Can this make one's local listing vanish from Google local search?
-
Hi All,
Does anyone know if selecting "Yes, this business serves customers at their locations" under "service areas and location settings" in Google Places can cause a business's listing to disappear from Google local search?
My interior designer client has a bricks-and-mortar location, was ranking at about #20 for "interior designer" in Portland, and now has dropped from local search. I had "No, all customers come to the business location" selected previously.
In the past week, before the vanishing, I made these changes:
1. changed the service area to "Yes, this business serves customers at their locations",
2. removed "Portland" from the description in Google Places, and
3. submitted maybe two dozen directory listings to high DA sites (using Whitespark as the tool for determining where to post).
Thanks everyone!
Zack
-
It's my pleasure, Zack. Now, if your client does serve customers at his/her own location as well as on the road, my understanding of Google's guidelines is that you should show your address and use the Service Radius Tool. I believe this to be Google's preference in such cases. I really hope reporting your situation to the Google and Your Business Forum will yield an actionable answer. Miriam
-
Hi Miriam,
Wow - thank you so much for the generosity of time and expertise in your answer. Really inspiring contribution to the community (and to me)! Having read through the various possibilities, I suspect the issue is a bug. My client does serve customers at his location (which is a bona fide, bricks-and-mortar location), so that shouldn't be an issue. I've been really careful about NAP, and would be super shocked if the client's site were red flagged.
I was concerned about the directory listings just b/c I've read elsewhere that too many citations at once can raise red flags at Google. Still, it seemed unlikely given the relatively modest directory submissions I engaged in (and the fact that they were all on high DA sites.)
Navigating Google's guidelines for local search can feel pretty fogged-filled, so I really appreciate your guidance! I'll follow-up on the Google and Your Business Forum and see where that leads.
Thank you,
Zack
-
Hi Miriam,
Wow - thank you so much for the generosity of time and expertise in your answer. Really inspiring contribution to the community (and to me)! Having read through the various possibilities, I suspect the issue is a bug. My client does serve customers at his location (which is a bona fide, bricks-and-mortar location), so that shouldn't be an issue. I've been really careful about NAP, and would be super shocked if the client's site were red flagged.
I was concerned about the directory listings just b/c I've read elsewhere that too many citations at once can raise red flags at Google. Still, it seemed unlikely given the relatively modest directory submissions I engaged in (and the fact that they were all on high DA sites.)
Navigating Google's guidelines for local search can feel pretty fogged-filled, so I really appreciate your guidance! I'll follow-up on the Google and Your Business Forum and see where that leads.
Thank you,
Zack
-
Hi Zack,
Google's current guidelines (http://support.google.com/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=107528) on this read:
If you don't conduct face-to-face business at your location, you must select "Yes, this business serves customers at their locations" under the "Service Areas and Location Settings" section of your dashboard, and then select the "Do not show my business address on my Maps listing" option.
If you followed these steps correctly, it should not have caused your listing to disappear. However, there have been reports over the past several months from business owners who have had a similar experience. For example, Local SEO Andrew Shotland received a phone call from Google asking if he served customers at his location. This was in February, prior to the guideline update. When he answered no, his listing disappeared. See: http://www.localseoguide.com/hey-seos-if-google-maps-calls-dont-answer/
However, in cases like Andrew's, the vanishing of the listings happened because they did not choose to hide their address (generally, because Google hadn't yet clearly announced that they were supposed to do so).
Long before this, many people noticed that choosing the hide address function had the effect of instantly burying one's listing. Then, in November 2010, Mike Blumenthal reported that it appeared that this had changed and that hiding the address should not bury your blended listing, though it might still effect the Maps and 7-Packs of that time period. See: http://blumenthals.com/blog/2010/11/03/google-places-search-hiding-address-no-longer-buries-listing/
But, since the big guideline update in March 2012, (http://www.seomoz.org/blog/why-you-may-need-to-hide-your-google-places-address-asap) this issue was supposed to have been completely fixed and hiding the address was not ever supposed to bury your listing, though I have heard a couple of remarks to the effect that it may push your listing down a couple of places.
So, if you chose the 'serves customers at their locations' and 'do not show' options in your dashboard, according to my information, this should not be the culprit in what you're experiencing. Nor should removing a geographic modifier from your business description (using geo terms in descriptions has never really been considered a good idea and at one time, was forbidden by the guidelines). And, finally, gaining citations from directories should have the effect of improving your rankings - not destroying them.
So, at this point, there are several things to consider, as I see it:
-
Your client is experiencing the effects of a bug.
-
There is an external factor at play, such as a discrepancy of information between your current NAP (name, address, phone number) and 3rd party citations such as the ones you are building for the client via directories.
-
The client has been penalized for activity Google has red flagged (it doesn't happen often, but it does happen).
I would suggest that you report the whole incident via the Google and Your Business Forum: http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/business
If you do not receive a response from the Google Top Contributors or employees in the 'Technical Advice?' forum, your next step would be to try to use the troubleshooter at http://support.google.com/places/bin/static.py?hl=en&ts=1386120&page=ts.cs to report that the client's listing has disappeared.
