Should Every GMB Page Have it's own email address?
-
Just spent 2.5 hours on the phone with Google. I created dozens of GMB pages for clients using my email address. Now I am discovering that this is not the right way of doing this. Each business owner should create a GMB account with her own email address. Then I can be added as a manager of that GMB account.
Question:
Now that I have dozens of GMB accounts under my email account, is it worth it to create a new email address for each client and associate it with the new email address?I think the best thing would be to have each client do it herself, but I'm not sure it's worth the headache of walking each one through it. What do you think?
-
Miriam is dead on, I would like to add one other thing to consider. You can still be an owner, transfer primary ownership to the actual owner and that will leave you as an owner.
Another consideration, if for any reason your account was to become compromised (flagged as spammy for instance) then all your GMB listings would become suspended since you are the primary owner of all the listings. In the case of a soft suspension, you would have to reverify all your listings.
-
Hi Adam,
Good for you for learning something new and trying to act on it. Yes, it's critical that each business directly controls its GMB listings. The key reason for this is that client/agency relationships end, and it places a big burden on the client if the agency is the one who "owns" the GMB listings. It's just not in the client's best interest. There has also been a theory over the years that GMB listings created under the company's email extension (vs. a third party extension) are more trusted by Google, but it has been quite some time since I heard anyone mention this nuance.
At any rate, yes, you want to get ownership transferred from your agency to the client, to protect them, and also to protect your business from the headache of having to do this later when clients move on.
Here's Google's guide to transferring ownership: https://support.google.com/business/answer/3415281?hl=en
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
-
Client has 2 locations across the street from each other, 1 of them doesn't show up in Google Maps anymore unless you type its specific branch name. Help
Client has 3 locations in NYC... 1 is on the east side
Reviews and Ratings | | jaimeurteaga
2 of them are a block apart on the west side (52nd & 51st street). When you search the business name, you only see 2 of the 3 listings - 1 on the East side and 1 of the 2 on the West side. On the West side only the one with more reviews shows up. The semi-hidden location still exists. You can find it if you type in the exact full name of the branch (it has the brand name + Midtown West vs its neighbor a block away that's brand name + Hell's Kitchen). Otherwise, it's invisible. The Hell's Kitchen location that appears has 3000+ reviews. The hidden one (Midtown West) has only 250+ reviews. In the past, all 3 would show up. How do we get all 3 to show up again, at the initial, zoomed out view?0 -
It's been over a year of going back and forth with Google My Business team
It's been over a year of going back and forth with Google My Business team regarding my GMB page. It was active for 2+ years prior with over 20+ reviews. I email GMB weekly to find out the status of the page and they keep saying it is a technical glitch and they are waiting for an update. Would love to get any advice on how to resolve my business page so it appears again on the Google maps or who I can contact to resolve this issue. This is our third time creating a new G+ business page https://plus.google.com/+LocalSEOSearchToronto
Reviews and Ratings | | LocalSEOSearch_john0 -
Snap Pack & Yelp/Angie's list Page authority
Hey gang, First off thank you for any advice. I know we are all busy trying to make our money so I really appreciate everyone who chimes in. Links to studies and articles are also much appreciated. So. I am by no mean an SEO expert, I prefer to dabble in outreach and authentic link building campaigns. So you can imagine my frustration when I pull off a successful campaign, get about 4 or 5 great real links, raise in organic, but don't budge on the maps. I have noticed something. 1. My competition's yelp page has a couple more reviews than me (btw it's a locksmith site, I know it's a rather spammy industry, I don't do black hat...) BUT their yelp Page Authority is like 46! Same thing with their angies list, BBB, etc etc. MINE IS 1 across the board. Now I know the internet is changing. There is usually no reason for a locksmith site to have a viral blog. Google is looking toward more Citation based authority for local ranking factors. (Or at least that's what they say, I feel like their algorithm is not yet advanced enough to catch all the spammers.) So I am going to have an ethics meeting with my company and make sure we are alwyas treating our customers fabulously as well as sometimes intentionally asking for a review, not just on google, but across all of our web 2.0 platforms. BUT How do I get MY page authority on these directories higher? By back linking to them? DO you guys think these companies actually had campaigns to get links to these directories? Did they just PBN em'? Am I stuck in 2013!? Much love guys.
