Getting a Google Places listing verified on an automated phone system.
-
I've been having issues getting my Google Places/+ listing verified as we have an automatic phone system. If you call our office you have to dial a number to reach an actual human being or before you can leave a message.
Whenever the Google Bot calls we aren't able to receive our Google Place verification code.
Currently.. there is no option to send a postcard.. which is weird because for awhile that was the only option.
Has anyone had any success on an automated phone system & how did you do it?
Thanks!
-
Hi Strathcom,
I am looking into this for you. Trusted businesses are sometimes given the phone-only option, just as less trusted businesses are often given the postcard-only option. Let me see what I can find out for you. I will return.
Update: Looks like you have already started a thread at the Google and Your Business Forum and received a good reply from Treebles: http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/business/OXYk9JlWCCY/s8n4jpjN514J[1-25] Also, in case you didn't see this similar thread, here is one with a response from Jim Jaggers regarding making 4 verification attempts to cause the postcard option to appear: http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!searchin/business/phone$20tree/business/mPIRxdm5vQw/iqcf5gh9--4J[1-25] Hope this helps!
-
Hey Strathcom - That is strange as they did stop with texts and phone calls because of folks gaming the system. The only way to do it was through a postcard.
But if you have the phone option do it to a direct line or your cellphone just for the verification process. I did this previously and it didn't pull the phone number through to the listing.
Just did a little more research - Apparently one reason they do offer phone verification is if it was already listed and needs to verified only or you previously verified by phone.
-
https://support.google.com/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=75569
If you try to verify your business listing by phone and it doesn't work, this could be for one of several reasons:
- You have an automated phone system or phone tree.
If you encountered any of the reasons above, please request the PIN to be sent to you by mail.
Whats odd is that you don't have postcard verification option. I recommend you post this problem on their local business forums at http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/business
Good luck!
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
-
Google Places UK address has randomly changed to a US address in Texas!
Hello, one of my clients has 2 Google Places listings, both UK addresses. However one of them has randomly changed to a US address in Texas, and it won't let me update the country unless I create a new listing.... https://www.google.co.uk/maps/preview#!q=the+43+club&data=!4m16!1m15!4m8!1m3!1d22152595!2d12.5088275!3d47.73855!3m2!1i1440!2i774!4f13.1!7i10!9m1!6e0!10b1!17b1!25b1!6m1!1e1&fid=1 As you can see the second listing is Texas, but it should be: Tall Trees Cottage, Winkfield Road, Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 7EX. 0208 144 0166 Any help would be great. Thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | Kerry_Jones0 -
Blocking Google From Accessing Our Images - SEO Impact
We recently discovered that we were blocking Google from crawling our cdn, cdn.yournextshoes.com, where all our images are hosted. Unfortunately this went on for several months, and I wonder if this could explain our horrible SEO performance. Basically, I would like to know if this has impacted just our performance in Google Images (obviously our images have not been picked up by Google Images), or if our regular SEO has been impacted as well.Right now we're just receiving around 13% of our traffic from search, so we're trying to find out why Google does not like us.
Image & Video Optimization | | Jantaro0 -
Should I be submitting to Google Places AND Google + Local?
I hear there is a merging between Google Places and Google + but I still see a sign up page for Google Places is live? Could anyone tell me if I should be submitting to both Google + Local and Places please?
Image & Video Optimization | | Clicksjim1 -
Google Places Multiple Locations Strategy
Hi, I have client who is a psychology college that has multiple locations across the United States. We currently have a Google places setup for their main location which is in Chicago. They also have multiple locations in California and Washington d.c. My question is what is the best strategy for setting up Google places for each one of their locations? can it all be done from the Chicago Google places account or do I have to build out individual Google places accounts for each location. Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | MasonInteractive0 -
Is anyone else seeing 192.com taking over google.co.uk?
Just searched Google.co.uk for: beauty salons in chelmsford and on page 3, 192.com have 7 listings What's going on? Is anyone else seeing stuff like that?
Image & Video Optimization | | Rosewood1 -
Local listing | Virtual office
Hi Miriam (and all Local SEO mozers), I read a couple of your answers where you advice people in different situations not to consider a virtual office when creating their Google Places listing and I would like to know if you would apply the same advice in my case. This is the scenario: I have a client who's in the limousine service in Orlando, he just bought the URL and registered the business with the City using a "virtual office" in Orlando. This virtual office provides him a physical address, local area phone number, 411 listing, a listing for the businesses in that building and an office to have his meetings. This is the part where it gets confusing when I read your answers and I will give you an example. You said here:
Image & Video Optimization | | echo1
_The requirements in order to qualify for a Google Place Page are that you have: __1. A legal business name__2. A local area code phone number__3. A physical street address (not a P.O. box or virtual office) to which customers either come to do business with you or from which your employees depart in order to serve customers at their locations (think chimney sweep, landscaper, etc.)_Number 3 says "A physical street address (not a P.O. box or virtual office) to which customers either come to do business with you".
My client is going to rent one of those virtual offices, which does have a physical address, on as-needed basis. This office actually does exist. Why would Google have anything against it?
One of the reasons why he chose that location is because he is running the business from home and he does not want the clients to see it.
Another reason is the image he wants to create for his company by having a different address where he can hold meetings and such. The phone number will be either a local land-line or a local cell phone number, in any case, it will be a _local area code phone number. _
So this is where we stand: he dispatches the cars from home (he does not have a garage, the cars stay with the drivers 24 hours) but he meets his clients and business partners at the other address. There is nothing fake about it, he does have a legal business name, a local area code number and a real place where customers come to do business with. Which address should I use for his Google Places listing?0 -
Google Places - Local Search - Not ranking when 100% complete?
Hi I have followed the examples set by David Mihm and fully completed a Google Places listing - with the geographical area covering the area that it serves along with lots of local citations but when searching on google for 'accountants swansea' it is way down on page 4 of the places results. Does it take time for Google to recognise these changes to Places listings or is my listing incorrect to attract a high listing for the search phrase. Looking at the competition many of them have not optimised or done anything with their listings pages so I am at a loss to explain why the listing is doing so badly. The places listing is at http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/place?hl=en&prmd=imvns&biw=1280&bih=829&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=accountants+swansea&fb=1&gl=uk&hq=accountants&hnear=0x486e45555a4e97b1:0x3d77128e2fe7cb74,Swansea,+Neath+Port+Talbot&cid=9815784575213492240&ei=UN6WTt7UJ8rasga-ocTrAw&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=placepage-link&resnum=7&ved=0CFcQ4gkwBjge
Image & Video Optimization | | idv0 -
How to Track Traffic from Google Places Pages
Hi, Is there anything I need to do in Google Analytics to setup tracking for traffic coming to a site via it's Google Places page? I can see some traffic from maps.google.com in the Traffic Sources > Referring Sites report, but it does not appear to marry up to the data reported in the Google Places dashboard. Thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | WCR0