Google “My Business” Map Listing
-
We are Heritage Printing & Graphics, serving 2 areas (DC & Charlotte, NC) with Commercial Printing (books, magazines, catalogs) and Event Signage (banners, backdrops, custom displays)
Our current location in NC is 2739 Interstate St. and we will soon also occupy 2731 Interstate St. (next door) which we would like to promote as Heritage Custom Signs & Displays.
Do you think this is a good idea as far as Google “My Business” map listing?
Thx,
Kevin Smith
Marketing Manager
Heritage Printing -
Hi Kevin! Did Miriam's advice help? And if so, mind marking her response(s) as a "Good Answer?"
Thank you!
-
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for those details. I agree, there's a bit of grey area here. What your scenario actually is most reminiscent to me of is a car dealership with a department for print and and department for signs (like a department for parts and another for sales). However, what is making this a bit unusual is that the second business is actually in a completely unique building with its own walk-in front entrance. I see 3 options here:
-
You determine that your second business is actually just a set of products your company offers and that a second Google My Business listing is not warranted, because you aren't supposed to create separate listings for your menu of products/services. You work harder on your organic SEO to get ranking organically for your signs products. PPC could help here, too. Risk level: none.
-
You treat the signs element of your business as a department of your company. You keep everything under the same business name, with the same website, but with a unique, non-redirecting phone number in the second building that is answered by someone who says "Heritage Printing & Graphics, Signs Department." You do create a separate Google My Business listing. Your website contains a landing page for the signs department that the Google My Business listing for it links to. Risk level: moderate. There is a chance here that Google could determine that the business should have marketed it itself as laid out in option 1 and is trying to spam Google. I know that's not what you're trying to do, but Google will have their own interpretation. They are used to seeing hospitals, schools and car dealerships have separate departments. They may not view a print shop the same way.
-
You do operate the second business as completely separate, with a unique address, unique non-redirecting phone number and unique website that does not interlink with or duplicate the content of the original business in any way. You might even consider branding that second business totally differently as 'Zippy Signs' or something like that instead of associating it with the Heritage brand in any way. If you keep this 100% separate from the first business, I'd rate the **Risk level: mild. **It's odd ... if this business were in a totally different part of town, the risk would be none, but it's the fact that it's next door to the the first company that is giving me a little bit of concern.
My advice: weigh each of these 3 options carefully and then phone Google directly to discuss with them. You are not a spammer who has something to hide. You are a legitimate business owner who is trying to understand his marketing options, and should have no fear of discussing this directly with Google.
-
-
Christy,
-
yes, we are registered under Heritage Custom Signs
-
yes, we will have both entrances just as it was when the previous tenant occupied the space
-
yes, we have a long established phone number that currently "rolls over" to one of our main lines, we can easily set it as a primary
Thank you very much for responding, I have 2 days to research and provide our direction.
Kevin (in for Joe)
-
-
We will operate at Heritage Custom Signs & Displays w/ the domain HeritageCustomSigns.com
My concern is, will Google view is as the new subdivision of Heritage Printing or allow us to be a stand alone.
The problem is we are nationally known as commercial printers and expanded into signage 7 years ago, but have trouble distinguishing ourselves as signs.
Your thoughts are appreciated
Kevin (in for Joe)
-
Hi Kevin!
Christy is asking some important questions. I'll add just a couple more:
-
Are these legally registered as 2 distinct businesses?
-
Do they have separate front entrances?
-
Do they each have a unique local phone number?
Please, provide as much detail as you can.
-
-
Hi there, and welcome to the forum! Are you actually going to operate the location at 2731 Interstate St. using the new name -- or are you asking if it is a good idea to list what is essential the same business with this new name and address in order to get an addition map listing with Google My Business?
Keep in mind that your Google My Business listing(s) should mirror your business' real-world name, the one you are known to customers both online and offline (including storefront signage, your website, and all printed materials).