I hope my response hasn't been overwhelming but the history of this issue is fairly deep. I sincerely wish you good luck in finding resolution!
Miriam
-
-
Yes, I have had this happen to our listing when I accidentally switched to "this business serves customers at their locations", our listing disappeared from google maps. When I switched it back, it reappeared in a few days.
-
If you make changes to the address or phone, Google says it will require a verification. I would check and make sure removing Portland didn't change the site from live, to waiting to be verified.
-
I've heard of #1 before. Never tried it myself, I suspect #2 is the culprit.
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
-
How to Merge or Add YouTube account to Google Account
Hello Everyone. We have a YouTube account that has been around for many years. We also have a separate google account that we use for webmaster/analytics/adwords/mybusiness etc... We just noticed that our YouTube account is not linked to this same account that the rest of our business uses for all other Google services. Is there any way to add our existing YouTube account to our existing Google Account? We don't want to re-upload everything onto a new channel as we'd like to preserve the age of the videos plus the views and comments. Anyone know how to accomplish what I have in mind? Thanks in advance!
Image & Video Optimization | | Prime850 -
What (Local SEO) NAP to use when your country doesn't use Suite #s?
New Zealand does some good things, for example we grow hairy fruit called Kiwifruit, put other fruit into bottles and call it Sauvignon Blanc, but we can also be a bit, well...fruity. My problem is that when we Kiwis list out NAPs we do it like this: ABC Company, Level 1, 123 Example St. Now the fruity bit is we don't have Suite #s, there is never: ABC Company, Suite #400 Level 1, 123 Example St. We just expect you to go up to level 1 and bl@ody well find the office thanks very much (yea there are signs). It seems like a Local SEO shared office situation but it's the whole floor! I'm worried if I get an office in an office building then I will have my results merged with Extremely-Boring-Accountant and Angry-Lawyer who happen to be on the same level. What's a Local SEO aware guy to do?
Image & Video Optimization | | BruceMcG0 -
Link building to Google+ profile: any local SEO value?
Has anyone found value in building links to Google+ profile for local seo rankings? My gut tells me that it will, but I am not 100% sure. If it does, then does that mean that all the traditional SEO factors that would go into ranking a site organically also work for ranking locally for certain keywords? So far, I have found that the best thing for moving up rankings is reviews on Google+, but then does that make local SEO (from a high view point) just a race for high reviews and building the most citation? I am feeling like the differentiator for local SEO is UN-structured citations and links to Google+ profiles. Any thoughts? See you at MozCon!
Image & Video Optimization | | tonyflorespsa0 -
Taking control over Google Places and Google+ Pages?
Hi we have a client who has about 40 different stores around the country. Most of the stores have their own Google+ Pages or Google Places. We want to take control of all 40 stores from a centralized location. So we can control their Google+ Pages/Google Places to improve them, and keep them uniformed with each other.How/Can can we do this? Does Google provide any way to do this? Thanks, Mark
Image & Video Optimization | | MBASydney0 -
Proximity for local intent searches
Based in the UK, I can see clear differences in search results for terms that Google considers have local intent, based on location. I'm interested in the community's experience of how far in distance local intent reaches. Does it depend on the search?, e.g. If I search for restaurant will it have a different local intent radius to a coffee shop etc.
Image & Video Optimization | | bjalc20110 -
Google Places - Local Search - Not ranking when 100% complete?
Hi I have followed the examples set by David Mihm and fully completed a Google Places listing - with the geographical area covering the area that it serves along with lots of local citations but when searching on google for 'accountants swansea' it is way down on page 4 of the places results. Does it take time for Google to recognise these changes to Places listings or is my listing incorrect to attract a high listing for the search phrase. Looking at the competition many of them have not optimised or done anything with their listings pages so I am at a loss to explain why the listing is doing so badly. The places listing is at http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/place?hl=en&prmd=imvns&biw=1280&bih=829&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=accountants+swansea&fb=1&gl=uk&hq=accountants&hnear=0x486e45555a4e97b1:0x3d77128e2fe7cb74,Swansea,+Neath+Port+Talbot&cid=9815784575213492240&ei=UN6WTt7UJ8rasga-ocTrAw&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=placepage-link&resnum=7&ved=0CFcQ4gkwBjge
Image & Video Optimization | | idv0 -
Local search optimization for national product?
Hi all, My company sells a direct-to-consumer product nationwide. We have competitors that sell through local distributors. Therefore, many customers think that this is a product that must be bought locally. Because so many people search for this product locally, we want to be able to rank for local searches. But, because we sell nationwide, we don't have localized content. We have a competitor that created a page for each state which lists every zip code and city name in the state, but that seems pretty labor intensive (and not all that effective). Any ideas on how to address this problem would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | responselink0 -
Is there an easy way to see how competitive a local search term is?
Is there a quick and easy way to see how competitive local search terms are? I am looking at helping my clients show up on the local search results. Some times all I have to do is claim a listing and they move right to the top. Sometimes I claim a listing and nothing happens so I get links and I get reviews and it takes awhile. I want to be able to put an accurate price point on the service I am offering. I have looked at the search volume and it hasn't been the best indicator because some industries are more competitve than others. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
Image & Video Optimization | | jimmyseo0