Local SEO - Confirming an Address that Does Not Receive Mail
-
Hi guys, I have a question that might have been asked previously but warrants asking again.
What is the best workaround for Google Local verification for a business that is located at a physical address that does not receive mail. I have a friend who lives in an area that does not receive mail.
This particular person tried using a local PO box to verify, but as it turns out that is a poor option a) because it is not allowed within the guidelines of Google Local, and b) because the listing was not accepted as a unique address and is listed without an address in Local because of this.
Is there anyone with recent experience in terms of getting around this and verifying perfectly legitimate businesses in no-mail areas?
I would have thought Google would have provided a workaround for those types of businesses.
Any thoughts / experience would be appreciated!
-
You are very welcome, Todd. I hope this works out for you and your client.
Miriam
-
Thanks a ton Miriam! Totally makes sense...
Best.
Todd -
Hi Todd,
Thanks for coming to Q&A with your good question. I'm the Local SEO Associate here in the forum.Interestingly, your question comes in at a time when Google has just made a rather major change to their guidelines. This update happened just a week or so ago. In 2010, Google's guidelines for physical address read this way:
Do not create listings at locations where the business does not physically exist. P.O. Boxes are not considered accurate physical locations. Listings submitted with P.O. Box addresses will be removed.
So, P.O. Boxes were totally out.
Then, on Feb 10 of this year, they published this new guideline (actually, they published a new guideline on the 8th, but then changed the wording of it on the 10th):
Do not create a listing or place your pin marker at a location where the business does not physically exist. P.O. Boxes are not considered accurate physical locations. If you operate from a location but receive mail at a mail box there, please list your physical address in Address Line 1, and put your mail box or suite number in Address Line 2.
So, according to most interpretations of the new guidelines, you are now allowed to put a P.O. Box as the second line in your address. Presumably, this means that if Google's verification postcard will reach you there. Now, this just happened, and I have yet to hear from anyone that they've successfully done it, but this would be the right time for you and your client to give it a shot. For the first time, there is a chance it will work.
You can read more about the guideline updates in this good article and discussion at Mike Blumenthal's blog:
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/02/10/google-places-rescinds-po-box-rule-change/
Hope this helps! The very real problem of areas of the country not receiving mail delivery is one I have blogged about in the past, and I'm glad to see Google trying to offer some type of solution. Hope it works!
Miriam
-
About 2 years ago I tried to validate 6 locations for clients - a month passes and there was no sign of any mail from Google. So I tried the verification by phone (SMS) and it worked. This might have changed now but find out if the SMS verification option is available for you as it depends if your listing is an old one or if you just created it (bad luck!).
You can also try phone verification if you haven't already used it to validate other locations for 3 times. Make sure you have enough citations (local directory listings, etc) to have a higher likelyhood of being considered as a legit place.
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
-
Any Advice for Image SEO?
I have a client who is very concerned about reputation management ... Google his name and some very provocative photos show up in Google Images. There are a couple of semi-famous people who share his name, and my plan is to backlink their images that currently rank positions 50 - 100 to try and push them up. Should I backlink the page that contains the image or the image itself? Any other recommendations?
Image & Video Optimization | | julie-getonthemap1 -
Google instantly suspends Google+ local listing of brand new company
I just tried to create a Google+ listing for a client. It's a brand new company. As soon as I submit the listing, I get an error message: "Google has suspended your page due to quality issues." There is no content on the listing, no website, etc. Just their NAP. All I can guess is their business address or phone number is on a blacklist due to some previous tenant/owner. Does Google keep a blacklist of addresses and/or phone numbers? Any other ideas?
Image & Video Optimization | | AdamThompson0 -
Can I use PO boxes as an actual business Address?
