Confusion and Issues With Google Places + Google Plus for Business
-
Hi all,
I'm currently dealing with the frustration between our Google Places page and Google Plus for Business. I know, it's not an uncommon issue, so I'm hoping there's an easy fix to mine!
I am currently dealing with 2 Google accounts and 2 businesses. Each business has 2 locations. Each account has 1 location of each business. Obviously this isn't ideal.
A few questions:
1. Each account has already been setup with a personal Google Plus page. Will this interfere or cause any issue when I claim the existing Google Places businesses for a Google Plus for Business?
2. Once I have verified the Google Plus for Business page, I can then merge it with our standard Google Places page, correct?
3. Is the merging only for control/login and dashboard settings? Will there still be 2 separate pages/URLs?
4. If someone +1's our Google Places page, does this reflect on our Plus page, or vice/versa?
5. Is there a way to assign these listings to different accounts/logins without deleting the listing and creating them fresh again? I'm assuming no, but would love to hear of a solution!
Thanks a lot!
-
I had a problem with Google Places a while back, I ended up calling them and they were actually really helpful. UK number 0800 169 0409
Sounds like your problem may now be fixed, if not hope this helps!
-
Thanks for the link Miriam. I talked to Google support and after reviewing a few things, it looks like it was confusion from the way our account was setup and not us needing to verify again.
The business in question is a house cleaning company, so our business is done by going to clients homes. We had this selected. However, we have the old dashboard which doesn't make it easy to understand you HAVE to select "hide my full address from map" or face deletion.
They apparently called our number and someone from our company told them we only serve clients through the phone which isn't true at all. The Google rep was understanding of this and has filed a reconsideration request for us to have our account unsuspended and reinstated. Let's hope so since we're a legitimate business with many online reviews throughout the web!
Edit: And they also said we'll be migrated to the new dashboard soon. Our account has been in queue since June of last year!
-
This is the most helpful post that I have read so far on this issue. Much better than the info even Google's Places forum is offering. Thanks for posting this Miriam!
-
Hi Kermiliux,
The 404 error issue is an ongoing one. Go to http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!searchin/business/404$20error and read some of the threads there. Hope this helps!
-
Miriam,
I posted the question there and they said that Google is going to merge the dashboards for Google Local into Google Plus for Business in the near future anyway and I should wait for that.
I still have no idea why my other Google+ vanished, so perhaps I should just call their support? Do you have any ideas?
Thanks again!
-
Okay, thanks. I'll ask about that.
RE: Dead URL
-I edited the ZIP code. It listed the ZIP from the next town over and was off by a single digit.
-I get a 404.
In the dashboard it says it needs to be verified. It's been verified for years and I didn't think it'd get removed from the SERPs and return a 404 if it went back into pending. Ughhh.
-
Hi Kirmeliux
I believe you can use the same email address for both the personal and the business page, but I am not 100% sure on that. You might want to double check on this by starting a thread at the Google And Your Business Forum. There may have been a policy change on this, thus my not being 100% sure. Here is the forum link:
http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/business
Regarding the dead URL:
-
What did you edit on the listing?
-
What error message do you get on the old URL (the dead one)?
-
-
Thanks for the help, Miriam. I guess what I have been stuck on is actually creating the Google+ For Business page for the business. If I go to Google Plus for Business and "sign in" with the Email associated with my Google Places listing, it logs me into that emails personal page. So I guess I need to register and re-verify the listing again to get setup with that.
So this email will control both the personal page and the new business page I'm verifying again now it looks like?
Also, unrelated, but I edited a verified listing of ours the other day and it is making me re-verify. I've noticed the listing URL is dead now and it doesn't show up in searches anymore. Is this... normal until it's verified? It's pretty worrying.
-
Hi Kirmeliux,
That's correct - Google+ Local pages are automatically created for local businesses and it's good that you've claimed them.
While it's possible to have as many social-type G+ pages as you want, per Mike's post, it's not possible to merge them unless they are of the same type (like accidentally having two Google+ Local pages, in which case, you'll likely need to contact support to get help merging the two).
Regarding having both a Google+ personal account and a Google+ business page, check this out:
http://keystoneclick.com/blogs/lori-highby/steps-creating-google-account
However, the issue remains that you are unlikely to be able to merge these items and will have to maintain them separately if you choose to create them. That's why I linked to the Mike Blumenthal article - it provides good suggestions for how to manage multiple types of pages.
