Google My Business: Multiple businesses operating from same address
-
Hi guys,
This seems to be quite common (especially now with "hotdesking" becoming increasingly popular), but I've never had to do local SEO for a business like this before so was just wondering on best practice for a business who shares the same brick-and-mortar location with multiple other businesses.
For Google My Business verification, it does seem you just have to get there first. With Google unverifying the first account tied to that address if you attempt to verify another - I don't want to do this, due to the relationship between my client and the verified business in question.
Any suggestions?
-
Hi Tom,
This has been extremely helpful!
Good work man,
-
Hi Ria,
Yeah, it's so important to get all these questions answered before you start work. Sounds like you need some answers before you can interpret which of Google's guidelines apply. Good luck!
-
He seems to have used a single phone number throughout his previous clinics, though he works from a main one (which is the one he wants to be locally optimised for), he frequently works from other clinics too - with the same landline contact number.
Not sure about dedicated set of rooms or forward-facing front desk - I've put this forward to him. As well as his regular working hours, if any. I've actually tried to follow your advice from your "new clients" blog post, Miriam, but it seems as if the difficulty is getting all the questions answered in one go haha. Oddly, I seem to get a quicker response when it's one question at a time.
-
I noticed this too very recently! I've added the location via that method, as well as through Google Maps Editor through a different account.
-
This is fantastic! Thank you
-
Hi Ria,
The place falls under the multiple practitioners - single location scenario.
Multi-Practitioner Practices For practices with multiple public-facing doctors, it is acceptable to create local pages for each doctor, in addition to the practice’s local page. If this is the case, do not include your business name in the name of the practitioners’ pages. And try to differentiate between these pages with either a different phone number or suite number for each doctor, when possible. - See more at: http://www.searchinfluence.com/2016/04/google-my-business-for-doctors-visibility-authority-seo/#sthash.mRhgvMae.dpuf
According to Mike Blumenthals' site - the Google instructions for this have vanished! so you can get his take on the same thing here.
"
Individual practitioners (e.g. doctors, lawyers, real estate agents)
An individual practitioner is a public-facing professional, typically with his or her own customer base. Doctors, dentists, lawyers, financial planners, and insurance or real estate agents are all individual practitioners. Pages for practitioners may include title or degree certification (e.g. Dr., MD, JD, Esq., CFA).
An individual practitioner should create his or her own dedicated page if:
- He or she operates in a public-facing role. Support staff should not create their own pages.
- He or she is directly contactable at the verified location during stated hours.
A practitioner should not have multiple pages to cover all of his or her specializations."
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2016/04/10/google-my-business-guidelines-mia/
Hopefully that'll help you deal with your client more confidently
Ray pp Tom.
-
Hi,
Try to register your client as a department in an existing business. They can share same address.
-
Hi Ria!
I want to be sure I'm understanding exactly what you are describing. I'm concerned that what you are talking about may fall under Google's ineligible model guidelines which state:
An ongoing service, class, or meeting at a location that you don't own or have the authority to represent. Please coordinate with your host to have your information displayed on the page for their business within their "Introduction" field.
What are the specifics of this. Does the client have:
-
A unique phone number?
-
A dedicated set of rooms?
-
It's own forward-facing front desk?
-
9-5 (or similar) hours of operation?
-
-
I recently added a 'shared address' business to Google and for the first time I noticed an option to 'Add a missing place'. Perhaps that could work for you. I started by searching the address in Google Maps, then using the facility that comes up on the left. You'll probably see "At this location" and a list of businesses already there.
-
This is great advice, and I will definitely bear it in mind for similar situations in future. Unfortunately, for this particular business there are no dedicated "suites" as such. It seems like it's a clinic version of hot desking, with multiple doctors each running their own private business occupying the available clinic rooms within the building.
