Google Places listings showing for businesses in different states.
-
Hi Moz Community
I have a client with 4 x active Google Place listings in different locations all within in the same state of Australia (Western Australia) and all with the business name 'Crawford Realty' as per Google place guidelines.
When searching for 'Crawford Realty' Google returns listings for real estate agents near a town called Crawford in a state called Queensland which is across the other side of the country.
See screenshot: http://screencast.com/t/43p6LdtW
Does anyone know why my Western Australian business listings wouldn't be showing when searching in Western Australia and why the listings for a town in Queensland, across the other side of the country would be showing.
Thanks in advance,
Freddy
-
Thanks Marcus! Appreciate the feedback!!
-
Nice answers on this thread, guys. This is certainly an interesting scenario - one in which the legal name of a business includes a geographic term. I'm sure this occurs all the time, but this is actually the first time I've ever seen it brought up, believe it or not. Suggests that multi-location businesses should, perhaps, not name themselves after a city. If your small business is planning to expand into a franchise, maybe you should pick a less geo-centric name. Food for thought.
-
Hey Freddy
I think Vadim has pretty much nailed this but let me see if I can expand on that a little for you.
Most terms are not 100% specific and Google has to interpret what they believe the user is looking for. There is some context (location of searcher) but they don't have complete certainty in what the user is looking for.
Here is an example: When someone searches for 'marcus miller' I would like to think they are looking for me. Unfortunately, 99.9% of searches for 'Marcus Miller' are going to be for the super cool jazz composer / musician and not the super cool geeky SEO from Birmingham UK.
So, lets review this search term 'Crawford Realty'
What are the possible interpretations of this term?
- A business called 'Crawford Realty'
- Reality businesses in a place called Crawford
So, Google hedges their bets and shows the business called 'Crawford Realty' and a list of realty companies in the location called Crawford.
So, why are Google not showing your local listings here?
If the interpretation is for a brand name or a business type in a given location you are not fitting both of those descriptions. If someone searched for your business type + a location where you have an office then that would be a good fit for a localised result for your business.
So, if I search:
real estate Karratha
or
realty karratha
Then I find your local business offices in the local results as we would expect. On page two but they are there:
https://plus.google.com/116505937244694341152/about?gl=uk&hl=en
_Unclaimed I may add so there is certainly some work to be done here! _
Summary
Google has to take a search term and try to understand what the intent is beyond that term and the truth is 50% may be using the term to search for one thing and 50% for another. They have other elements of context such as searcher location but they attempt to serve up results that work for both sets of users. In this case I would imagine they believe that the higher percentage are looking for the business by it's brand name so you get the first listing.
Beyond that your business does come up on a location by location basis when folks search for the location + business area.
Hope that helps!
Marcusrealty location A
-
Hi Freddy,
Google thinks that by entering Crawford you are entering the city + Realty therefore those results.
Searches for Crawford Reality + location , as in Western Australia, or even for me just Australia, would return normal results as in this case google interprets the search query as business name + location, vs city + business type as above.
Does that help
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 Webmaster Tools Set-up
Hello! My URL of www.morganlindsayphotography.com I have set up in google webmaster tools. I also have added the instance of morganlindsayphotography.com (non www version) My blog is located at www.morganlindsayphotography.com/blog/ My question is do I add a sitemap to the "<a>www.morganlindsayphotography.com/blog/</a>" as well as the <a>www.morganlindsayphotography.com</a> ? Thank you!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | 393morgan0 -
Proper 301 in Place but Old Site Still Indexed In Google
So i have stumbled across an interesting issue with a new SEO client. They just recently launched a new website and implemented a proper 301 redirect strategy at the page level for the new website domain. What is interesting is that the new website is now indexed in Google BUT the old website domain is also still indexed in Google? I even checked the Google Cached date and it shows the new website with a cache date of today. The redirect strategy has been in place for about 30 days. Any thoughts or suggestions on how to get the old domain un-indexed in Google and get all authority passed to the new website?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | kchandler0 -
April Google Update?
Since April 16 (when Jews ate Matzah) Google hurt one of our clients badly. They are well-known and beloved brand with hundreds of employees and locations across USA.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Elchanan
I can’t see any signal of organic update, or penalty (neither Google Places). No message on GWT Nothing has been changed on and off site. All keywords' ranking are looking like this All tools showing good analysis: MOZ, Barracuda, MajesticSeo Content is good and not duplicated, etc. Do one of you is aware of significant Google update?
What do you think/suggest?0 -
Google disavow tool
I have an algorithmic penalty on one of my websites. I never received a notification of a manual penalty in GWMT and even sent in a reconsideration request 6 months ago ad they told me their were no manual penalties on the website. I have cleaned up my link profile and what I could not clean up I sent in using the Google disavow tool a few days ago. I've heard to just wait if it's algorithmic or should I send in another reconsideration request for disavow links tool?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | MarkHIggins0 -
A few questions regarding listings in Google Places
For an SAB (Service Area Business) with a hidden address - Can you have more then one listing? Can you use a free Google Voice number? Can you forward the number to a main number? Can the listing be in an office building? Such as a rented space... For a non SAB listing with the address visible - Can you use free Google voice numbers for each listing and forward them to one main number?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Bryan_Loconto0 -
How does Google Webmasters decide what order to show external links?
In "links to your site" how does Google Webmasters determine the order of the URLs? By influence? Quality?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | nicole.healthline0 -
Google Places Duplicate Listings
Hey Mozzers- I know the basic process for handling duplicate listings, but I just want to make sure and ask because this one is a little sensitive. I have a client with a claimed and verified listings page, which is here: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?q=chambers+and+associates&hl=en&cid=9065936543314453461 There is also another listing (which I have not claimed yet) here: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?q=dr.+george+chambers&hl=en&cid=14758636806656154330 The first listing has 0 reviews, where the 2nd unverified listing has 12 fantastic 5 star reviews. We can all agree that if I can get these two listings to merge, his general listing will perform much better than it already is (the first listing has about 200 actions per months). So, what is the best way to merge these two without losing any reviews and without suspending my places account? Thanks in advance! Ian
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | itrogers0 -
Additional page listings under main listing in google
Hi, I'm working on the SEO for a site and I'd love to get the additional page links under our main site link in google, any ideas as to how we can achieve this ? Thanks,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Prongo0