Google My Business: Multiple businesses operating from same address
-
Hi guys,
This seems to be quite common (especially now with "hotdesking" becoming increasingly popular), but I've never had to do local SEO for a business like this before so was just wondering on best practice for a business who shares the same brick-and-mortar location with multiple other businesses.
For Google My Business verification, it does seem you just have to get there first. With Google unverifying the first account tied to that address if you attempt to verify another - I don't want to do this, due to the relationship between my client and the verified business in question.
Any suggestions?
-
Hi Tom,
This has been extremely helpful!
Good work man,
-
Hi Ria,
Yeah, it's so important to get all these questions answered before you start work. Sounds like you need some answers before you can interpret which of Google's guidelines apply. Good luck!
-
He seems to have used a single phone number throughout his previous clinics, though he works from a main one (which is the one he wants to be locally optimised for), he frequently works from other clinics too - with the same landline contact number.
Not sure about dedicated set of rooms or forward-facing front desk - I've put this forward to him. As well as his regular working hours, if any. I've actually tried to follow your advice from your "new clients" blog post, Miriam, but it seems as if the difficulty is getting all the questions answered in one go haha. Oddly, I seem to get a quicker response when it's one question at a time.
-
I noticed this too very recently! I've added the location via that method, as well as through Google Maps Editor through a different account.
-
This is fantastic! Thank you
-
Hi Ria,
The place falls under the multiple practitioners - single location scenario.
Multi-Practitioner Practices For practices with multiple public-facing doctors, it is acceptable to create local pages for each doctor, in addition to the practice’s local page. If this is the case, do not include your business name in the name of the practitioners’ pages. And try to differentiate between these pages with either a different phone number or suite number for each doctor, when possible. - See more at: http://www.searchinfluence.com/2016/04/google-my-business-for-doctors-visibility-authority-seo/#sthash.mRhgvMae.dpuf
According to Mike Blumenthals' site - the Google instructions for this have vanished! so you can get his take on the same thing here.
"
Individual practitioners (e.g. doctors, lawyers, real estate agents)
An individual practitioner is a public-facing professional, typically with his or her own customer base. Doctors, dentists, lawyers, financial planners, and insurance or real estate agents are all individual practitioners. Pages for practitioners may include title or degree certification (e.g. Dr., MD, JD, Esq., CFA).
An individual practitioner should create his or her own dedicated page if:
- He or she operates in a public-facing role. Support staff should not create their own pages.
- He or she is directly contactable at the verified location during stated hours.
A practitioner should not have multiple pages to cover all of his or her specializations."
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2016/04/10/google-my-business-guidelines-mia/
Hopefully that'll help you deal with your client more confidently
Ray pp Tom.
-
Hi,
Try to register your client as a department in an existing business. They can share same address.
-
Hi Ria!
I want to be sure I'm understanding exactly what you are describing. I'm concerned that what you are talking about may fall under Google's ineligible model guidelines which state:
An ongoing service, class, or meeting at a location that you don't own or have the authority to represent. Please coordinate with your host to have your information displayed on the page for their business within their "Introduction" field.
What are the specifics of this. Does the client have:
-
A unique phone number?
-
A dedicated set of rooms?
-
It's own forward-facing front desk?
-
9-5 (or similar) hours of operation?
-
-
I recently added a 'shared address' business to Google and for the first time I noticed an option to 'Add a missing place'. Perhaps that could work for you. I started by searching the address in Google Maps, then using the facility that comes up on the left. You'll probably see "At this location" and a list of businesses already there.
-
This is great advice, and I will definitely bear it in mind for similar situations in future. Unfortunately, for this particular business there are no dedicated "suites" as such. It seems like it's a clinic version of hot desking, with multiple doctors each running their own private business occupying the available clinic rooms within the building.
I appreciate it's quite a specific SEO dilemma, but I'm sure it must affect other industries. Especially now with the growing start-up generation. Even recently I visited an "enterprise hub" where businesses were able to use the address as their listed address whilst renting "hot desks" or "hot suites" by the day, changing desk or suite on a daily basis to whichever in the building is available. I wonder what _their _local SEO strategy looks like....
/thinkingoutloud
-
In the past, for these situations, we've had to get the location to set up suite numbers for each business. That way the address is correct, and then there is a suite number for each one. What we prefer to do is to get the USPS (postal service) to also set up and have those suite numbers in their system, as well. So, that way it's official.
You'll also need to post the suite numbers on the outside of the business, as well.
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
-
Tracking Phone Numbers in Google My Business Listings and Beyond
Hey all, Wanted to run something by you. I am getting pressed to use tracking phone numbers for all of our GMB pages for over 100 locations across the country. Has anyone done this for their own listings or for their clients? Because I will have to do it for GMB, this means I will be sending these same phone numbers out to the other major directories and data sources around the web. The phone numbers do contain the local area code for each city and do directly connect our customers to their specific location without any kind of redirecting. How is Google looking at this? I have read before it is a no-no but have also read it is not a big deal. Any thoughts would be much appreciated! -Ben
Local Listings | | Davey_Tree0 -
Evidence that high organic rankings impact positioning in the Google local pack?
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!
Local Listings | | BigChad20 -
Google My Business Question
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?"
Local Listings | | yaelslater0 -
How do I win the Google knowledge panel?
Hi everyone, so my company has a knowledge panel that show up for some keywords. I use to be #1 on the map (for my favorite keyword) when Google was showing several listings. Now that it show only one, it's not me anymore and I wonder why. So what are the SEO leverage I need to focus on to win this new google knowledge panel? Thank you very much.
Local Listings | | JimJ0 -
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 -
Google Places - Cached Citations
Looking to update my business address where possible because I have moved offices. I know that Google uses citations from multiple parties to impact on the Google Places results. Trouble is when address details are updated on hese third party sites I notice that Google doesn't often recache the page and get the new address. What method(s) can I use to resolve this issue? Justin
Local Listings | | GrouchyKids0 -
Google Places: Can't link to website
Hi, how are you? I'm Having some problems with my clients Google Places/Plus listings. Everything is OK, but I can't get my website linked. I'm talking about what I point out in the image. I tried following this instructions: https://support.google.com/plus/answer/1713826?hl=en&ref_topic=3052532, but I can't find the Link website button next to my website URL. Do you know why is this happening? Thanks! 6v1eDG4
Local Listings | | arielbortz0 -
Anybody know of a way to speak directly to a Senior Level Associate in the Google Maps Dept?
I have a client who's Places listing is marked as being permanently closed (has been for three weeks). We were ranking in top spot on local for 2 years +/- and now nothing. Nowhere. Where we do show up, it says permanently closed. (They are not closed). This is the response I received: "After investigating your problem, we've found that it is being caused by a technical issue and our engineers are pursuing a resolution. At this time, they do not have an estimate on when the issue will be resolved, but please know that they are actively working on improving the Google Maps and Google+ Local experience for our users." This was three weeks ago. Here is listing: https://www.google.com/maps/place/The+Davis+Law+Firm,+LLC/@35.0796228,-106.6070767,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x4750748d0724dd7c?hl=en Any suggestions?
Local Listings | | jasonleerogers0