Google My Business: Multiple businesses operating from same address
-
Hi guys,
This seems to be quite common (especially now with "hotdesking" becoming increasingly popular), but I've never had to do local SEO for a business like this before so was just wondering on best practice for a business who shares the same brick-and-mortar location with multiple other businesses.
For Google My Business verification, it does seem you just have to get there first. With Google unverifying the first account tied to that address if you attempt to verify another - I don't want to do this, due to the relationship between my client and the verified business in question.
Any suggestions?
-
Hi Tom,
This has been extremely helpful!
Good work man,
-
Hi Ria,
Yeah, it's so important to get all these questions answered before you start work. Sounds like you need some answers before you can interpret which of Google's guidelines apply. Good luck!
-
He seems to have used a single phone number throughout his previous clinics, though he works from a main one (which is the one he wants to be locally optimised for), he frequently works from other clinics too - with the same landline contact number.
Not sure about dedicated set of rooms or forward-facing front desk - I've put this forward to him. As well as his regular working hours, if any. I've actually tried to follow your advice from your "new clients" blog post, Miriam, but it seems as if the difficulty is getting all the questions answered in one go haha. Oddly, I seem to get a quicker response when it's one question at a time.
-
I noticed this too very recently! I've added the location via that method, as well as through Google Maps Editor through a different account.
-
This is fantastic! Thank you
-
Hi Ria,
The place falls under the multiple practitioners - single location scenario.
Multi-Practitioner Practices For practices with multiple public-facing doctors, it is acceptable to create local pages for each doctor, in addition to the practice’s local page. If this is the case, do not include your business name in the name of the practitioners’ pages. And try to differentiate between these pages with either a different phone number or suite number for each doctor, when possible. - See more at: http://www.searchinfluence.com/2016/04/google-my-business-for-doctors-visibility-authority-seo/#sthash.mRhgvMae.dpuf
According to Mike Blumenthals' site - the Google instructions for this have vanished! so you can get his take on the same thing here.
"
Individual practitioners (e.g. doctors, lawyers, real estate agents)
An individual practitioner is a public-facing professional, typically with his or her own customer base. Doctors, dentists, lawyers, financial planners, and insurance or real estate agents are all individual practitioners. Pages for practitioners may include title or degree certification (e.g. Dr., MD, JD, Esq., CFA).
An individual practitioner should create his or her own dedicated page if:
- He or she operates in a public-facing role. Support staff should not create their own pages.
- He or she is directly contactable at the verified location during stated hours.
A practitioner should not have multiple pages to cover all of his or her specializations."
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2016/04/10/google-my-business-guidelines-mia/
Hopefully that'll help you deal with your client more confidently
Ray pp Tom.
-
Hi,
Try to register your client as a department in an existing business. They can share same address.
-
Hi Ria!
I want to be sure I'm understanding exactly what you are describing. I'm concerned that what you are talking about may fall under Google's ineligible model guidelines which state:
An ongoing service, class, or meeting at a location that you don't own or have the authority to represent. Please coordinate with your host to have your information displayed on the page for their business within their "Introduction" field.
What are the specifics of this. Does the client have:
-
A unique phone number?
-
A dedicated set of rooms?
-
It's own forward-facing front desk?
-
9-5 (or similar) hours of operation?
-
-
I recently added a 'shared address' business to Google and for the first time I noticed an option to 'Add a missing place'. Perhaps that could work for you. I started by searching the address in Google Maps, then using the facility that comes up on the left. You'll probably see "At this location" and a list of businesses already there.
-
This is great advice, and I will definitely bear it in mind for similar situations in future. Unfortunately, for this particular business there are no dedicated "suites" as such. It seems like it's a clinic version of hot desking, with multiple doctors each running their own private business occupying the available clinic rooms within the building.
I appreciate it's quite a specific SEO dilemma, but I'm sure it must affect other industries. Especially now with the growing start-up generation. Even recently I visited an "enterprise hub" where businesses were able to use the address as their listed address whilst renting "hot desks" or "hot suites" by the day, changing desk or suite on a daily basis to whichever in the building is available. I wonder what _their _local SEO strategy looks like....
/thinkingoutloud
-
In the past, for these situations, we've had to get the location to set up suite numbers for each business. That way the address is correct, and then there is a suite number for each one. What we prefer to do is to get the USPS (postal service) to also set up and have those suite numbers in their system, as well. So, that way it's official.
You'll also need to post the suite numbers on the outside of the business, as well.
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
-
Co-working spaces for multiple locations?
