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Hey Steven,

It's a tough one really. The Google guidelines state that you should not add unnecessary details such as the business location:

Adding unnecessary information to your name (e.g. "Google Inc. – Mountain View Corporate Headquarters" instead of "Google") by including marketing taglines, shop codes, special characters, hours or closed/open status, phone numbers, website URLs, service/product information, location/address or directions or containment information (e.g. "Chase ATM in Duane Reade") is not permitted.

But I can also understand why you would want to add it, especially if they are located fairly close together as it would help users determine which church to search for.

I completely understand where you are coming from, but I can only advise that you scrap all of the individual sites and make them into one big website. I know that sounds easier than it really is and there are most likely some complications that prevented them from doing it in the first place but it really is the best thing to do.

I do believe that the duplication will still matter, even if you only have one office/store in that location.

Hey,

Just had a quick look and my only guess is that Google is super-localising the organic rankings for people in Fresno? I don't think that is the 100% reason, but as your client is not exactly smack bang in the middle of Fresno, I think it is showing closer businesses before you. But that doesn't explain why you aren't even in the top 5 pages? Very strange!

It might be something to do with your links, as the few that you do have are what I would call over-optimised. So you might be highly authoritative for those search terms that mention the location Fresno, but I would assume all other local ranking factors are weak which would explain why you don't show. But I'm just guessing, never really seen anything like this before.

Do they only offer their service in one city/country? It's hard to say why they would do that, but in my honest opinion, I don't think it will have any benefit for their local SEO. Like you said, they could be doing it to stop competitors from using the other domain variations, or they could be targeting people from other countries. I guess it all depends on your answer to my original question.

Hope this helps

Hey,

The truth is many people don't use Google+ as a social platform. My advice would be to not waste your time with a Google Brand page but I guess it all depends on their target audience. If you know customers are using it, then it might be worth a shot. But there is not point having it just to have it - if that makes sense. Regarding it appearing in search results - it is quite unlikely. It is usually major brands like you mentioned that have the brand page knowledge panel appear in the search results.

Hey Radi,

Sure! Send over the details and I will take a look.

I have came across similar situations before and I have to say that Choice 1 should be no problem at all as long as the content is fairly unique on each site. This should rule out the chance of duplicate content.

I guess it all depends on the volume, but for me I would go with choice 2. Simply because you then get to cover more spread and aren't stuck in one specific niche.

Truth is there is no right or wrong, both will work fine. It just depends on volume/competition

Hey Radi,

There could be several issues but without taking a closer look with the business details, I can't give you exact reasons why.

The most common issue tends to be NAP (Name, Address & Phone Number) consistency. You need to make sure all the details on directories etc are all the same. I would also advise you check the category of the Google+ page as this can play a key part in the local rankings.

To help push local rankings even further, I would advise you get links from local companies or from website relevant to the local area. Feel free to share the business name and address and I'd be happy to help out.

Sorry if I am not understanding correctly, but are you saying that you have built a separate website for one store even though it has a location page on the national website? Is there any specific reason to having a separate website? Usually I would advise against having a separate website for just one store as your issue is the most common reason why.

I assume the national website will have much more authority so there are a few things you could do here. My first bit of advice would be to keep it consistent. If they want to rank in local, your best bet is to update all citations to use the new micro site. I would also use the link of the micro site on the GMB page. I would also advise you get a link on the national site to the micro site and use the national site more as a citation. I hope this makes sense.

Hey,

I guess it depends on if you want to carry out the SEO audit yourself. If you do, I would recommend you follow the worlds best SEO audit guide by Steve Webb: https://moz.com/blog/how-to-perform-the-worlds-greatest-seo-audithttps://moz.com/blog/how-to-perform-the-worlds-greatest-seo-audit

This is about 3 years old but is still very useful and guides you step by step.

I completely understand where you are coming from, but I can only advise that you scrap all of the individual sites and make them into one big website. I know that sounds easier than it really is and there are most likely some complications that prevented them from doing it in the first place but it really is the best thing to do.

