Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • MozCon
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • MozCon

        Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers

        Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. Local SEO
    4. Local Listings
    5. Why is a Google Listing Showing Up in a Different Town Than Its Address?

    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.

    Why is a Google Listing Showing Up in a Different Town Than Its Address?

    Local Listings
    2
    11
    1603
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • formandfunctionagency
      formandfunctionagency Subscriber last edited by

      I have a client who runs a dental office on the outskirts of Racine, WI. His address specifically shows up as being in Racine, however, his GMB profile has always showed with the category of "Dentist in Mount Pleasant, WI" displaying below the photos. (Mount Pleasant is the next town over and his office straddles the line between the two towns in Google's overlay map of the town.)

      Obviously this is frustrating and I'm concerned that his location is hurting his ability to rank in the larger, more populous town of Racine. Have any other SEOs ever encountered this? And if so, how have you approached the issue? Location pages? Mentions of the location more often on the pages?

      tsLvH2B

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • MiriamEllis
        MiriamEllis Subject Expert @formandfunctionagency last edited by

        My typical advice to business owners near the borders of a larger city they serve is to be honest about their physical location, but build relationships with/content surrounding the larger city.

        Your case is different, in that you are half-in/half-out of both cities. The client's physical address is in Racine, as attested by the Google Business Profile, so this is how I would most strongly market and identify the business. Racine has more than 2x the population of Mount Pleasant, so it is definitely your bigger client pool. So, unless I'm missing something about your client's client base, I'm guessing the majority of your efforts on and off the website will be optimized for Racine.

        Without a deeper dive into the client's scenario, I'm not sure what you should do about Mount Pleasant. It has a pretty good population of its own and it would be good to reach that audience. But, I'm wondering whether it would be better to leave that geotargeting to PPC rather than the website, if you're trying to make the biggest push for Racine. You only have one office you're working with, so I'm not a fan of optimizing the site for both without a creative plan to make it reasonable to do so.

        So, I think the ball is in your agency's court to deeply review the scenario and decide on the best way forward for consolidating or dividing optimization. Good luck!

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • formandfunctionagency
          formandfunctionagency Subscriber @MiriamEllis last edited by

          Thanks for the detailed response Miriam, I really appreciate the help.

          One final question regarding this... While Racine is the obvious population center in the area, Mount Pleasant still presumably has residents that need dental work done too. In your opinion, would activities intended to improve the client's visibility in Mount Pleasant detract from his ability to rank in Racine? For instance, would joining the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce be advisable if they offer a link to members? Should we add Mount Pleasant as a service area in GMB, etc?

          Again, thanks a million for the advise on this odd situation. If we make any notable progress, I'll come back to this thread to make an update!

          MiriamEllis 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • MiriamEllis
            MiriamEllis Subject Expert @formandfunctionagency last edited by

            Arggh! Definitely a frustrating and unusual case. Literally one of the best illustrations I've ever seen of how being on the border of a big city can create such a hurdle to rankings. Sorry this worked out this way, but yes, your options are:

            1. Create content surrounding Racine. I would suggest that the dentist find some opportunities to interact with/contribute to the Racine community that you can then create content surrounding. There has to be something more to write about than just a "our patients come to us from Racine" reason to write about Racine. That's not interesting. But, if the dentist sponsors Racine groups/teams/events, if he speaks at schools, belongs to business associations, contributes to online news, etc. all in Racine, this is something to showcase on the website to highlight his community involvement in that city. It will also be the best kind of way to get linktations (see: https://moz.com/blog/linked-unstructured-citations) to support organic rankings for implicit and explicit Racine-related searches.

            2. Invest in social outreach hinging on the Racine community.

            3. Invest in PPC targeting Racine

            4. Invest in offline advertising targeting Racine.

            5. Run campaigns at your practice that in some way reward customers who refer Racine neighbors to you.

            6. Use all available GMB fields to mention Racine. This includes Google Posts, Q&A, description, photos, review responses, etc.

            7. Bear in mind that while it's not likely for a business to rank outside it's city of location where there is a fair level of competition, it's also not absolutely impossible. Don't make any promises to the client about this, but on the back burner of your marketing plan, keep in mind that you are trying to see if any amount of organic signalling can overcome that border bias. I'd track everything closely. If you manage to surmount this issue, you'll have a fascinating case study on your hands.

