Updating address in Google Places
-
My client has moved address to a location in the same city. Will updating his Google Places page lead to a drop in rankings? If so, what is the best way to resolve it?
-
Hi Neooptic,
Here's a recent tweet from the Local Track at PubCon:
from Google's point of view, when you move locations, you're starting a new business @marybowling #pubcon
— Greg Gifford (@GregGifford) April 24, 2013
Unfortunately, there is some truth in this. I recommend you read this thread over at the Local Search Forum, outlining Google's most current change of address policies:
You may experience a fluctuation in rankings or not. You may also lose your reviews, so brace yourself for that. Changing an address or phone number can lead to some unwelcome surprises. Read up as much as you can on this topic so you are prepared to expect some fluctuations.
Good luck!
-
Also check out http://www.seomoz.org/webinars/a-foolproof-process-for-scrubbing-your-local-footprint about making sure your addresses are consistent across directories.
-
It's likely your client will still maintain his rankings for "city + service" searches since the city is not changing, but, remember, your client does have competitors out there working on local search too. Regardless of your street address change, rankings may fluctuate based on how hard they're working. A drop in rankings would occur if you sit back on your laurels and all of your competitors are working tenfold (naturally, organically) on local search, but I don't think changing a street address would have a major effect.
I hope someone on this thread will comment about their tested results with having to do the same thing, since I don't have direct experience here.
To add, you absolutely have a big task at hand to make sure all of the downstream listings that feed into the local search algorithm (and Local+) are all corrected to reflect the new street address.
Maybe check out this link from Blumenthal's about moving a business to a new location: http://blumenthals.com/blog/?s=changing+address
Also, the readers at Blumenthal's are also very committed to giving advice and answering q's. Might be another resource for you on this question.
-
nope though you may get a drop in traffic if there isnt as much search volume in the new local area
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
-
My wistia videos are not being index by Google. Does anyone know what can be happening?
I have the wistia site map on my robots.txt file and I also manually submit the site map to google. It shows that my videos were submitted successfully but they are not being indexed. Thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | bedbugsupply0 -
Google local
If you perform a search in Google maps for our company and you are not signed in, it returns our Google + page, with reviews, photos, directions and about tabs, which is fine but, when you click on any of the photos, there is a window that opens to the right where you can edit the location where the photo has been taken, a comment box, photo details and above all, right at the top, MY NAME! Why my name? This is the business page, I don't want people to see that. The snip is below. Thanks! g3OTPRp
Image & Video Optimization | | echo10 -
Is specifying a floor descriptive enough for Google Places?
Hello everyone, I have a quick question regarding Google Places. I have a client who operates her business in a building with multiple other businesses. This address is completely legitimate and our client provides fitness services at this location. We have asked her for a more specific location, but she does not have a suite or room #. The best we can do is the floor #, but there are other businesses on her floor as well. Would this lack of specificity affect her ability to rank in local results? There are 4 other businesses at the address. If we provide strong and relevant citations, will this be enough? Thank you and my apologies if this has been asked before. I searched the previously asked question but didn't find what i was looking for.
Image & Video Optimization | | Robertnweil10 -
Why do seomoz rankings not match mine in google for the same keyword?
SEO moz lists my site http://holmesbailbonding.com as listing 2nd for raleigh bail bonds but when I search I am getting different results even with a cleared cache. Just wondering what factors contribute to this and what I need to be doing more of to get my site to rank for Raleigh Bail Bonds in raleigh, nc. Thanks,
Image & Video Optimization | | MaddDogg0 -
Google Places - Category Question
Hi All. Just wanted to double check something with you folks. I've always been under the impression that you should complete the first category option in Places with a default category from Google's list of options, followed by 4 categories of your choice. However, does the 1st category need to be a default option or can it be any one of the 5? Also, do you think anything is gained in the rankings by adding a category of your own choice as the 1st category? There's nothing in the Quality guidelines that suggests the 1st category needs to be a default option, so I thought I'd throw this out there... http://www.google.com/support/places/bin/answer.py?answer=107528
Image & Video Optimization | | PerchDigital0 -
What drives the position of the local pack in a google SERP?
I have noticed that sometimes search results appear above the local pack, and sometimes the local pack is right at the top. What causes this? is there a way to induce it?
Image & Video Optimization | | adriandg2 -
Local Search - New Business - 4 different Erroneous, Unverified Google Places Pages
My client is a new business <1 year old. Google has 4 unverified places pages for this business - all have slight errors in the business name and address. Which one should I claim? Will Google let me change the business name once I verify ownership? How will I get rid of the other listings once I claim and correct one of them? In light of these data errors and/or as a general rule do you recommend the paid submission services for UBL and Localeze (http://getlisted.org/resources/why-listing-services.aspx)? Thanks for the help! Jeff
Image & Video Optimization | | jeffgibson0 -
How do I get google to index review sites for Google Places?
Some of our competitors are ranking higher than we are in google places due to a larger variety of review sites. Google is picking up reviews for them on certain review sites such as yelp.com or projectwedding.com. We have a lot of reviews on those sites also, but google is not picking those reviews up for us. I checked and verified that the phone number and address is exactly correct and has the exact same formatting on all the sites, but google still hasn't picked up those reviews for us. I've waited a couple months now and still nothing. Is there anything I'm missing?
Image & Video Optimization | | DanielLowe0