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.
How do you fix a Google My Business Location Issue if the road doesn't yet exist on Google Maps?
-
My core question is just: How do you fix a Google My Business Location Issue if the road doesn't yet exist on Google Maps? Do I have any other options other than to just wait on Google to catch up with reality?
Here's the background:
I work for a hospital. We just opened a clinic on a street that is real and has a U.S. Postal Address, but Google Maps doesn't recognize it, and redirects people to a house .
This is our postal address: 8343 S 168th Ave Omaha NE 68136-1677
If a patient enters the following into google maps, 8343 S 168th Ave, the location the map autofills the wrong zip code, and sends them to a home that is on S 168th Ave. (where in theory a home would exist if it had that home number). The road does exist in that portion of town.
If a patient enters 8343 S 168th Ave, Omaha NE 68136, google maps takes you to the correct location, but it automatically changes Ave to St. The verified Google My Business listing also lists it as Street, even though on the back end I've put in the word Avenue, and it shows up in the right place.
If however someone just searches by name "Chalco Clinic" the right Google My Business comes up.
This is the Google My Business page I'm referring to: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Nebraska+Medicine+-+Chalco/@41.1754796,-96.1787153,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xf77aefb4e27f865!8m2!3d41.1754796!4d-96.1787153 And even though it says it's on a Street, on the back end of the claimed listing I've used "Avenue".
In case it matters, this is the landing page for the location: https://www.nebraskamed.com/chalco
-
Hey Patrick,
Coming back to give you 2 additional pro tips I got from Mike Blumenthal:
-
Get multiple people to report the issue via the "send feedback" link. This could help the job get done.
-
If you see no traction after a couple of months, go report the whole issue in the GMB forum. The TCs there can try to escalate it for you.
So nice of Mike to offer these extra tips
-
-
Thanks for the additional feedback Miriam. I'm working to implement both steps.
-
You're welcome, Patrick. So, I have 2 suggestions:
-
Short-term, change the email being sent out so that it links to a correct, custom map on your website instead of G Maps.
-
Long-term, go to your town on G Maps, and in the lower right, click the tiny "send feedback" link to report the missing street issue. It will likely take a month, but hopefully Google will act on this. Only then should you re-include the link to your G Maps map in the email.
Hope this helps!
-
-
Thanks for the additional input. I've just tried reaching out directly to Google.
-
Thanks for the input Miriam,
There is a street and an avenue, and both are currently in Google Maps etc. (But the part of the avenue where our new clinic is, is not yet in Google Maps).
The problem is the avenue portion of the road where our clinic is, does not exist in Google's eyes.
So Google changes the address, assuming that people mean the street (which happens to run almost parallel to the new chunk of avenue that just got built). If that happens people at least are directed to the correct spot (even if the address isn't right). This is what happens when someone searches by name for the clinic.
But if someone types in the full address, Google points them to a stretch of the avenue that really does exist in Google. And that's the biggest problem, them wrongly locating the building far from where it actually is. This only happens when someone types in the full address. I agree with you that few people would type in the full address. But I think the problem is they get an email with the appointment address, and click on it. That drives them to Google maps, and thus directs them to a place far from our clinic.
-
Hi Patrick!
Ooh - these can be tough! Thanks for providing such thorough details.
The good news is, the majority of your patients are unlikely to look you up via a street address. So long as their search for "Chalco Clinic" is getting them to a Knowledge Panel and a map that showing your accurate location, you're likely getting found by most of your patients. You'd also want to check to be sure that a non-branded search (like "health clinic omaha" is also rendering a listing that sends your patients to the right place from the local pack/local finder view).
When I do the searches you've listed out, it's clear that Google thinks of this geography as 168th St ... not 168th Ave. You can see that right on the map - it's being designated a street not an avenue. I want to be sure I understand ... there is just one 168th in your town, right? Or, are you saying that Omaha has both a 168th St. and a 168th Avenue? Please, let me know on that. I'll pop back by as soon as I can to read your answer.
-
How long has this been going on?
I would check the verification. Verifying over the phone will not have properly verified the physical address which clearly needs adding to Google maps. If it's the case that Google just doesn't have a road on the map then call them.
https://searchengineland.com/problems-google-business-use-phone-support-221305
Or email - see attachment
Best of luck!
Regards
Nigel
-
Thanks Nigel. The pin is in the correct place. I think I might have verified it over the phone, but even though I typed in the address, it still won't allow the correct address to visibly show. If they search the name of our clinic, the GMB pops up and everything is great. Even though the address is wrong, it still shows it at the spot I marked. But for some reason if they just type in the address, it still directs them to the wrong place.
-
Hi Patrick
If Google can't find the address then add it naturally and when asked you can move the pin to exactly where the business is. When you verify GMB location they will send a card to the address - type in the pin number on the card and Bob's your uncle.
Hope that helps
Regards
Nigel
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
-
What do I need to do for SEO when moving a business out of state?
Hello! So I have a business that I run out of a single location for the last 3 years. I am unfortunately having to move here in the next few weeks My question is what do I need to do in order to have the best chance at SEO for the new location? When should I make the changes? Does it take a long time for me to stop showing up in the previous location? and is there something I need to do to remove those? Also, is there an app or a website where I can find and update all listings at once or at least a bulk of them? I know that there are some weird sites that have my business info in them that I did not put there. Obviously these would have the wrong address. Some do not have a contact info or a way for me to log into them. What would I do with these sites? Thank you!
Local Listings | Apr 14, 2021, 5:20 PM | Rmarkjr810 -
Why is a Google Listing Showing Up in a Different Town Than Its Address?