            Honestly, the scenario of having the parking lot in Racine and the dental office in Mount Pleasant is so odd, I'm half-tempted to recommend you find some clever and funny marketing angle in it, but that could just be the local SEO in me who finds this scenario weird and exasperating. Maybe a goofy idea, but I've seen such things take on a viral life of their own for other local businesses. Good luck!

            formandfunctionagency 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • formandfunctionagency
              formandfunctionagency Subscriber @MiriamEllis last edited by

              Hi Miriam, an update on this:

              I spoke to the client about this and Google is right. The Racine/Mount Pleasant line runs straight through his parking lot. The parking lot is in Racine while the building is in Mount Pleasant. A tough situation all around, but one that illuminates the right steps forward with strategy a bit.

              Because of this, I feel we're always going to have a hard time ranking in Maps searches in Racine. What do you feel is the best path forward? Should we be treating Racine as a service area and creating city pages in hopes of improving organic rankings for Racine?

              MiriamEllis 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • MiriamEllis
                MiriamEllis Subject Expert @formandfunctionagency last edited by

                Thanks for the screencast. This is a super frustrating case for your client, honestly. When I first looked at the map, it looked to me like they were clearly on the Racine side of the line, but after looking at your screencast, I agree - it's borderline.

                Sadly, because of this, I don't think you have much of a case to make to Google if they are insistent that the business is technically in Mount Pleasant. It's especially unfortunate, because clearly, the business has a Racine postal address. Obviously, the postal authorities believe the business address in technically in Racine, but Google follows their own lead on this.

                I will ask around among some GMB forum Gold Product experts to see if there is any hope of appeal on this. I think I've seen folks make slight moves to the map marker to change this sort of thing, but I don't want to tell you to do something that could end up being problematic. If I hear anything positive, I'll return to this thread.

                formandfunctionagency 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                • formandfunctionagency
                  formandfunctionagency Subscriber @formandfunctionagency last edited by

                  PS: I'd recommend opening the screencast outside of DropBox, the quality on the website is awful but when I run it in Quicktime it appears just fine.

                  MiriamEllis 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • formandfunctionagency
                    formandfunctionagency Subscriber @MiriamEllis last edited by

                    Hi Miriam, it's honestly hard to tell. In addition to the city boundaries disappearing on zoom, the map pin has an animation that makes it slowly descend onto the map. It's literally on the line.

                    Check out the attached screencast I made to help us slow down and stop the Maps animation. At first, I have the boundaries of Mount Pleasant, WI displayed. Then I search for Dr. Gould's location. Based on where the pin falls, it looks to be on the Racine side of the fence but when you pull up the Satellite view and compare the placement of the building to Greenleaf Road (looks to me like the city limit comes through halfway between Greenleaf and Sunset/Byrd) it's possible that the limit line runs through the backyard. A tough call!

                    Thanks for your help!

                    Justin

                    Screen%20Recording%202019-04-02%20at%209.51.20%20AM.mov?dl=0

                    formandfunctionagency 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • MiriamEllis
                      MiriamEllis Subject Expert @formandfunctionagency last edited by

                      Hello Again,

                      Looking at this again after reading the reply you received from Google. The trouble is, when I zoom in enough on the map, Google's borders disappear, so I was having to approximate location. To confirm, can you let me know if this image is correct:

                      https://imgur.com/NhaXUj3

                      Thanks!

                      formandfunctionagency 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • formandfunctionagency
                        formandfunctionagency Subscriber @MiriamEllis last edited by

                        Hi Miriam, thanks so much for your advice on this. I really thought we had this one, but Google disagrees! I tweeted support and got the following answer:

                        "Thanks for reaching out. Upon further investigation, we found that the listing is located in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin on Maps here: http://spr.ly/6015EwZYV  Since, the information is not incorrect, we'll be unable to update it. However, this does support the listings organic ranking. To learn more about local ranking and tips check out the link here: http://spr.ly/6016EwZYn  Thank you for your patience and understanding. "

                        It turns out that the map of Racine may omit this SINGLE plot of land. The business address comes up as Racine, the business owner probably even pays taxes in Racine, but according to Google, he's solidly outside of town. I personally feel like this is debatable based on the map, but Google is at least consistent-- other businesses in the building come back with the same city designation. It's especially a shame because the dentist practicing literally next door comes up as a "dentist in Racine" in his city designation. We've always had trouble ranking the client in Racine, even against competitors with lower DA, and I suspect this city designation could be part of the reason why.

