Additional Details in Google Places - Should I bother?
-
I see that the Additional Details I've been inputting in Google Places aren't publishing while everything else is. Why would they offer those fields if they aren't even displayed on the G+ page?
Is it recommended to fill them out anyway?
-
I'm intrigued by the on-site local SEO recommendation. It's been in my periphery, but I'm wondering how to pull it off with a financial institutional website with 70 locations. They are broken in down in regions. Would a viable solution be setting up regional pages? I don't know about our CMS capability, but it seems like it would be beneficial to treat is like an SM feed, posting our press releases local to those areas and including local announcements such as paper shred days.
Thoughts? I'm going to carry this over to another Q&A.
-
I'm doing each manually.
-
Since you have 70 locations, are you doing bulk? If so, you may have a long time, because I don't think they've announced a new dash for bulk.
-
That's a lot to think about, especially since I have 70 locations and can lose the old dashboard at any time. And the details are good information, stuff that I actually wanted our customers to know, not just SEOwise. Stuff I researched for weeks, but mercifully this wasn't the only impetus for that exercise, which ended up being a really good thing to do anyway.
So if this was removed for being spammy, I'm assuming they couldn't police it? So perhaps it stays gone? Then again, it's Google. Who knows, right - same reason to consider inputting the info anyway, but considering the density of the information and that there are 70 pages, I guess I should wait for a bigger nudge before moving forward.
I'd like to stay on top of this. Aside from checking the new dashboard to see if it ever pops up again, do you have any other recommendations? I imagine you and others would be blogging about any developments?
Thanks again,
Sarah -
.
-
Agree
-
Hi Sarah,
Like I said for a long time I recommended adding that info as Google DID say they looked at it. However the new dash is right around corner, then that info will be gone. So if there, leave it. If not I would not bother adding. You could get the new dash next week.
PLUS stuff down there never did directly impact ranking. There are far more important areas you could spend time. Doing really smart local on-site SEO moves the needle the most these days.
Yes there is a new help forum that's been up for a couple years now. I'm a Google Top Contributor there.
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!categories/business But it's mainly a peer support forum and Google will not answer any questions about ranking and seldom comments on other questions.
-
Hi Linda. Yes, I found in my research that this has been the case for quite some time! Any theories on why they didn't take the option out of the dashboard? I had all this awesome non-spammy stuff to add and now I don't know what to do with it. Any suggestions?
Do you agree with Miriam's statement - and the sentiment of the others - that "Even if this isn't being displayed, I would assume that the data exists behind the scenes in Google's cluster of information about the business... " ?
I am curious to know what the official word from Google is on this. Is there a way for me to track that down? I saw there was a Google Places Help board, but it's now dead. Did it relocate and/or is it called something else now?
Thanks guys!
-
Actually, the additional details section disappeared over 2 years ago - July 2011.
So I don't think that section going away had anything to do with the new dashboard. My assumption is that it was removed for space and because that section was spammed to death.
In my training for a long time I have said to still add certain types of specific data there, because for awhile Google said she still looked at that section. But I don't believe that's true any longer. Plus any new listings will get the new dash and the update to the new dash is starting to escalate, so soon everyone will have it. So I just don't think it's worth the energy to populate that section now. If you already have it won't hurt as long as you don't violate any unwritten rules down there.
-
Good luck with your project, Sarah!
-
Thanks everybody for the great answers. With 70 locations to update, this will take more time, but absolutely worth it.
-
Very good point.
-
Thanks Miriam! Yes, I've been going with pre-set categories from the get-go and this sounds like another reason to do it. We haven't transitioned over to the new dashboard yet.
In a way I'm lucky to still have a chance to do this because I'm on the ground level of my Local SEO campaign, so I can just do all this now and not have to come back to this when/if these fields are re-introduced.
-
I love that graphic - it's printed out and hanging up in my cubicle.
-
I'd fill them out anyway- Google has been rolling out all sorts of interesting things, and there's probably going to be some sort of benefit to it. I'd assume that it gives you some sort of advantage over those of your competitors that don't take the trouble to do it. It shouldn't take too long, anyway!
-
Hey Ron,
That's a good resource you've linked to, but I think what SEOSarah is talking about is growing pains switching from the old dash to the new one. Some of the old fields no longer exist in the new dash and the data in them isn't being displayed on the new +Local pages, so I think this is causing some confusion for people.
-
Hi SEOSarah,
You know, this is such a good question and is one I am positive must be occurring to many Local SEO and local business owners as we transition from the old Places dashboard to the new Places for Business Dashboard. As you've correctly observed, the old dashboard contains those additional details fields, but the new dashboard lacks them. So far as I know, nobody knows whether Google ever plans to re-introduce those fields into the new dashboard They may or may not, but these clearly have not been transferred over from the old dash to the new. A similar conundrum has arisen over the old custom categories and the new dash which allows for 10 categories but will only accept pre-set choices.
