Ranking Differences for Google+ Local vs. Places Listings

[BedeFahey]

I'm seeing some odd behavior with Google+ Local and Google Places listings for clients. I'm wondering if anyone else is seeing it...

Here's the situation:

We've recently bought on 4 new clients that all have duplicate listing issues, and, weirdly, all have both places and a Google+ local created listings.

For three of those four, the Google+ local listing is outranking the Places account for a brand name search (e.g. Dr. John Doe). Weirdly, in one instance, the Google+ local account that is outranking the Places page is named in a less accurate fashion. e.g searching for "Dr. John Doe" the rankings look like this...

A) John Doe Plastic Surgery, P.C. - Dr. John Doe

B) Dr. John Doe, MD

Anyone else seeing this sort of behavior?

How are you creating local listings for clients these days - via the places dashboard, or Google+ Local?

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Bede,

Got it. No, I have not run into this or seen it reported. Very interesting. I think that might be worth reporting to Google via their data issues phone number, though I suspect they might tell you to merge the listings...in which case, I personally wouldn't follow that advice. You could try to call them about it, though:

http://support.google.com/places/bin/static.py?hl=en&ts=1386120&page=ts.cs

Wish I had more insight on this, but I've not seen it before.

[BedeFahey]

Hi Miriam,

I think the confusion comes from my incorrect use of terminology more than anything.

What I had noticed in the examples I mentioned was that Google+ Local pages that were being managed via the old places dashboard (what I was referring to as a "Places Page") were being outranked by those that had been created (By clients) in the Google+ Local dashboard. This is for brand-name searches.

So, we ended up with 2-pack listings:

Rank 1 - Newer listing, created via Google+ dashboard (New Page > Local Business or Place > Search and find via Phone Number etc.).

Rank 2 - Older listing, created back when Google+ didn't exist, and places was the only option.

Does that make sense?

I had read about the new dashboard and merge feature on Mike Blumenthal's blog. No sign of for me yet, but I'm definitely excited about it!

Thanks for responding!

Bede

[MiriamEllis]

Hey Bede,

I'm so sorry I didn't see this thread earlier. It just showed up in my inbox today. I am a bit puzzled by what you are describing, and this is doubtless due to the confusion surrounding agreed-upon terminology for Google's products. To me:

1. There are no Google Place Pages anymore

2. They all became Google+ Local pages (with the new interface), though many are still being controlled via the Google Places Dashboard.

3. They are shortly about to all become Google+ Local pages being controlled via the new Google Places for Business Dashboard that Google is rolling out (and which, apparently is supposed to make the merging of local and social features easier via a simple verification action).

4. But if you don't have the Google Places for Business Dashboard yet, merging is hazardous. Who knows? It may still prove to be hazardous in the new environment as well. Too new to tell.

Do my definitions match yours? Am I missing something? Please, let me know as I am very interested in your question, Bede.

[BedeFahey]

Hi Bryan,

Thanks for the response.

My post wasn't so much about "How do I fix this" as it was my observation of Google+ Local pages ranking higher in the local SERPs than a page that was created with the older Places dashboard. I was hoping other people might have experienced similar situations.

In the situation that I'm talking about, the pages are actually Google+ Local pages and Places Pages (rather than a standard Google+ Business page). The merge process that's currently available is for combining Google+ Business pages and Places Pages,  rather than a Google+ Local page and a Places page. As far as I'm aware, you can't merge a Google+ Local page with a Places Page at this point.

That aside, unfortunately we've found the merge process to be very unreliable - we're generally not doing it at all right now, due to all the issues people are experiencing.

I was also asking out of curiosity whether more people were using the Google+ Local interface to create a new local listing, or if they were using the Google Places dashboard.

Again, thanks for taking the time to respond. I appreciate it.

Bede

[Bryan_Loconto]

Hi Bede,

You can merge them http://www.seroundtable.com/google-page-local-verification-15526.html

Also, when it comes to a doctors/dentists you can have a listing for the name of the place and each dr. that practices there.

Hope this helps.