Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Nice work!  It's always great to hear success stories and gives us a little more inspiration to keep up the communication until we get what we want;-)

Agree.  "Mess" is a descriptor!

In this new example, the query was for the actual domain name since it is also the business name: eyeglasses.com.  You are already being served the cluster of direct domain listings, so when the Google+ listing is finally shown, it shows the Google+ listing link (in a single pack).

Typically, the main reason this occurs in a larger local pack is because of the disconnect between Google+ and the business website.  There is quite a bit of confusion going on with this now since the Google+ Business page and the Google+ local (Places) page are not fully merged in many cases.  What has happened in these situations is the business owner (or representative agency) set up a Google+ business page, but failed to claim/ verify and optimize the Google+ Local (Places) page, which is still sitting there unlinked to the main website.

Keep your old posts.  There is nothing wrong with having a historical account of your topic.  I can't stand everyone freaking out about old content and simply getting rid of it.  Aren't there any historians still out there that enjoy examining where we've been?

Do this:

• Create new updated post that is current and represents how you want to present the info today
• Go to your old post and add a IMPORTANT Notice box at the top of the article that explains that things have changed since the original posting and visitors can find all the latest and greatest at the new URL (link).

This also protects your credibility and demonstrates how long you have been following your issues in your niche - golden!

In PetSitters Plus example, Google hasn't made the connection with a website.  The most common reason you will see this issue is when there is confusion and Google hasn't made this connection or the website doesn't exist, so it defaults to the Google+ page.  This is fairly common in unclaimed/ unverified listings where Google has only pulled the info from it's data sources which do not have the actual website info.

There are some other issues occurring due to the Google+ merge transition, but I don't think those issues are causing this example you have shown.

Agree with Takeshi

In all markets where we work with wedding photographers, the local/ maps listings matter.  Until your Google+ business page and your Google+ local/ Places page merge, you should optimize each.  They will merge eventually, likely within the next few months based on what I am seeing.

There is no reason to get rid of the Places listing, and it would have negative consequences in that you would be attempting to remove the main piece of real estate that can get you listed in the maps listings that are showing up on the first page.  Google+ Local (Places) allows you to not show your address, but instead use a service area.  It is a simple selection option in the dashboard.  This is how all service based businesses that do not have customers coming to their place fo business are supposed to be doing it.  So, just claim/ verify it and optimize it properly, then wait until it merges.  This will help your efforts.

If you choose to claim/ verify and then try to delete the listing, there is a very high likelihood that Google will just re-add the unclaimed listing based on the data it has, which might still be the home address of your client (and you just wouldn't have control over it).  Not advisable.

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Thanks.  Agree that you cannot "rely" on the figures in Google Places, but relatively speaking you can use the information.  I know that my client getting 1000 visits  and 116 driving directions according to the dashboard, is getting much more exposure than the client getting 100 visits and 2 actions.  The key for me is that it at least gives me some data for comparison versus a lot of 3rd party sites and directories that don't.

Yes, you are correct, Google+ Local pages are important, but this is only one small piece of what you need to do to rank locally.  To answer your question regarding location-specific pages on your site, the answer is "it depends."  For terms Google considers local in nature, like mechanics, you are not going to trick the search engine into moving you up the ranks just because you have a page on your site optimized for that area.

For example, if you had a Plano mechanics page, Grapevine, etc., but you don't have a physical location in those areas.  Your best bet is to rank for where your address is.  If your address is Dallas proper, then work on ranking in Dallas.  If there is a landmark area, such as the Galleria, and it is near your address, then having that on a page ("near the Galleria") can certainly help.  For areas that are not nearby, consider using Adwords and not waste time doing local SEO for them.  Once you understand this, proceed with these general steps.

Step 1:  Confirm the best data that should be used for the business (name, address and phone).  Typically there are multiple variations of each that have been propagated around the web depending on the source.  For business name, use the single best version that customers call the business.  For address, you will need to see what currently exists, however as a rule of thumb, use the USPS version: ex. Street - St (no period after), Avenue = Ave, East = E (no period). Finally, use the single best local phone number - not an 800 number and not a tracking number (per Google).

Step 2: Use this same NAP (name address phone) on your website and on all sites around the web including Google+ Local.  When you find listings with a different version, clean them up and make them match.

Step 3: On-site, put your NAP on every page in Schema format.  Embed a Google map on your site using the same address. If you have multiple locations, give each its own Contact page with your NAP, hours, maps emebd, etc.

Step 4: Complete your Google+ Local profile using your NAP and complete all fields.

Step 5: Use the same data and add, claim/ verify your business listing on other sites around the web.  Use GetListed.org as an initial guide.

That should give you a start.

Yes, you are correct, Google+ Local pages are important, but this is only one small piece of what you need to do to rank locally.  To answer your question regarding location-specific pages on your site, the answer is "it depends."  For terms Google considers local in nature, like mechanics, you are not going to trick the search engine into moving you up the ranks just because you have a page on your site optimized for that area.

