Are Category Names Allowed for Local Results?
-
I was under the impression naming your business something like "Miami Plumber Joe Smith" was a violation of google's guidelines...but I see these pop up all the time. Unlike backlinks from thin content sites or whatever, this seems like a pretty easy fix for google to change if they wanted to.
Am I missing something or has google just not dropped the hammer yet?
- Ruben
P.S. All those businesses I've seen, have no reviews and poor citation scores. i can only assume, they rank in the maps because of the keyword in the name.
-
Thanks for the extra insight, Linda. Much obliged!
-
Hi Ruben,
Keyword stuffed names are a major violation but one that Google often does not penalize.
Check out "Los Angeles Personal Injury Attorney". 2 fake names occupy the C and D spots.
Los Angeles Personal Injury Lawyer (Site used is AVVO.com)
Los Angeles Personal Injury Attorney (Site used is Lawyer.com)Both listings are really for Brenner Law. Same location and phone #.
Tons of us have blogged about it and reported to Google numerous times. Even reported to Matt Cutts a few times. The listings violate the guidelines PLUS 2 should not be showing in the pack like that for the same business anyway.
This is due to the bad Pigeon algo that was released 7/24. Pigeon is rewarding lots of spam. However KW stuffed names have been a problem for a long time. Just worse since Pigeon.
-
Hi Ruben,
Yes, a business named Bob's Stuff that titles itself Tampa Florida Boats, Sails & Marina Equipment on their Google+ Local page is definitely spamming Google. Such a title would not be covered by Google's descriptor feature by any stretch of the imagination. What you are referencing, I am as certain I can be that Google would consider spam.
-
Thanks, Miriam, I had read something about that. However, in my example, it's beyond just the one word descriptor.
The exact example is "Tampa Personal Injury Attorney" google plus page, and the business is "Capaz Law Firm." I feel like that is beyond what google's descriptors should allow, but I'll do a little more research...perhaps I missed something.
Best,
Ruben
-
None of these people legitimately named themselves that. The google plus page didn't match the business name...at all. But, still, it's good of you to point out, just to make sure.
-
Hi Ruben,
For many years, it was Google's firm policy that only your legal/dba business name was allowable. So, if you were Green Tree Floral, then that was what you needed to put in the business name field. You could not put Green Tree Floral Miami in the title or you risked being penalized/taken down.
In recent times, however, Google has made a rather remarkable policy change that, frankly, I still don't really trust. They are allowing the use of business name descriptors in some cases. Check out the last bullet point under the Business Name section in the guidelines:
https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en
You'll see what's allowed and what isn't.
*But, as I've said, I feel slightly unsure of this descriptor offer as it represents a complete 180 for Google. Kinda weird:)
-
I think you may be referring to something very specific. There shouldn't be a problem is someone legitimately names their business something local.
Make sure to be consistent with the NAP (Name Address Phone number) and the local results should reflect accurately.
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
-
My Company Doesn't Appear in the Search Results on the Right When I Search for It
Hello, I just found that one of my companies (iFix Appliances) doesn't show on the right in search results when I search for it. I found it accidentally, I just wanted to check if it shows Request a Quote button as recently I enabled messaging on GMB. Yet it's not there at all. Could you please help me figure out what happened and why it's not there? Is something wrong with its GMB listing? I have two locations so I created 2 GMB listings for one company. Is this something that might have caused the issue?
Local Listings | | VELV1 -
I want to remove my business from Google Local Listing Completely
I deleted my business from Google my business (GMB) but it's still showing on Google Local Listing. Kindly, tell me how can I removed completely. I need help?
Local Listings | | Sabar-din1 -
Do I need separate local numbers for two fitness locations?
I'm beginning local search work for a local studio that has two locations in the same city. Do I need to provide two different phone numbers in my NAPs for each studio or can both locations have the same phone number? Thanks! Ann
Local Listings | | amws240 -
Local Ranking Factors?
For Google, has anyone got a finger on how much of a factor the address type "service customers only at their location" versus "service customers at my business location AND customers location is" is as far as local search ranking especially for 3-pack results? (The former they hide the address the latter they show the street address) It seems to me the primary factors are obviously (a) proximity of user's location or location intent to the business location, then (b) natural organic ranking (age of business, domain authority, inbound links, quality content, relevance to the actual keywords searched for). But where does the address type rank amongst all the "secondary factors" like is business currently open, number of reviews and average rating, etc. etc. My guess would be reviews and average rating along with is business currently open would be third, and then address type would factor in - but for all I know the address type could be given much more importance than I am guessing?
Local Listings | | MrSem0 -
Strange Ranking Results
Hi Any ideas why doing a search for 'Family Portrait Photographer' from my location on the Isle Of Wight (after deleting cache/history) etc results in a load of results relating to Cardiff Wales (local serps and main listings)? I am close to cities like Southjampton & Portsmouth as well as few other all much neaer than cardiff ! All Best
Local Listings | | Dan-Lawrence
Dan0 -
Local SEO Issue or Penguin? Or both?