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
-
Google Suspended My business listing
hi there, Google has Suspended By Google Business Listing Google has suspended your page due to quality issues. there is No spam Things in My Business, i have Requested Google, But It has not made active Since 10 Days, Is there any way to make My listing Publish on Google please Guide me to which steps Need take Thnx
Local Listings | | innovative.rohit0 -
How do I treat multiple buildings on the same college campus on Google for local SEO?
Should I delete them? Simply give them a different address like "City, State, Zip"? I see the benefit of having key buildings on campus in Google Maps, but I don't want those to affect my accuracy score and, thus, my local rankings for SEO.
Local Listings | | GabeGibitz1 -
How do I win the Google knowledge panel?
Hi everyone, so my company has a knowledge panel that show up for some keywords. I use to be #1 on the map (for my favorite keyword) when Google was showing several listings. Now that it show only one, it's not me anymore and I wonder why. So what are the SEO leverage I need to focus on to win this new google knowledge panel? Thank you very much.
Local Listings | | JimJ0 -
Creating a Google My Business listing in a used location
Hi! We're expanding our business and opening a new office. The location of that office is a shared office with another company, Will it be possible to verify the listing in Google My Business even tough there's a verified business there?
Local Listings | | OrendaLtd0 -
Local SEO business name issue due to aggregator
So I work for a college and we have multiple locations. My tactic has been always to keep the name the same for all of them (no city name), and then change the address and phone number for each. But there is 1000s of college listings websites out there that aggregate college and school data from the same source: the US government. Now the way that they have most, if not all, multi-location colleges listed is: "college name-city name". I can see the value in that, but I guess I'm just wondering what to do since it obviously can't be changed. Should I revert all of our listings as "college name-city name" to match the 1000s of listings that have it that way? I've been under the impression that I should leave the city/town name out of the name, but I'm just wondering what you think best practices would be? Thanks
Local Listings | | TomBinga1125
Tom0 -
Higher Value: Google Local Listing or .edu link?
A client of mine is putting together a partnership with a local university to offer a certain type of medical test through several of its clinics. They are writing up the contract now and asked me if there is anything they should ask for that would benefit us in our listings. Since we do not have an actual local footprint, my first inclination was to ask for them to help us get verified as owners of "practitioner" local listings at their business addresses (as discussed here). We would provide local numbers that would ring our call center. My thinking is that these listings and backlinks would benefit on searches similar to "medical testing in San Antonio". I have a number of concerns with this track but would love to hear from the community on why or why not this might be the way to go. Another potential option is to ask for a link from the university's website outlining the partnership. Something along the lines of "Our labs have partnered with BIZNAME to provide medical testing in San Antonio to our valued patients." I'd obviously love the EDU links, but I'm hesitant after Overstock's penalty a few years ago to try to set something like that up. I'm not sure which (if either) to ask for in the contract. I'm leaning toward the latter since it seems more in line with a long term strategy, and Google seems to change their treatment of the local listings pretty frequently. However, getting that high visibility real estate in the local listings is really appealing to me. What does everyone think?
Local Listings | | Andrew_Mac0 -
Do business citations (without links) on penalised website have a negative effect?
Hi there I've been doing some research into directory sites that my clients are listed on and noticed that some appear to have flat-lined in organic search traffic indicating a penalty. I would like to know if clients with business citations on these penalised websites (without links to clients websites) will be having a negative effect on SEO? Thanks
Local Listings | | Kerry_Jones0 -
SEO ROI for brick-and-mortar small business?
So I've just been contracted to do some on-page and local SEO for a number of websites, and aside from analytics, I don't know how to prove the ROI. Any thoughts on that? For example, how do I prove a restaurant is getting more customers because I optimized their website and established and enhanced local listings (or if that's even the case)? How would I measure that success, especially if there are other variables (maybe they're also kicking off some off-line marketing in tandem ... )
Local Listings | | sbs2190