Can this make one's local listing vanish from Google local search?

[HammerandHand]

Hi All,

Does anyone know if selecting "Yes, this business serves customers at their locations" under "service areas and location settings" in Google Places can cause a business's listing to disappear from Google local search?

My interior designer client has a bricks-and-mortar location, was ranking at about #20 for "interior designer" in Portland, and now has dropped from local search. I had "No, all customers come to the business location" selected previously.

In the past week, before the vanishing, I made these changes:

1. changed the service area to "Yes, this business serves customers at their locations",

2. removed "Portland" from the description in Google Places, and

3. submitted maybe two dozen directory listings to high DA sites (using Whitespark as the tool for determining where to post).

Thanks everyone!

Zack

[MiriamEllis]

It's my pleasure, Zack. Now, if your client does serve customers at his/her own location as well as on the road, my understanding of Google's guidelines is that you should show your address and use the Service Radius Tool. I believe this to be Google's preference in such cases. I really hope reporting your situation to the Google and Your Business Forum will yield an actionable answer. Miriam

[HammerandHand]

Hi Miriam,

Wow - thank you so much for the generosity of time and expertise in your answer.  Really inspiring contribution to the community (and to me)!  Having read through the various possibilities, I suspect the issue is a bug.  My client does serve customers at his location (which is a bona fide, bricks-and-mortar location), so that shouldn't be an issue.  I've been really careful about NAP, and would be super shocked if the client's site were red flagged.

I was concerned about the directory listings just b/c I've read elsewhere that too many citations at once can raise red flags at Google.  Still, it seemed unlikely given the relatively modest directory submissions I engaged in (and the fact that they were all on high DA sites.)

Navigating Google's guidelines for local search can feel pretty fogged-filled, so I really appreciate your guidance!  I'll follow-up on the Google and Your Business Forum and see where that leads.

Thank you,

Zack

[HammerandHand]

Hi Miriam,

Wow - thank you so much for the generosity of time and expertise in your answer.  Really inspiring contribution to the community (and to me)!  Having read through the various possibilities, I suspect the issue is a bug.  My client does serve customers at his location (which is a bona fide, bricks-and-mortar location), so that shouldn't be an issue.  I've been really careful about NAP, and would be super shocked if the client's site were red flagged.

I was concerned about the directory listings just b/c I've read elsewhere that too many citations at once can raise red flags at Google.  Still, it seemed unlikely given the relatively modest directory submissions I engaged in (and the fact that they were all on high DA sites.)

Navigating Google's guidelines for local search can feel pretty fogged-filled, so I really appreciate your guidance!  I'll follow-up on the Google and Your Business Forum and see where that leads.

Thank you,

Zack

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Zack,

Google's current guidelines (http://support.google.com/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=107528)  on this read:

If you don't conduct face-to-face business at your location, you must select "Yes, this business serves customers at their locations" under the "Service Areas and Location Settings" section of your dashboard, and then select the "Do not show my business address on my Maps listing" option.

If you followed these steps correctly, it should not have caused your listing to disappear. However, there have been reports over the past several months from business owners who have had a similar experience. For example, Local SEO Andrew Shotland received a phone call from Google asking if he served customers at his location. This was in February, prior to the guideline update. When he answered no, his listing disappeared. See: http://www.localseoguide.com/hey-seos-if-google-maps-calls-dont-answer/

However, in cases like Andrew's, the vanishing of the listings happened because they did not choose to hide their address (generally, because Google hadn't yet clearly announced that they were supposed to do so).

Long before this, many people noticed that choosing the hide address function had the effect of instantly burying one's listing. Then, in November 2010, Mike Blumenthal reported that it appeared that this had changed and that hiding the address should not bury your blended listing, though it might still effect the Maps and 7-Packs of that time period. See: http://blumenthals.com/blog/2010/11/03/google-places-search-hiding-address-no-longer-buries-listing/

But, since the big guideline update in March 2012, (http://www.seomoz.org/blog/why-you-may-need-to-hide-your-google-places-address-asap) this issue was supposed to have been completely fixed and hiding the address was not ever supposed to bury your listing, though I have heard a couple of remarks to the effect that it may push your listing down a couple of places.

So, if you chose the 'serves customers at their locations' and 'do not show' options in your dashboard, according to my information, this should not be the culprit in what you're experiencing. Nor should removing a geographic modifier from your business description (using geo terms in descriptions has never really been considered a good idea and at one time, was forbidden by the guidelines). And, finally, gaining citations from directories should have the effect of improving your rankings - not destroying them.

So, at this point, there are several things to consider, as I see it:

1. Your client is experiencing the effects of a bug.

2. There is an external factor at play, such as a discrepancy of information between your current NAP (name, address, phone number) and 3rd party citations such as the ones you are building for the client via directories.

3. The client has been penalized for activity Google has red flagged (it doesn't happen often, but it does happen).

I would suggest that you report the whole incident via the Google and Your Business Forum: http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/business

If you do not receive a response from the Google Top Contributors or employees in the 'Technical Advice?' forum, your next step would be to try to use the troubleshooter at http://support.google.com/places/bin/static.py?hl=en&ts=1386120&page=ts.cs to report that the client's listing has disappeared.

I hope my response hasn't been overwhelming but the history of this issue is fairly deep. I sincerely wish you good luck in finding resolution!

Miriam

[SirMax]

Yes, I have had this happen to our listing when I accidentally switched to "this business serves customers at their locations", our listing disappeared from google maps. When I switched it back, it reappeared in a few days.

[Stevej24]

If you make changes to the address or phone, Google says it will require a verification.  I would check and make sure removing Portland didn't change the site from live, to waiting to be verified.

[symbolphoto]

I've heard of #1 before. Never tried it myself, I suspect #2 is the culprit.