Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Hi Allie,

What I have read is that you can put more than one +1 buttons on the same page, yes. See: https://developers.google.com/+/web/+1button/

Scroll down to the FAQ section and you'll see this:

<dl>

<dt id="faq-multiple-buttons">Can I place multiple buttons on a single page that all +1 different URLs?</dt>

<dd>Yes. Use the href attribute as specified in +1 tag parameters to indicate the URL to be +1'd.</dd>

<dd>That being said, I have not read any studies about how to handle this best. I cannot find anything stating whether it is better to put all of the code on a single page or break it up into multiple pages. I'll leave this question open for discussion in case one of our members has a study or best practice to share on this.</dd>

</dl>

That's great to hear, Leo, and we are so glad to have you here!

Hi Leo,

Tom has linked to a very important piece from Local Visibility System regarding directories that allow you to hide your address. The author, Phil Rozek, actually wrote a more recent follow-up piece to this, so do check this out here:

http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/2013/04/22/private-local-citations-where-can-you-list-your-business-but-hide-your-address/

So, start with the article Tom linked to and then follow up with the one I've linked to, as it provides further citations sources that enable one to hide the address.

If the client does want to explore options other than his home as his location, then P.O. Boxes and Virtual offices must be avoided. Instead, he would need to rent a real office - perhaps from a company like Activspace.com, which gives you a real front door and phone hookup. But, honestly, countless businesses are run out of the home and Google gets this. Fortunately, many of the top directories support the hide-address feature, and while there are some directories your client won't be able to be listed in, putting him at something of a disadvantage in comparison to competitors who don't need to hide their address, there are still many place he can be listed.

Do be prepared, of course, to follow up this change of address with a great big citation cleanup campaign so that you can bring all mentions of his old address into compliance with his new location.

Good question! Glad you asked it!

My pleasure, Sida, and good luck!

Hi Allie,

I want to be sure we're both using the same vocabulary here (Google has made its branding so confusing). What code are you talking about and what does it do, specifically, and are you sure you mean Google+ Local pages...not Google+ pages? Please, let me know.

Hi Sida,

Thank you for the additional details. So, you are saying that despite the fact that you are searching from Bromley (where your head office is) you are being shown the Manchester office for a plain branded search. If this is the case, then yes, Google is for some reason favoring that Manchester location beyond the effects of localization. Normally, Google would be showing you the office closest to you (the Bromley one), so, something is going on here. Traffic could be part of it, but I suspect there may be more to it than this.

Unfortunately, at this time, Google does not offer the ability to set a preferred office location (wouldn't that be nice?). Everything is going to be handled by the algo, so whether it's authority or distance or what have you, Google has decided that your Manchester office is more relevant. This being the case, since you cannot alter the distance aspect, your only path would be to try to improve the authority of the main office. See, above, my original comments about on-page optimization, citations and reviews. If you could gear your work towards making the Bromley office surpass the other 2 locations in these areas, it might work.

I was looking at a similar but not identical issue at the Google and Your Business Forum in which a secondary office was 'outranking' the main office, but in that case, the secondary office wasn't actually staffed and should not have been created in the first place. See (http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!searchin/business/main$20location/business/kpVehQBlqqY/G8DgE_pQmysJ) . In that case, a Google MapMaker RER helped the business owner get rid of the secondary listing.

Here's another one that's pretty similar to what you've described. In it, you will see the Mapmaker RER giving you basically the same advice I am about increasing the authority of the main location: http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!searchin/business/main$20location/business/Bov09hyd1LM/AuIjdGSy_YYJ

Beyond this, Sida, I would suggest that you consider hiring a top Local SEO in your country to consult one-on-one with you if the issue persists and is causing genuine problems for the company. You need to be able to share the complete details of your unique business and have someone assess your situation to see if there is room for improvement and hope of change. I'm having to speak in generalities because I'm not actually auditing your specific company, but someone you hire will be able to look at the fine details of the whole picture. I do hope what I've pointed out at least gets you thinking along helpful lines.

Hi Rameet,

Thanks for the additional details. So, as I see it, there are 2 paths here:

1. You think of and market your client's business as a local business, in which case, everything will be focused on their NAP (name, address, phone). This means that you are aiming for LOCAL rankings for any terms that stem from local devices or include their city of location. Google's local product doesn't have a category for mobile app development, so it's likely you'd be categorizing the business as something like 'Software Company' (see Mike Blumenthal's Category Tool: http://blumenthals.com/index.php?Google_LBC_Categories). If the client is, for example, located in Boston, then the focuse of your Local Search Marketing strategy will be for its core keyword phrases + Boston. You will be building local business listings/citations around this geo location and will be optimizing the website to focus on Boston. This means the titles, tags, headers and content of core pages will include mention of Boston and that you will be putting the complete NAP on the site (typically in the footer and on the contact page).