For example, if you had a Plano mechanics page, Grapevine, etc., but you don't have a physical location in those areas.  Your best bet is to rank for where your address is.  If your address is Dallas proper, then work on ranking in Dallas.  If there is a landmark area, such as the Galleria, and it is near your address, then having that on a page ("near the Galleria") can certainly help.  For areas that are not nearby, consider using Adwords and not waste time doing local SEO for them.  Once you understand this, proceed with these general steps.

Step 1:  Confirm the best data that should be used for the business (name, address and phone).  Typically there are multiple variations of each that have been propagated around the web depending on the source.  For business name, use the single best version that customers call the business.  For address, you will need to see what currently exists, however as a rule of thumb, use the USPS version: ex. Street - St (no period after), Avenue = Ave, East = E (no period). Finally, use the single best local phone number - not an 800 number and not a tracking number (per Google).

Step 2: Use this same NAP (name address phone) on your website and on all sites around the web including Google+ Local.  When you find listings with a different version, clean them up and make them match.

Step 3: On-site, put your NAP on every page in Schema format.  Embed a Google map on your site using the same address. If you have multiple locations, give each its own Contact page with your NAP, hours, maps emebd, etc.

Step 4: Complete your Google+ Local profile using your NAP and complete all fields.

Step 5: Use the same data and add, claim/ verify your business listing on other sites around the web.  Use GetListed.org as an initial guide.

That should give you a start.

One area where it will have an indirect negative impact is in CTR from the SERPs.  The Title gets a searcher's attention, while the Desc sells them on the click.  Anything beyond 70 char is not there for the searcher or visitor's sake since they won't see it.  This could lead to a negative impact in CTR which is a trust factor issue.  If your CTR is less than surrounding sites in the SERPs on a consistent basis, you will likely start to see rank drops.

Here is a Matt Cutts video on Title that emphasizes this point: http://youtu.be/THYguer_JrM

Beyond the user experience concern, it comes down to whether the extra characters are being used for keyword stuffing or not.  If not, it probably won't have a significant negative impact, but then you have to ask yourself why did I choose to use these extra characters...

1. Update your sitemap (if it doesn't automatically update).
2. Do 301 redirect from old URL to new version
3. Ping the new URL

Hands down, your site/ blog.  Then social share it and get the word out.  Not even a close comparison.

To answer your last question first, this should not hurt your main content pages that you have optimized.

Without knowing how the site is set-up, there is still benefit in having these dynamically created pages, especially since they contain product details.  Without meta data, the content ("details" you mention) can still be read by the crawlers and the theme can still be determined.  Assuming there are still navigation links back to your main optimized content pages and that they are related, there can be some benefit passed (assuming they are thematically congruent).  So in this situation, the benefit outweighs the risk (assuming I have understood the situation correctly), so I would not block the dynamically created pages.

I would still work with the developer to find a way to push the product name and details to the meta data for the dynamically created pages.

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#1.  "Citation building" refers to something completely different than #2 citation.  It is typically used in local seo marketing for local businesses.  In this case, a citation is a business mention.  More specifically, it involves the business's Name, Address, Phone (NAP).  Citation building helps build authority to local businesses online.  They work like traditional link building, but without the link necessarily being required, meaning the search engines can recognize the signal as being a mention about that specific business.  It can help any business with a physical address, especially ones that want local customers from a specific geography.

#2. Proper coding of citations using the cite attribute is the correct thing to do when referencing the title of someone else's work, regardless of SEO value.  Having said that, just having a "cite" element by itself may not add much SEO value.  It may however help enhance the impact of certain co-citations which are becoming more important, but that is a completely different topic (not to confuse the issue;-)

#3.  They are different elements used for different purposes that are pretty well defined, so you have to decide case by case.

Ditto to Miriam.  One thing I would add is that over the last year, I have noticed an interesting trend with all of my local SEO clients.  Google direct organic traffic to their site has decreased, in some niches up to 10-15%.  Despite this, they seem to be getting more calls and customers.  There are more people making decisions from review sites and directory sites without going to the actual website, especially in restaurants and hotels that you mentioned.  If you check out stats on Google+ Local/ Places, Yelp, etc. you will see that visits to those pages have gone up.  So we had to readjust our entire thinking and now keep a big part of our focus on ubiquity, building a wider footprint that is more valuable.

Regarding CTR, Google would not still have the maps listings there if they weren't getting the CTR.  Their model requires that people click or else they have failed to serve up good results.  Trust me, they have tested thoroughly.  They may get rid of the maps listings again, and if they do it is because they realized that the organic listings started working better.  Do what we do, adapt to what they have and do a great job with it.

http://pingomatic.com/

I would stay away from a double redirect as the negative signal risk outweighs the benefit, and in this case there is no benefit or reason you would want to do it except for convenience (one less thing you have to do).

If those old domains still have traffic, then you should go in and change their redirect to the new site.