                        I've attached a few screenshots you may find helpful and if you should want to write a blog post or case study about this, I'm sure Dr. Gould would thank you : )

                        roFTx5E

                        MiriamEllis 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                        • MiriamEllis
                          MiriamEllis Subject Expert last edited by

                          Hi There!

                          This must be very frustrating, indeed. It's a really interesting case, actually. Looking up "racine" in Google and observing Google's red border on the map, I see your client as actually being just inside the city border of Racine. So, I think you actually have a case here for speaking to a Google rep about the incorrect designation showing up on your Google Business Profile. I would take a screenshot of the client's pin marker, and then a screenshot of the map search for Racine. It proves that the client is physically in Racine rather than in Mount Pleasant, so Google's designation is wrong.

                          Once you have your screenshots, this is what I would do:

                          Send a tweet to Google's Twitter support at https://twitter.com/GoogleMyBiz telling them you have an incorrect city designation showing up in their category summary and want to show them an image.

                          Be sure you are following them on Twitter as they will likely want to DM with you.

                          Once they get back to you (I find it takes 1-3 days typically) upload the screenshots you've taken and explain the problem and ask if they can help, as the map shows their text is wrong.

                          See what they can do.

                          Come back to me and tell me what happened.

                          Hope this helps!

                          formandfunctionagency 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                          • 1 / 1
                          • First post
                            Last post

                          Got a burning SEO question?

                          Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                          Start my free trial


                          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.

                          • See all categories

                          Related Questions

                          • r1200gsa

                            Unsolved Has anyone noticed the Google quote request response rate never changes?

                            google my business google penalty google

                            We respond to almost 100% of our quote requests, yet every quote email that comes in from Google shows a 27% response rate and it never changes. Has anyone else seen this or have any insight into it?

                            Local Listings | | r1200gsa
                            0
                          • MainstreamMktg

                            Seasonal Setting Options for Google My Business

                            Hi there, Not sure if anyone will have any insight but I have a seasonal business that I am closed for from September to March. I don't want to mark my business as  "permanently closed" through Google My Business as I don't want my customers to think I've gone out of business. I've seen a few times through forums that you can change your business to temporarily closed, but I can't find the specifics on how to do this. Any insight, suggestion or resources would be great! Thanks!

                            Local Listings | | MainstreamMktg
                            1
                          • Sociable_Bistro

                            How to Have Multiple Listings appear on Google maps

                            Hi my client has two locations for his restaurants: Me Gusta Tacos He wants to have both his locations show up in the map pack, which they currently do when you type in Restaurants, Dinner, food near me etc... However, when you google Me Gusta Tacos the Google listing shows up on the right for one of his locations, but there isn't a Map Pack for his two locations. I wasn't sure if a map pack only shows up when there are 3 or more locations, for instance, a chipotle which I added an image below to compare too. HGOgln5 Jgdoi4Y

                            Local Listings | | Sociable_Bistro
                            0
                          • SS.Digital

                            Yahoo Local Business Listings Hijacked

                            We are a solar company with three locations.  When claiming our business listings on Yahoo (Yext), we noticed that one of them had already been claimed.  The name of our company and our phone number were changed to a lead generation company.  Upon further inspection, this company has hijacked hundreds of listings throughout the state and the country. To see the extent of it, go here:
                            https://search.yahoo.com/local/s;_ylt=A0SO8odHUOZZdVUAYwBXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTByNWU4cGh1BGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--;_ylc=X1MDMTM1MTE5NTExOARfcgMyBGdwcmlkA3loNXdiQlJqVE9HMm9MdXlUSklLdEEEbl9zdWdnAzEEb3JpZ2luA3NlYXJjaC55YWhvby5jb20EcG9zAzAEcHFzdHIDBHBxc3RybAMEcXN0cmwDMjIEcXVlcnkDc29sYXIgY29ubmVjdG9yIGlydmluZQR0X3N0bXADMTUwODI4MTk4MA--?fr2=sb-top-search&p=solar+connector+irvine&fr=yfp-t- Or, just search in Yahoo's Local search section for "Solar Connector Irvine" or pretty much any city in California. On every hijacked listing, the company name is changed to "Solar Connector" and the phone number is changed to a unique local number, but all the other information is left the same.  Now when people think they are calling our business, they get a shady lead gen company instead.  I have submitted a request to Yext and have tried (and failed) to find a support phone number.    This is a widespread, blatant fraud, and I would hope they would have interest in fixing it. Solar Connector (fake name) is associated with SolarAmerica.com, which is run by Clean Energy Experts, which was purchased by Sunrun (a publicly traded company). My specific question is, does anyone have any insight on the best method for getting help from Yahoo/Yext?  Other than through their "help portal" on the website.  I need to speak with a human being.

