A few questions regarding listings in Google Places

[Bryan_Loconto]

For an SAB (Service Area Business) with a hidden address -

Can you have more then one listing?

Can you use a free Google Voice number?

Can you forward the number to a main number?

Can the listing be in an office building? Such as a rented space...

For a non SAB listing with the address visible -

Can you use free Google voice numbers for each listing and  forward them to one main number?

[Greg_Gifford]

yep - so if you have a service location in Dallas, TX, and the location-specific page on your site for that location has a URL of www.YourDomain.com/dallas-cleaning-services (using your cleaning example from earlier)

you'd then have the URL for that Places/+ Local listing use that specific URL

[MiriamEllis]

Good discussion going on here, guys. I just want to clarify one point in this discussion, as I'm concerned that some of the advice may confuse others. It has been stated in this conversation that:

If you're wanting to show up in the Map Pack for local results in various cities, you HAVE to have a "real" physical address in that city. You can't hide the address and have any hope to rank.

I respectfully disagree...with part of this. Yes, you must have a real physical address in the city in which you're hoping to rank locally, but for service radius businesses, it is certainly possible to rank while complying with Google's hide-address law. In fact, some Local SEOs have observed that complying with the hide address rule can actually boost local rankings. Conversely, failure to comply with the rule has resulted in estimated thousands of listings being closed by Google.

So, yes, you need the address as your foothold in the city, but if you serve clients at their locations rather than your own, hide that address. And don't worry about rankings being put out of reach by complying with the law. They are actually far more secure for you if you comply.

[Bryan_Loconto]

Thank you,

This is what I was looking for. As far as setting up the local pages (I will mark these up as well) Should we link to the exact page for each location in the places?

[Greg_Gifford]

That post is from March, and there have been several major changes to the +Local system since then - most importantly, Places went away and became Google+ Local at the end of May...

But now I get you - you're a service business only - you're only using the address/phone number for verification purposes... people will never go to that location.

In that case, you DO have to hide your address - BUT, you still have to have a real physical address in that city. Without a legit address, you'll never have any hope of ranking.

The multiple locations part of the question only comes into play if you're talking multiple cities. In that case, you're fine - but if you're trying to show multiple locations in a single city (because you have multiple service vendors there), you're going to run into problems, unless you have unique phone numbers and addresses (and unique location-based landing pages on your site would help a lot here too)

If you're ONLY a service business and customers never come to you, you will have to hide the address - but also make sure you don't try to do any merge with a Google+ Business page - until they change the rules, you aren't allowed to do a merge with an SAB.

[Bryan_Loconto]

"If you're wanting to show up in the Map Pack for local results in various cities, you HAVE to have a "real" physical address in that city. You can't hide the address and have any hope to rank." I don't think this is true, however if you have a source I would love to read it.

I have real physical addresses, the point here is that if you are a service only you MUST hide your address. Read: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/why-you-may-need-to-hide-your-google-places-address-asap

My question is based on multipule service locations.

[Greg_Gifford]

Why does Google do lots of things that don't make sense?

If you're wanting to show up in the Map Pack for local results in various cities, you HAVE to have a "real" physical address in that city. You can't hide the address and have any hope to rank.

Now I understand the phone issues. Your best bet would be to find some business phone service that lets you have unique local numbers for each city that all forward to a single phone. That way, you've got "real" local numbers but still a single point of contact for the business. If you want to verify each location by phone, you'll have to be sure that there's no automated answering system, or you're going to have to rely on postcard verification.

You're also going to need to have multiple location landing pages on your website. Each city will need its own page on the site, so that the unique address and phone number info will match the map listing.

Remember - you don't have to list yourself as a "service area business" - you can still have an address at a specific location, even when you send employees out to do the work. The address has to be in the listing if you want that listing to show up.

[Bryan_Loconto]

hmm...

Perhaps I need to explain this in a way that does not look so crooked.

Here's the same question in an ie format.

