Google Places email question
-
Hi Mozzers-
I just watched the recent Webinar on Google Places optimization. Unfortunately I missed the live broadcast.
I have a couple of questions:
- It was advised to use an email at the domain for claiming the listing. What about a Gmail address with the company's name in the address? I try to use an email at the domain, but sometimes I'm not able to get one setup.
- One of my clients provides a service where clients don't necessarily have to come to their location. I used the radius option within maps but they are still not coming up in other locations. I should note that they have very good visibility in the metro area where there is more competition. Some of their competition is showing up for lots of locations and they have offices in one location. Tips?
Thanks in advance!
LHC
-
Hello Llsa,
Thank you for coming to Q&A with your question. I'm the Local SEO Associate here in the forum, and will do my best to give you helpful answers.
1. Email addresses
Yes, it is ideal to claim/create a client's Google Place Page with a domain-based email address, but if this just isn't possible, you'll have to settle for doing it with a gmail address or other address. As WrightIMC has stated, you should not experience any actual penalty for this, but I believe that it's best to do it with the domain-base address whenever possible because of its ability to send a stronger trust signal to Google that you are the owner (or that the client is the owner).
2. Radius
It's vital to understand that Google will always view the actual physical address of the business as its key signal of relevance. Yes, for go-to-client business models (like carpet cleaners, landscapers, etc.) this isn't ideal because they may serve in a wide area. But, if the carpet cleaner is in San Francisco, Google views him as most relevant to San Francisco. His competitor in Oakland will be viewed as most relevant to Oakland. When I work with clients like this, I develop a strategy with them for getting high organic rankings for their service area, while the main local results must surround their actual city of location. That's just the way Local works.
Exceptions to this: if you have a client in either a rural area where there are few businesses, or you have a client with an unusual business model creating a situation of low competition, the client may well show up in results outside of his city of location because he is one of the only providers of what he does. This does happen...but not in metropolitan locations, busy suburbs or industries with heavy competition.
3. Tips
Study exactly what the competition is doing. Duplicate their strategy. And then go one better!
Hope this helps!
Miriam
-
Hi-
Thanks for the reply! Yes, I agree, Whitespark's Citation Finder works great. Have you tried Citation Labs?
Thank you!
-
We haven't experienced any issues (as far as rankings) from claiming with a separate email. However, I think it's a good practice and shows trust to the particular account.
From what we've seen so far with the radius is usually Google will serve the results based on the users specific location. So it may not show up for you, but it could show up for other users. Unfortunately, we haven't gathered enough data to say for sure. I recommend getting more citations. Check out what citations they have that your client doesn't. Also I'd look at the website and see if they are sending any other signals - for example if they are ranking organically for the other areas.
Try out White Spark's Local Citation Finder.
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
-
Is it possible to have an ogranic and places listing on the same SERP?
Have a bit of a quandary; I am working with a site that ranks fourth for their main term via a Google Places listing. However, I can't seem to find a traditional organic listing to save my life.The only way I can do it is to search from a mobile device, or expand the search results to 100 listings. When I do that, the site appears in the top 10 organic listings. That got me to wondering, is it possible this client's traditional organic listing is being cannabalized by their listing in Google Places?
Image & Video Optimization | | phantom1 -
Google Places with locations inside of a mall
I got a great question from a franchise owner today regarding Google Places for his business. His businesses are all in malls. With Google Places there is an emphasis on using consistency and full contact details, as we well know. The issue is his locations are in a mall and don't have a physical address to receive mail or verify their address. Is there a way to leverage Google Places in this kind of situation, or do you just use the general mall address?
Image & Video Optimization | | SarahGoliger0 -
Local Ranking Factors Question
Local SERPS continue to confuse me. I feel like I can tell what's going on but I'm never right. How do these two listings rank for "best bar" in the local Chicago SERPS? It's the same if you search for "best bar in chicago". http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&biw=2109&bih=1218&noj=1&gs_upl=3495l4209l0l4335l8l5l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=best+bar&fb=1&gl=us&hq=best+bar&hnear=0x880e2c3cd0f4cbed:0xafe0a6ad09c0c000,Chicago,+IL&cid=17128325649974296516 or http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&biw=2109&bih=1218&noj=1&gs_upl=3495l4209l0l4335l8l5l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=best+bar&fb=1&gl=us&hq=best+bar&hnear=0x880e2c3cd0f4cbed:0xafe0a6ad09c0c000,Chicago,+IL&cid=455944883716881589&ei=aQPqTo7mN4mIgwe4oc3fCA&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=placepage-link&resnum=5&ved=0CFgQ4gkwBA This has had me stumped for months. I've analyzed everything and there aren't any good indicators as to how this was done. The former doesn't even have a website. The latter example has some category keyword stuffing, which I don't get why they're account hasn't been suspended because of it. It also has a very small and not very powerful link profile. Any insights would be much appreciated!
Image & Video Optimization | | MichaelWeisbaum0 -
Does adding the city to your business name in a Places page help or harm Local SEO?
Hi, All! Another local SEO question... For one of our clients, the title on their Place page is <official business="" name=""><city>. Example: John's Sporting Goods Detroit. Now, most citations will say "John's Sporting Goods." Is having "Detroit" as part of the business name in Places problematic (NAP inconsistency) and we should remove it, or is it helpful for ranking for "sporting goods detroit" or is it neither?</city></official> Thanks! Aviva
Image & Video Optimization | | debi_zyx0 -
Google Places Local Submission
Hello We're going to upload a bulklisting to Google Places for multiple locations. However, there are existing Google places listings for these locations. The bulklisting is being used to undertake a refresh of all the existing data. How do we go about updating the existing data i.e. do we have to delete the existing information prior to submitting the bulkload, or does a new submission over write the existing data. In addition, how does Google Places verify a bulkload submission i.e. do they make contact with the designated business owner. How long does such a process actually take (roughly!). I know some of this is touched on in the Goolge Places help section, but it is not clear and I don't want to get this wrong for obvious reasons. Thanks in advance for your assistance. Rgds Neil
Image & Video Optimization | | mccormackmorrison0 -
What impact will Google removing 3rd party citations from listings have on citations being ranking factors?
So now that Google are going to remove 3rd party citations from listings, will they still carry the same weight for local rankings or will this be reduced? If so, how much and when?
Image & Video Optimization | | SteveOllington0 -
Placing video testimonials on website vs. YouTube
We have produced a number of video guest testimonials. Any SEO considerations or other hosting it on our website (what software to use?) vs. YouTube (and just embedding it on the webpage)? Are there certain situation or circumstances when YouTube is not the best choice for placing video on a website? Thanks.
Image & Video Optimization | | ahw0 -
Google places - multiple clients
Is there any issue with adding multiple clients websites/locations to our Google Places account?
Image & Video Optimization | | cottamg0