Reviews and Ratings | | Meier0 -
Different results & page layout in Google local for plurals?
I realize that the general results websites can rank differently for singular vs plural keywords, but today when checking local rankings for a client, I noticed that not only does the client rank differently for "church in San Diego" vs "churches in San Diego" but the layout and info of the local results pages are different. "Church in San Diego" (screenshot) shows the phone number and has links for Website and Directions "Churches in San Diego" (screenshot) doesn't show any of that instead has an image. If you click on the image, it brings up a card almost like a popup with info, reviews, and links for the organization. Anyone ever noticed that before? Anyone know why the difference? And if there are different optimization strategies?
Reviews and Ratings | | Kurt_Steinbrueck0 -
How to address reviews that show up in Google but come from a business's own website?
One of my clients has a competitor who has a fairly poor reputation based on reviews on Google and Yelp. But, this competitor allows people to review them on their own website, and their "4.8" rating based on 250+ "reviews" show up in search engine results. I assume they are using schema markup to encourage that. My question is whether there is anything we can do to report this to Google, or otherwise make sure the general public is not fooled by these reviews?
Reviews and Ratings | | irapasternack2 -
Google Local Results - Incorrect Listing Url's
I have decided to re launch a small side project that I had to abandon a few years ago. I want to specifically target Google Local Results. I do need to overcome a proximity to centroid issue in a fairly competative niche. Unfortunately a number of my listings i.e. Facebook and Yelp have less than optimal URL's. For example: https://www.facebook.com/businessname.targetlocation.keyword/
Reviews and Ratings | | GrouchyKids
http://www.yelp.com/biz/business-name-key-phrase-and-keyword-location Well you get the idea. NB: None of these listings currently have reviews. Now I know that its best to keep the info consistent across the board, so I wonder if I would be better off scrapping these listings in favor of ones with URL's that match the business name. I can see that I can merge FB pages so am guessing that this would work for FB, has anyone any experience of this? Am assuming yelp will have to be deleted in some way. Any thoughts?0 -
Reusing reviews from other sites for branded rich snippet taken from brands testimonial page
Hi my customer has had a new website built for their custom home building company which has a testimonials page http://www.precisionhomes.com.au/testimonials.html This testimonials page has duplicate review content taken from another dedicated review site http://www.productreview.com.au/p/precision-homes.html My question is this, if I add review microdata to http://www.precisionhomes.com.au/testimonials.html will google recognize this in Rich snippets and the Brands Knowledge Graph or will it just consider it duplicate content?
Reviews and Ratings | | ravydavy0 -
Google Places - Main Location Change = New Page?
I have my main Google Places / Google+ Local page in Detroit where I've had it for probably 5 years and have 10 5-star reviews. It shows up pretty well in the local listings. I recently moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota and while I'm still doing business in Detroit and have an office location, my main location is now Sioux Falls. I've started a new Google+ page here, but it's not doing very well and I don't have many reviews. Which of the following should I do? 1. Create New Page and Leave the Old page where it is Create a new page for Sioux falls and leave the old page in Detroit. It will take some time to build up the new location profile. 2. Change the Address of the Old Page (Detroit) to my new address in Sioux Falls Could I change the address of the old page (Detroit) to my new address in Sioux Falls, then create a new page for Detroit? This would hopefully have my page with all of the reviews, which has been around for awhile, in my new main location and I could create a new page for Detroit. Does anyone have any experience with this? What do you think would be the best approach?
Reviews and Ratings | | JaredDetroit0