Is specifying a floor descriptive enough for Google Places?

[Robertnweil1]

Hello everyone,

I have a quick question regarding Google Places. I have a client who operates her business in a building with multiple other businesses. This address is completely legitimate and our client provides fitness services at this location. We have asked her for a more specific location, but she does not have a suite or room #. The best we can do is the floor #, but there are other businesses on her floor as well.

Would this lack of specificity affect her ability to rank in local results? There are 4 other businesses at the address. If we provide strong and relevant citations, will this be enough?

Thank you and my apologies if this has been asked before. I searched the previously asked question but didn't find what i was looking for.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Robert,

Thanks for coming here with your good question. There are 2 important issues here.

1. As First points out, sharing an address with other businesses is problematic. If your client's address duplicates that of even one other business, you can expect troubles ahead. Google will likely merge the info of the two businesses, meaning that your client could end up with the other business' phone number, reviews, or analytical data on her listing. So, sharing an address is out, unfortunately.  The only exception to this included in the Google Places Guidelines (http://support.google.com/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=107528) is this:

Some businesses may be located within a mall or a container store, which is a store that contains another business. If your business is within a container store or mall, and you'd like to include this information in your listing, specify the container store in parentheses in the business name field. For example, Starbucks (inside Safeway).

But, it doesn't sound like your client is within a container store or a mall, so I would not consider this truly applicable to the situation.

2. I cannot recommend using a floor number. Even if the client has a distinct business name and phone number, I feel merging is going to be a likely outcome. Here is an excerpted user comment one a Mike Blumenthal post (http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/01/19/the-long-and-winding-tale-of-trying-to-fix-a-merged-listing/) regarding a merged business:

"We have had this problem for about a year and Google won’t fix it. They say it will be fixed but is not. Me and the other law firm have joined up and are both e mailing Ashley with the same case no. to try and convince Google to use our user data instead of assuming we are the same company.

Since the address uses a Floor number (Not a suite number) and a mail room sorts the mail, Google says it is the same business even though the other details like the phone number, are different. We both meet clients and have offices in several locations in the Inland Empire, as we both lease from the same leasing company. That is where the relationship ends.

I think the work around maye be to add an identifier after the floor number, such as -A, or -B. So it would appear like #400-A."

(emphasis mine)

You are always supposed to use the precise street address at which the client receives mail when creating any Google Local property. You are not supposed to add or subtract anything from the mix.

So what option does this leave your client with if he/she wants to participate in Local? Getting legitimate suite numbers assigned by the post office to the different businesses on the floor would be the only open road, as far as I can see. You will need to contact the postal service in the client's area, as well as all of the other businesses located on that floor to try to arrange this, if you can. Not a great solution. But as things currently stand, without your client having a distinct address, they are lacking one of the 3 key metrics for local inclusion which are:

1. A unique local area code phone number

2. A unique physical street address

3. In-person transactions with customers.

Hope my reply is, at least, helpful, even if it doesn't automatically solve the issue. Sincerely wishing you good luck!

[First]

Great Point Steve! Consistency in address and phone number is very important.

[stevefidelity]

You're also going to want to make sure that the full address in your Google Places/Google+ Local listing is the same as the address used in your online citations. I.e, you don't want to have Floor/Unit number in the Google Places profile, and then just the plain old address in the rest of your online citations.

[First]

To answer your first question: Yes a floor is "descriptive enough" for Google Places. There are many businesses that have a floor as their true address.

The problem is that you have multiple business on the same floor and no other unique identifier, like a room or suite #. Are the other businesses listed on Google Places and/or have other local listings on the web?

If you are the only business listed with that address you probably wont have a problem at first, but may encounter issue in the future if other businesses on that floor decide that they want to get listed on-line.

One solution will be for all the tenants on that floor to agree to a unit # system.