Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • MozCon
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      Let your business shine with Listings AI
      Moz Local

      Let your business shine with Listings AI

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • MozCon

        Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers

        Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. Local SEO
    4. Local Listings
    5. Google My Business pages for New Construction Communities

    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.

    Google My Business pages for New Construction Communities

    Local Listings
    2
    5
    1714
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • TheKatzMeow
      TheKatzMeow Subscriber last edited by

      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.

      1. As new communities, they are sometimes not on Google's radar yet
      2. 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...

      1. Is there a way to make Google speed up its process of recognizing new addresses?
      2. 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?
      3. 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?
      4. 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?
      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • TheKatzMeow
        TheKatzMeow Subscriber @MiriamEllis last edited by

        Indeed. Luckily organic is the client's top traffic and conversion source.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • MiriamEllis
          MiriamEllis Subject Expert @TheKatzMeow last edited by

          Hi Paul,

          Okay, glad to know you were at least able to determine that GMB listings aren't right for the business model. Sounds like you will need to rely on other forms of outreach (organic, paid, social). Good luck!

          TheKatzMeow 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • TheKatzMeow
            TheKatzMeow Subscriber @MiriamEllis last edited by

            Thanks for answering my question, Miriam. It looks like the client's type of business wouldn't work with GMB's rules. Thanks for making me aware of this. As to your business model question, each community has it's own brand name (e.g. Golden Homes by [Builder Name]).

            MiriamEllis 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • MiriamEllis
              MiriamEllis Subject Expert last edited by

              Hi Paul,

              So glad you asked. This is one of those rather complicated Google My Business issues, so my answer is going to be a bit long to be sure I'm being thorough. Google's guidelines have long stated the following:  (https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en😞

              Ineligible businesses

              The following businesses aren’t eligible for a business listing:

              • Rental or for-sale properties, such as vacation homes, model homes or vacant apartments. Sales or leasing offices, however, are eligible for verification.

              Historically, Google has forbidden the use of GMB listings for temporary sales offices located in model homes. If you had a sales office located somewhere permanently, you could list it, but if it was temporary, it wasn't eligible.

              Now, the guidelines still read this way, and you can see GMB Forum Top Contributor Joy Hawkins citing them back in 2016 in this thread in which a business model similar to yours got all of its listings suspended:

              https://www.en.advertisercommunity.com/t5/Spam-Policy/Platinum-Homes-Account-Suspended-having-17-locations/m-p/739193/highlight/true#M4962

              *Please note that the above thread contains references to Google Mapmaker which no longer exists.

              However, a couple of months after that initial thread, Joy received some new information from Google (see: https://www.en.advertisercommunity.com/t5/Spam-Policy/Platinum-Homes-Account-Suspended-having-17-locations/m-p/825706#M5299), which I'll copy/paste here:

              "I just heard back from Google because I double-checked with them. They told me:

              _ We (GMB) recently decided to allow leasing offices for model homes on the Map so I'm wondering if that is what the user is saying they see often. If it's actually just empty model homes and not the leasing office, we should remove them."_

              So, it seems that if you have a leasing office within a model home, Google is now okay with this (though you still should not list an empty model home).

              However, moving on with your question, Paul, if the newly built communities aren't mapped yet, you will see further down in that second GMB forum thread that this represents a problem, which Joy addresses this way:

              "Since Street View doesn't confirm or show any of your sales offices, the only way for me to get these all reinstated is for you to get photos of inside and outside each of them to help Google see they exist. The easiest way to do this would be to add them to your website and let me know where they are so I can reply back to Google. Let me know when you've done that."

              So, what I'd recommend, then, is that you get photographic documentation together of any staffed sales offices located in a model home that isn't yet visible via Street View, and that you then post this to the Google My Business Forum, asking that a Top Contributor like Joy please help you get recognized. Hopefully this will help you avoid the problems that the poster in the Google forum ran into with suspension, but I can't guarantee it. It's confusing when Google's public guidelines don't reflect their current internal stance, and this is one they need to update publicly if they've changed their policy. At least you now have in your hands the forum threads that document what Google told Joy, in case you run into TCs or Google staff who do not understand this change of policy.

              As for what to do when a sales office closes and is finally sold to a buyer, what is the model of this business? Specifically, are different communities they build branded with the same name? For example, are multiple communities named "Golden Homes", or is one called "Golden Homes" and the second called "Oceanview Homes" and the next called "Riverside Homes"? Please, let me know, as good advice on this question could depend on how the business operates.

              TheKatzMeow 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
              • 1 / 1
              • First post
                Last post

              Got a burning SEO question?

              Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


              Start my free trial


              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.

