Clients are not showing up on Google Places (Maps)
-
Dear Esteemed Mozzers,
I am having trouble with a few clients not showing up on the map for Google Maps (Places).
What's interesting is that for one of my clients, a number of her competitors (some of them in the same office building) appear on the maps, however, my client does not. Nevertheless, this client is on G+, uses Yext, Yelp advertising, PPC with Google, etc. and as far as I'm concerned, has signed up for every other 'local' listing service of value.
With that, I'm hoping you guys may be able to point me in the right direction to get my clients back on track and showing up on the Google Maps (Places) listings. Thank you all in advance for reading this, I look forward to your responses!
-
I just want to add, in case you haven't seen it, the latest local search ranking factors. I'd pay close attention to the top 30 difference-making factors in competitive markets when you're going through your audit.
-
Hi J.P.,
You are correct that city centroids were once considered a strong ranking factor. This was then edged out by the concept of industry centroids, but this in turn has given way largely to the concept of user centroids. Recommend you read the history of the centroid here:
https://moz.com/blog/mastering-serving-the-user-as-centroid
My answer beyond this is in two parts:
-
To discover whether your client can move up in the local pack rankings you must a) audit her business and b) do competitive analysis to discover if any competitors can be surpassed. Your audit of your client's marketing should include an assessment of their website, citations, reviews and social engagement.
-
Whether this will lead to your client appearing in black text at a lower resolution of the map is not known. I have never seen a thorough study of how Google determines which locations show at the lowest resolutions there, so this would be something you'd want to be sure you weren't promising to the client. In our sample 'newport beach plastic surgeon' the only 2 businesses receiving this treatment at the automatic zoom level are those ranking top 2 in the maps pack, but whether this is the case for every such search, I honestly don't know. If you could get your client to be #1 or #2, perhaps this would lead to them replacing one of the 2 businesses in black text, but I am not 100% sure of that and would need to look at a larger data set to begin drawing such a conclusion. Interesting topic!
Of course, the ideal is always to get the client as high in the local pack rankings/maps pack rankings as possible, but the difficulty in achieving this relates directly to how tough/strong his unique competitors are and how much motivation/funding your client has to make efforts to move up. And, these days, it's really important to bring into the discussion the fact that your client's customers are not likely to see the same rankings that he does or that you do, given the user-as-centroid phenomenon. Sometimes, in a really competitive field, going after hyperlocal or long tail keywords may enable them to earn traffic that they simply can't get from the main searches because the field is already too crowded with strong competitors.
Hope these are helpful thoughts.
-
-
I also wanted to ask you if her appearance (or failure to appear) is related to geo-positioning, specifically the 'centroid'. As I recall, years ago, a business's appearance on the Map corresponded to its proximity to whatever Google determined to be the central point of the city. I don't know if this is still a factor in ranking on the Maps and more importantly, showing up as one of those listings that appears in black, when you look at the map without zooming in.
Beyond that, is there any other ways for a business to improve its positioning on both the maps listing and the top map results portion of the search results page for a given search term?
-
Miriam,
Is there any way for us to improve her position in the listings themselves, so Dr. Lawton appears closer to the number one result and objectively, starts to appear in the 'permanent' black text on the map?
-
Hi J.P.,
I confirm what Donna is seeing. Searching Google Maps, I see your client coming up when I search for 'newport beach plastic surgeon'. Both Donna and I are making a best guess at your search term, so if you're using a different search term, please share it. I'll gladly take another look, but for what I did look up, your client is coming up at position 8 in the Maps pack and if I click on that, is being clearly shown with the red teardrop marker.
Now, what isn't happening is that the client's name doesn't appear in the 'permanent' black text on the map, unlike Cruise Plastic Surgery and Milind K. Albe MD at the automatic resolution of the map - which may be what you are asking about. If you narrow in, however, it does. So, I don't believe there is anything to be concerned about here. Please, feel free to provide further details about the keywords you are searching for or anything else that might help us better understand any concerns you're feeling about the results. Happy to check it out with you!
-
Here's why I'm confused JP. As I said above, when I look at the maps tab, I DO see your clients listed. Dr. Lawson is listed as the 7th ranking entry on the map. (See attachment.) The Ranch at Laguna Beach ranks #1.
So I'm not seeing what you're seeing.
-
No Donna, I am specifically trying to get them on the map for their local area. For instance, when you look on the Maps tab, you see a number of the competitors (some of them in the same building) but for some reason Dr. Lawton does not show up. Any ideas as to why this may be?
-
You mean you want them to show up outside of the geography in which their business is located? For example, you want Dr. Lawton's business to show up in Huntington Beach or Irvine?
-
Donna,
I was much more concerned with where the client(s) (or is fail to) show up on the Maps page. Do you know if there's anything I can do about that?
-
Hi JP,
Dr. Tenley Lawton shows up as the 7th local search result when I search for "Plastic Surgeon Newport Beach CA". Because she's the 7th search result, you have to use the slider on the results window to scroll down to see her first-page listing.
The Ranch at Laguna Beach, CA shows up as my first local result when searching for "golf course Laguna Beach, CA".
So I'm not seeing what you're seeing. What search terms are you using? Where are you searching from?
-
Miriam,
Here are the links to my clients' G+ pages:
https://plus.google.com/+TenleyLawtonMDNewportBeach/posts
https://plus.google.com/116487475034550940260/posts
Let me know if there's anything else i can do to help.
-
Hi J.P.
As Dennis and Donna have suggested, sharing further details of this will help the community look further into your question. If you are unable to share the client's details, that perfectly fine, but it will limit the amount of support the community can give.
