Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Google My Business pages for New Construction Communities
-
I have a number of builders of new homes as clients. Typically, they build out a whole neighborhood at once and give the neighborhood a fancy name. We were planning to create Google My Business pages for these communities but then ran into some potential challenges.
- As new communities, they are sometimes not on Google's radar yet
- Some of them have model homes where you might take a tour with a realtor that serves the community exclusively but many don't.
So here come the questions...
- Is there a way to make Google speed up its process of recognizing new addresses?
- I have to choose an address to associate with the GMB page, probably the address of model home. Is this going to create annoying problems for a buyer who someday buys that model home?
- Since some communities don't have a model home, I could arbitrarily assign an address of one of the neighborhood homes to the GMB page, but this leads to the same question about creating a GMB page that will exist after the builder has sold all the houses in the community. Will it be weird to have the GMB referring to someone's private residence down the road?
- My assumption is that claiming a GMB page would help with local ranking if someone searches for something like "new homes" in addition to providing easy driving directions to someone who has done a bit of research and Googles the name of the new home community while out driving and searching for homes. These seem to be the main benefits, but are the challenges associated with questions 1-3 even worth the trouble of trying to claim listings for these communities?
-
Indeed. Luckily organic is the client's top traffic and conversion source.
-
Hi Paul,
Okay, glad to know you were at least able to determine that GMB listings aren't right for the business model. Sounds like you will need to rely on other forms of outreach (organic, paid, social). Good luck!
-
Thanks for answering my question, Miriam. It looks like the client's type of business wouldn't work with GMB's rules. Thanks for making me aware of this. As to your business model question, each community has it's own brand name (e.g. Golden Homes by [Builder Name]).
-
Hi Paul,
So glad you asked. This is one of those rather complicated Google My Business issues, so my answer is going to be a bit long to be sure I'm being thorough. Google's guidelines have long stated the following: (https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en
Ineligible businesses
The following businesses aren’t eligible for a business listing:
- Rental or for-sale properties, such as vacation homes, model homes or vacant apartments. Sales or leasing offices, however, are eligible for verification.
Historically, Google has forbidden the use of GMB listings for temporary sales offices located in model homes. If you had a sales office located somewhere permanently, you could list it, but if it was temporary, it wasn't eligible.
Now, the guidelines still read this way, and you can see GMB Forum Top Contributor Joy Hawkins citing them back in 2016 in this thread in which a business model similar to yours got all of its listings suspended:
*Please note that the above thread contains references to Google Mapmaker which no longer exists.
However, a couple of months after that initial thread, Joy received some new information from Google (see: https://www.en.advertisercommunity.com/t5/Spam-Policy/Platinum-Homes-Account-Suspended-having-17-locations/m-p/825706#M5299), which I'll copy/paste here:
"I just heard back from Google because I double-checked with them. They told me:
_ We (GMB) recently decided to allow leasing offices for model homes on the Map so I'm wondering if that is what the user is saying they see often. If it's actually just empty model homes and not the leasing office, we should remove them."_
So, it seems that if you have a leasing office within a model home, Google is now okay with this (though you still should not list an empty model home).
However, moving on with your question, Paul, if the newly built communities aren't mapped yet, you will see further down in that second GMB forum thread that this represents a problem, which Joy addresses this way:
"Since Street View doesn't confirm or show any of your sales offices, the only way for me to get these all reinstated is for you to get photos of inside and outside each of them to help Google see they exist. The easiest way to do this would be to add them to your website and let me know where they are so I can reply back to Google. Let me know when you've done that."
So, what I'd recommend, then, is that you get photographic documentation together of any staffed sales offices located in a model home that isn't yet visible via Street View, and that you then post this to the Google My Business Forum, asking that a Top Contributor like Joy please help you get recognized. Hopefully this will help you avoid the problems that the poster in the Google forum ran into with suspension, but I can't guarantee it. It's confusing when Google's public guidelines don't reflect their current internal stance, and this is one they need to update publicly if they've changed their policy. At least you now have in your hands the forum threads that document what Google told Joy, in case you run into TCs or Google staff who do not understand this change of policy.
As for what to do when a sales office closes and is finally sold to a buyer, what is the model of this business? Specifically, are different communities they build branded with the same name? For example, are multiple communities named "Golden Homes", or is one called "Golden Homes" and the second called "Oceanview Homes" and the next called "Riverside Homes"? Please, let me know, as good advice on this question could depend on how the business operates.
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
-
Why won't a business show up in the local pack when all signs point to that it should?
