Multiple Google+ Local (Google Place) under one email address

[autoczar]

As a automotive dealership group, we have 15+ business listings set up under one Google+ local account. Google+ Local (Google Places) offers the ability to upload a data file for 10+ listings, so we've kept all listings under one login for efficiency.

Is there any specific local SEO benefit or any general benefit at all to having each business listing set up under their own separate email address?

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Again Autoczar,

Yes, so ideally, you'd have domain-based email accounts for the different businesses if one is Lexus San Francisco and the other is Toyota San Francisco, if you're dealing with separate websites and separate NAP for the different businesses. If all of your businesses were Autoczar Lexus across 15 different cities, it would be most correct to have a single account to rule them all, but it sounds like there is a genuine difference in the dealerships.

I would definitely wait for the merge before doing anything, because I think there is likely to be some fallout from that and you'll want to see where you stand once it goes through. Then, you might consider transferring ownership to separate accounts for the Lexus dealerships vs. the Toyota ones, but as I've said, this will not be 'fun' to do.

[autoczar]

Miriam -

Thanks for your helpful & quick response.

The 15+ business listings are individual dealership locations (ie Lexus of City Name & Toyota of City Name) are all currently grouped within one login so I (the dealership group's SEO guru) can manage all the information/implement best-practices from one single login.

We are debating setting up different @dealerdomain.com accounts if there is a SEO benefit.  I am wondering how the Google+ & Google+ Local merging will happen regarding dashboard admin, so I'll wait to do anything until after that happens.

You confirmed what I was looking for, "There is no SEO benefit, at least not that I've ever heard of, of going with one account vs. multiple accounts in this scenario...."

And you are correct, separating out the Google+ Local from the multi-account setup is a big job if we decide to go the domain-based email address direction. We are currently weighing the pros & cons related to, "Google apparently trusts the domain-based email address to be more authoritative."

Any further insights appreciated.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Autoczar,

I want to be certain that I'm correctly understanding your business model. Are you saying that you are currently controlling 15 different auto dealerships with distinct NAP (name, address, phone number) and distinct websites from a single email address? Or, are you talking about a franchise (different address and phone number, but all businesses are called 'Joe's Auto Showroom' and owned by you)?

If the first, then having each business claimed from a separate account would be preferable for the reason that Google has stated that there is a trust signal in having a domain name email address on the account. So, it's better to claim and control Joe's Auto Showroom with the email address joe@joesautoshowroom than it would be to claim it with bill@billscaremporium.com. Google apparently trusts the domain-based email address to be more authoritative.

If the second, and you are managing a franchise, then keeping all the eggs is one basket is the smarter choice in many cases, most particularly for ease of management. In this way, you, the owner, have control over how all data is managed. In some instances, however, franchises make each franchise partner responsible for his own web presence, including claiming and management of a Google+ Local page. Problems can arise in this situation when partners don't understand best practices, of course, but that all really depends on what each partner has been taught about Local SEO. There is no SEO benefit, at least not that I've ever heard of, of going with one account vs. multiple accounts in this scenario, but there is definitely a consideration of ease of management.

Now, all this having been said, if your accounts are currently set up one way, and you are going to change that in whatever direction, be prepared for a big job on your hands and possible wonky outcomes. Google is almost comically ham-fisted when it comes to business owners updating data - even a simple thing like a change of phone number can cause months or years of problems for the business owner, so my advice is to think this over very carefully and proceed with caution. Good luck!

Miriam