-
Maybe share the client's business name and G+ page so we can take a look at it. Perhaps, as Dennis suggests, the business page is not verified. Perhaps it's tied to an individual and not the business. Perhaps it's miscategorized.
-
Is their Google+ My Business page verified? Just to clarify it.
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
-
No external links showing?
Hello, I have recently included my client's site in a number of trusted local directories; however, when I do a link analysis, it says there are no external links? How can this be? Thanks so much in advance for your help!
Local Listings | | lfrazer0 -
Can I use the same interior photos for multiple stores in Google My Business?
Hi, The company I work for has many store locations across the country. Getting good/quality interior pictures has become very difficult for us. We recently good a Virtual Tour from Google for one of the locations, and they took some really good pictures. According to Google, the "Photos should represent the actual business" and "Represent the real-world business location". My question is: since our stores are VERY similar in the interior, can we use the same pictures for them while we get more pictures? Would Google penalize this? Thanks!
Local Listings | | SO-MarceloOtero0 -
Business Name Not Showing Up in Google's Maps
I have a client whose name in not currently showing up on Google maps. Their business location only shows once their name or related keywords are searched, but their business name does not show when you only look for it on the map regardless of how far zoomed in you are to the actual location. I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this, or knows of a way to fix this. I have already contacted Google multiple times, and they told me that “business’ names are just randomly pulled”. The client is an HVAC store front business with good rankings and a fully optimized Google profile, so these reasons did not answer the issue. Client’s GMB profile: https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome-psyapi2&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8&q=rothheating oak creeek&oq=rothheating oak creeek&rlz=1C1JPGB_enUS685US685&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.5919j0j4 DBZfF
Local Listings | | JohnWeb120 -
Google points of Interest / POI
Hello, Looking for some guidance on how to appear and get listed in Google Points of Interest in the Search Engine Results Page. Like when searching for "attractions Seattle" at the top of the SERP these listings appear. Cannot seem to find some good resources on the topic as well. Thanks Conrad
Local Listings | | conalt1 -
Hint from Google To Hospitality Industry Regarding Images + Bookings?
Hey To All My Favorite Local Folks Here! Have clients in the hospitality industry? You might be interested in this Mike Blumenthal post in which he does a good job of voicing the frustration business owners may feel when their preferred Google profile photo is overridden with Google's preferred pic. The post does more than just vent, though ... it actually hints at something quite fascinating that Google may have just offered up to the hospitality industry by switching from hotel-preferred exterior shots to Google-preferred interior shots of rooms. Mike's contention (and it's one shared by many in the industry) is that Google makes moves like this because they are maximizing profit. From the image switching that just happened, I think it makes sense to theorize that Google has gathered enough internal data to convince them that room shots lead to more bookings than do exterior views of lodgings. This wouldn't surprise me at all. When you're looking for a place to stay, it's the room you're going to stay in that matters most ... not really whether the exterior building is made of brick, wood or stucco, right? Certainly, a beautiful, fancy building could sway you, but if the rooms look awful inside, that's probably a deal breaker. If Mike is right, then I think Google's image switcharoo offers an extremely compelling reason to follow Google's lead and shine a major spotlight - on your website which you CAN control - on your interior photography. This suggestion could apply at all levels of the industry, from major hotel corporations that might want to rethink homepage contents and interior page layouts, to country B&Bs that have never made the investment in getting a pro photo shoot done that will truly showcase their rooms. I know, as a traveler, I've seen everything from stunning to downright dark, distorted and scary when it comes to hotel room photography. If Google knows it gets more bookings when good clear room shots are given pride of place, your hotel clients might want to be taking notes on that. Do you agree? As a hospitality industry Local SEO (or even as a traveler) what do you think is the most influential booking factor? Do you have any tips to share with others in the industry or an opinion on Google's switcharoo? Please, share with our community!
Local Listings | | MiriamEllis1 -
Map placement on google disappear after claiming business
Hi guys 1st of all pls bear with me as i am new to this, google created a page for our business im not sure how probably its automatic and since it was created by google its unclaimed. My friend have been telling us that everytime he search for our business which is a furniture business located in the philippines he just type in our exact business name "evergreen diamond school supplies" then map or location appear on the right side of the google search engine. After finding out about google business from a friend i tried to claim our business page, we hire a web developer to build a website for us and since our business name is too long "evergreen diamond school supplies" the dev team suggested a shorter name which is "edssph.com" since "edss.com" is not available then after 2 weeks site was done and we launched it. We claimed the unclaimed business page of our business and it took us 3 weeks to receive the post card and now it was verified. We are very happy and when we type our business name "evergreen diamond school supplies" map appears and contact #'s are there and all the necessary info users need but after 2 days whenever i type "evergreen diamond school supplies" location doesnt appear anymore i have to type in "evergreen diamond school supplies taguig" where taguig is our city where our business is located, so what happened? i hope someone here can guide me. If "eevergreen diamond school supplies" doesnt work anymore i am fairly new to local SEO so i'd like to know what happened or what could i have done wrong. thanks in advance
Local Listings | | xpertmedia0 -
Connecting a google business page to my website
How do i connect a Google business page to my website? I have followed googles instructions but don't see the link to my website as advised here: https://support.google.com/business/answer/4569085?hl=en Can anybody shed any light please.
Local Listings | | mari-rose0 -
Are citations the way to go even if there is no Google Places listing
If there are no Google Places / Local listing for a keyword search term, for example... "web design vancouver", do building citations still help in enabling websites to move up the organic rankings?
Local Listings | | Gavo0