Google My Business - two businesses, same location
-
I have client that has developed a new brand targeting a specific segment of their wider market - the more price sensitive customer. They have launched a website for this brand, which specialises in promoting special offers.
Both operations have the same physical address and the new brand - that targets this niche, I believe has been set up as a service-area business on Google My Business. I think they should change this as they do publish their address on their website and do on occasion welcome customers on their premises.
My question - at last! - is that can both businesses exist on Google Maps - with the same business address and is this the right way to proceed if I want to target directory listings for the new brand.
Any thoughts welcomed!
thanks.
-
So happy it helped, Nathan!
-
Thank you for your comprehensive response - you understood the situation perfectly and I can now advise the client with confidence.
-
Hi Nathan,
If I'm understanding this right, your scenario is like a General Appliance Repair company that repairs all appliances, but has now separately branded just Washing Machine Repair as its own business. Both brands are actually just one company, operating from the same address. Is that right?
If it us, unfortunately, no, the business should not be trying to run two Google My Business listings. The General Appliance Repair company is forbidden by Google's guidelines from creating listings for each service it offers (as in 1 for washing machine repair, 1 for stove repair, 1 for dryer repair, 1 for water heater repair) regardless of the number of websites/brands it creates for these service categories. The guidelines read:
Do not create more than one page for each location of your business, either in a single account or multiple accounts.
Likely outcomes should this business try to run 2 GMB listings as though it were 2 separate companies could include:
-
Competitors or Local SEOs reporting the practice to Google or Google noticing it on their own
-
Google taking down 1 of the 2 listings, and possible penalties
-
Even if Google does not catch this now or even for years, Possum may simply cause the second listing to be hidden due to shared location/categories
So, the outlook isn't great for this scenario (please let me know if I've misunderstood details of the scenario).
This brings up the question - how can a business branch out in a Google guideline-compliant way? With these 4 things:
-
Don't build a separate brand of the same company - build a legally distinct second company, registered with government agencies. In other words: General Appliance Repair is one legally registered business and Washing Machines R Us is a second legally registered business.
-
Operate at a separate location
-
Have a separate phone number for each business
-
Have a separate website for each business, with no duplicate content and avoid cross-linking/cross-promotion
This approach is risk-free and completely guideline-compliant.
Hope this helps.
-
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
-
Google My Business pages for New Construction Communities
I have a number of builders of new homes as clients. Typically, they build out a whole neighborhood at once and give the neighborhood a fancy name. We were planning to create Google My Business pages for these communities but then ran into some potential challenges. As new communities, they are sometimes not on Google's radar yet Some of them have model homes where you might take a tour with a realtor that serves the community exclusively but many don't. So here come the questions... Is there a way to make Google speed up its process of recognizing new addresses? I have to choose an address to associate with the GMB page, probably the address of model home. Is this going to create annoying problems for a buyer who someday buys that model home? Since some communities don't have a model home, I could arbitrarily assign an address of one of the neighborhood homes to the GMB page, but this leads to the same question about creating a GMB page that will exist after the builder has sold all the houses in the community. Will it be weird to have the GMB referring to someone's private residence down the road? My assumption is that claiming a GMB page would help with local ranking if someone searches for something like "new homes" in addition to providing easy driving directions to someone who has done a bit of research and Googles the name of the new home community while out driving and searching for homes. These seem to be the main benefits, but are the challenges associated with questions 1-3 even worth the trouble of trying to claim listings for these communities?
Local Listings | | TheKatzMeow0 -
Google My Business - two locations but same name and phone
Hello, I manage SEO for an orthopaedic practice and I'm wondering what to do about their GMB listings. They have two locations, but I'm starting to think we shouldn't have separate GMB pages for the two locations because of the advice about other GMB questions I've been reading on this forum. I read a helpful response that said you must ensure the following if you want to create separate GMB listings: Unique name Unique address (even if only a suite / office number) Unique phone number Clearly different categories on Google My Business I can only ensure one of those - unique address. The business has the same name, phone number, and categories at both addresses. What should I do about this? I would think it's important to list both addresses so that patients can be guided to the appropriate location, but is there a way to do that with just one GMB listing? Thank you, Susannah
Local Listings | | SusannahK.Noel0 -
What is the detail process of google listing?
Could anybody share how google listing will be ? the step by step process for Google business listing
Local Listings | | Tabassum0 -
Local Help! Google+ Accounts for New Brand & Service Sites
Hi Mozzers! I have a lot of knowledge in local search, G+ page setup/optimization, etc, etc... However, I'm about to begin a business based around "home services". The brand will be ABC Home Services as the umbrella. Then under it will be the individual services like "ABC Carpet Cleaning" "ABC Roofing", etc... Each service will have it's own website for optimization purposes and local search authority building as well as the services will be developed over the course of a couple years ie: carpet cleaning would go up 1st, then the next service and so on... I have purchased all of the domains I want for the services to focus on. What do you recommend I do in terms of setting up Gmail accounts/G+ accounts? Individual service related Gmail accounts and have a main "ABC Home Services" Google account and then add in the service G+ pages over time? I'm open to any questions, but trying to make this the most efficient for me and my team and also the best if can be for local optimization goals and criteria. Thank you! - Patrick
Local Listings | | WhiteboardCreations0 -
Home-Based Business
Can a single business list multiple locations that are home-based? Will Google find this acceptable? More details. The business is a service based business that operates in two states. The owner has one approved Google My Business listing for her main location - her home in DE. She also has employees and stores supplies at her in-law's home in PA. Separate phone numbers are used for each business location. We have tried to create a Google My Business listing for the PA location and it has been rejected for quality reasons. We've asked clarification and received none. Is this worth pursing further or does it violate Google guidelines?
Local Listings | | DonnaDuncan2 -
How to add a branch location to Google+ Page
I have a verified local Google+ Page all set up for my local business and linked to my website.. it shows up nicely in local results for my city. Being ambitious I am expanding my presence into another city and would like my website to start showing up in local search for that area as well. What is the protocol for best results ? Start a new Google+ page or somehow add the branch onto the existing page (although there does not seem to be anywhere for this as the page is a local business and seems to lock it in with only a single address)..
Local Listings | | wicko1 -
Google Listing showing my map But not showing on google.com search organic.
Hello All again, How are you doing? Please try to help me again. I have big trouble with my google plus business and never back ranking for 2 years. Before 2 years my google plus business #1 page google with any keywords: nail salon pigeon forge tn nail salon sevierville tn pedicure pigeon forge nail salon, nail shop pigeon forge,.... My google plus business: http://plus.google.com/+Sassy-nails/ website:http://sassy-nails.com http://sassy-nails.com after i claimed another page to the same account. I lost all review, stars and scores 2 days ago It was been back again but All ranking losting all. and not Whe I seach google.com organic" My listing " http://plus.google.com/+Sassy-nails/about It is not showing up on google.com oganic ranking but I will showing on my. Please big help for me please. the link i attach here" Sassy nails salon " Under " Hair Expo" and top " Spazzi nails" i am looking farward to here you soon. data=!3m1!4b1
Local Listings | | sassynailsalon0 -
Google Local Listing
Q1a: How do I do off-page SEO for Google Local Listing?
Local Listings | | kevinbp
or
Q1b: Where can i find the resources to learn about off-page SEO for Google Local Listing? Q2: Is the off-page SEO for google Local Listing similar to off-page SEO for a website? In this case, I will have to create backlinks to my google+ business page? Cant seem to find the answers by googling. The results that come out are mostly on-page SEO to complete my profile for Google Local Listing0