The goal here would be to become dominant in the client's city of location.

Then, in addition to all of the work you've done for Boston, you can develop additional content and back it up with linkbuilding for cities where the client serves but has not physical location. The goal of this work would be ORGANIC rankings, rather than local ones.

2. Alternatively, you think of and market the business as purely virtual/regional/national. You do not center their marketing on a physical street address, because the client doesn't want to operate as a local business and wants to target a larger region. In this case, you would proceed as usual with traditional SEO tactics. You could create content that speaks to specific regions of the nation, perhaps showcasing apps the client has developed for various regional businesses, and you could build/earn links to this content.

The goal here would be ORGANIC rankings only.

From your description of the client's competitor, it sounds like they have clearly decided that ranking for NY-related terms is most important to them. Your client needs to weigh a similar decision. Would Local dominance in their city of location yield the business they need, making it appropriate for them to put Local SEO front and center in their marketing plan, or do they need to put main focus on regional or national rankings? This, I believe, is the big question.

And we are so glad to have you, Scott! A very warm welcome!

Totally! What a great article. So glad to be able to share it here, Anthony.

Hi Bill,

I found this post to be on the eloquent side http://mashable.com/2012/05/17/facebook-page-businesses/

But does it answer your question? If not, please let me know.

You can create a single page with tabs for the different locations, or create multiple pages. See:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/create/?ref_type=sitefooter

Regarding local listings platforms, Google is clearly the big cheese, but beyond that, it's going to vary by industry/geography. Yelp is enormous in many verticals, of course. Check out these two resources from GetListed.org:

https://getlisted.org/static/resources/local-citations-by-city.html

https://getlisted.org/static/resources/local-citations-by-category.html

Hope this helps!

Hi Rameet,

Could you please provide a little more information here? Are you saying your company is a LOCAL service based business (like a plumbing business, a general contractor firm, a carpet cleaning company) or is your business model virtual (like a phone company or IT support provider)? In other words, does your company have face-to-face transactions with clients either at your office or their homes/offices within a certain geographic radius? Or, is all business conducted virtually, over the phone or Internet?

Hi Noah!

Without looking at your actual data, I have to generalize here. Here are some things to consider:

1. Google is pulling the wrong address info from elsewhere on the web. This is a highly common scenario. NAP (name, address, phone number) inconsistencies can cause precisely the problem you are describing. You need to do a citation audit to see if you can find the client's name associated with the wrong location anywhere on the web and clean up any problems you find.

2. The client has a duplicate Google Places/+ Local listing that is associating them with this address. For more on this, read http://localsearchforum.catalystemarketing.com/google-duplicates-merges/8307-easiest-way-find-out-if-multiple-listings.html

My advice is to follow through on these first two steps. Then, if you cannot find any of the above issues, your next step would be to

1. Use the 'report a problem' link on your Google+ Local listing to report the issue. Give it a couple of weeks to see if you get anywhere.

2. Then, if no change has appeared, use the troubleshooter at https://support.google.com/places/troubleshooter/1386120?hl=en Select the radio button regarding wrong address and then the radio button that says you've already tried using 'report a problem' and this should lead you to the option to have a phone call with Google's phone support. They are getting very good at quick resolution of many issues. *BTW, if you have the new Google Places for Business Dashboard instead of the old one, you will need to use a new troubleshooter. I've only read about this, but can link you to a post about it if you need it. Please, let me know.

I hope this list of steps, though sort of complicated, will walk you through a process towards resolution.

Hi Sida,

Just to be sure, are you saying that your company has 3 different public-facing offices to which customers come to do business? Yes? And that now you are seeing the office that isn't your official headquarters showing up with your brand name search, but are seeing one of the other 2 offices?

When performing your search, are you searching on a device based in the same city as your home office, or are you located nearer to one of the other 2 offices?

How do the + Local pages of the 3 offices compare in terms of reviews? Could one of the secondary offices have more reviews that the home office, perhaps?

How about citation building? Could you have accidentally built more citations for one of the locations other than the home office location?

How about on the website? How are you listing the 3 offices? Is there anything to indicate that 1 of the 3 locations is more important or official than the other 2, or have they all been given equal treatment?

