Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
How Do I Remove Address from Google Business Page?
-
Not very up to date in handling local listings, so here's my situation. I have an office that is not going out of business, but instead going virtual. So that physical address will no longer exist but the team is intact. So I am dealing with the Google Business Listing page for this office at https://business.google.com/
In the "Published on" section, it has Google Search, Google Maps, and Google+. I want to remove it from Maps and the address from this account. There's an address for this store, but editing it only seems to allow changing, but not removal.
There is also the option of "Mark as Permanently Closed", but surely that isn't the best option since that will leave a nasty red "PERMANENTLY CLOSED" in the results when searching.
What's the best course of action here?
-
Wow, that's awesome Joy! Thank you so much for reaching out and helping! Nothing more infuriating to me than a half completed job, and you were pivotal in getting it done. Thank you so much!
-
Hey Nathan,
Sorry this took so long. Our backlog is pretty long but Google got back to me yesterday to let me know they removed the listing all together
-
Very interested in hearing the process for what Google recommends when removing a virtual office listing. Thank you for being such a great thought leader in this space!
-
Perfect. I updated my preferences. I'll let you know when I hear back from Google on this.
-
Thanks for the instructions. If you don't mind Joy, I'd send them to you there if you are still willing to help. Thanks!
-
Hi Joy!
Here's how you can change your PM settings:
-
Click on your avatar in the upper right hand corner of Moz.com (it could be your photo or just the first letter of your name)
-
Select "private messages" from the dropdown that will appear
-
Check the box for "accept private messages" and your done! Easy as pie
Our community manager would also recommend that you accept emails from Moz - they'll go to whatever email you've listed in your community profile. This can be helpful in communicating with other community members.
Hope this helps!
-
-
Nathan,
Weird - I have no idea where I would update my settings to allow PMs. Maybe Miriam knows
-
An office space that's been given up now that the company is virtual. I was going to send you the address via PM, but it says your account doesn't accept them.
-
In case they ask, what was the address exactly? Was it a storefront, an office space where you worked, or just a residential address you used to list as a service area business?
-
Thank you so much for that! We unfortunately got stuck in a situation where it was setup incorrectly as a local business from the beginning, but it was just lived with. But now the address is going away completely and it's become a situation that needs to be resolved. Hopefully without that big ugly "Permanently Closed" sign. It's bad for business in general.
Thank you!
-
Nice of you to try to get advice from the horse's mouth on this one, Joy. Thank you. Very generous!
-
Unfortunately like Miriam stated your business won't be eligible for a local listing anymore but since the office did exist there at some point, Google won't remove it and they will apply the "permanently closed" label to it. I'll check in with Google to see if there is anything else that can be done and let you know. This isn't the first time I've run into a scenario like this.
-
Thank you for the link, I will give it a read and try Google support again.
-
Good question, Nathan!
If the business model is changing from local (defined as serving customers face-to-face at your location or at theirs) to virtual (no face-to-face contact with customers anywhere) then it will no longer be eligible for a Google My Business listing. If this is the case then, yes, you'll need to act on this, and unfortunately, as you are not simply moving to a new location, you are likely to end up with the red 'permanently closed' label on the listing. I recommend reading Joy Hawkin's article from 2016 on this issue in case you see any nuances that might apply to your situation:
http://searchengineland.com/google-fixing-permanently-closed-problem-242364
And, I would further recommend contacting Google's support to ask if they have any further advice for you, as your situation is not the run-of-the-mill moving locations scenario, but represents a complete change of business model.
-
Ok, i understand what you are saying, now. You may still wanna try contacting support. I had an issue that they helped me resolve relatively quickly.
Good Luck,
Matt
-
Thanks for the response. Normally that would be perfect, except the expectation is to provide support nationally. It was never a local only business; that's just where their office is. I get the feeling that the listing might need to just be deleted, and start over with a brand page?
From what I can tell, you can't convert a business page to a brand page.
-
Nathan,
You will be changing to a "service area business." Here are the directions for setting it up.
https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038163?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en
Beyond that, you may have to contact support.
Matt
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
-
What do I need to do for SEO when moving a business out of state?
Hello! So I have a business that I run out of a single location for the last 3 years. I am unfortunately having to move here in the next few weeks My question is what do I need to do in order to have the best chance at SEO for the new location? When should I make the changes? Does it take a long time for me to stop showing up in the previous location? and is there something I need to do to remove those? Also, is there an app or a website where I can find and update all listings at once or at least a bulk of them? I know that there are some weird sites that have my business info in them that I did not put there. Obviously these would have the wrong address. Some do not have a contact info or a way for me to log into them. What would I do with these sites? Thank you!
Local Listings | | Rmarkjr810 -
Google My Business answers not appearing
We've been trying to use the GMB Q&A feature as a lot of customers seem to be engaging with the listing/asking relevant questions. However, sometimes we answer a question directly from the business listing account but it does not appear (no error message is shown when posting either). When we go to re-post the answer, the text is sometimes still visible in the answer box field. Any ideas what might be causing the issue?
