Google + Business Page Custom url -too-spammy-long-url?

[asbchris]

Hi to all,

Ok so I was offered a custom url from Google Plus, greatly appreciated. Yet do you go ahead and add keywords when prompted?

I mean if its your business page, and Google says you MUST add some sort of number or letter behind your custom url,  do you add some keywords?

Like ford for example sake. Would it be smart to put google.com/+ford-mustag-f350

So you add a couple of hyphens, and a few keywords?

I understand the principle of shorter is better. But if your url is already like 15 characters, does a few more hurt? Or is it useless?

Another example: Your Google page is tv repair man. Your Google offered url is google.com/+Tvrepairman

But again it says you must add a number or letter etc.

So do you add like your location? so tvrepairman-colorado or maybe no hyphen?

Or go farther and go with tvrepairman-colorado-springs-co

My point is, I am lost. It seems like for now its a one and done. You mess it up, your stuck with it for a while, and I cannot find any ideas online on how to work this. Maybe because its common sense, but just looking for some friendly and honest advice.

Chris

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Chris,

Recommend that you read:

http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/2013/11/08/should-you-accept-a-custom-url-for-your-google-plus-local-page/

https://plus.google.com/+GoogleBusiness/posts/JVAgfxKHQ8u

http://blumenthals.com/blog/2013/10/31/google-custom-urls-facts-tidbits-and-concerns/

I'd recommend going with adding your city/state name to the URL only if you feel reasonably certain that the business is permanently located there. If you predict a future move, it wouldn't be a good choice.

[CommT]

Google is making you change your company name? Strange!

Do you mean that Google wants you to create your custom name? If so, make it your company name! If there is another entity with the same company name as you - for example my company is based in the UK and caters entirely to the UK market but there is another company in USA with exactly the same company name (fortunately they have good reviews, so are clearly trustworthy!) - we made sure we bagged the Google +, Twitter and facebook profiles first to avoid this issue, but I can imagine it's frustrating!

If as I suspect, you have the same company name as another entity on Google + then why not add something meaningful to yours - if your a local service (e.g. TV repair man) then why not 'company-name-location'? If the other entity is on a different industry to you, why not append your industry to your company name - 'company-name-TV-repairs'?

Just a thought! Good luck, and best wishes,

Amelia

[asbchris]

What's hard is google is making me change my company name. So I have my company name but that are also saying, you can have it but you mut customize it.

so that's what led to the question. I am not trying to compete against google, I'm trying to make sure that I'm not messing up the google custom url

[MoosaHemani]

Chris, you want to include URL so that it appears in the search results against the query? If this is the vision behind this approach then I would argue!

Write “TV Repair Man” in Google and you will see no Google+ URL is appearing but mostly they are pure websites and local citations. The reason why I would encourage you to use your company name is because this way you will be able to tell people that you are also available on Google+ and people can easily find you and connect on with you on Google+

I would recommend using this custom URL feature as part of the branding.

Hope this helps!