NAP No mail delivered to physical location
-
Hello,
First question here on moz. I live in a small town, and some of my clients do as well. Some mail is delivered to physical locations, however most mail is delivered to PO Boxes. I have tried with some success to get the mail workers to flag Google and others post cards. Otherwise I am not able to verify ownership. Any ideas or help on how to verify businesses that don't get mail at their location would be great.
Dave
-
You're welcome, Dave. Good luck!
-
Miriam,
Thanks so much. I will try the troubleshooter.
Dave
-
Hi David,
While Ruben is correct that the use of P.O. Boxes is a violation of the Google Places Quality Guidelines, there is a chance that you can get help with this via the Google Troubleshooter located here:
https://support.google.com/places/
Click the contact button and go through the troubleshooter. You should see a blue 'Call Us' button appear in the form and if you can speak to a Google rep, they may be able to help you with the verification issue.
However, before you can do this, it's important to understand that any Google+ Local page you create must be based on the physical location of the business in question and not any associated P.O. box. So, for a client in this town, you'd need to create the listing, have postcard verification fail and then go through the troubleshooter in hopes of getting direct help from Google staff in verifying the validity of the business. This will be extra work on your part, and you should prepare you clients for this hangup by explaining Google's limitations in regards to small towns like yours where everyone picks up mail at the local post office. Be sure not to guarantee that you can get the listing verified for them, but tell them that you will make a best effort to make it happen.
Hope this helps!
-
Ruben,
Thanks for the reply. To clarify, these businesses have physical locations, they just don't receive mail at their location.
Any ideas in this scenario?
Thanks for your help,
Dave
-
Dave,
I would be careful about verifying businesses that do not have physical addresses or have clients at those physical addresses. Google is very clear about this being a violation of their guidelines. https://support.google.com/places/answer/107528?hl=en
Granted, I'm not the google police, but it's something I would recommend you considering.
Best,
Ruben
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
-
Local Citation NAP: Comma difference
Hello, Is there a difference between: 111 Streetname #L, City, CA, 84111 and then on facebook it's 111 Streetname #L City, CA 84111 on two different lines? Note on the first one, there is a comma after #L and on the two line facebook page citation, there's no comma after #L. Should I add a comma on facebook after the #L? Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | BobGW1 -
We currently do not support the location
Should I be worry that the link below returns that message? My listing is live and well, it can be accessed from anywhere except from Google places page, under "Respond to reviews
Image & Video Optimization | | echo1
Owners can post a public response to **reviews **by Google users." Any thoughts?0 -
Multiple Store locations Google Local
Hey there, Is it best to create an individual page for each store location? Or is it best to create one page and plot different locations? Thanks, Dan
Image & Video Optimization | | Sparkstone0 -
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 -
Does it matter how the NAP is formatted as long as it's consistent?
In local SEO, does it matter how the N.A.P. is formatted as long as it's consistent? Does the name have to be the official legal name? Should the address use USPS standards? Can the phone number be ###.###.#### instead of (###) ###-####?
Image & Video Optimization | | SteeleSEO0 -
Google Places Multiple Locations Strategy
Hi, I have client who is a psychology college that has multiple locations across the United States. We currently have a Google places setup for their main location which is in Chicago. They also have multiple locations in California and Washington d.c. My question is what is the best strategy for setting up Google places for each one of their locations? can it all be done from the Chicago Google places account or do I have to build out individual Google places accounts for each location. Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | MasonInteractive0 -
Google Places with locations inside of a mall
I got a great question from a franchise owner today regarding Google Places for his business. His businesses are all in malls. With Google Places there is an emphasis on using consistency and full contact details, as we well know. The issue is his locations are in a mall and don't have a physical address to receive mail or verify their address. Is there a way to leverage Google Places in this kind of situation, or do you just use the general mall address?
Image & Video Optimization | | SarahGoliger0 -
Multiple Businesses in One Location + In One Google Places Account Under Review
HI, My Problem: Multiple businesses in one location, under one Google Places account, one being reviewed. My Question: see very bottom of this post Background: I am trying to help a client get both of his businesses ranking in Google Places. The problem is the office building has multiple doctors/practices in the same building and gave no business suite numbers to doctors that rent office space. Here is the list of the other businesses in the office: http://www.fullcirclefamilycare.com/health_care.htm. The problem escalates because the doctor I am trying to help has a chiropractic business & a spinal decompression business, both legal entities, both different registered company names, different phone numbers, and websites, but both located in this office building. He rents two offices (they should be suites) in the building. The problem escalates even more because the doctor has registered both locations (see below) in his Google Places account: Westchester Spinal Decompression Center
Image & Video Optimization | | WebBizIdeas
1241 Mamaroneck Avenue, White Plains, NY 10605 (914) 421-1502 Joint Effort Chiropractic
1241 Mamaroneck Ave., White Plains, NY 10605 (914) 368-7668
jointeffortchiro.com The first (spinal decompression) was registered a long time ago and ranks #1 for "spinal decompression white plains NY." The second he just confirmed the Google Post card a few weeks ago and has been under review since. More research so you can help me better: The "The Shop for Holistic Health / The Shop at Full Circle", a businesses location in the same office building has verified their account and ranks #1 for "women's health care white plains NY" and "midwife white plains NY." Another business,in the same office building "Keras-Donaghy Melissa S", has not claimed their listing and ranks #1 for "Women’s Health physical Therapist white plains NY" Another business, "Kuhl Josephine MD," has not claimed their listing ranks in the top 10 for "Adolescent Psychiatrist white plains NY." My Question: What do I do, wait it out and see if Google will remove the "under review" under his current Google Places account or do I add a suite number now and see if Google will send another post card? Or do I create a new account, add the business, add a suite number this time, and see if they will confirm it. I don't want to do this because the doctor already has 12 reviews on this Google Places account. If I do do this, what do I do with the Google Places account under review?0