I have been working out of co-working space for about 6 months, and I have had good results in local results here. I have also read that Google does not look favorably upon the inclusion of these locations. Has there policy on the inclusion of these spaces changed? Can I safely use other co-working spaces to expand to other locations? Thank you for your guidance. Ben Sessions
Local Listings | | BSessions0 -
Local Optimization for Multiple Businesses Issues/Strategy
Hello Everyone, So we have a client with a geo-focused ‘sports’ site but they also have a second site they are using to promote the seasonal camps they run. Local demographics and traffic would be a priority and main source of traffic. We know it would be ideal to have all of it consolidated but in this case a separate site was needed. The camp site would be under a different Name but they do not really have a different physical location from the primary site. Assuming we can’t find a discernable different location we could use; from a local optimization perspective we have two questions: Does that mean that we shouldn’t venture into local listings that need an address and trying to rank for map results and instead shift focus to other local strategies (i.e. geo-relevant content, link acquisition….etc.)? – We don’t want to dilute or devalue the primary site at all but if possible would like to be able to come up for both. Should we avoid listing the address on the camp site as text for similar reasons? We know the same business could be listed for multiple locations but any suggestions on the opposite approach or input would be very appreciated. Please let us know if there is anything we could provide details for that might help. Looking forward to hearing from all of you! Thank you in advance. Best,
Local Listings | | Ben-R0 -
Best Listings for Service Area Business?
Hi Moz community! I'm wondering the best places to get a local service area business listed online? I'm working with a client who installs synthetic grass around Vancouver, but could apply to any local SAB ... I found this resource from Local Visibility Systems but it's almost 5 years old at this point ... http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/2012/08/13/can-you-rank-well-in-local-google-without-revealing-your-street-address-anywhere/ I started setting up an Apple Maps Connect account but it doesn't seem like they support the concept. Is there a way to hide an address in Apple Maps Connect? Is it worth submitting at all? Does anyone have a comprehensive list of modern directories that matter for local SEO that support SABs? Thanks very much everyone! - Paul
Local Listings | | paulz9991 -
Google Places - Remove Completely vs. Permanently Closed?
This is a bit confusing to explain so bear with me please. We have a client that used to have an old law practice with a partner. The site and backlinks were very large and it had a lot of domain authority. It also had a very large citation profile and history. The two lawyers have since split, but there remains multiple Google Places listings out there for the old partnership. We have fixed the one showing the old business practice name, but not the one that he setup for his personal name. One of the biggest hassles is that the old location he setup has his attorney name in the actual listing. The issue is that we cannot close the old listing (we tried this), as it comes up permanently closed when you Google his name. If you search for his new Law Firm, the correct business listing that we have set up will show. The new listing also includes his name and has over 50 five star reviews. We hoped that the large amount of legitimate reviews would get rid of or at least suppress the old listing, but it is not happening. So I am a bit confused as to what to do. If we close the old listing Google shows the red "permanently closed" listing when you Google his name. We cannot update the old listing information to show his new address as then it will compete with the new listing that we setup that shows all the positive reviews. The old listing was not created by us, and the new one was. The new one shows when you search for his Law Firm name in Google, but not for his personal name i.e "NAME HERE ATTORNEY" or "HIS NAME and LOCATION" Interested to hear your thoughts. The only way I can think to fix this is to contact Google directly and see if there is a way to permanently delete the listing from Google maps, but I am not aware that this is possible.
Local Listings | | David-Kley0 -
"state" abbreviation in Google My Business for Irish/UK locations
Hi guys I have a question about one of the required bulk upload fields for Google My Business Locations: "State". We are covering Ireland and the UK and we don't have states, more provinces and counties. Any ideas what to enter in to this field? For example, for a shop in Dublin Ireland should it be Dublin (the county) Leinster (the provence) for the "State" field? And how are these abbreviated? Should I just enter IE or GB for all entries in the state field?
Local Listings | | AdiRste0 -
List of categories for Google Business for the UK
Does anyone have a compete list of the business categories for the UK Google Business listings? I have done a few searches on line and not uncovered anything up to date. Thanks in advance.
Local Listings | | highwayfive0 -
Removing website from search while you have Pending Google Places Listing
Hello, If you have assign a website in Google places that is in Pending mode, and you removed the website in WMT, from the searches. Will be denied in google places? Thanks for your help.
Local Listings | | EVERWORLD.ENTERTAIMENT1 -
Google custom url options - Brand Name or Keyword
Hi All, Recently we were given the option to choose from two custom urls for a car dealership's G+ page:
Local Listings | | EEE3
+brandname
+locationdealershipbrand Made up example:
+scottford
+nyford My gut tells me to choose the +brandname option, but curious to see if anyone had any other input about how the "location + dealership brand" custom url choice could impact local search results, if at all. (I was surprised that it even came up as an option because to me it echoes EMDs...) Thoughts? Thanks!0