Please, provide as much detail as you can.

Hi WebTalent,

The client's concerns are legitimate here. If the company is transitioning to a new business name, then from a Local perspective, this will be viewed as a new business. Google will not view Bob's Auto Parts and Superior Auto Parts as the same business, even if the location and phone number remain the same. It is likely the client will lose Google-based reviews and may lose rankings. Googler Jade W. has stated:

"We will not always transfer these reviews if the business goes through a significant rebrand."

Basically, you will need to research and discover all local listings for the business and update them to feature the new business name. This may require re-verification on some platforms.

Here are some good resources for you and your client to read:

http://searchengineland.com/the-smb-guide-to-changing-business-names-seo-128939

http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!searchin/business/business$20name$20change/business/5DDVEHLpN2g/EurLN152DZEJ

It's really important to understand what a big undertaking re-branding a local business is, because of the issues I've mentioned, and the work of local listing/citation cleanup will be considerable. I'm with Andrew Shotland who states in his Search Engine Land piece that you shouldn't change the brand unless you really have to, but if you do really have to, cleaning up the NAP record web-wide will be vital work in hopes of eventually re-gaining the trust and visibility the business previously enjoyed under its old brand.

Good news! Mike Blumenthal decided to write his follow-up piece on this. Check it out:

http://blumenthals.com/blog/2013/07/02/should-you-do-linkbuilding-to-your-g-page-for-local/

I hope everyone who participated in this thread and all of our members who are into Local will take a few minutes to read this post. Well worth the time!

http://blumenthals.com/blog/2013/07/02/should-you-do-linkbuilding-to-your-g-page-for-local/comment-page-1/#comment-652070

Hi Scott,

While both forms of marketing are important, I agree with members' suggestions that citations should receive first focus. You might try to imagine a Local Search Marketing plan in this order:

On-page optimization===>Local Listings===>Ongoing content publication===>Reviews===>Social===>Linkbuilding===>Video

The last 3 items on that list may be optional, depending on how competitive the client's niche is. Everything on the list is important, but what you must do for each client will vary based on their unique level of competition.

Hi Anthony,

Fantastic you are attending MozCon! Thanks for your follow-up comments, and do keep checking Mike Blumenthal's blog for more on this. I believe he may soon publish a piece on this topic that should be really good!

Hi Anthony,

I want to link to some resources for you to investigate here.

Back in early 2012, I had a conversation with Mike Blumenthal which prompted him to write a brief piece on the then-common advice of building links to the old Google Place Pages. He accurately summarizes why this practice was a poor idea:

http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/01/24/google-places-myth-linking-to-your-places-page/

However, a lot has changed in the past year. A lot! Here is a more recent conversation on this topic at Linda Buquet's Local Search Forum, presenting differing opinions on linkbuilding in the new +Local environment:

http://localsearchforum.catalystemarketing.com/local-search/202-any-benefit-link-building-google-local-pages.html

Your question has inspired me to ask Mike B for an update on his 2012 piece. I don't handle linkbuilding in-house at my company, and I think what you've asked about is really important. I'm going to suggest to Mike that he do a follow up (if he's not too busy) and let's both stay tuned to see what he says. Also, stay tuned for the new iteration of David Mihm's Local Search Ranking Factors 2013, which is coming soon (and eagerly awaited!) Hope what I've linked to helps, and I do plan to shoot Mike an email to see if he might have time sometime soon to do an update on his earlier much-cited piece.

Hi Qlkasdjfw,

If you are encountering this problem with your customers, I'm assuming you are either friends with the owner of the Tustin dealership and he is letting you know about it, or customers are reporting directly to you that they visited the wrong dealership first.

If the latter, I would grill them about how, exactly, they searched for this. My guess would be that they simply got confused about the 2 Auto Center Roads being so close together...not that they were doing searches for '30 Auto Center Road', because I just can't get my head around someone performing a search like that. Maybe they would even show you on their cell phone (if they used a cell phone) exactly how this happened, so that you would have more information about whether customers, in general, are puzzled by 2 identical road names in a 7 mile area (which probably confuses so many people) or if they would actually search for a business by looking up an address, instead of the business type or brand.

Hi Jimbo,

Ryan has highlighted some good ideas for you. I will add:

1. Yes, it's still forbidden to created Google Places/+Local page for service areas where the business has no physical location. Google's local product hinges on physical location.