              • See all categories

              Related Questions

              • Ben-R

                Verifying Google My Business After An Address Change

                google my business local listings

                Hello,
                We are trying to verify our Google My Business listing, however, the current unverified listing is using an old address we no longer have access to. The only option for verification is through the mail. We tried requesting an edit but it didn’t go through. Would the best option be to create a new one and try to have the old (unverified) listing removed? Any insight would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.
                Best,

                Local Listings | | Ben-R
                0
              • TheKatzMeow

                Google My Business for Municipalities?

                I'm working with the City of Lakewood, WA, on an image campaign that overlaps a bit with some SEO goals. If you Google "Lakewood, WA", in the knowledge panel to the right of the search results is an image of building on fire. I'm not sure where this image comes from or why it has been selected as the image to represent the City of Lakewood but its been there for a while. If this was a small business, I would simply claim their Google My Business page and feed some good images into it. Problem solved. But Google doesn't offer an option to "Claim this City". LOL. Can you create a GMB page for a municipality? Does anyone know the right thing to do here to make this picture go away and give the city more control over its own image?

                Local Listings | | TheKatzMeow
                2
              • nhhernandez

                Google listing only appears when I move / zoom in or out of the map

                Hi everyone, We are having an issue with this local business. The Google listing isn't immediately appearing on the map. You have to move the map or zoom in and out for the listing to appear. I find this really odd as our competitors - with no reviews and way further in proximity - are appearing with no issues. The listing is only about 4km where I'm doing the search, while competitors with no reviews are about 20km away. We are ranking in the top 5 organically for the search term I used (pool renovations brisbane), but nowhere in local unless the map is moved. When the listing appears, sometimes the pin also looks grey instead of red, while others are red (if that makes sense). On top of this, their organic rankings have also been on a downward trend since June. I'm currently doing a backlink audit to see if it's contributing to the issue. If anyone also has other ideas, could you please let me know? Thanks.

                Local Listings | | nhhernandez
                1
              • OhYeahSteve

                Average Percentage of Clicks on Google (Adwords vs Local 3 Pack vs Organic)

                Does anyone know the allocation, percentage-wise, of clicks that go to Adwords vs Local 3 Pack vs Organic on Google Search (average)?

                Local Listings | | OhYeahSteve
                0
              • mike878

                Do you need contact details (NAP) on every page of your website for local search ranking ?

                We’ve got a clients site which doesn't have the contact details on every page, all the contact details are  on the /contact page which is using the schema.org local business markup Some sites that our outranking us locally have their contact details on all pages, where as others only have it on the contact page also. Is having your contact details on every page a ranking factor for local search ?

                Local Listings | | mike878
                0
              • coolhandluc

                Is there a purpose to the "google my business" description?

                Hi there Can someone tell me if the description serves a purpose in the google my business profile since:
                a) It is not displayed anywhere as far as i have seen (maps, 3 pack local results, knowledge graph, organic results)
                b) It is no longer considered as a ranking factor since it was abused so much Thanks

                Local Listings | | coolhandluc
                0
              • henya

                1800 number for google local

                Hi A client with a local business has a 1800 number on their google plus page and most citations. How important is it to use the local number and not a 1800 one for google local? Should we change the phone number to the local number and update all listings? Or should we just continue with the 1800 number and stay consistent? I have added the local number as a second number on the google plus page.

                Local Listings | | henya
                1
              • brfieger

                2 businesses same phone number

                I was wondering how I should approach a scenario where I am optimizing two different companies websites that have the same phone number but different addresses. This sounds like a weird scenario, however it is out of my control. Is treating them as two separate companies fine, or do I have to take special precautions when submitting business directories and what not? Thanks for everyone's help! As a side note, is their a way to use Moz Local with both companies, right now it is getting confused as to what business belongs to what listing.

                Local Listings | | brfieger
                0

              Get started with Moz Pro!

              Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

              Start my free trial
              Products
              • Moz Pro
              • Moz Local
              • Moz API
              • Moz Data
              • STAT
              • Product Updates
              Moz Solutions
              • SMB Solutions
              • Agency Solutions
              • Enterprise Solutions
              • Digital Marketers
              Free SEO Tools
              • Domain Authority Checker
              • Link Explorer
              • Keyword Explorer
              • Competitive Research
              • Brand Authority Checker
              • Local Citation Checker
              • MozBar Extension
              • MozCast
              Resources
              • Blog
              • SEO Learning Center
              • Help Hub
              • Beginner's Guide to SEO
              • How-to Guides
              • Moz Academy
              • API Docs
              About Moz
              • About
              • Team
              • Careers
              • Contact
              Why Moz
              • Case Studies
              • Testimonials
              Get Involved
              • Become an Affiliate
              • MozCon
              • Webinars
              • Practical Marketer Series
              • MozPod
              Connect with us

              Contact the Help team

              Join our newsletter
              Moz logo
              © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
              • Accessibility
              • Terms of Use
              • Privacy

              Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.