Name Change in Google Places
-
In the middle of a nightmare in Google Places. Dealing with a number of Chiropractic franchises. They all had previous practices (and Places listings). In many cases, a duplicate listing was created. Some locations are "under review", others have lost their ranking and a few are ranking for both location in the 7 pack.(usually because they had a different phone number used so I assume Google sees it as a separate company despite the same location)
I am trying to fix all these duplicate or near duplicate listings that were created previously. In one case I edited the existing listing and tried to verify by phone. I got the 5 digit code but Google then said code is not valid.
Has anyone been through a similar situation? Should I delete/deactivate old listing and Then optimize the remaining or vice versa? A complete mess. In some cases they may have four listings...old company, new franchise and new name, Doctors names.
Any insight appreciated.
-
Been there. Done that. No easy answers. Pursue all available remedies. Resign yourself to the fact that nothing may work, and you may have to start over.
-
Kevin, there was a recent YOUmoz post about how to delete a Google Places listing. Let me know if this helps. http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/the-right-way-to-delete-a-google-places-listing
-
Kevin,
I have had more success than failures with report a problem. Just make sure you are logged in when you report it. And, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
-
A mess indeed. I do have access to almost all the accounts. Have not tried "report a problem" as it seemed that was a dead end from what I read. Worth a try I guess.....especially for the poor soul who is UNDER REVIEW" and has been for months. All because someone did not know what they were doing. (other than trying to bill clients) I hate the snake oil sellers in this business. Hurts us all.
-
Ei Yi Yi. That is a mess.
I have delt with many duplicate listing issues. Here is what I would do in your case. Go to the Google places help forum. List your issue with as many details as possible and hope you get the attention of a google employee.
Q. Do you have access to all these accounts? Passwords? Have you used the Report a problem feature under the more tab on the places account? Make sure you are logged into the account when doing so.
Be very detailed when you report the problem in this manner.
Duplicate listing issues are heck. I hope this help some.
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+ Local Listing - No Physical Address
Hi everyone, I have a client who won't be renewing his lease for where he conducts his business. Instead he will be working from home. That being said, he does not wish to have his personal address details showing within his local listing. Is there any other way to still show for Google Local without a personal or business address? Is a PO box possible, other there any other alternatives? Thanks in advance. Leo
Image & Video Optimization | | nimbleo0 -
Google local
If you perform a search in Google maps for our company and you are not signed in, it returns our Google + page, with reviews, photos, directions and about tabs, which is fine but, when you click on any of the photos, there is a window that opens to the right where you can edit the location where the photo has been taken, a comment box, photo details and above all, right at the top, MY NAME! Why my name? This is the business page, I don't want people to see that. The snip is below. Thanks! g3OTPRp
Image & Video Optimization | | echo10 -
Google Image Search?
We get very little search traffic from the images on our site & I can't necessarily figure out why? We post a ton & tag them correctly, we've got to be missing something? We are a Wordpress blog, can anyone provide some quality articles on Image search or have suggestions that should help to get more traffic? Our site does fairly well, as we get over 100k/visits a month, so we'd really like to get more traffic from our images.
Image & Video Optimization | | seointern0 -
New Local Tracking Number for Places vs an 800 Number.
I am having a problem with local search for my business. I submitted the same NAP (Name, Address, Phone) info to Google Places as I have submitted via LocalEZE and Universal Business Listing. Here is the issue. The local number that is being used does not have any way to track calls, meaning the phone company (xo communications) does not give us the number of incoming calls. To add call tracking to the local numbers through our PBX system is very expensive, $2000 per store. Also to transfer this local number to a call tracking company (like callsource or whoiscalling) is a lot of trouble and not an option either. I need to track the call count somehow so I have two options left. 1) Get a new local number (that is also a tracking number through a phone tracking company) and then submit this to Google Places, LocalEZE and Universal Business Listing. The issue with this is that all of our citations will be re-set with a new local number, basically we'd have to do local SEO all over again. 2) Use the main 800 number in Google Places, this can be tracked. However, then our local number is on all of the NAP citations and Google Places will be the only web property with an 800 number. What are your thoughts?
Image & Video Optimization | | qlkasdjfw0 -
Google Places for Mobile Businesses in many cities
How do you set up Google Places account for mobile businesses where the drivers get calls from their homes and service customers in their respective cities? The problem is, the drivers don't want to list their home address as their business address, yet they still represent a service for a particular city. Any ideas?
Image & Video Optimization | | ocsearch0 -
Google Places weblink advice
In your Google Places listing on the website link option should this point to a specific location based page for your business? For example my company have several locations in different towns and cities, at present they all point back to the homepage, but should they point back to a specific location based page on the website as I am sure Google looks at the website link for location based text and it its pointing at the homepage which has generic title and h1 tags etc and does not cover location based text then the Google Places listing ranks lower as it displays the meta title in the places result? This is the only thing I can think of because the listings that appears top 2 have no additional info, no photos, no reviews etc while my listing has a description, images, video etc and the centroid location is nearer to the centre of the city than many of the others so I am at a loss again to work out why Google is ranking this so poorly in Local Search?
Image & Video Optimization | | idv0 -
Local SEO... use 800 # or local, use full-street name or abbreviation?
Couple local SEO questions... Do you feel it’s better to submit a listing with the full type of street rather than an abbreviation? Google Places sometimes disassociates data because of small differences like this. Below is an example: Full Name: 123 Broadway Street
Image & Video Optimization | | qlkasdjfw
Abbreviation: 123 Broadway St. Also, I’m wondering if you feel it’s better to submit a local number versus an 800 number. I've modified many local listings for clients manually with an 800 number, but then there are other data sources for these same businesses that are displaying the local number. I am starting to use UBL/LocalEZE and are wondering what people have seen working best... local number or 800 number. Thanks!0