Google “My Business” Map Listing
-
We are Heritage Printing & Graphics, serving 2 areas (DC & Charlotte, NC) with Commercial Printing (books, magazines, catalogs) and Event Signage (banners, backdrops, custom displays)
Our current location in NC is 2739 Interstate St. and we will soon also occupy 2731 Interstate St. (next door) which we would like to promote as Heritage Custom Signs & Displays.
Do you think this is a good idea as far as Google “My Business” map listing?
Thx,
Kevin Smith
Marketing Manager
Heritage Printing -
Hi Kevin! Did Miriam's advice help? And if so, mind marking her response(s) as a "Good Answer?"
Thank you!
-
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for those details. I agree, there's a bit of grey area here. What your scenario actually is most reminiscent to me of is a car dealership with a department for print and and department for signs (like a department for parts and another for sales). However, what is making this a bit unusual is that the second business is actually in a completely unique building with its own walk-in front entrance. I see 3 options here:
-
You determine that your second business is actually just a set of products your company offers and that a second Google My Business listing is not warranted, because you aren't supposed to create separate listings for your menu of products/services. You work harder on your organic SEO to get ranking organically for your signs products. PPC could help here, too. Risk level: none.
-
You treat the signs element of your business as a department of your company. You keep everything under the same business name, with the same website, but with a unique, non-redirecting phone number in the second building that is answered by someone who says "Heritage Printing & Graphics, Signs Department." You do create a separate Google My Business listing. Your website contains a landing page for the signs department that the Google My Business listing for it links to. Risk level: moderate. There is a chance here that Google could determine that the business should have marketed it itself as laid out in option 1 and is trying to spam Google. I know that's not what you're trying to do, but Google will have their own interpretation. They are used to seeing hospitals, schools and car dealerships have separate departments. They may not view a print shop the same way.
-
You do operate the second business as completely separate, with a unique address, unique non-redirecting phone number and unique website that does not interlink with or duplicate the content of the original business in any way. You might even consider branding that second business totally differently as 'Zippy Signs' or something like that instead of associating it with the Heritage brand in any way. If you keep this 100% separate from the first business, I'd rate the **Risk level: mild. **It's odd ... if this business were in a totally different part of town, the risk would be none, but it's the fact that it's next door to the the first company that is giving me a little bit of concern.
My advice: weigh each of these 3 options carefully and then phone Google directly to discuss with them. You are not a spammer who has something to hide. You are a legitimate business owner who is trying to understand his marketing options, and should have no fear of discussing this directly with Google.
-
-
Christy,
-
yes, we are registered under Heritage Custom Signs
-
yes, we will have both entrances just as it was when the previous tenant occupied the space
-
yes, we have a long established phone number that currently "rolls over" to one of our main lines, we can easily set it as a primary
Thank you very much for responding, I have 2 days to research and provide our direction.
Kevin (in for Joe)
-
-
We will operate at Heritage Custom Signs & Displays w/ the domain HeritageCustomSigns.com
My concern is, will Google view is as the new subdivision of Heritage Printing or allow us to be a stand alone.
The problem is we are nationally known as commercial printers and expanded into signage 7 years ago, but have trouble distinguishing ourselves as signs.
Your thoughts are appreciated
Kevin (in for Joe)
-
Hi Kevin!
Christy is asking some important questions. I'll add just a couple more:
-
Are these legally registered as 2 distinct businesses?
-
Do they have separate front entrances?
-
Do they each have a unique local phone number?
Please, provide as much detail as you can.
-
-
Hi there, and welcome to the forum! Are you actually going to operate the location at 2731 Interstate St. using the new name -- or are you asking if it is a good idea to list what is essential the same business with this new name and address in order to get an addition map listing with Google My Business?
Keep in mind that your Google My Business listing(s) should mirror your business' real-world name, the one you are known to customers both online and offline (including storefront signage, your website, and all printed materials).
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
-
Another Business is Using My Client's Address
This morning my client contacted me that another business is using their address as their own! They received a Google verification postcard with pin number on it, but luckily had the foresight to not give it to the person when they called. After some research, we also found out that they are using our address on Facebook and LinkedIn as well. The kicker is: this business is another SEO firm! You would think they would know that using our address would cause NAP issues for their own business. Has anyone dealt with another business trying to hijack their address for local rankings? Any advice on steps to take to report this abuse would be appreciated. Since this person is obviously unscrupulous, we don't want to provoke them into taking any other negative action online that could affect our business.