2. I would create two sets of pages on the website. One set will contain a page for each of his major services. The other set will contain a city landing page for each of his main service cities. I wrote a pretty well-cited article some months back on the topic of city landing pages that I feel may be of some help to you: The Nitty Gritty of City Landing Pages

3. Then, once you've established the two sets of static pages on the client's site, I would consider following up with any or all of the following:

• Linkbuilding

• Blogging to showcase his projects in different towns

• Social media with a local focus

• Video marketing with a local focus

Provided the playing field isn't too tough, a path like the one I've described will enable most clients to gain quite a bit of visibility.

Absolutely, and it's my pleasure to help!

Hi IOSC,

Great question, and a really important point from Keri regarding never soliciting Yelp reviews from your customers. Their policies and filters are the most stringent of any review platform; Yelp wants all reviews to happen spontaneously.

When it comes to Google-based reviews, the best policy is to take it slow. Avoid sending out email blasts or running campaigns that will generate a large number of reviews at any one time. Google has also upped the stringency of their review filters of late and too great a velocity of incoming reviews can result in review loss for the business owner. Ask, perhaps, 1-3 happy customers a week if they'd like to review you. Then, if 1 or 2 of them do, this will be a gentle acquisition.

Also, take a look at your competitors' average number of reviews. If most of them in your locale have, say, 20 Google-based reviews, then aim for having 30 or 40 on your profile...don't aim for having 200. This is another area in which it is speculated that Google may become suspicious that reviews are being bought or falsely generated by the business.

A read through Google's Review Posting Guidelines will be very important for you:

https://support.google.com/places/answer/187622?hl=en

Another good step is to, again, look at your direct local competitors and see which 3rd party review sites Google is linking to from their Google+ Local pages in the 'reviews from around the web' section. This way, you may discover that, for your locale and industry, Google seems to be trusting certain sites like citysearch, judysbook or insiderpages most. This will signal to you that it's important for you to have customers review you there.

In actually setting about requesting reviews, a good process would be to obtain the customer's email at the time of service. Follow up 2-3 days after a service is rendered with a brief, friendly, well-crafted email, letting the customer know how much you would appreciate his review. You might list a few places (not including Yelp) where you have review profiles and let the customer know that you would like them to pick their favorite platform. While Google and Yelp reviews are typically the most important for local business owners, review diversity is very healthy insurance against massive review loss, should you ever lose all of your reviews on one site or another. Remember, not everyone is going to have a Google account, so leaving a Google based review could be a pain for them, whereas if they are an active member at TripAdvisor, their review their will be easy for them and good for your business.

I recommend you read Phil Rozek's 2012 post on the local review ecosystem to get a quick education on the way in which data is shared between some of the review platforms (http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/2012/07/06/the-local-business-reviews-ecosystem/). Great piece!

Hope I've pointed out some helpful ideas for you here. Just remember, a slow, diverse and steady acquisition of reviews over time is a much better strategy than trying to make a big splash all at once.

Good Morning!

Thanks for asking your question. What you are seeing is likely the result of one of two things:

1. Google is personalizing the search to what it believes the location of your device is (Tustin)

2. Given that these two Auto Center Drives are only 7 miles apart, Google is choosing the one it considers to be most dominant because you are not giving the search engine enough clues (like a city name) to decide which Auto Center Drive you are looking for.

As an aside, Auto Center Drive appears to be a common street name. When I did a broad search like yours for '30 Auto Center Drive', Google showed me results for a 30 Auto Center Drive in Vacaville...so clearly this is a street name in many cities in California. Because of the close proximity of the streets with identical names in both Irvine and Tustin, Google is doing the best it can to provide a relevant answer to a searcher (you) who isn't providing a very clear search term.

The good news is that your clients are almost certainly not searching for your business this way. They would be looking for your business with terms like 'auto dealership irvine' or 'lexus cars irvine' or what have you. Alternatively, if they are searching from devices that Google can identify with Irvine and are simply searching with terms like 'auto dealership', 'Prestige Auto Center' or 'lexus cars', Google will show them Irvine-based results in most cases, even without the city name being included in the search.

Please do not worry that you are losing business for the search you've mentioned - I very strongly doubt that a single customer would attempt to locate an auto dealer by typing nothing but a street address. Instead, focus on building your authority in the field for the search terms your users would typically use and you will be on the right track. I hope my reply has addressed and minimized your concerns.

