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 for Municipalities?
-
I'm working with the City of Lakewood, WA, on an image campaign that overlaps a bit with some SEO goals. If you Google "Lakewood, WA", in the knowledge panel to the right of the search results is an image of building on fire. I'm not sure where this image comes from or why it has been selected as the image to represent the City of Lakewood but its been there for a while. If this was a small business, I would simply claim their Google My Business page and feed some good images into it. Problem solved. But Google doesn't offer an option to "Claim this City". LOL. Can you create a GMB page for a municipality? Does anyone know the right thing to do here to make this picture go away and give the city more control over its own image?
-
Thanks, Joe. Appreciate you taking the time. All the testing from my team and the client show no signs of fire now too. So, mission accomplished. One takeaway here seems to be that Google actually pays attention to the Feedback tab.
-
Hello Paul,
I'd imagine that Google applies the same rules worldwide assuming that the municipalities are governed in a similar manner. I would set up the municipality as one would a business.
I've also Googled "City of Lakewood WA", no fire-related images to report as per my screenshot, I searched in incognito mode also
-
Joe,
Do you have any insight into the claiming process? I see you're in Australia. I wonder if the process is the same worldwide. On an interesting note, I used the Feedback tab at the bottom of the insights panel to tell Google that the picture of the burning building was not a fair representation of the city. It's been there for a year or more in all its smoky glory. Today when I Googled "City of Lakewood WA" and "Lakewood WA", I saw the same knowledge panel but no hellish hotel fire picture! So maybe the problem is solved. Do you mind checking to see if you have the same experience (i.e. no fire picture)? I'm not sure if Google notes a preference of mine and changes everyone's experience or just mine.
-
Very singular question, yes you can, the city council have done it where I live https://bit.ly/2N8rxkT
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
-
Verifying Google My Business After An Address Change
Hello,
Local Listings | | Ben-R
We are trying to verify our Google My Business listing, however, the current unverified listing is using an old address we no longer have access to. The only option for verification is through the mail. We tried requesting an edit but it didn’t go through. Would the best option be to create a new one and try to have the old (unverified) listing removed? Any insight would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Best,0 -
How do I rank for a different business categories on google local?
Hello, How do I appear on the local listings for google in different categories or services that I offer? For instance, we're a physical therapy clinic by trade but we specialize in orthopedics, sports medicine, and lower back pain. Thus, how do I rank on google local for these types of services? Currently, we rank for physical therapy but we also miss out on a big part of our business by not ranking for these listings on local. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Scott
Local Listings | | scottgray06200 -
Local Recreational Marijuana Dispensaries Disappearing from Google Maps when Plurals used.
This is the second time I have posted this question and never got a satisfactory result. I have an SEO client in Tacoma Wa and when you type (Dispensaries Near Tacoma they are in the Top 3 snack pack and the Google maps shows 20 other similar businesses. However, when you search (Dispensary Near Tacoma) only 3 or 5 recreational marijuana shops show up and my client disappears. Someone earlier suggested it could be because of the categories selection, but that can't affect ALL the other shops and like I said it happens in other cities. for example Dispensary Near Olympia vs Dispensaries Near Olympia. I have the full write up and pictures and diagrams on my blog. Please HELP! This could affect your future clients also. https://isenselogic.com/local-business-disappearing-on-google-maps-when-plurals-used/
Local Listings | | isenselogic0 -
Disadvantages to Hiding Business Address on Google Places?
From a Local SEO standpoint, wouldn't hiding a business address on Google Places for Business create an SEO disadvantage in that I would expect in the local portion of the search results, there would be a bias to showing businesses that have not hidden their address as then you can place a pin on the map at the location? Or from a Local SEO standpoint does it not matter if you hide your address or not?
Local Listings | | Jazee1 -
Two businesses - using separate suite numbers
I have a client that has an office in a particular suite (Suite 101) at a local address. They rent the space so they cannot just add another suite number. They are going to have two websites for two different businesses run from the same location. They will have separate local phone numbers for each business. Is it too much of a stretch for them to show one as "Suite 101-A" and the other as "Suite 101-B" for their local pages? One of the businesses is very new with few citations at this point. The other has not started up yet, so we have better control of the citations that will be created. I've seen similar questions posted, but not one that addresses this specific issue. Thanks for any advice!
Local Listings | | wcksmith10 -
Google is associating the wrong address with my website in SERPs
I've dealt with submitting address change information to Google (and Yelp, YP, etc.) when they have somehow scraped the wrong address or phone number. This is a little different. I work for the parent company with multiple companies of similar names making up the family of companies. What's happening is that people are searching for one of our companies (Lynden Transport) and getting the correct website results to pop up, but the address/phone # shown below the URL and in the local results screen is for one of our other companies (LTI, Inc.). Customers should be seeing a Fife, WA address but instead are seeing one for Lynden, WA. I've attached a marked up screenshot to better those what is happening. At least customers are generally finding their way to our company but it's causing quite a headache for our customer service reps and customers as they get transferred back and forth on the phone, and confusion for customers unfamiliar with our office locations. I've clicked on the "Send Feedback" link at the bottom of Google and explained what was happening, but beyond that I'm not sure what to do. The information presented isn't wrong, it's just being associated with the wrong company. It seems like a Google logic error and not something I can control or edit. Any ideas? moz-ltia.jpg
Local Listings | | RyanD.0 -
Google Maps redirect notice on track-able URL's (how do I track maps visits in analytics?)
We've been using trackable URL's to track Google My Business visits in analytics for years.
Local Listings | | RedNovaLabs91
Example: ?utm_source=GoogleLocal&utm_medium=example&utm_campaign=example In the past month I've noticed Google showing a redirect notice on any listing with a trackable URL. It happened for a day or so a few weeks ago - and then it's been a more permanent situation since this past week. Redirect Notice
The previous page is sending you to: www.example.com
If you do not want to visit that page, you can return to the previous page. I'm fine with removing the trackable URL's - however - I'm not sure how to track maps visits via analytics without using them. I can't find any updated information on options. The last post on moz was in 2011 (http://moz.com/blog/tracking-traffic-from-google-places-in-google-analytics). The alternate tactics in that post no longer work. So my question is:
- How do I track Google Maps (My Business) visits through analytics without using tracking URLs?1 -
Does anyone use Moz Local + Yext? How valuable is this for local businesses?
For brands that have a budget to pay $600 / year for valuable backlink directories, would you recommend Moz Local + Yext? I would like to hear some feedback on marketers that use Yext. Thanks,
Local Listings | | ColeLusby
Cole0