Local Listings | | IlluminousGwen0 -
Google My Business - bulk location upload vs. single upload
Hi there, I have a question regarding Google My Business listings: We currently have a business with few offices (less than 10). Each office has it's Google listing under the same Google account.
Local Listings | | OrendaLtd
We plan on opening new offices at a certain pace, let's say two a month, which means we'll have more than 10 listings in the near future.
As far as I recall, Google allows up to 10 listings per account, which means it won't suffice. On the other hand, We do not have 10 offices at the time being, which means we're not eligible for a bulk upload. Any ideas how to handle this situation?0 -
Google My Business
I have a quick question about Google my Business listing. If moving a business to a new location, would all you need to do is edit the listing with the new NAP? The business is verified. Would I need to do anything else? Thanks for your help.
Local Listings | | Kdruckenbrod0 -
Google My Business page no longer appearing with search results
Title pretty much says it all--my company's local Google+ page has always appeared under our listed website information up until very recently. I'm also noticing the same with our competitors. Has anyone else just began to experience this? Our NAP, map, photos, and review are still displayed to the right of the results, but nothing is linked to the actual Google page itself. Am I missing something? Thanks!
Local Listings | | LMcLaughlin0 -
How to show on Google Maps for specific areas close to me?
Hi there, Im wondering the best approach to get more consistent listings for google map searches (the pins on the map) for a business.
Local Listings | | Ampweb
Here is a small overview. My client provides storage services in London. His business is very local as customers will only want to use them if they are from surrounding local suburbs within the City. His business is showing on the map for some of the suburbs close to his business, but it does not actually show when you search for the closest location (suburb) that his business is located in, or other local suburbs. What would be the best approach to ensure google shows a pin for his search results when users search for all close-by suburbs to his business address? Is this possible or will it just happen over time? He already has landing pages on his website for each of his suburbs that he is trying to target, eg: "Self Storage Camden".0 -
Promoting a home based business on yelp
Hi,
Local Listings | | corn
I have several clients who run firms out of their homes but they want to promote on yelp. Does yelp allow someone to hide their address but to still come up in search results for a city? If so, how do I do this? Cornelius0 -
Google Authorship issues with a 200+ person company
So, I wanted to say thank you ahead of time for any help the amazing Moz community may be able to provide me with. I am going to start with giving a little background to the company I work for and then I will ask the question. We are a 200 person CFO Services firm (www.b2bcfo.com). We have partners almost all over the country and our research with potential partners and clients has shown that they like having a national presence, but they also need a regional/local presence too. To that end, we set up Google Places accounts for each of our partners as they are technically separate businesses under our umbrella. We also have the main national site (www.b2bcfo.com) and we have regional websites (e.g. www.houstonb2bcfo.com). We want to set up Google Authorship on each of our partners sections of the regional website, in the process of setting this up, we realized that the Google Plus pages we were using were Local + pages and it didn't seem to give us the option to add the "Contributor on" links to get Google Authorship working. It seems to me as if the only way we can get Google Authorship working is to set up additional Google Plus accounts (users) and then manage 2 accounts for each professional. I was wondering if anyone in the community knows a way of getting the Google plus local pages to work with authorship? Or do you have any other suggestions on how this may work? Please let me know if you need more information, Thank you.
Local Listings | | B2B.CFO0 -
Completely lost Google Local rankings for main keywords
Hi there, Our website, petmedicalcenter.com, used to rank very well in Google in the local section - usually within the top 3 spots for 8 or so keywords. Then last fall our rankings started to diminish. We would rank really well for a few days and then would be no where to be found in the local section - this cycle kept going for a few months. Now, within the last few weeks our website is nowhere to be found in local for our usual keywords. After a few years of success with SEO, I know the landscape is really starting to change. My problem is that I don't even know where to start to try and get us back on to the top spots. I know this question is rather broad, but I am really at a loss here. Any help is greatly appreciated!! http://www.petmedicalcenter.com Main Keywords: veterinarian las vegas, vets in las vegas, veterinarians las vegas, las vegas veterinarians, vet las vegas Thank you for your help! Brant
Local Listings | | BCB11210