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.
Google My Business: Company listing is showing in search instead of division address - similar names/same city
-
Hi!
I have a client whose company name is very similar to one if their company divisions. This division has multiple locations but its main location is in the same city as the parent company. The problem is that when you search for the division, the parent company shows up. The parent company has a physical address, but most users searching need to be going to the division address which takes customers. They are having problems with customers coming to the parent company address instead.
I have made the Google My Business parent company page to show service areas instead of their business address. Yet, their listing still comes up first when searching for the division location. This is because of part of the parent company name is in the division name. My client wants users to be able to find the division more so than the parent company.
Anyone had this issue before? Any tips would be great!
-
Miriam,
Yes, that was very helpful! We will make sure to follow these steps.
-
Thanks for the further details, Agrier. The answer to this is not simple, but I'll do my best to be concise, and will number the following suggestions:
-
If the parent company needs to maintain its GMB profile, but is in agreement with the branch that they shouldn't be outranking the branch, have the parent de-optimize their listing. Remove photos, the business description, hours of operation and service menus. Don't have them use Google Posts, Q&A, SWIS or any other influential features. I'm not sure of the business model, but if they can accurately list themselves as an SAB instead of brick-and-mortar, that could help, too.
-
Next, go full bore on the branch listing. This means optimizing every single aspect of the GBP you can. Here is a complete guide to this: https://moz.com/blog/ultimate-cheat-sheet-google-knowledge-panels
-
Underpin the branch listing with the strongest possible landing page on the website that you can. This means good content + good internal and inbound links to it.
-
Steps 1-3 are your best bets for overcoming the present ranking advantage the parent company has, as well as any filters that might be happening if the two businesses are closely located to one another.
-
Finally, remember that local rankings are not static. What customers in one part of this branch's town are seeing may be quite different from what customers on the other side of town see. For more on this, I recommend reading the following: https://moz.com/blog/find-local-competitors
Hope this helps, and please let me know if you have any further questions!
-
-
We have had thoughts about just removing it, but the client still wants the company GMB to show when searching for the parent company name. The problem is that the name is so similar to the division that when searching in the same city the division shows up for GMB instead. We have had some lead way where when searching on Google Maps only the parent company and division locations show up and only the division gives a physical address to visit.
Any help is much appreciated.
-
Hi Agrier,
The question I asked you, above, was in hopes of understanding whether the parent company needs to rank for purposes of its own or is expendable. If you can let me know the answer to this, I'd be very glad to discuss further!
-
The parent company Google My Business has been live for a while and has 7 reviews which also might attribute it to showing above the division. One thought was to remove the parent company GMB and try to get a knowledge panel instead. Thoughts on just completely removing the GMB for the parent company?
-
Hi Agrier,
Is it necessary for the parent company to come up at all in search? Is there any benefit to it ranking highly?
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
-
Verifying Google My Business After An Address Change
Hello,
Local Listings | | Ben-R
We are trying to verify our Google My Business listing, however, the current unverified listing is using an old address we no longer have access to. The only option for verification is through the mail. We tried requesting an edit but it didn’t go through. Would the best option be to create a new one and try to have the old (unverified) listing removed? Any insight would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Best,0 -
Why won't a business show up in the local pack when all signs point to that it should?
Hello! I've been trying to figure out why a business won't show up in the local pack even though their GMB has more reviews, seems to be doing everything right, and just doesn't show. The business is "A Senior Journey", and should be showing up for searches relating to "senior placement services tucson" or "senior placement tucson", but no dice. Been doing a competitor analysis and they are doing better or on par with all of their competitors. The same businesses in Tucson that are competitors show up both times, even Phoenix locations, but not A Senior Journey...any ideas? Thank you!
Local Listings | | WebMO-Tech-Rep0 -
Google My Business -Choosing Multiple Categories
Hi friends, I'm trying to work out what would the practice be for a business who is operating in different categories in terms of displaying those categories in Google My Business account. We have a client who is supplying both catering and cleaning products (both categories are core). In this case, listing those two categories in GMB would be alright or should I expect a negative impact on results related to both categories as we have chosen multiple categories? Any advice would be appreciated greatly!
Local Listings | | bbop331 -
Google My Business answers not appearing
We've been trying to use the GMB Q&A feature as a lot of customers seem to be engaging with the listing/asking relevant questions. However, sometimes we answer a question directly from the business listing account but it does not appear (no error message is shown when posting either). When we go to re-post the answer, the text is sometimes still visible in the answer box field. Any ideas what might be causing the issue?
Local Listings | | Wagada1 -
Yahoo Local Business Listings Hijacked
We are a solar company with three locations. When claiming our business listings on Yahoo (Yext), we noticed that one of them had already been claimed. The name of our company and our phone number were changed to a lead generation company. Upon further inspection, this company has hijacked hundreds of listings throughout the state and the country. To see the extent of it, go here:
Local Listings | | SS.Digital
https://search.yahoo.com/local/s;_ylt=A0SO8odHUOZZdVUAYwBXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTByNWU4cGh1BGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--;_ylc=X1MDMTM1MTE5NTExOARfcgMyBGdwcmlkA3loNXdiQlJqVE9HMm9MdXlUSklLdEEEbl9zdWdnAzEEb3JpZ2luA3NlYXJjaC55YWhvby5jb20EcG9zAzAEcHFzdHIDBHBxc3RybAMEcXN0cmwDMjIEcXVlcnkDc29sYXIgY29ubmVjdG9yIGlydmluZQR0X3N0bXADMTUwODI4MTk4MA--?fr2=sb-top-search&p=solar+connector+irvine&fr=yfp-t- Or, just search in Yahoo's Local search section for "Solar Connector Irvine" or pretty much any city in California. On every hijacked listing, the company name is changed to "Solar Connector" and the phone number is changed to a unique local number, but all the other information is left the same. Now when people think they are calling our business, they get a shady lead gen company instead. I have submitted a request to Yext and have tried (and failed) to find a support phone number. This is a widespread, blatant fraud, and I would hope they would have interest in fixing it. Solar Connector (fake name) is associated with SolarAmerica.com, which is run by Clean Energy Experts, which was purchased by Sunrun (a publicly traded company). My specific question is, does anyone have any insight on the best method for getting help from Yahoo/Yext? Other than through their "help portal" on the website. I need to speak with a human being.1 -
Duplicate central index listing
Hello Moz community I have a duplicate listing in Central Index (GB) and all communication channels seem unresponsive. I have emailed support and general sales. I even tried contacting them on their facebook account. I am stumped as to how I can get this duplicate listing removed as I have no control over it and the support is non-existent. Any suggestions would be gratefully received.
Local Listings | | Avid-Panda2 -
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 -
What is the ideal length of a business description for citations?
I am trying to write a business description for building citations. What is the ideal length or word count for this? I am using Yext to help get them listed, did a lot of searching for an answer and was unable to come up with a definite answer. Any help would be great! The business I am working on for this is James River Church, they have 2 locations. So I am trying to write a unique description for both locations.
Local Listings | | chris.oursbourn0