Claiming Google+ URLs?
-
I have several brands which I am managing G+ profile pages for. These range from established brands with large followings to just starting out. When I try to claim a custom URL for these on Google+, it says to add some extra characters after the brand names to make them unique. I can't find any example of established big brands who have G+ URLS like "+toyotausa24" "+tacobell3" or anything like that. This does not seem to be well documented anywhere. Can someone tell me what the deal is with this feature?
Also what is the best practice for large brands when claiming this? +BrandName1?
-
Irvco,
I checked with our head of Local, Amber, who I consider an expert and she states as follows:
You don't have to add a special character. It just depends what vanity URL's have already been generated by Google and accepted by the listing manager.
Sometimes you don't have the option of adding characters. You can either accept the vanity URL or keep what you have.I hope that helps you out, Best,Robert
-
I do sometimes see hijacked G+ pages, or other shady G+ activities, but in my experience flagging it or calling Google resolves the issue quickly. You're always going to have people trying to game the system, just make sure to know how to defend yourself against it.
As for +TacoBellCom, first you would have to have the business named "Taco Bell" and get that verified (good luck there). Then, you'd have to hope that Google lets you add characters to the end of the URL instead of deciding it for you. Then, you would have to hope you were never reported, flagged, or otherwise looked at by a human on Google's end. So, odds are it wouldn't work for too long.
That's not even getting into the legality of trademark infringement.
-
Here is the other aspect of this that is disturbing to me, Google's implication with this is that other people could claim the same trademarked brand name? So I guess I can go make a G+ page and call it +TacoBellCom and they wouldn't stop me from trying to pass off as the official brand.
-
Hi, yes you are correct that I'm mainly looking at brands that are not specific to a geographic region. Thanks for your suggestion on branding the URL/domain as an option.
I'd be interested if anyone has any insight as to what drives this. I can find many examples of small companies and brands that were able to claim their brand name (+BrandName) and I have even found examples of companies that claimed keywords instead of their brand names? There doesn't seem to be any connection with company size, followers or online ad spend. The only thing I can figure is the rules used to be different and at some point in time they changed and some pages got in during the window of time when it was different.
-
Good answers here, run with it
-
IrvCo
William's response around geography is a very good idea in my opinion. I think you are asking about a major brand without Geo qualifier needed. What you can do is what we did with our company drumBEAT Marketing. We are +drumBEATMarketingNET because we are the .net domain.
I have wondered about this from time to time myself so I have also forwarded this to our Director of Local as she is on some exclusive Local forums where we might get an answer better than mine. I will post her thoughts here as soon as she responds but likely in 12 hours.
Best,
-
When I have multiple listings under the same brand like that, I think it's good to add something descriptive at the end.
For example, if you have a brand with 10 locations in 10 cities, then you can make them +BrandLosAngeles, +BrandNewYork, etc.
The URLs are there to make for a better user experience, so adding a number to end of the brand doesn't really help much. Instead, think of a word or two that is memorable, and that makes sense to those who might see it.
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+ for photographers
What do you think is the best approach when it comes to using Google+ as a photographer? The images have no real SEO benefit, but the ones I post seem to get shared more, +1ed more than posting a link to one of my blog posts with a preview image. What do you think is the best way to approach this problem?
Social Media | | IoanSaid0 -
Google+, Link from My Site to Author's Google+ Page or to Company Google+
Recently I verified authorship for my Website. So the image from my personal Google+ account appears in search results. My website has a Google+ social media button. Should the link point to my corporate Google+ account or to my personal Google+ account? What is more credible from Google's point of view? What are best practices for this issue? Look forward to hearing from the MOZ community. THANKS!!!
Social Media | | Kingalan1
Alan Rosinsky0 -
Lost with Google services: place, Google +, page, youtube ...?
Hello MOoooooooooooooz ! Sorry to add another post on this. But I think most of us agree on the fact that for Google +, Google is not making very good job. Even worst when we know how low is the engagement on this website. Now I'm facing the following issue: Multi page and accounts through Google services ! One of my customer is playing music. So she has a google + profil and a youtube. Now we created the same for her website: A google page and then a google place (Google team has been sending hundred of messages and so far has not merge them). Then I opened a youtube for the Google Page. So i end up with: A Google + Profil for her (we use for the authorship) A Goole + profil for her website (we use for the SEO) A Google place page (we use for maps SEO) A youtube account for her (come with gmail) A youtube channel for her (easier to promote her job) A youtube channel automatically created through the Google + page (2) What would you do in this case to: Get 1 Google page Get 1 youtube channel I would like something easy to use even for youtube download or reviews and sharing. So I do not know which one to keep, etc ... Hope you can help me as I'm sure many of us faced the same issue.
Social Media | | AymanH0 -
Google Auth and brands/individuals problem
So you can auth pages with personal google+ profiles - and its being suggested by some that this could now help rankings if that person has lots of people in their circles. So what about brand/companies content? why cant they auth the content with their Google+ profile to get the content ranking better. It doesn't seem right an individual blogger can do this but a company cannot who has written lots of guides. An example is a holiday company has written some awesome content on resorts around the World - how to use the auth for that content to rank higher? - currently only possible to link up an individual as writing the content not the brand/company itself. Any suggestions on this much appreciated. I do not want to lose any gain there might be from this new bonus given from Google.
Social Media | | pauledwards0 -
Google+ Business Profile, Places, Company, or Brand
We have a company with 2 offices, 1 on each coast. I was wondering what would be the best way to create a google+ business page for this to maximize them? We'd like to show a nationwide presence with 2 offices. Are there any downsides to picking any 1 of these? To clarify, there are 3 choices: local business, brand, and company. Which of the 3 would you recommend for a company with a nationwide presence and 2 offices?
Social Media | | ilyaelbert0 -
How can I see Facebook Comments associated with a url
I was on shared count and saw a URL that i have has 103 FB comments. I was wonder if there was a way to see those comments at all. Thanks!
Social Media | | Gordian0 -
Google+ What account to use for business?
Ok, we have been pretty dismissive of Google+ but having read more and more about how it is now directly influencing search results (currently in the USA) we are going to suggest setting up accounts for business. The question is, which Google Account should be used for the business page? In the nice presentational video on Google+ the example business is a nice local bike shop, which is simple right? Just use the small business owners account. But what about larger clients? Who in the org should have the business page on their account? What if that individual leaves? Can the page be separated from that account? Should you use maybe a Google Apps for Business account? But the issue with that is you will obviously have no one in any circles to share that page with. It all seems to be too closely tied to the personal side of Google+ Any help would be great. Thanks.
Social Media | | CarlE0 -
Dear SEOMoz and SEOMoz pro members, can any of you spare a Google + invite for a fellow pro member? please?!
[email removed by staff -- like comments say, let's PM this information rather than have it indexed]
Social Media | | richcowley1