I have a client who runs a dental office on the outskirts of Racine, WI. His address specifically shows up as being in Racine, however, his GMB profile has always showed with the category of "Dentist in Mount Pleasant, WI" displaying below the photos. (Mount Pleasant is the next town over and his office straddles the line between the two towns in Google's overlay map of the town.) Obviously this is frustrating and I'm concerned that his location is hurting his ability to rank in the larger, more populous town of Racine. Have any other SEOs ever encountered this? And if so, how have you approached the issue? Location pages? Mentions of the location more often on the pages? tsLvH2B
Local Listings | Apr 18, 2019, 1:57 PM | formandfunctionagency1 -
Seasonal Setting Options for Google My Business
Hi there, Not sure if anyone will have any insight but I have a seasonal business that I am closed for from September to March. I don't want to mark my business as "permanently closed" through Google My Business as I don't want my customers to think I've gone out of business. I've seen a few times through forums that you can change your business to temporarily closed, but I can't find the specifics on how to do this. Any insight, suggestion or resources would be great! Thanks!
Local Listings | Nov 17, 2018, 6:45 AM | MainstreamMktg1 -
Where does the small description on a business listing come from in google maps?
Hi All, Simple question, but I'm struggling to find the answer, so I hope someone is able to help. The business I run is Oakdene Forest Park; Google Maps URL: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Oakdene™+Forest+Park/@50.8114372,-1.8598721,18z/data=!4m12!1m6!3m5!1s0x4873980ce90e4ef7:0x755579d631c25b33!2sOakdene™+Forest+Park!8m2!3d50.8114796!4d-1.8582842!3m4!1s0x4873980ce90e4ef7:0x755579d631c25b33!8m2!3d50.8114796!4d-1.8582842?hl=en Under the business name, it has a small description and for the life of me I don't know where Google is getting it from because a part of it is wrong. It looks like this: Oakdene™ Forest Park Rural Resort with Entertainment & a Spa I would like to remove the term 'Rural Resort' but where do I find it?? Thanks in advance for your help.
Local Listings | Feb 14, 2018, 7:39 AM | Shorefield_Holidays0 -
How to Have Multiple Listings appear on Google maps
Hi my client has two locations for his restaurants: Me Gusta Tacos He wants to have both his locations show up in the map pack, which they currently do when you type in Restaurants, Dinner, food near me etc... However, when you google Me Gusta Tacos the Google listing shows up on the right for one of his locations, but there isn't a Map Pack for his two locations. I wasn't sure if a map pack only shows up when there are 3 or more locations, for instance, a chipotle which I added an image below to compare too. HGOgln5 Jgdoi4Y
Local Listings | Jan 22, 2018, 8:27 PM | Sociable_Bistro0 -
For Google's Structured Data, should I change my listings from Product schema to Local Business schema?
I was reading Google's Structured Data spec, and I'm considering changing the schema of our listing pages from the Product schema to the Local Business schema. Is this a good idea? To give you a little more info, the pages that I'm classifying are listings for physical spaces that our website rents out for activities, such as meetings. Here's an example of a listing: https://www.peerspace.com/pages/listings/550ddcde2f352d0800fc186b Our goal is to add the proper schema.org tags to the page so that our spaces show up in local searches, such as "meeting space in San Francisco." The problem is that when we add location microdata (addressLocality, addressRegion, etc.) to our current "Product" schema, Google tells us that "Products" can't have a location. However, we aren't quite a "Local Business" either, since we don't publicly share our space's street addresses—only the space's neighborhood/city/state for privacy reasons. As a result, we get an error from Google's Structured Data Tool as a "Local Business" page because "streetAddress" is required for Local Businesses. Should we switch to the Local Business schema anyway, even though we get structured data errors for streetAddress? Or is it better not to include the location information in the microdata so that we don't have errors? Does Google penalize you for incomplete tags? Any input is appreciated!
Local Listings | Sep 20, 2016, 3:30 PM | stuartstein0 -
Concerned about cannibalization for local SEO results. Should we move some of our location pages to a subdomain?
Currently we are providing local SEO recommendations for a well known pharmacy chain. Like most major brands they enjoy multiple organic (not just 3 pack results) listings when people search for local phrases such as "Dallas pharmacy clinics'". The issue is that all these listings are coming from the same domain page. We are seeing multiple listings both branded and non-branded search queries. Our concern is that Google will someday decide to choose one listing as the most authoritative and nix the rest of the local listings which will reduce their first page search engine saturation. To maintain first page saturation we are considering recommending to the client that they move some of their location listings
Local Listings | Sep 9, 2015, 9:51 PM | RosemaryB
to a subdomain (different IP address) to avoid a Google "clean up". Please note that our client is certainly not using any "doorway" pages but some of these are very scarce on content. They do not have an issue with duplicate content either. By using subdomains could we help maintain our client's first page saturation? Any links to articles would be much appreciated.0 -
How to show on Google Maps for specific areas close to me?
Hi there, Im wondering the best approach to get more consistent listings for google map searches (the pins on the map) for a business.
Local Listings | Oct 21, 2014, 11:39 AM | Ampweb
Here is a small overview. My client provides storage services in London. His business is very local as customers will only want to use them if they are from surrounding local suburbs within the City. His business is showing on the map for some of the suburbs close to his business, but it does not actually show when you search for the closest location (suburb) that his business is located in, or other local suburbs. What would be the best approach to ensure google shows a pin for his search results when users search for all close-by suburbs to his business address? Is this possible or will it just happen over time? He already has landing pages on his website for each of his suburbs that he is trying to target, eg: "Self Storage Camden".0