Hi mozzers, A potential future client(electrician) covers 40+ locations in one region(local SEO) but only has 1 address. He wants to rank for at least 5 to 7 main locations which he has PO boxes for. Can I use these as addresses on his website or will it be seen as violating the google guideline? If it is no good what should I do? Thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | Ideas-Money-Art0 -
Thoughts on Google's New NAP Dispaly on Google+ Local
Hi, Do you think ACTION needs to happen based on Google's new NAP formatting change? They are changing Suite or STE to #. So for example 265 Racine Dr #100 Wilmington, NC 28403 Even if you enter in Suite they change it to pound. I am wondering the thoughts of the community of the following: 1. Do you think Google knows that STE, Suite, and # are all the same 2. Do you feel that we need to change ALL online local business listings and our website to match this change. 3. Here is the letter from Google on the matter FROM GOOGLE: Thanks for informing us about your address appearing differently on your local Google+ page than it does on your dashboard. After looking further, we've determined that 240 Stockton St #300 San Francisco, CA 94108 is an appropriate way for your listing to be displayed. Note that the address on your page might be different from what you've input into your dashboard. Our processes might alter user-input addresses to make them more standardized and easier for users to access. Thanks for understanding. Best, Nathan
Image & Video Optimization | | WebBizIdeas
The Google Team0 -
Local SEO NAP issue
Hello, All of my citations addresses have the street address 913 S. Latah Street except there are other businesses in this building with the same address. Should I have included "Room H"? Also, is "S." different than "South"? Is "St." different than Street? Looking for correct consistent citations.
Image & Video Optimization | | BobGW0 -
Doing SEO for multiple clients, who should make the content?
I realize that since content marketing is (or can be) a part of SEO, then it would logically follow that it's up to whoever is doing the SEO to create the content*. And when it's 1 person or a small group of people that work for 1 company, doing its SEO, that makes perfect sense. But I'm having a little trouble wrapping my mind around how that's supposed to scale up for an outside agency responsible for the SEO of 5 or 10 or 50 other companies. One of the biggest factors in my misunderstanding of the system is the reasoning for creating content in the first place. I absolutely understand how a professional in some field (let's say dentistry for example) could write up some insightful, accurate blog post about why flossing is great. After all, a dentist does (or should, hopefully) have a level of expertise on the subject that most people don't have. That blog post is a tangible addition of value to the website for anyone curious about the subject. But why would anyone want to read a blog post about wisdom teeth written by just some random person at a marketing company? If that person has the time to do a lot of research and BECOME something of an authority on the subject of dental care, then that's fine. But what if they also need to create content for clients that do plumbing, car repairs, and cooking? I don't really see how someone can become enough of an expert on enough subjects and still have any time to do the other parts of their job. Maybe I'm just expecting too much, but I sort of feel that the internet is already full enough of advice and information from people that have no idea what they're talking about, so content from someone that's not an expert (but is a marketing person that the expert hired) seems... frivolous to me. So to get back to the actual question, should/can an SEO ask their clients to create at least some of their own content, or is it the SEO's responsibility to generate all the content, even if it's not always stellar? Or is it just one of those "Could God make a rock so big that he couldn't lift it? Yes, he could, and then he would lift it" (or however that saying went) sorts of deals? Thanks for the feedback, this can all be kind of overwhelming for me at times. *"Creating content" in this specific case meaning writing blog posts, making videos, etc.
Image & Video Optimization | | BrianAlpert781 -
YOUTUBE BEST PRACTICE for SEO
We have made a seriers of videos, shouled we link them together in the description or in the video itself on youtube for favorable results? What else cn we do to help other that writing a good quality description, use the customize options in youtube and then place the embed for the video on a content rich page about the subject. Ofcourse the keyword is in the first part of the title, and we use keywords as anchor text back to the video page. Also make sure it is in a good video sitemap? Other than that, what do you suggest? p-3VepAtpvk
Image & Video Optimization | | jdcline0 -
UBL or LocalEZE? Local listing submission vendor.
We are between UBL and LocalEZE for our preferred local listing submission vendor. DIfferences:
Image & Video Optimization | | qlkasdjfw
*UBL does not have a relationship with local data vendors, but submits to axicom and infousa (as examples) which LocalEZE does not.
*LocalEZE has active feeds set up with many local vendors. What are your preferences? We are leaning twoard LocalEZE, Razorfish (the agency) is among their notable clients. What about submitting to both? I would be fearful that the data will overlap.0