-
Hi Miriam,
Thanks for the link. It helped a bit, but I'm still confused.
Google+ for Local = standard, automatically created listing for businesses. We have claimed and verified these. Google+ for Business = more social listing which you can add people to circles, create posts, etc.
The accounts which our standard listings are associated with already have Google+ accounts, but they're personal ones. I am unsure how to create a Google+ for Business account for our actual businesses in the account when a personal account is already there.
I think #1 and #5 are the ones still confusing me from the original post.
-
Hi Kirmeliux,
I recommend this excellent post by Mike Blumenthal on what is and isn't possible at this point in the G+ environment:
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Incorrect Image is Displaying on Google My Business Knowledge Graph - Need Urgent Solution??
Incorrect Image is Displaying on Google My Business for our company. We have updated new image on google business But still, Google is fetching and showing old image on the google my business knowledge panel. What will be the right fix for this? Our site URL : www.yolobus.in
Local Listings | | AnkitS.19900 -
Google maps SEO
We rank #1 for our main keyword and location, however, the top 3 google maps listing doesn't include us. We have more reviews than any of our local competitors (they have around 1/2, we have 25 all 5*) & we only seem to appear as an ad on maps listings. What can we do to resolve this?
Local Listings | | RayflexGroup0 -
Local SEO business name issue due to aggregator
So I work for a college and we have multiple locations. My tactic has been always to keep the name the same for all of them (no city name), and then change the address and phone number for each. But there is 1000s of college listings websites out there that aggregate college and school data from the same source: the US government. Now the way that they have most, if not all, multi-location colleges listed is: "college name-city name". I can see the value in that, but I guess I'm just wondering what to do since it obviously can't be changed. Should I revert all of our listings as "college name-city name" to match the 1000s of listings that have it that way? I've been under the impression that I should leave the city/town name out of the name, but I'm just wondering what you think best practices would be? Thanks
Local Listings | | TomBinga1125
Tom0 -
I am looking for some Local authoritative websites and aggregators of local business data
Does anyone know where I can obtain a list of aggregators of local business data for the UK? I am also looking to understand the best way to find local authoritative websites that I could build backlinks with. Hope you can help. Many thanks Nick
Local Listings | | SEM_at_Lees0 -
Two businesses with the same adress
Hi Guys, A client of mine took over an competitors site 12 months ago. They sell almost the same products and both websites now list the same address on their contact page. Local search isn’t really important to them (webshops). They aren’t really active with Google plus reviews. but I’m still wondering. Could this cause any ranking problems? A lot of online citations still mention the old competitors address and two almost identical company’s with the same address sounds like an bad idea. Any suggestions about this topic? Just as a side note: the competitors site lost a lot of traffic, which is caused by a lot of different problems (double site migration were they didn’t think about SEO). So I would love the hear your thoughts about this specific ranking problem. Thanks a lot!
Local Listings | | Bob_van_Biezen0 -
Best practice for setting up multiple Google Places listings?
Hello, My client has just opened up two new smaller offices which I now need to have listed on Google Places as the primary office is. How is this done (using best practice)? Thanks
Local Listings | | Martin_S0 -
Website blocked by Robots.text while in Google Places Pending.
Hello everyone, If I have pending google places listing, and I added my websites robot.text to block search engines. Will I still get accepted in Google Place? The reason is. We want to block the Google Places listings from search, and only show up on the google places listings. As we have to have a similar website with more explicit content we want to rank on the search results. www.mywebsitetor.com (google places) (PG)
Local Listings | | EVERWORLD.ENTERTAIMENT
www.mywebsitetoronto.com (organic ranking) (A) Hope this make sense, thanks for your help.0 -
Google Places for Business was removed after 6 months
Hello Everyone, After 6 Months, Google has removed us from Google Places for Business and Maps. We did everything properly and we where serving on the 3rd position. Now it seems that the listing is back in Pending? 1. Does anybody have any suggestions how to proceed or how to handle this?
Local Listings | | EVERWORLD.ENTERTAIMENT
2. Can we use places listings again using the same Address?
3. How long will it take to process again?
4. We also heard that some one might of complained?? Your help is much needed. Thanks0