Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Getting a Google Places listing verified on an automated phone system.
-
I've been having issues getting my Google Places/+ listing verified as we have an automatic phone system. If you call our office you have to dial a number to reach an actual human being or before you can leave a message.
Whenever the Google Bot calls we aren't able to receive our Google Place verification code.
Currently.. there is no option to send a postcard.. which is weird because for awhile that was the only option.
Has anyone had any success on an automated phone system & how did you do it?
Thanks!
-
Hi Strathcom,
I am looking into this for you. Trusted businesses are sometimes given the phone-only option, just as less trusted businesses are often given the postcard-only option. Let me see what I can find out for you. I will return.
Update: Looks like you have already started a thread at the Google and Your Business Forum and received a good reply from Treebles: http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/business/OXYk9JlWCCY/s8n4jpjN514J[1-25] Also, in case you didn't see this similar thread, here is one with a response from Jim Jaggers regarding making 4 verification attempts to cause the postcard option to appear: http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!searchin/business/phone$20tree/business/mPIRxdm5vQw/iqcf5gh9--4J[1-25] Hope this helps!
-
Hey Strathcom - That is strange as they did stop with texts and phone calls because of folks gaming the system. The only way to do it was through a postcard.
But if you have the phone option do it to a direct line or your cellphone just for the verification process. I did this previously and it didn't pull the phone number through to the listing.
Just did a little more research - Apparently one reason they do offer phone verification is if it was already listed and needs to verified only or you previously verified by phone.
-
https://support.google.com/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=75569
If you try to verify your business listing by phone and it doesn't work, this could be for one of several reasons:
- You have an automated phone system or phone tree.
If you encountered any of the reasons above, please request the PIN to be sent to you by mail.
Whats odd is that you don't have postcard verification option. I recommend you post this problem on their local business forums at http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/business
Good luck!
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
-
Does google index html5 tracks (captions) for videos?
If we add the <track> tag next to a html5 video, with a Web Video Text Tracks Format (WebVTT) file for video subtitles / captions will google visit that and index it?
Image & Video Optimization | Oct 1, 2019, 3:54 PM | ismgadmin0 -
Why is my image Alt Text showing up under my URL and title on the Google results page?
I just realized this happened 😞 I optimized this page over a week ago. I changed out the old image on the page, along with the Alt Text. Now I see this when I do a search for it. No Beuno. Can some one please tell me how I get rid of the alt text in the result. many many thanks in advance. http://thumannagency.com/business-insurance/contractors-insurance Contractors Liability, Work Comp Insurance in Dallas, Texas ... <cite class="_Rm">thumannagency.com/business-insurance/contractors-insurance</cite>Your page is not mobile-friendly.Dallas, Texas Contractors Insurance. Contractors Insurance Quote. General Contractor working on a roof in Texas. Thumann Agency specializes in providing ...
Image & Video Optimization | Nov 22, 2016, 5:01 PM | MissThumann0 -
Is getting views to an infographic through Imgur beneficial to SEO?
I'm considering posting infographics to Imgur in addition to hosting them on my site in an effort to leverage Reddit a bit more this year. My concern is that, if all goes well, we'll get a ton of views through Reddit to Imgur, maybe a couple clickthroughs to the site, and links to (probably) the Imgur page. I don't see that Imgur gives your profile a followed link, so how would any of this help SEO. I assume it would, because respected guys like John Dougherty espouse the benefits of Reddit, but I can't see how and I need to justify the effort to my department head.
Image & Video Optimization | Jan 5, 2016, 1:40 AM | MattHolden1 -
My wistia videos are not being index by Google. Does anyone know what can be happening?
I have the wistia site map on my robots.txt file and I also manually submit the site map to google. It shows that my videos were submitted successfully but they are not being indexed. Thanks
Image & Video Optimization | Mar 16, 2015, 10:35 AM | bedbugsupply0 -
How can I get around creating multiple Gmail accounts with the same phone number?
You know how, when you setup a Gmail account, Google asks you for a phone number to verify the account? I've run into a problem where Google is not letting me create anymore accounts with the same phone number. I set up an account for every new client we take on so that we have complete control of the inbox for verification purposes. Is there a way to get around this verification issue? We tried an app called Burner Phone but found out Google won't call the number because it's not supported by any major providers (e.g. Verizon, AT&T, etc.). Any suggestions? Thanks for your help!
Image & Video Optimization | May 31, 2013, 11:52 AM | copyjack0 -
Reasons for store not showing up on Google?
Hi my client has a store which is not showing up on Google search results. E.g. if you looked up store name and store location on Google, all the stores in that particular city show up except one. Also even if you click the: More results near CITY, and State the stores listing still doesn't show up. So for some reason Google has excluded the store from Google search. But if you go to Google Maps directly, and type in the same keyword "STORE NAME CITY" the store is displayed and there. Does anyone know any reason why the store has been excluded from Google search results, but is listed successfully on Google Maps.
Image & Video Optimization | Mar 5, 2013, 5:32 AM | MBASydney0 -
Google Places - Shared Office Space
Howdy, A client of mine has a shared office space, where several other businesses share the exact same address, including the same suite number. I realize that this is likely one of the biggest issues holding them back in local/blended search results in their market, which is a very competitive one. (They do have a completely unique local phone number.) They have tons of citations -- way more citations than anyone else at the same address -- so they are definitely the most visible. They are ranking pretty well -- top of page two in organic results (overall top 10 organic if you exclude the places results) and top of page 3 in places results for some select local search terms. But obviously top of page one as a blended result is where we want to be. They have a lot of great content, a lot of quality links and citations. Out of all the competitors ranking ahead of them, a few do indeed deserve to be there, but most do not -- i.e. they have lower DA, PA, worse links, fewer links, no content / shit content compared to my client, and some even have incomplete Google profiles. I really think this could be the sole issue holding my client back from appearing in blended results on page one. What should we do? If I convince them to change their address, we'll have to update thousands of citations, many of which we don't have access to. In reality, we would be able to update some, but not all citations. This also could cause a short term rankings decline, and/or Google Places limbo for who knows how long! Is it possible to overcome this problem if they keep the same address? In a less competitive market I would think it's quite possible, but I'm not so sure in this case. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!
Image & Video Optimization | Feb 21, 2012, 8:45 PM | djreich
David0 -
Getting reviews to stick on Yelp & Google
Do you have any tricks to getting reviews to stick on yelp? Whenever we ask out customers to review us on there their reviews end up getting "detected" as fakes. I have tried it out myself, and the only way i've gotten them to stick is making several reviews of various different local businesses with average ratings and then dropping one in for the client with a better rating. Perhaps this is a little on the blackhat/greyhat side of things. But if our customers are legitimatly trying to review us and it doesn't stick, i don't feel all that bad taking this route, the only real problem is time consumed. What about google? has anyone had any luck gaining more reviews for their client on google?
Image & Video Optimization | Mar 26, 2012, 7:25 PM | A Former User0