Hi Rbrianforrester,

That's an excellent question, and yes, there are differences between doing Local SEO in Canada vs. the USA. One of the main differences is how dominant YP is  in Canada as a citation source. This has been the case for some years now. So, while you will be employing the same on-page efforts for clients in Canada and the USA, the main differences arise in how you go about building citations for the client. Let me recommend a few different resources for you here on this topic:

There's a good list in this piece by Nyagoslav Zhekov:

http://www.ngsmarketing.com/local-citation-building-study-part-4-local-business-directories-around-the-world-canada-uk/

Here's an oldie but goodie by David Mihm:

http://www.davidmihm.com/blog/local-seo/canadian-citations/

And here's a short one from Canuck SEO, Jim Rudnick:

http://www.canuckseo.com/index.php/2011/05/diy-canadian-citations-our-2011-update/

If you wish to select a paid citation finder tool, I recommend using Whitespark's Citation Tool, as they are based in Canada:

https://www.whitespark.ca/local-citation-finder/

That should get you off to a good start.

Another thing to be aware of is that Google doesn't always roll out new features in Canada as quickly as they roll them out in the US, much to the chagrin of the Canadian Local SEOs I know. So, keeping on top of Canadian Local SEO news at blogs like Jim Rudnick's (linked to above) is a smart idea.

And, perhaps obviously, if you are doing content development for Canadian companies, you must be able to write fluently in Canadian English. Even small mistakes will immediately stand out as wrong to the website's visitors. There are differences both in spelling and vocabulary that you must master in order to write well for Canadian clients.

Hope these tips help!

So glad to help, Hitesh!

Hi Mnkpso,

So glad you found my answer helpful. Yes, deletion of duplicate listings is very important because the existence of them detracts from you sending a single, strong, correct signal to search engines like Google. If you have just one physical address and phone number, you want only one listing in each of the major indexes and directories. Cleaning up duplicates will definitely be an important part in your efforts to achieve high rankings. It can be hard work, but stick with it!

Hi Matthew,

I can understand the temptation to keep a good thing going, but if the good thing is stemming from a violation of Google's Places Quality Guidelines, then the business is running big risks by letting it ride. I'd be very wary of any violation. Cheers - Miriam

Hi Josh,

Thanks for describing this scenario so thoroughly. My take on this may not come as good news to the business owner, but he deserves to have a proper understanding of the situation.

What the business owner did in setting up Google Place Pages for non-physical locations was a violation of the Google Places Quality Guidelines (https://support.google.com/places/answer/107528?hl=en) three years ago and remains a violation now. The current guidelines really put this in black and white:

Do not create a listing or place your pin marker at a location where the business does not physically exist. P.O. Boxes are not considered accurate physical locations.

Because of the clarity of Google's stance on this, the only legit way for the business owner to maintain listings in his various service regions would be for him to get genuine physical locations there with non-redirecting, distinct phone numbers. If he can see that having these listings, under whatever circumstances, has benefited his business, then perhaps he would be open to renting modest office space from a company like Activspace.com which would give him a real walk-in door and phone hookup. Thus the violation would be removed.

The addresses would, of course, then be new and the listings would need to be edited (rather than suspended). The one downside of this is that it's highly likely that he would lose some or all of his Google-based reviews attached to these businesses, because of the new address, but that would be a small loss compared to the total loss of his listings. This change of address (and possible phone number if the ones currently being used are re-directing) must then be followed up with a citation cleanup campaign in which you would find as many references as possible to the old NAP data and update it with the new data. With these legit offices in place you could then proceed as normal with the Local SEO campaign and begin building new citations for the various offices.

It may be that the business owner would only be able to afford renting space for one or two of his other locations, in which case, anything that falls outside of this should be removed via Google's troubleshooter.

The only possible alternative to this would be for him to appoint regional managers amongst his staff and change the business model to turn a handful of his employees into receptionists who are authorized to answer direct phones, book appointments and manage business out of their home offices. This can be an iffy solution, however, because Google can see that these businesses are run out of homes and the forecast is less clear as to Google's stance on this. Google knows that businesses are home-based, and for a single location, using a home address (hidden) should be fine. But there is some grey area as to whether service area businesses operating out of home addresses call up red flags at the Googleplex. I have seen some outrageous things in which people are posting on Craigslist offering to pay total strangers for the use of their home addresses to appear local. Google's ultimate position on this is not totally understood - thus my designation of this solution as iffy.

If the business owner cannot get legitimate spaces for any of his service areas, then, yes, you would need to remove the other Place Pages.