Hello! I've been trying to figure out why a business won't show up in the local pack even though their GMB has more reviews, seems to be doing everything right, and just doesn't show. The business is "A Senior Journey", and should be showing up for searches relating to "senior placement services tucson" or "senior placement tucson", but no dice. Been doing a competitor analysis and they are doing better or on par with all of their competitors. The same businesses in Tucson that are competitors show up both times, even Phoenix locations, but not A Senior Journey...any ideas? Thank you!
Local Listings | | WebMO-Tech-Rep0 -
Google My Business -Choosing Multiple Categories
Hi friends, I'm trying to work out what would the practice be for a business who is operating in different categories in terms of displaying those categories in Google My Business account. We have a client who is supplying both catering and cleaning products (both categories are core). In this case, listing those two categories in GMB would be alright or should I expect a negative impact on results related to both categories as we have chosen multiple categories? Any advice would be appreciated greatly!
Local Listings | | bbop331 -
Google Business Listing with no physical office location
Hey, everyone! As a business owner who works from home and doesn't have a physical office location. Is setting up a Google business listing without location going to hurt my local search ranking? Should I get a virtual office so I have a physical location? Thank you!! 😃
Local Listings | | ichorstudios0 -
Where does the small description on a business listing come from in google maps?
Hi All, Simple question, but I'm struggling to find the answer, so I hope someone is able to help. The business I run is Oakdene Forest Park; Google Maps URL: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Oakdene™+Forest+Park/@50.8114372,-1.8598721,18z/data=!4m12!1m6!3m5!1s0x4873980ce90e4ef7:0x755579d631c25b33!2sOakdene™+Forest+Park!8m2!3d50.8114796!4d-1.8582842!3m4!1s0x4873980ce90e4ef7:0x755579d631c25b33!8m2!3d50.8114796!4d-1.8582842?hl=en Under the business name, it has a small description and for the life of me I don't know where Google is getting it from because a part of it is wrong. It looks like this: Oakdene™ Forest Park Rural Resort with Entertainment & a Spa I would like to remove the term 'Rural Resort' but where do I find it?? Thanks in advance for your help.
Local Listings | | Shorefield_Holidays0 -
Radius Size around GMB location for google local search
We are a digital marketing agency Our clients are (virtually all) retail automotive dealerships. We compete in various market places coast to coast (USA). Since Google puts retail automotive dealerships under Local SEO umbrella, is it known ( published ) how large is the radius around my client's Google My Business rooftop's address? How wide is their search 'reach' according to Google? Asked another way, in a triangular, three SEO geo area, with one city being at the epicenter of the population dispersion, and my client, versus my client's competitors being different distances from where the majority of the population emanates from, all other SERP factors being equal (assumption) between the two competitors, how far is each clients REACH from a Local Search standpoint. Is this known? Published by Google. ONE example: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/BMW+of+South+Albany,+U.S.+9W,+Glenmont,+NY/42.7662693,-73.8138088/@42.6727121,-73.7993527,12z/data=!4m9!4m8!1m5!1m1!1s0x89dde0fe8829c405:0xd915fb9b3b60bf33!2m2!1d-73.7973301!2d42.589211!1m0!3e0
Local Listings | | GaryT_SEO1 -
Can I use the same interior photos for multiple stores in Google My Business?
Hi, The company I work for has many store locations across the country. Getting good/quality interior pictures has become very difficult for us. We recently good a Virtual Tour from Google for one of the locations, and they took some really pictures. According to Google, the "Photos should represent the actual business" and "Represent the real-world business location". My question is: since our stores are VERY similar in the interior, can we use the same pictures for them while we get more pictures? Would Google penalize this? Thanks!
Local Listings | | StantonOptical0 -
How do you go about updating / correcting bad business listings when you cannot contact the website directly?
There is a business listing I wish to correct / update on 411dir.biz There is no way to contact the website online, and in cases like this, I try to do a whois lookup, and reach out via the email / phone number there. This site seems impossible to connect with, has anybody else come up against situations like this in the past, if so what do you tell your client / what other approaches do people have? Thanks!
Local Listings | | ParadigmPCB0 -
Bing Places for Business - Worth It?
Hey Fellow Mozzers, I am trying to determine if Bing Places for Business is worth the time and effort it takes to create listings. My business has 900 locations, and would take some time to create the bulk upload file to load into the Bing Places for Business dashboard. My question is, since Bing already does a good job of creating business listings using data from 3rd party sources such as Yelp and Citysearch, where I already have a strong presence for each of my locations, is there any value in overriding the automatically created business page for each of my location with information that I upload?
Local Listings | | dsinger2