Hey folks I have a fairly complicated SEO issue we have been looking at for a few years now. There are two parts to this problem so would be interested to get the input of the community here and any experienced in Penguin and Local SEO issues. I am going to have to change the names to protect the innocent a bit here as some of the issue relates to a competitor and a shared address. History My client originally worked for company A which we will call Events R us. He then set up on his own at a new address and lets call his company Fantastic Events. EventsRus never had a good website or SEO Fantastic Events set up a great website and really focused on adding tons of relevant content for all the myriad event options available and subsequently did really well. This is a few years back and they were also doing some article marketing on sites like ezinearticles.com to build links (1). As time went on they did get a bit carried away with these low quality links and were buying $5 spun content articles and other low quality links. They ranked really well for a few key terms. There was a suspected local SEO issue as fantastic events used the same office as their fathers business called fantastic finance and the citations / phone number issues etc all had to be cleared up (2). Fantastic Events and Events R Us remained friends and over time Fantastic Events moved to the same farm address as Events R Us so they could offer a wider range of services based on the farm (and ran by fantastic events) and to some extent run away from the address confusion with the same office and very similar name to the other fantastic finance business. Events R Us wanted some of the Fantastic Events success and built a new website and largely copied the website of Fantastic Events - at times even lifting entire pages of content but certainly mirroring the structure of the site. Fantastic Events tussled with them for a few years over this and over time they updated the content but the structure and services and address all pretty much mirrored what was offered on the Fantastic Events site. (3) Two companies - same address (it's a farm so whilst there are different barns I believe Google can only get as far as the farm gate so same address to all intents and purposes. Same services give or take. Events R Us was the older company overall by several years and was at the farm address many years longer than Fantastic Events (4). Fantastic Events starts running a blog and adding regular, useful event orientated content. The first true team building blog out there as far as we could tell and traffic tripled over a six month period. Penguin hits and Fantastic Events loses a lot of traction - this gets worse with Penguin 2.0. Both the homepage and the evening events page lose visibility and traction. The owner gives up on the blog to a large degree. Subsequent clean up happens and is rigorous - all bad links are pretty much removed and the remaining elements are disavowed. (90% of it is actually gone by now). Penguin 3.0 comes and no recovery at all. Nothing. If anything it gets worse and the once strong blog is now losing traction. Events R Us starts to do really well in search for exactly the same terms that Fantastic Events used to do well for. In particular one page ranks for exactly the same keywords and in exactly the same position (#1) as what was believed to be the primary traffic driver on the Fantastic Events site. It is almost like they exchanged positions and Events R Us went from nowhere to a strong footing with some national and local keywords and Fantastic Events fell from grace. A new website is built. All content is refreshed and bought up to date. Some light investment back in the blog. Some light link building is done around digital PR and infographics. Some initial movement in the right direction but overall this did not move the dial. Certain pages on the site that used to rank are nowhere - looks very much like a page level / keyword level penguin penalty. These same pages rank great, often first on the competitor site (an exchange of positions to some extent). Advice from myself and other esteemed consultants was to clean up, build some good links and wait for Penguin 4.0 to remove that eventuality. Also that the address issue could be causing some local SEO issue where Google believes the two businesses are one and has somehow merged the two with some local SEO filter or some such (same business with multiple websites at same address). Penguin 4.0 comes along and no improvements. Events R us sit pretty. Feeling is that the local issue must play a part here now that Penguin should be eliminated due to the extensive link clean up etc and there must now be some action to resolve this address / local issue. Issues low quality links - but cleaned up 100% now. same business name and address as fathers business initially older business copied the structure and content of newer business moved to same address as older more established business with very similar content older business now seems to have taken all the exact keywords and positions the newer business used to occupy Penguin 4.0 and no resolution. Local SEO issue seemingly remains Summary So we are left in a difficult position. The business does not want to move. But if there is some filtering or merging going on here then how can we get around this? The client is likely collateral damage to an algorithmic component designed to stop single businesses having multiple websites. I know there are reports of this happening but I have never seen such a thing for an innocent business like this but the nature of the address (two separate barns on a gated farm) and the history and similarities between the businesses makes this difficult. Things are somewhat desperate though - a move has to be made now. Even if that is a physical one. The client has considered a virtual address to take that variable out the picture but I have advised caution. I am even cautious about a change in physical address. Google has a long memory. If such a move was made at considerable expense would it help or would the other business retain Is the best option a new start? New brand, address, website, services etc - cut all ties with the historic Fantastic Events brand and by association the Events R Us brand. This is not a recommendation I can quickly or easily make so would be really interested to hear the feedback on anyone who has come across such a multi faceted and complex issue before. This is a tough one. We know what we are doing on the local front. We know what we are doing on the Penguin front. We know how to build links and authority. We are doing this work of the clock to help a long term friend / client get back to where they really deserve to be. The history is not spotty clean but the good work and effort far outway a short spell building dodgy links several years ago now. As an SEO consultant I don't want to advise for the company to rebrand and move offices at considerable expense but whilst I have a theoretical understanding of the issue how can we prove it and be sure this is the best possible advice? Thanks folks - hope this at least makes for interesting reading. This is something of an edge case. A good business likely caught up in a filter designed to stop abuse. Cheers
Local Listings | | Marcus_Miller
Marcus1 -
Creating a new Google local business page vs. adding additional locations to an existing Google business page?
We are a service company that both travels to customer locations and serves customers at our business location. The split is about 80/20 (travel vs. serve customers on location). We just opened up a new office in a city about 1 hour away from our main location. The question is, should we create a new business page and account on Google local or should we add the new location to our existing google local account? The new location has a separate website, phone number, email etc. My inclination is to create a new local business account/page on Google. Has anyone experimented with both solutions and tested which option creates more powerful local signals for ranking?
Local Listings | | Vspeed0