What if you do nothing? This question deserves to be asked and a considered answer provided to the business owner. As he has seen, Google doesn't do a great job of upholding their own rules much of the time. Businesses can get away with all kinds of violations for indefinite periods of time. The problem with this approach is that the business owner never knows when the axe will fall, and if his main, legit listing is associated with a bunch of spam listings, he could possibly see his whole account penalized. If he is then heavily penalized or even banned, he will go from having a lucrative presence in Google+ Local to having little or none and this is likely to prove disastrous for any local business. He really won't have a leg to stand on in pleading with Google to reconsider his business after rushing around trying to clean up his record - an awful scenario! So, while you could potentially decide to let the spam listings ride, understanding the risk being run should figure largely in such a decision.

As I see it, your job as the new Local SEO on the project is to educate the client as to the realities of the situation, the opportunities in front of him and the possible outcomes of different routes he might take. Personally, I won't work with a company that persists in wanting to violate Google's guidelines once I've explained the guidelines to them, but some Local SEOs will work in grey areas. Happily, you get to make your own rules about the work you do with clients. I think the main thing is to understand and share all possible information with the client so that everyone is operating with awareness.

Hope this detailed response is helpful both to you and your client!

Good Morning Mnkpso,

According to GetListed. org:

"Listing score is a 100 point scale that approximates how effectively you are taking advantage of free online business listings".

My understanding is that this takes into account whether you've claimed and fully filled out your listings at all of the sites in the GetListed index of important sites. So, while having a high listing score at GetListed does not actually determine your rankings (GetListed doesn't feed data to the search engines - it merely represents how you are listed), looking at the listing score is a good way to gauge whether you've made minimum, moderate or maximum effort towards getting your business listed. If you have a low score, you have many more opportunities to take advantage of for the benefit of your business.

Citations play a major role in rankings, so the more diverse and complete yours are, the better your chances of ranking well.

Hi Mnkpso,

In addition to the resources mentioned by our members here, I recommend that you check the blog at NGSmarketing.com. Blogger and local search pro Nyagoslav Zhekov write frequently about citations and I consider him to be one of the world's few authorities on this subject. If you want to learn about citation building, his blog is a great place to visit.

Hi Hitesh,

I think it would be really helpful if you did a quick study of the Google Places Quality Guidelines I linked to in the earlier post to get a sense of eligible and ineligible business models. In sum, in order to qualify for inclusion in Google's local product, a business must meet all of the following criteria:

1. Have face-to-face transactions with its customers - either at the company's location (like a restaurant) or at the clients' locations (like a plumber).

2. Have a unique, non-shared physical street address - not a virtual office of any kind.

3. Have a unique, non-shared local area code phone number - not a toll free or call tracking number.

If a company cannot say 'yes' to all three of those points, then it should not seek local inclusion. Instead, the company should rely on organic SEO, social media and forms of marketing apart from Local SEO to attain visibility in its focus markets. Hope this helps!

Hi Rahul,

I'll do my best to provide some insight in the many areas about which you have questions.

1. Yes - the formula by which Google evaluates web pages is called an algorithm. Google has separate formulae for organic results vs., say, purely local results. Each algorithm contains several hundred components.

2. I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark here and guess that you mean Google+ Local listings (if I'm wrong, please correct me any let me know you are talking about purely social Google+ pages rather than  local-focused Google+ Local pages). It isn't possible to say it takes X amount of time to appear in Google+ Local for desired terms because the competition in each geography is completely unique. You must analyze your competitors and work to surpass their authority so that you can break into the local results and surpass the competition. This can be easy, hard or next-to-impossible depending upon how entrenched your competitors already are.

3. I will CC our help staff for a technical explanation of how our tools work.

4. If, again, you mean here Google+ Local listings rather than just Google+ listings, the answer is that it is possible, but rare. Since the Venice update in early 2012, very few companies have had a double Page 1 ranking (both an organic and a local listing). Where a company has managed to get a double listing, it is typically either because they have optimized a secondary page on their website well enough for it to rank organically alongside the Google+ Local listing, or because the business has little or no competition (like the only lawyer serving 3 small towns). However, an enormous shakeup has hit the Local SEO sphere this week with the introduction of the local 'carousel' for verticals like restaurants, hotels and entertainment-oriented companies. At this moment, everyone is assessing how this may have changed what is showing on page 1 of the results and one of the things worth investigating is how this may have affected the double ranking scenario.