I do believe that the duplication will still matter, even if you only have one office/store in that location.

Hey,

Just had a quick look and my only guess is that Google is super-localising the organic rankings for people in Fresno? I don't think that is the 100% reason, but as your client is not exactly smack bang in the middle of Fresno, I think it is showing closer businesses before you. But that doesn't explain why you aren't even in the top 5 pages? Very strange!

It might be something to do with your links, as the few that you do have are what I would call over-optimised. So you might be highly authoritative for those search terms that mention the location Fresno, but I would assume all other local ranking factors are weak which would explain why you don't show. But I'm just guessing, never really seen anything like this before.

Do they only offer their service in one city/country? It's hard to say why they would do that, but in my honest opinion, I don't think it will have any benefit for their local SEO. Like you said, they could be doing it to stop competitors from using the other domain variations, or they could be targeting people from other countries. I guess it all depends on your answer to my original question.

Hope this helps

Unfortunately, there is no way to disable the reviews on a Google+ local page. You may see some pages that do not have a reviews section, but this is because they have a brand page and not a local page. Is there any particular reason why you wish to remove the reviews feature?

Hey,

I guess it depends on if you want to carry out the SEO audit yourself. If you do, I would recommend you follow the worlds best SEO audit guide by Steve Webb: https://moz.com/blog/how-to-perform-the-worlds-greatest-seo-audithttps://moz.com/blog/how-to-perform-the-worlds-greatest-seo-audit

This is about 3 years old but is still very useful and guides you step by step.

Hey Radi,

There could be several issues but without taking a closer look with the business details, I can't give you exact reasons why.

The most common issue tends to be NAP (Name, Address & Phone Number) consistency. You need to make sure all the details on directories etc are all the same. I would also advise you check the category of the Google+ page as this can play a key part in the local rankings.

To help push local rankings even further, I would advise you get links from local companies or from website relevant to the local area. Feel free to share the business name and address and I'd be happy to help out.

Hey,

I assume this is why you don't want to show the reviews feature? Google+ is a great tool if you are a local business. Being in the UK, we tend to find that not a lot of people use it as a social platform and is solely used to help businesses get found in the local pack in search results.

There are several things you can do to sort review issues such as the ones you mentioned. With difficult customers, I would recommend implementing a feedback process that allows customers to express their thoughts but 'behind closed doors'. Try and resolve the issue via a phone call or email before they decide to leave a bad review.

My other recommendation would be to implement a review strategy, so if someone does leave a bad review on your Google+ page, you will have plenty of other good reviews to balance it out.

To deal with competitors leaving fake reviews, I would suggest you read this post: https://www.bowlerhat.co.uk/how-to-remove-fake-reviews-on-google/

I hope this helps

https://www.bowlerhat.co.uk/how-to-remove-fake-reviews-on-google/

Google+ is a great tool, if you are a local business. The truth is many people in the UK don't really use it as a social platform, but it is great for getting your business in front of people who are looking for a local shop or local service.

I have came across similar situations before and I have to say that Choice 1 should be no problem at all as long as the content is fairly unique on each site. This should rule out the chance of duplicate content.

I guess it all depends on the volume, but for me I would go with choice 2. Simply because you then get to cover more spread and aren't stuck in one specific niche.

Truth is there is no right or wrong, both will work fine. It just depends on volume/competition

Hey Steven,

It's a tough one really. The Google guidelines state that you should not add unnecessary details such as the business location:

Adding unnecessary information to your name (e.g. "Google Inc. – Mountain View Corporate Headquarters" instead of "Google") by including marketing taglines, shop codes, special characters, hours or closed/open status, phone numbers, website URLs, service/product information, location/address or directions or containment information (e.g. "Chase ATM in Duane Reade") is not permitted.

But I can also understand why you would want to add it, especially if they are located fairly close together as it would help users determine which church to search for.