more reviews than the 1st ranking business yet they still weren't 1st. Ex. 2. Client(s) is ranked 4th in search and doesn't show in the top 3 map listings for their search term. If you click on More places to view Google Maps they're listed all the way down as the 15th listing or worse can't even be found when searching by their main SEO key term . Of course they are found by searching for their business name so it's not like there is a problem with the listing. I make sure to: Completely fill out their Google Business profile(NAP, hours and add pictures) Have my client try to gain positive reviews Manage and respond to reviews(mainly the negative ones) Add map and Google business link to their website Can anyone offer any other insight on what else can be done to improve their local presence on maps that I might be missing?

    | FPK
    0
  • Ben-R


    Hello Everyone, So we have a priority site (domain.com) but also a geo-specific site for another location we have (domainNYC.com). Assuming both have completely unique content, different contact information and it’s justifiable to have a second domain (i.e. resources, brand/link equity…etc.) would it be recommend to also use the sub-folder approach on our primary (meaning domain.com/nyc)? And then potentially linking to domainNYC.com (just the once, not overdoing it)? Or just play it safe and keep them separate. Our concern is doing both sub-folder and separate domain might cannibalize on local searches resulting in us essentially competing with ourselves for those terms. The benefit would be leveraging the priority domain and driving visitors there. We could always ‘noindex, follow' the sub-folder page so users have access to the address on the primary domain too but wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts or suggestions as well as how it could pertain to linking (scarcely). We have found a lot of information on choosing one over the other but not as much for whether both is recommended so any extra insight would be very appreciated. Looking forward to hearing from all of you! Thank you in advance for the help! Best,

    | Ben-R
    0
  • Roman-Delcarmen


    What is the real impact of schema?
    I have been working in a project, a small hostel, and I decided implement structured markup, schemas.org and so on. So my question is, what the real impact/benefits of it.
    My website will perform better?
    does will get better rank ?

    | Roman-Delcarmen
    1
  • Matthew.E


    How do I get an answer box for branded search? If you Google "Sagefrog Marketing group, the ansewr box in the right hand rail no longer appears. Not sure what happened. What kind of markup do I need?

    | Matthew.E
    0
  • DigitalMarketingSEO


    I've recently been cracking down on some spammy listings. How do I measure the success? Can I only do so with a third party tool like Moz? Thanks!

    | DigitalMarketingSEO
    1
  • yaelslater


    I work for a large organization with a number of locations. There is a Google My Business listing for us, under our umbrella name, that lists an old address (building we no longer occupy) and says that we are "permanently closed". I believe this is an unverified listing because there is an "own this listing?" link in it. In order to take control of the listing, Google gives us three options: call, text or snail mail. The number is an automated line so calling and texting aren't going to work and snail mail wouldn't work b/c we're no longer in the building. Anyone know how we can take control of this listing so that it doesn't look like we're "permanently closed?"

    | yaelslater
    0
  • nhhernandez


    I created and verified a new Google My Business page for a client and found that there won't be any more Google+ created automatically. I spoke to Google Support and they confirmed this is the case because apparently, the two Google products confuse people. Now, if we want a G+ page created for our client, we have to go and 'Apply' for one here - https://plus.google.com/create We're not sure how to go moving forward with new clients. Has anyone tried to apply for a G+ account successfully using the above link? If we create a new Gmail account, don't we get a G+ account anyway (or is that not the case as well)?

    | nhhernandez
    0
  • aj613


    I feel like so many of my clients have multiple Google my Business Pages for one location.  Is there a way to get a list of all of the Google My Business Pages that exist for a given property and then effectively remove duplicates? Thanks, Adam

    | aj613
    1
  • badit34


    Hi guys, I'm trying to learn how to market my carpet cleaning website in Google but without much success. I'm reading marketing forums for over 6 months still can't achieve 1st page rankings. What I'm missing? Can you please check the site and tell me what to improve to get good rankings in Google UK? There are some competitors which are doing very well, for example competitor1, competitor2 but I can't figure out what they have which I don't? I'm not very experienced in marketing but hope someone here will guide me how rank my cleaning website on 1st page.

    | badit34
    0
  • Dan-Lawrence


    Hi Any ideas why doing a search for 'Family Portrait Photographer' from my location on the Isle Of Wight (after deleting cache/history) etc results in a load of results relating to Cardiff Wales (local serps and main listings)? I am close to cities like Southjampton & Portsmouth as well as few other all much neaer than cardiff ! All Best
    Dan

    | Dan-Lawrence
    0
  • Ben-R


    Hello Everyone, So we have a client with a geo-focused ‘sports’ site but they also have a second site they are using to promote the seasonal camps they run. Local demographics and traffic would be a priority and main source of traffic. We know it would be ideal to have all of it consolidated but in this case a separate site was needed. The camp site would be under a different Name but they do not really have a different physical location from the primary site. Assuming we can’t find a discernable different location we could use; from a local optimization perspective we have two questions: Does that mean that we shouldn’t venture into local listings that need an address and trying to rank for map results and instead shift focus to other local strategies (i.e. geo-relevant content, link acquisition….etc.)? – We don’t want to dilute or devalue the primary site at all but if possible would like to be able to come up for both. Should we avoid listing the address on the camp site as text for similar reasons? We know the same business could be listed for multiple locations but any suggestions on the opposite approach or input would be very appreciated. Please let us know if there is anything we could provide details for that might help. Looking forward to hearing from all of you! Thank you in advance. Best,