Ok so lets say I am a cleaning company and I hire people to clean houses for the entire state. I want to use every location that each employee lives in/services. Each location will have a unique hidden address and number but same business name.

The reason we need to forward the number is because we are generating the business for the employee and we will have no way of keeping track of the deals that come in unless we pick up the phone.

Is a servicing company not legitimate. Why does Google Places have the option to hide an address if we can't use it?

[Greg_Gifford]

We have physical addressees, the question is can we have multiple addressees for one business with a few adresses hidden?

- if you want to go for local rankings, you can't have hidden addresses. Places/+ Local listings won't show up unless they've got an actual physical address that isn't hidden.  Also, if it's a single business, but you're trying to make it show up in multiple locations/cities, you've got to have a "real" address for each Places/+ Local listing. If you use the same name, address, and phone number, you'll run into problems because it'll get tagged as a duplicate listing.

Google also offers a business phone account. Now would we need to set up the business account number since this is a business? or can we just use the free local number they provide? After all this is going to be a business...

- if you're using Google Voice, you're forwarding to a "real" number anyway - is there a reason you can't just use your real number? You'd be MUCH better off just using a "real" local number if you're wanting your listings to have a chance to rank.

No, 1 main number may only have 1 GV forwarded to it. There are workarounds with multiple forwarders though."

Any sources that can lead to help?

- again, would never suggest for any of my clients to do this. If you're setting up legitimate listings for legitimate businesses with actual locations, each location should have its own unique phone number. Just use those numbers.

[Greg_Gifford]

Can you have more then one listing?

- You can't have a hidden address if you want to play in Google Places (now Google+ Local). Don't get a PO Box either, it's got to be a physical address if you want to be able to rank locally.

Can you use a free Google Voice number?

- You can - but we always suggest that our clients use a real phone number. Having a "real" local phone number in your listing is a huge relevancy signal - remember, Google knows that your GVoice number is really just forwarding to another number. Better to play it as safe as possible. It's also important that you have the same local phone number in all of your local citations AND that the same local phone number is on your website.

Can you forward the number to a main number?

- Again, you can - but that doesn't mean you should. Why would you not just use the actual business number? NAP consistency in your citations is a huge factor in ranking locally. If you have a main number, use the main number.

Can the listing be in an office building? Such as a rented space...

- as long as you have a unique address (with a suite number or some identifier to set your biz apart from others in the same main building), you're fine

For a non SAB listing with the address visible -

Can you use free Google voice numbers for each listing and  forward them to one main number?

- definitely not - again, Google knows where those numbers are being forwarded to. If you have multiple locations for a single business, each location should have a unique phone number. Use that location's number in the Places/+ Local listing, and make sure that the URL on the listing is pointing to a unique landing page for that location that has the same unique local phone number.

[Bryan_Loconto]

Can you have more then one listing?

"You need an address to get listed in Google places. Consider getting a PO box."

We have physical addressees, the question is can we have multiple addressees for one business with a few adresses hidden?

>Can you use a free Google Voice number?

"Yes, you just need to disable screening so you can verify over the phone (or choose postcard option)"

Google also offers a business phone account. Now would we need to set up the business account number since this is a business? or can we just use the free local number they provide? After all this is going to be a business...

Can you use free Google voice numbers for each listing and  forward them to one main number?

"No, 1 main number may only have 1 GV forwarded to it. There are workarounds with multiple forwarders though."

Any sources that can lead to help?

[OlegKorneitchouk]

For an SAB (Service Area Business) with a hidden address -

Can you have more then one listing?

You need an address to get listed in Google places. Consider getting a PO box.

>Can you use a free Google Voice number?

Yes, you just need to disable screening so you can verify over the phone (or choose postcard option)

Can you forward the number to a main number?

Yes

Can the listing be in an office building? Such as a rented space...

Yes

For a non SAB listing with the address visible -

Can you use free Google voice numbers for each listing and  forward them to one main number?

No, 1 main number may only have 1 GV forwarded to it. There are workarounds with multiple forwarders though.