Local Listings | | Wagada1 -
Why is a Google Listing Showing Up in a Different Town Than Its Address?
I have a client who runs a dental office on the outskirts of Racine, WI. His address specifically shows up as being in Racine, however, his GMB profile has always showed with the category of "Dentist in Mount Pleasant, WI" displaying below the photos. (Mount Pleasant is the next town over and his office straddles the line between the two towns in Google's overlay map of the town.) Obviously this is frustrating and I'm concerned that his location is hurting his ability to rank in the larger, more populous town of Racine. Have any other SEOs ever encountered this? And if so, how have you approached the issue? Location pages? Mentions of the location more often on the pages? tsLvH2B
Local Listings | | formandfunctionagency1 -
URL Injection Attack Removal
Hello, I noticed that there are many irrelevant keywords showing up on anchor text tool for my website. The website is about coding programs for kids. The following are some of the many keywords that are being listed as part of the website. I'm guessing this is a URL Injection Attack. Does anyone know how I can remove these? Thank you very much for your time. | "great essays writing edition great th" | 5 | 5 | |
Local Listings | | JeyJey
| "online paper writing service" | 4 | 5 | |
| "dbq essay puritans" | 4 | 4 | |
| "do my essay for me" | 4 | 4 | |
| "popcorn hypothesis" | 4 | 4 | |
| "greece homework help" | 4 | 4 | |
| "yesterday essays only" | 4 | 4 | |
| "proposal of phd thesis" | 4 | 4 | |
| "the robert essay credo fulghum" | 4 | 4 | |
| "autocad pen assignments download" |0 -
Radius Size around GMB location for google local search
We are a digital marketing agency Our clients are (virtually all) retail automotive dealerships. We compete in various market places coast to coast (USA). Since Google puts retail automotive dealerships under Local SEO umbrella, is it known ( published ) how large is the radius around my client's Google My Business rooftop's address? How wide is their search 'reach' according to Google? Asked another way, in a triangular, three SEO geo area, with one city being at the epicenter of the population dispersion, and my client, versus my client's competitors being different distances from where the majority of the population emanates from, all other SERP factors being equal (assumption) between the two competitors, how far is each clients REACH from a Local Search standpoint. Is this known? Published by Google. ONE example: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/BMW+of+South+Albany,+U.S.+9W,+Glenmont,+NY/42.7662693,-73.8138088/@42.6727121,-73.7993527,12z/data=!4m9!4m8!1m5!1m1!1s0x89dde0fe8829c405:0xd915fb9b3b60bf33!2m2!1d-73.7973301!2d42.589211!1m0!3e0
Local Listings | | GaryT_SEO1 -
Improve Google Business ranking
While my client's websites have been ranking well in SERP for their keyterms I'm at a lost on what I can do to improve their Google business/map presence. I'm referring to their listing where the top three come up or when you search on Google Maps.
Local Listings | | FPK
https://gyazo.com/26ec78ed7f712157ec72492199545431 Ex 1. Several months ago my client was ranked #1 both for SERP and maps until they dropped to 2nd on maps. Now they're ranked 1st in search yet 2nd for local business rankings as you can see from the screenshot above. At one point my client's business did have more reviews than the 1st ranking business yet they still weren't 1st. Ex. 2. Client(s) is ranked 4th in search and doesn't show in the top 3 map listings for their search term. If you click on More places to view Google Maps they're listed all the way down as the 15th listing or worse can't even be found when searching by their main SEO key term . Of course they are found by searching for their business name so it's not like there is a problem with the listing. I make sure to: Completely fill out their Google Business profile(NAP, hours and add pictures) Have my client try to gain positive reviews Manage and respond to reviews(mainly the negative ones) Add map and Google business link to their website Can anyone offer any other insight on what else can be done to improve their local presence on maps that I might be missing?0 -
Google Local Storefront or Google Service Area?
We have been seeing some strange things happen in Google local after the most recent update. We used to show up in the maps all the time and have made no major edits or changes to the profile. Now when we search for our services, we show up high in the organic results, and not at all in maps (local listings). We have our profile setup as a service area since we do meet with people and provide services at their location, but also have checked the option that we also serve people at our address. I am wondering if the recent update favors actual storefronts when people are searching for services. Any ideas? Technically all the actual work is provided at our location, and the service we provide at the service area locations is based upon consultations. If we switched it to an actual storefront listing could that possibly help? Our profile is fairly strong, and has reviews, long history of posts, etc. What gives Google?
Local Listings | | David-Kley1 -
How to deal with wrong location in Google SERP
Hi, If I understand correctly, Google provides search results based on the location of the user. That's fine, because most of my clients are local. But if I look at my own search results, Google thinks I'm in a totally different town. Most likely based on my IP address. Of course I can solve that for myself, but the same goes for my potential clients. Is there a way to deal with this, from an seo perspective? For instance find out where most of the the IP providers are located and target that location?
Local Listings | | Houdoe1