Google Places: "this place is permanently closed" what next?
-
All,
I'm working on a duplicate Google places listing issue. One of the listings is accurate, verified and has been reviewed by quite a few customers. However, we have a problem with an old address that still shows up in Google maps and seems to be the cause of poor performance for the accurate listing. The old address listing was deleted but may not have been removed using best practices based on what I've been able to read here at SEO Moz.
The old address listing has been flagged by Google with a notation: “this place is permanently closed.” My question is what happens next? Do listings that have been flagged as permanently closed eventually drop out of the search results Or do I need to take additional action?
It appears that once a listing has been flagged as permanently close you can no longer report a problem so that route seems to be unavailable.
-
You are very welcome, John!
-
Thanks for the great answer Miriam!
-
Hi John,
Thanks for coming to Q&A to ask your question. In my personal experience, I have seen listings marked as 'personally closed' eventually drop out of the index if no further changes are made to them, but as to how long this takes, I can't give you a firm answer. Mike Blumenthal's in depth post on this topic comes to the same conclusion regarding unknown length of time, and you might like to read it:
The alternate route to sitting around waiting to see when this would happen would be to reclaim the business back into the client's account and then follow the steps for reporting the problem of the business having moved and having another, authoritative Place Page.
At the beginning of 2011, I wrote a post about experimenting with reporting a closed business:
http://www.solaswebdesign.net/wordpress/?p=926
4 weeks later I heard from Google and wrote about their marking the business as closed and emailing me
http://www.solaswebdesign.net/wordpress/?p=958
At that point, I could still find the flagged-as-closed business in the index. Your question here prompted me to go and see if this was still the case. I discovered that the shop I reported as closed now appears to have disappeared from the organic and Places results, a year later. Wish I could tell you exactly when this happened, but I didn't keep following up on this. At any rate, it did happen eventually.
Hope this helps, John!
Miriam
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
-
How do you deal with Google knowledge graph showing competitor for a generic query?
Search for keywords like criminal defense lawyer detroit or criminal defense lawyer detroit mi and Google knowledge graph is highlighting one competitor. No maps results are shown. How have others dealt with this situation? I know others have noticed this too: http://www.webpronews.com/sometimes-googles-knowledge-graph-highlights-brands-for-generic-queries-2013-10
Image & Video Optimization | | AdamThompson0 -
Google+ Local City Centroid Bias
It's well-known that Google has a bias towards businesses located closest to the center of the city being searched in. How can you tell where exactly Google considers to be the center of the city? I think that the way is to just search the city name on Google Maps and the marker will appear at where they consider the center of the city to be but just wanted to double check on that first.
Image & Video Optimization | | ChaseCameron0 -
Trying to Merge Google + Local and Google Business Page _ How to?
Hi I have been reading so many posts about merging Google Plus + (Places) accounts and the new Google + Business Pages. I am working with a business who has a verified account in both. How ( and in fact should we try and merge). The old Places page has a review the newly create Business Page does not but is better optimized. Any help would be gratefully received as my head is spinning/ PS based in New Zealand
Image & Video Optimization | | AllieMc0 -
How should I list my client in Google+?
My client is a personal injury lawyer with one office in a highly competitive major metropolitan area and another office in a very small town. They are changing offices in the major metropolitan area in June and will have a new address. They are already doing well in serps related to the small town but are nowhere to be found in the metropolitan area serps. Currently I can find unclaimed listings in Google+ Local for both offices. I cannot find any Google+ business page and they don't know of one. Given this information and the current state of Google+ how would you proceed to list this client? Specific questions include: *Would there be any straight SEO benefit of making a Google+ Business Page for them? *Would you claim the Google+ Local listing for the Metro office that is going to be moved in 5 months? or would you wait until the office is moved then create a new Google+ Local listing?
Image & Video Optimization | | JesseCWalker0 -
Is city name really a no-no in Google+ Local description field?
I know that adding one's city name in the business name and category tags for Google+ Local is a no-no. And Google says so in its quality guidelines. But what about in the business description? I don't see that in Google's guidelines. Can anyone clarify?
Image & Video Optimization | | HammerandHand0 -
Getting indexed into Google video search
I have a website that has videos hosted from youtube.com embedded onto it. I created and uploaded the videos to youtube and want them on my website. My question is which would be a better option, hosting the video on my website or embed them from youtube? I currently have them embedded onto youtube but when I do a Google video search I cannot find my company's website anywhere. My videos are shown on the results but they are linked to youtube and not my website. Is there a way to get the search results to show listing of the videos posted on my website?
Image & Video Optimization | | Shawn1240 -
Google Places Account Suspended
Hi- I was recently forced to migrate my Google account. After going through the process my Google Places profiles associated with this email was suspended. I've read the quality guidelines and I'm pretty certain that my account was suspended because: --
Image & Video Optimization | | lhc67
Account Email Address: Use a shared business email account, if multiple users will be updating your business listing. If possible, use an email account under your business domain. For example, if your business website is www.google.com, a matching email address would be you@google.com. There seems to be no way to change the email address associated with a Places account. I've pretty much resolved to obtaining emails at the business domain and setting the profiles up again from scratch. Before I do this does anyone have any other ideas? I've posted the question at Google webmaster forums and have only found other similar unanswered questions. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you! LHC0 -
Google places - multiple clients
Is there any issue with adding multiple clients websites/locations to our Google Places account?
Image & Video Optimization | | cottamg0