5. Unfortunately, no one that I know of has published an expert level study on this topic. Part of the reason for this lack could be that the Google Places dashboard does not provide accurate analytics data. This is a very good question, but one for which I do not have an authoritative answer.

Hope this helps, and I've said, I'll ask our technical help team to look at your question #3.

Hi Hitesh,

P.O. boxes are strictly forbidden by the Google Places Quality Guidelines (https://support.google.com/places/answer/107528?hl=en), which read:

Do not create a listing or place your pin marker at a location where the business does not physically exist. P.O. Boxes are not considered accurate physical locations.

Without a real, staffed physical location at which business is conducted face-to-face with clients or from which employees go to visit clients at their homes or offices, a business is not eligible for local inclusion. Instead, it must rely on Organic SEO in an effort to compete. Hope this clarification saves you future headaches.

My pleasure:)!

Hi Mnkpso,

In order to determine the exact cause of your particular experience, you need to have someone be able to audit your website and local listings. As I mentioned above, you could either share the details of your business here in the forum and get community feedback, or, if privacy is an issue, hire a Local SEO to consult with you in private. There are many things that can contribute to ranking changes. You need to find out what is causing what you, specifically, are experiencing, as it isn't possible to diagnose something like this without a proper investigation of your business. There are too many variables to give a one-size-fits-all-answer, and for the health of your business, you should be sure you are getting a proper diagnosis of your issues. It's very important.

Hi Mnkpso,

I've just responded to your question on another thread of yours, so hopefully you'll see that answer and feel reassured. Quick note - it's not necessary to double post your questions here in Q&A. Our whole wonderful community is here to help you and you'll typically only need to post once to receive a prompt reply. Thanks:)!

Hi Rahul,

Google has done a very poor job of being clear in their terminology. The pack listing you see in Google stem from either the Google Places for Business Dashboard or the Google+ Local Dashboard. Some business listings also link to a business' Google+ page which is a social page instead of a local page.

This article from Google might help you:

https://support.google.com/plus/answer/2659170?hl=en

Don't feel alone - so many people are totally confused by this!

Hi Katie -

You are one of several people I've seen raise this very question about analytics. The answer is - we don't know yet how this will affect data. It's a really good question! Stay tuned and I am sure there will be an avalanche of posts about this all over the web over the next couple of months.

Right now, what seems clear to me is:

• having a really good photo is critical in the carousel; some businesses are coming up with a Google Map instead of a photo and that certainly looks generic.

• having your citations in good shape are really important, because once someone clicks on the image, everything below the carousel looks like some form of a citation to me

• you still need to do everything you've already been doing in terms of having a strong website, a clean Google+ Local listing, reviews and citations.

Beyond this, the next few weeks will point out strategy changes, if any, for local business owners to be aware of. This is going to be quite a ride!

Hi Mnkpso,

I would not worry about small differences like 'S' and 'South' or 'Suite' and 'Ste' and '#". It is my feeling that Google understand equivalents like these. What would be a problem is if some of your listings left off your suite number entirely, had a wrong zip code or had your address numbers backward. Then, you would need to correct these things.

Great discussion going on here! David, I will ask our help staff to look at your question #1.

Hi Web Talent,

If you managed to get direct support from Google on this, there is a chance you could hang onto your reviews, but I wouldn't count on it. Reviews are so flighty. Reviews are supposed to be associated with a specific location, so I would like to think they would stick to the listing, but having watched review issues run rampant for years, I would call them the most unpredictable facet of Google's local product.

Hi Linda,

Thanks so much - and for the general knowledge of the members here - Mike is Mike Blumenthal. He would certainly be an awesome person to consult with for any Local problems. Some enterprising newcomers to Local SEO should see from what Linda and I are saying that there is space in the sphere for someone who specializes in bulk issues. I bet if you specialized in that, you'd be flooded with business!

Hi Mnkspo,

Hopefully you have clicked on the link in my earlier reply. This is pretty much all that anyone knows right now - there is a shakeup going on and ranking fluctuations are expected. What is happening in your particular situation, I cannot say, but I would recommend that you make a record of the changes you are seeing over the next couple of weeks to see if things settle down. Then, if you are experiencing problems, you could come back here and share your complete documentation with links and examples of your unique business, or, if privacy is an issue, you could hire a Local SEO from the GetListed.org Trusted Providers list to consult with you one-on-one. You may either be experiencing a simple shakeup that will settle down, or you may have other issues going on like penalties. Whomever you speak with needs to be able to look at all of your properties, but I would recommend waiting a couple of weeks to see what happens as these changes in Maps roll out.

