How should I resolve duplicate Google Places listings?
-
I am doing work for a local business who has duplicate Google Places listings. I would like some input from those with experience in this as to how I should go about consolidating these listings.
Listing 1
- created ~3 years ago by someone in the local business.
- They don't have the login/password info for this listing.
- listing has inaccurate info, including the wrong url (it points to their old website which is no longer active, but redirects to the new site)
- 124 reviews associated with this listing
- listing is on 3rd page of Local Business results
Listing 2
- one year old
- All listing info is current and accurate and I have the login info
- 18 reviews associated with this listing
- listing is on 6th page of Local Business results
Up until a week or two ago Listing 2 was ranked between 1-3 in the local business results along side the map. Listing 1 was ranked around #6. I assume that the duplicate listings with their conflicting info (different url's associated with each) hit some tripwire in Google and they have now been penalized. Does this sound correct?
What is the best method for consolidating the two listings and reestablishing the ranking? Here are my thoughts, please let me know if there is a better way...
- gain access to Listing 1 by having the business claim/verify the listing
- update all info in Listing 1 so that it is current and accurate
- deactivate and/or delete Listing 2
Is this the best course of action? Thanks!
-
In my opinion you should claim both listings so you can at least control them until it gets resolved. The problem you with with deactivating either one of them is potentially losing any authority from the deactivated listing. Thats why I recommend contacting Google to merge them. But a good short term fix is to claim both listings and update them to have same/similar info, but you are still potentially splitting citation authority over 2 listings potentially.
-
Thanks Roger. I considered contacting Google, but given that it can take so long for Google to deal with the problem I was wondering if I might be better off trying to resolve the problem myself.
I'm curious to know which route would get my listing back in Google's good graces quicker. Would you always recommend going through Google for this problem? Thanks.
-
Log into your places account and go to your places page. There is a link to "report a problem." Click that link and explain what the issue is.
Here is the google article on dealing with this problem.http://www.google.com/support/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=183009
It can take several weeks for them to get around to correcting this so be patient.
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 -
How do I increase my client's Google Local listings?
Hi Guys, I have a hypothetical question for you. Let's say I live in a town that has two pizza places and in the maps section of a Google SERP the other place outranks my client when I type in "Pizza Place Smalltown NY." What would be a list of things that I could do to make "Pizza Place Smalltown, NY" rank better in that portion? Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | oomdomarketing0 -
How important is a high listing score in getlisted.org?
I checked Moz out on getlisted and found a score of 28%. I believe this is telling me that Moz does not consider this an important piece(getlisted.org) to a local marketing strategy. Also(as you can see in the image) getlisted shows missing listings when the listings are actually with these directory providers. (Not just Moz, but other companies I do local marketing for.) Plus I've noticed that at the bottom of the page the "unable to contact", Bing has been there for a long time. Is this going to be fixed? My clients know about getlisted.org and they are looking to me for answers on how to get them a higher listing score. Is this a tool that can assist in showing clients how well their listings are showing in local marketing or not? moz-getlisted.jpg
Image & Video Optimization | | seomn1 -
LOCAL SEO: Franchise --> One storefront. Multiple territory. Multiple listings?
An interesting problem came our way, and I'd love your help in solving it. An individual I'm chatting with owns and manages a number of territories of a service-based Franchise business around Eastern Iowa.**His territory covers multiple cities and zips. He services all of those places, but does not have a physical presence in all. There is one company office. But he has local numbers for each territory.**The corporate franchise's website is dynamic. It shows the 'local' number and information based on the visitor's location. Basically, little microsites for each franchise territory.Three years ago he set up individual Google Places pages for each territory, using a PO box address and the local phone numbers. The Google listings are set up not to display an address. The kick is -- those addresses are now expired. Those Google Local listings still exist, and drive considerable traffic in each target city. As you can imagine, this also causes havoc on his other citations. There are scattered (YP, Yahoo, Yelp, etc) listings for each address. Their name in GetListed brings up all five different addresses, each with a number of web properties already claimed.Now that I've offered to help, I need to determine the best way to move forward. Suspend the verified listings with hidden addresses and move to a single listing for the office location? We could add all of the zips in manually, but it would cover a very wide range, and could lose its rank in local SERPs. Even with a well-optimized description. And the local numbers would likely not show up. Keep the listings. Don't touch them at all. The owner is looking to maintain the look and feel of a local business in each of his territories. That is difficult to do with a single listing. Assuming we decide not to touch the active listings (option 2), what will we do for other listings? Do we claim a local Yahoo listing for each location? Just for the corporate office? Would love to hear how others have attacked the multi-territory franchise problem, or would in this case.Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | SocialJosh0 -
How do I get my site to rank in Google Videos?
I have a site that has quite a few videos. When I do a search from Google video's using keywords for our site, the site is not listed with the video site although it is listed with the html site. So how do I get Google to recognize that the site has all the videos. eg google video search with keywords: social media "damon adachi" website: biztvcanada.com Thanks Janice
Image & Video Optimization | | jwdavis0 -
Google Places in multiple languages
Hi how are you? I work with a big hostel network in South America. When i look for 'hostel (city)', some results from Google Places appear. The profile in Google Places is in english, but i searched it from google.com.ar. Is it possible to have Google Places' profile in several languages? Thanks! Best wishes, Ariel
Image & Video Optimization | | arielbortz0 -
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 -
Can different phone numbers affect your google places listing?
If you use a non-landline number e.g 0330 or 0845 etc does this affect your position within google places? Is it better to use a local number e.g 0208 (uk) And if you use a local number for your google places account but have a different number on your website will this have a negative effect?
Image & Video Optimization | | challen0