If you are still seeing the old Places dashboard then, yes, I would take the time to fill out the additional details section if appropriate. Even if this isn't being displayed, I would assume that the data exists behind the scenes in Google's cluster of information about the business, so why not fill it out? It should only take a few seconds to do and can't hurt you.
As to categories, though, if you are still seeing the old dash, I would recommend against choosing any custom categories as these are definitely not making the transition to the new dash. I would choose from Google's pre-set category taxonomy only.
Hope this helps!
-
Sarah,
I thought the graphic on this link would help you visualize what I am talking about:
https://getlisted.org/static/resources/local-search-data-providers.html
Ron
-
Sarah,
It is absolutely worth filling everything out. Google is coming out with several different ways to display the information outside of your G+ account. Google is a source that other data aggregators get their information from. This information propagates to these other directories. This creates additional inbound links and local visibility. So yes it is very worth filling this information out.
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 News Publisher Benefit?
I'm curious about the benefit of verifying your website in the Google News Publisher Center. Right now my website isn't showing up under "My Sites," and it recommends I submit the site to be reviewed for inclusion. However, when I go to news.google.com and search for news topics we cover, our site does show up sometimes. Will verifying the website in the Google News Publisher Center help to include it in News results more frequently? One thought I had is that perhaps Google will start to ONLY include sites in Google News that the webmaster has verified here. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!
Image & Video Optimization | | davidkaralisjr0 -
Google + Local for client with no physical address and multiple phone nos
Hi I have a client who is service-based and goes out to his local customers' homes to conduct his business. He operates from home so does not want to show his home address, he also has a number of local telephone numbers that divert to his mobile. I was wondering which type of category to put his business into, my ideal would be local business but for that I need to add the address the question is can I still hide the address the way you used to in the old format or is there other recommendations to optimise his local placement?
Image & Video Optimization | | AllieMc0 -
Is it Possible to submit multiple sites on google places with single phone number? If you then please tell me how?
Is it Possible to submit multiple sites on Google places with single phone number? If you then please tell me how? Because i have multiple site but i have one phone number and i want to add all of my sites in google places. But i don't know how it is possible. Please help me to sort it out this problem. Thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | KLLC0 -
Google places is not showing up
Hi Mozzers, I have a client that have multiple franchises nationwide. All of them have their google places accounts serving their area. I have an issue regarding one of them that used to rank in position 2(places ranking). After 2 months ranking so high, it suddenly disappeared. I tried to be patient and hoped it would come back again but nothing happened. Since this account was under a master account (with many other places account), I thought it would be a good idea to suspend the one in the master account and create a new one under a unique gmail account. Guess what, it s still not showing up!! I don't know what to do! I have reviewed the Guideline and the listing seems to follow the guideline. I may be not aware of a major google update on places though. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks Ty
Image & Video Optimization | | Ideas-Money-Art0 -
Multiple Businesses at the Same Address - Avoiding Google Places Trouble
I'm trying to avoid problems with Google Places; this is like "address confusion", but is rather "business confusion". We have a gym at a street address with a suite number, and a number of personal trainers who work out of the gym. Several of them have their own websites and their own Google Places pages. 1 trainer has a Yelp account that lists the gym's street address including the suite number, and a Places page with the gym's street address. 2 trainers have the gym's street address on their personal/individual business websites, 1 with and 1 without the suite number. Is any of this going reduce Google's confidence in the accuracy of which business is really at the street address and suite number? What should we tell/require of our trainers in relation to this, if anything? Is there a chance Google will merge the Places pages? Am I paranoid? (Google Places sometimes does at it wishes, to the dismay of several of my clients.....) I do know that there are often many businesses in a building, each with their own suite numbers, and nothing bad happens. But ours is a case of multiple personal training businesses (including the gym: a small personal training studio) all at the same address And suite number. Thanks for any insight or ideas!
Image & Video Optimization | | TheSEOWiz0 -
Question Regarding Multiple Google Places Pages
Hello, One of my clients has about 20 different google places pages at locations that are not real. The previous SEO company thought that would help with local search. My problem is that several great reviews have been written on each page by real customers. I want to close the places pages for locations that don't exist, but I don't want to lose the reviews. Is anyone aware of a solution for this? I have searched Google's forums and have not found anything.
Image & Video Optimization | | Bjolley0 -
Google Places - Different NAP on various directories...
My client's veterinary clinic uses a service called Localvets.com which is a division of Yext.com. This service updates listings and sponsors them across various directories. Since this is a referral service (they get paid for new clients) they use a custom phone number and custom website address for these listings. Question: Is this hurting the SEO potential of the Google Places listing since the N.A.P. are not the same? Thoughts?
Image & Video Optimization | | PMC-3120870 -
Will linking to my citation sources help google recognize them / credit my places account?
Or will those sources be discounted by google then similar to how google discounts link exchanges? I have noticed some pages, like mapquest, don't really have a directory, so google might not be aware of their content unless it is linked too??? In this type of a case, would it help to link to mapquest's search results? then the citation will get picked up by google? Example: http://www.mapquest.com/?hk=6-i30tP49i
Image & Video Optimization | | adriandg0