                            Local Listings | | SS.Digital
                            1
                          • conalt

                            Google points of Interest / POI

                            Hello, Looking for some guidance on how to appear and get listed in Google Points of Interest in the Search Engine Results Page. Like when searching for "attractions Seattle" at the top of the SERP these listings appear. Cannot seem to find some good resources on the topic as well. Thanks Conrad

                            Local Listings | | conalt
                            1
                          • OrendaLtd

                            Different Phone Numbers in GMB/onsite

                            Hello All! I have an issue. I have a local business with multiple addresses, In order to start doing some conversion optimization I need to know where are the leads coming from, my assumption is that part of the leads come from phone calls directly from the google my business listing that appears in the local pack and some come from the website itself. Here's where the problem lays, I cannot understand how many calls come from each platform, Google My Business analytics provides a very high number that doesn't fit with my reports (i have a CRM that can track calls), the numbers are inflated in hundreds of %. The solution i thought of was implementing a different phone number in my website to track the leads, the problem is the NAP, which will be different. Another solution I thought of was implementing an additional phone number in Google My Business, and adding that additional phone number to the local landing page, displaying the new phone number as the main number on the page and leaving the old number in the schema markup. Does this solution seems fit? do you have another suggestion?

                            Local Listings | | OrendaLtd
                            0
                          • David-Kley

                            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-Kley
                            0
                          • billyguyette

                            Why I'm I ranking so low on Google Maps

                            About 3 months I started a website (www.guyetteroofing.com) for my roofing business in Montgomery, Alabama. The site is still a work in progress, however, because the competition doesn't really market via internet it was fairly easy to rank on Google Maps. Within 1 month the business was letter "A" in Google Maps. About 3 three weeks ago my ranking was dropped considerably, not showing up at all in letters A through G. The business is still indexed in Google Maps, but only represented by a small red dot. My website is still ranking pretty high for "roofers in Montgomery", but my position on Google Maps has all but disappeared. I have no idea what I've done to be rank so low on Google Maps but still have a solid position on regular Google Search. I've checked my citations and my NAPs, there are a few inconsistencies but nothing major.  How can I rank so far below my competition if I have twice as many citations, an actual website, and a Google Plus page?

                            Local Listings | | billyguyette
                            0

                          Get started with Moz Pro!

                          Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                          Start my free trial
                          Products
                          • Moz Pro
                          • Moz Local
                          • Moz API
                          • Moz Data
                          • STAT
                          • Product Updates
                          Moz Solutions
                          • SMB Solutions
                          • Agency Solutions
                          • Enterprise Solutions
                          Free SEO Tools
                          • Domain Authority Checker
                          • Link Explorer
                          • Keyword Explorer
                          • Competitive Research
                          • Brand Authority Checker
                          • Local Citation Checker
                          • MozBar Extension
                          • MozCast
                          Resources
                          • Blog
                          • SEO Learning Center
                          • Help Hub
                          • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                          • How-to Guides
                          • Moz Academy
                          • API Docs
                          About Moz
                          • About
                          • Team
                          • Careers
                          • Contact
                          Why Moz
                          • Case Studies
                          • Testimonials
                          Get Involved
                          • Become an Affiliate
                          • MozCon
                          • Webinars
                          • Practical Marketer Series
                          • MozPod
                          Connect with us

                          Contact the Help team

                          Join our newsletter
                          Moz logo
                          © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                          • Accessibility
                          • Terms of Use
                          • Privacy

                          Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.