Hi Chris,

Without being able to look at the actual listing, it's difficult to diagnose an issue like this one. If you cannot share your client's details (understandable) can you provide further clarification as to your initial description of the type of search you're performing? I'm not quite following, as it seems you are saying you are doing a search for your client's own business name and location in Google's main search engine and that this is bringing up completely unrelated businesses instead of your client's business. This should not be happening, and I'm actually wondering if this isn't what you mean by your description. Please clarify if you can.

It would be best if you could actually show me the search and results, but if you can't do that, further description would help a little. I'll look forward to your reply!

Hey There

While I haven't personally experimented with this, these resources interested me and I thought they might interest you, too:

http://www.bestpestmarketing.com/nearbynow/

http://www.localsearchforum.com/local-seo-ranking/17695-nearby-now-heat-maps-reviews-does-anyone-use.html

What surprises me is the lack of coverage of this app in the past year. If you set your search parameter to the past year, you'll see very few mentions. I'm not sure why that is, but it actually took me a minute to even remember the app you were referencing when I first read this thread. Then, I remembered seeing it discussed in 2014. If you do play around with it and like the results, I'd love it if you'd update this thread with your experience, as there just doesn't seem to be a ton of coverage on it.

Hi Anatoliy,

I am seeing this Google+ Local page for you:

https://plus.google.com/117400845160255741148/about?hl=en

Both in the main SERPs and as the circle image on your Google+ page, I see a photo of a woman getting a massage.

This photo is coming from here:

https://plus.google.com/117400845160255741148/photos?hl=en

Because this is the first photo in your lineup of photos, it is the one Google is using as your main photo. This seems to confuse many people. See:

http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!searchin/business/change$20photo/business/AiFuzhaOs6g/hd4H1BNxWDEJ

So, if you want a different photo to appear, you need to put it first in the lineup. Be advised, however, that photo changes can take weeks to go into effect.

Hope this helps!

Hi Echo1,

If you find that those keywords are driving traffic, then yes, I'd select them as your categories...but not as your first categories.

Regarding services radius vs. areas served, I recommend you read this thread:

http://localsearchforum.catalystemarketing.com/service-area-business-issues/4780-setting-milage-radius-versus-static-location-places.html

Hope this helps!

Hi Courtney,

No - the client can participate in Google Places for Business if they are willing to put their home address in the dashboard and then take the necessary steps to hide it. So long as it is hidden, no one should show up at their house. They can then get listed at the other directories highlighted in Phil's article that also allow the home address to be hidden. What they can't do is try to set up a Google listing using a P.O. box, because it's simply not allowed. If their concern is keeping their address hidden so that people won't come to their home, it's completely possible to do so and this justifiable concern should not exclude them from building citations; it will merely limit the number of citations they build to being on those directories that permit the address to be hidden. Hope this makes sense!

Bob,

William and Chris have both provided great insight on this. Review velocity has certainly come up as a possible trigger for filters, but so far, citation velocity has not been investigated or pointed out as an issue by anyone I know in the Local SEO community.

Does this mean it couldn't become an issue in future? I wonder about this. In the 10 years I've been working on the web, I have watched the rise and fall of directory submissions as a powerful tactic in traditional SEO. I am not sure if velocity had anything to do with that, actually, or if it was simply the Google decided that these types of links were not a great signal of relevance.

Obviously, right now, directory-type listings are the core tactic of Local SEM, and it's hard for me to imagine that changing any time soon, though Google appears to be trusting social signals more and more as relevance indicators. But as to the specifics of velocity, your guess is as good as anyone's as to whether Google will, at some point, create a filter that relates to this. We'll all have to wait and see.

Hey Again Bob,

Happily, I was able to catch Darren almost immediately. I have his permission to quote his replies on this topic. Very fascinating stuff here, I'm sure everyone will agree!

"Citation velocity isn't an issue. If I build 100 citations today, they will "go live" on the various sites at all different rates. 10 might get posted same day, some within a week, others within a few weeks, and others with months (or even years). So, citation throttling is naturally built in to the citation building process. I don't believe Google is measuring citation velocity as a positive or negative factor, but, the links can hurt you if you get too many at once.I have seen a case where one citation submission on one site spread to listings on THOUSANDS of other domains within the same business listings network. Rankings tanked.

"It's important to make sure you're submitting to quality sources. See: http://www.whitespark.ca/blog/post/12-how-to-identify-quality-citation-sources

"I think it's only a concern if you're not careful with the quality of the sources you're submitting to. You can only cause damage if you hit a site like the one I identified (it's a very nasty negative SEO source that I don't want to reveal). Building citations at 20, 30, 50, even 100 per day is no problem in my opinion because of the natural spread of when these listings go live."

Great feedback from Darren, no? I learned something today! I always learn something new whenever I talk to Darren and I appreciate the time he took to share his take on this with me. If anyone knows citations inside and out, it's Mr. Shaw!