4 shared locations - 1 phone number - legacy GMB - HELP!!!

[coolhandluc]

I have a friend who is a dietician and has the following issue with his business

• He works in 4 different locations across town- Each location is shared with other practitioners. - he uses the same phone number for each location (free 0800 UK number)- he has legacy google places profiles for some locations with some reviews he'd like to keep and other locations he'd like to delete.He'd like to be present on page 1 of google for terms like dietician in "name of location he works in"I am clearly concerned about his NAP profile since he only has 1 phone number for all locations.The address of each location can clash with other practitioners working there who have already registered a GMB profile using the same addresses although there might be the possibility of using something like "suite x" to differentiate his business in the address.Can anybody advice on how they would approach this one please.Thanks

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Neil,

Unfortunately, if your client chooses to create 4 different listings with 1 phone number, he will be at risk for merging and possible ranking failures. If this were my client, I would not recommend that he do this. Honestly, if the client is only working 1 day a week at a facility, eligibility for inclusion in GMB sounds a bit iffy. I recommend that you contact Google directly to get their say-so on this, but a business that is only open 1 day a week could draw some scrutiny from Google.

[coolhandluc]

Thanks for your answer Miriam, good job you're around.

i am not sure i was clear enough around the phone number issue. Basically he has his own phone number which he uses to take appointments for all his locations. He works 1 day a week in each location and the phone number is used to manage all the appointments. i believe this must be fairly standard for any independant worker based in several locations . Surely google can't expect anyone running a business of similar nature to have 4 phones Or 4 phone numbers?

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Neil!

In a nutshell:

1. 1 GMB listing per physical, staffed location

2. A unique phone number for each location

3. If there are practitioners, they should each have their own phone number, too, if you want to create GMB listings. Preferably they should each have their own landing page on the website as well, linked to from the GMB listing.

4. Do not add fictitious suite numbers. Use real-world addresses. Google can typically sort through shared locations, but be extra vigilant in actively monitoring such listings, particularly if they share categories.

Any other arrangement will cause problems. Hope this helps!