Hi Mnkpso,

In addition to the things mentioned by Chris, there is a big stuff happening in Google Maps right now. Expect all kinds of possible changes. For more info, see: http://localsearchforum.catalystemarketing.com/google-maps/8182-google-maps-update-shifts-rankings-impacts-local.html

Hi Mnkpso,

Marcus has done an awesome job responding to you. I will add just a few things here.

When I have clients who are completely new to Local SEO, I have them read these 2 pieces I wrote to describe both the technical and mental basics of Local SEO:

The Zen of Local SEO

The Rudiments of Local SEO

For the most complete description of the factors that make up local rankings, I point to:

Local Search Ranking Factors 2012

*Note that this last survey was conducted a year ago and that significant changes have taken place since then, but the basic factors are pretty much the same.

And, because a major key to success in Local is keeping on top of the news, I would recommend these blogs and fora in addition to the two mentioned by Marcus:

http://www.blumenthals.com/blog

http://www.ngsmarketing.com/blog/

http://localsearchforum.catalystemarketing.com/

There are other super Local SEO bloggers out there, too.

Hope these tips are helpful!

Hi Ocelot,

I'll do my best to offer some advice on your different questions here.

Are you seeing the old or new Places for Business dashboard?

In either case, if you are a brick and mortar business, why are you setting a service radius? That is meant to show where a service area business goes to its customers - not where customers come from to visit a brick and mortar business, so I'm a bit puzzled by the approach you are describing.

There have been numerous, repeat issues with the 'do not support' problem. Are you familiar with these? There are many issues that can trigger the 'do not support' message. I recommend that you search the Google And Your Business Help Forum for 'do not support' to see if you see an issue described there that matches what you are experiencing. There are numerous threads like this one: http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!searchin/business/do$20not$20support/business/KJ74GS0Ld5M/5EQNHrrddo8J

Regarding your questions about schema, kml files, etc., how would you use these within Google Places? You can certainly use Schema and KML on your website, but geositemaps ceased being supported by Google in early 2012 (see: http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/03/28/google-still-supporting-kml-files-but-not-the-use-of-geo-sitemaps/)

Hope these notes help!

Hi Marco,

Yes, I'm sure good markup would be a prerequisite for this scenario.

Hi Marco,

Oh! Perhaps I misunderstood your original question. Do you mean how does a business directory become a trusted Google source so that Google links to their directory from pages like the one in your example? That's quite a different question, but again, this isn't something the directory could force to happen...it's not a matter of uploading things. Google makes up its own mind as to which directories are authoritative enough to show up as 'reviews from around the web' sources.

I have actually seen your question brought up in the past by other directory owners (see: http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!searchin/business/reviews$20from$20around$20the$20web/business/bVaMHAwkWPg/TkIZ3zVCXJ4J) but have never seen Google lay out a method for seeking this type of inclusion. Presumably, the companies that have achieved this are either very dominant, in Google's eyes, or may have some sort of special relationship with Google. Either way, I do not know of any steps you can take to try to seek this type of inclusion. Sorry about that!

Hi Jonathan,

In taking a brief look at your website, I see that you are not giving equal treatment to your 2 locations. Your Austin address is the only one appearing in the site footer and neither address is appearing on your contact page. If you have a unique address and local area code phone number for each location, it's vital that you list them both, in addition to creating unique content on the site revolving around the 2 locations, getting Google Places/Google+ Local pages for the 2 locations (with address likely hidden) and engaging in other work like linkbuilding. Right now, 'Denver' appears like an afterthought on the website. If you've got 2 locations, they both deserve full treatment.

Hi Men4Media,

You've asked a good question. The 'reviews from around the web' section is something that Google creates - not that business owners create. In the US, sites like citysearch, insiderpages and kudzu show up in this section. Though I am not familiar with Local SEO in the Netherlands, it appears that Schilder Adres is a local business directory that Google trusts enough to include in this section of the Google+ Local page. Thus, if you would like to see a similar resource on your own Google+ Local page, the best thing will be for you to work towards earning reviews on that site in hopes that Google will eventually link to them.

It's smart to do some research on this and look at a variety of your competitors to see which sites Google is most frequently citing. This is a good indication of which websites at which it will be most important for you to earn reviews from your customers. Then, if you are doing some kind of prompt via email or some other point of contact to request that your happy customers consider reviewing you, you can include those trusted sites as suggestions for places the customer might like to leave you a review.