    | Ben-R
    0
  • SuperNovi


    We have a new website where we are selling a gate brace and the contact page has a number of links to possible suppliers.  3 of the 4 have our product locally.  There are also 2 image links that go to trade shows we have been at. Should I "no follow" these links?  Or is it not a big deal? Brad

    | SuperNovi
    0
  • Bee159


    Hi there, I'd like to know how to improve a business listing so that it shows up not only when people type in the company name but also when they type in keywords related to that company. Say the company is a yacht broker based in Portsmouth. How would I get their listing to show in Google Maps when people search for: 'yacht broker' (when Google knows their location is near Portsmouth) and 'yacht broker portsmouth' or 'yacht broker hampshire'. Many thanks.

    | Bee159
    1
  • nbyloff


    Not very up to date in handling local listings, so here's my situation. I have an office that is not going out of business, but instead going virtual. So that physical address will no longer exist but the team is intact. So I am dealing with the Google Business Listing page for this office at https://business.google.com/ In the "Published on" section, it has Google Search, Google Maps, and Google+. I want to remove it from Maps and the address from this account. There's an address for this store, but editing it only seems to allow changing, but not removal. There is also the option of "Mark as Permanently Closed", but surely that isn't the best option since that will leave a nasty red "PERMANENTLY CLOSED" in the results when searching. What's the best course of action here?

    | nbyloff
    0
  • NickW816


    This question pertains to local SEO, and businesses that want to rank for a certain city, service area or metro. In looking at Ahrefs, it appears businesses that are BBB Accredited will get multiple "nofollow" links and possibly 1 "dofollow" link (on their actual profile), however businesses that only have a free (non-accredited) profile, only got a "nofollow link" and no "dofollow links". While it is definitely not a silver bullet and this is not always the case, in examing hundreds of local SERPS throughout 4-5 years in the SEO biz, there does seem to be some sort of correlation between businesses that are BBB accredited and also have their "BBB accreditation" badge with a link on their website. Has anyone seen similar results or correlations for local SEO where they live? Is this a coincidence/anomaly?

    | NickW816
    1
  • PlusROI


    If I have a business which is non-local, but has one location and is showing up with the address and directions already in the knowledge panel, should I claim the business? Eg: the company manufactures a single product and ships directly to customers all over the world. On the one hand, of course it seems I should claim it and get more control. On the other hand, part of that process is setting a service area and I worry that by doing so I may be making the company seem less relevant outside the service area in Google's eyes.

    | PlusROI
    0
  • setokin


    I am an attraction and I have just noticed that some of my vendors are using my address, and in some instances my mainline(phone), for their stores which are located on site.  What is your recommendation, or best practice for this scenario as I wish to prevent this from appearing as a duplicate listing.   thank you in advance.

    | setokin
    0
  • JasonKhoo


    I've been working with a local gym for a while now. We successfully got the gym to beat out all its competitor and now it consistently ranks in the 3rd or 4th result for all major local industry keywords. For example "gym in [city]". The only thing above us is Yelp and other directory sites. The problem I am running into is we do well organically, but when it comes to Google Snack Pack we aren't in the top three or even 10. You have to go deep into the next pages of the map to find our business. I did find that we use to be categorized as health club in Google My Business, but I changed that three months ago. Some more additional info, the site when I got the account moved to a different url. So many directories and sites that linked to us in the past link to the old url. The old url is 301 redirected to our current url. I haven't found much info about this topic and am looking for any experience or insight?

    | JasonKhoo
    0
  • lfrazer


    Hello, I have recently included my client's site in a number of trusted local directories; however, when I do a link analysis, it says there are no external links? How can this be? Thanks so much in advance for your help!

    | lfrazer
    0
  • sophiecrosby97


    After multiple phone calls with Google My Business help, I'm still completely stumped! I need to set up Google my business pages for 5 business', however, each of these companies work in the same office - so the location used on Google my business would be the same. I want to know if this is possible? Surely there's ways to do it, especially since the increase of hot-desking and shared offices! Thanks

    | sophiecrosby97
    0
  • 94501


    Hi, I have a client who has offices that are physically located in one town, but offers its services to a much wider area, like a hundred mile radius. You can see where this is going. In local organic search, they need to establish a verified business location in other towns. My understanding is that virtual offices, even though you can receive mail there and can have offices there, are not an acceptable solution to this problem. Maybe I'm wrong about that though. Any ideas, short of opening up permanent full-time offices in other cities for getting around this? With all due respect, if your answer is only an opinion on the importance of playing by the rules and background on the rationale behind Google's Guidelines, etc, please don't bother posting. I'm looking for actual possible alternatives. Thanks!

    | 94501
    0

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