I appreciate it's quite a specific SEO dilemma, but I'm sure it must affect other industries. Especially now with the growing start-up generation. Even recently I visited an "enterprise hub" where businesses were able to use the address as their listed address whilst renting "hot desks" or "hot suites" by the day, changing desk or suite on a daily basis to whichever in the building is available. I wonder what _their _local SEO strategy looks like....
/thinkingoutloud
-
In the past, for these situations, we've had to get the location to set up suite numbers for each business. That way the address is correct, and then there is a suite number for each one. What we prefer to do is to get the USPS (postal service) to also set up and have those suite numbers in their system, as well. So, that way it's official.
You'll also need to post the suite numbers on the outside of the business, as well.
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
-
Best Listings for Service Area Business?
Hi Moz community! I'm wondering the best places to get a local service area business listed online? I'm working with a client who installs synthetic grass around Vancouver, but could apply to any local SAB ... I found this resource from Local Visibility Systems but it's almost 5 years old at this point ... http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/2012/08/13/can-you-rank-well-in-local-google-without-revealing-your-street-address-anywhere/ I started setting up an Apple Maps Connect account but it doesn't seem like they support the concept. Is there a way to hide an address in Apple Maps Connect? Is it worth submitting at all? Does anyone have a comprehensive list of modern directories that matter for local SEO that support SABs? Thanks very much everyone! - Paul
Local Listings | | paulz9991 -
Google My Business - duplicate and previous owner uncooperative
Hi there, One of my SEO clients, a summer camp, is having a problem with their GMB listing. They have two listings: the one they set up, with the correct address and other business info, and the one the previous camp owners set up, with an incorrect NAP. When we try to edit the duplicate listing, we're unable to verify that we own it because it's connected to the previous owner's phone number. They've passed away and their sons are now the contact, but they're not interested in helping out. Any suggestions on how to close the duplicate listing without being able to verify that it's your own business? Thanks, Susannah
Local Listings | | SusannahK.Noel0 -
"Duplicate" on Google Local - Attorney and Business Listing
For our law firm, we have a Google Local listing for the firm (Riddell Law LLC). Google also created a local listing for one of the attorneys (Riddell) (we didn't create it, but are in the process of verifying it). Both listings are at the same address. Moz Local says these are "duplicates" - is that true? Would Google penalize us for this? I am not sure how to fix it - both the individual attorney and the business are in fact at the same address. If anyone has any advice I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you!!
Local Listings | | bpurdue0 -
Duplicate Google Plus and Google My Business Listings
My business has duplicate listings for both Google + and Google Places or Maps or My Business or whatever it's called today. Of course the listings that I want to show are marked as duplicates, and the only option is to remove the duplicates. Is there any way to merge these listings or switch which one Google recognizes?
Local Listings | | lmsybiatb0 -
Google + / Local for Business. How to SEO ?... Done the basic but no real change.
Hi All, We have set up all of our Google local for business pages which are verified and these link to the relevant branch pages on our website. The branch pages also link back to the relevant google local page. We only appear for one category on the google local pages and we have also done a large number of citations (NAP) across all locations and the text used in each of the google pages is keyword rich and we mention the city in there as well to localise it. We have a few google + likes and we have used hootsuite to publish the same content across some of the google local pages which links back to our website blog , we are not appearing in local search whereas our competitors seem to be appear for all their branches. Is there any fundamental tips or things we need to do to def. get up on the rankings.. Or any good articles worth reading ?.. I've had a look but can't seem to see anything relating a google local business bible.. thanks Pete
Local Listings | | PeteC121 -
I don't have a business address, Any problem?
I am targeting local area, Melbourne in Australia. My business address is my private (home) address and I don't want to list it as we don't have a shopfront, and I don't want my personal address online. Is there a way to get around this? Web site - brandstenmedia.com.au Services - Aerial Photography & Videography
Local Listings | | Green.landon0 -
Best practice for setting up multiple Google Places listings?
Hello, My client has just opened up two new smaller offices which I now need to have listed on Google Places as the primary office is. How is this done (using best practice)? Thanks
Local Listings | | Martin_S0 -
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