Service are business - change of address methodology
-
How would you go about changing an address for a SAB (service area business) ? Phone number will remain the same, the new address is about 4 miles away, same city, different zip code.
-
It is always my pleasure!
-
Thanks again Miriam, you have been very helpful indeed!
-
Hi Echo1,
Let me take your questions step by step for clarity here.
-
You may lose some or all of your reviews, unfortunately. When you move, it's as if Google considers you to be a new business. This is an unsatisfactory approach in many people's views. My take on Google's thinking is that if Joe's Restaurant on 4th Avenue closes because it was terrible and then Joe opens a new restaurant on 23rd Street, it might be great. Google applies reviews to a physical address, not a business name. So, yes, you may lose your reviews.
-
I agree with Nyagoslav's estimate.
-
Do not attempt to merge your Google+ Local page with a Google+ Business page. As Google has stated, this feature is meant for brick-and-mortar single location businesses - not for SABs like yours. And, just so you know, nobody I know in the Local SEO sphere is recommending that ANY business attempt to merge, because the system is so confoundedly buggy right now. So, avoid any attempts to do this. On a positive note, Google is currently rolling out a new Google Places for Dashboard. Few people have seen it yet, but when it does roll out, you will be able to activate social features, apparently with the click of a button, even if you are an SAB. So, stay alert for news of that.
Good luck, Echo!
-
-
Thanks Miriam, this is what I have gathered from the internet as well but I needed to be sure. The excel file with all the directories and citations is ready.
A couple of follow up questions:
-
What would happened with the reviews, are they moving the over to the new listing?
-
In your opinion, how long does it take to get the rankings back up (assuming they will go down for while). I read Nyagoslav's article where it says ""In a competitive niche it may take 6+ months for a listing to regain the same power as its old “closed” brethren. Even in very low competitive niches it takes at least a few weeks."
-
I am in the process of merging the listings (Google + and Google places), should I still proceed with changing the address or should I wait?
Update: See response from Google Help below_: "Hello, it looks like you verified a non-storefront business in Google+ which does not make contact with walk-in customers at the business location. We don't currently support this type of business in Google+ Local. We've ask that you continue to manage it through the Google Places dashboard." ; they are_ basically telling me they will not merge the two listings.
-
-
Hi Echo1,
The process of changing an address is the same for both a brick-and-mortar business and an SAB.
1. Change the address on the website
2. Go to the Google Places Dashboard and edit the address there. Follow these guidelines:
Verified business owner of a page, and is your business moving locations? Here's what you do.
"Edit your address in Google Places for Business or in the Google+ page admin area, whichever you are using to manage the page. This will either make a new page or edit the address on the existing page. It may take a week or two after editing your address before you see an update. At this point, you may need to go through a verification process again. Don't worry -- this is normal.
If you see a page that's still got the old address, click on Report a problem and mark that location as closed. Provide the link to the new address or information about the new location if possible. You can find more instructions on closing a location here: Remove a listing or mark a place as closed or moved - Places for business Help (http://support.google.com/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=154102)"3. Locate all of your citations on other sources and edit the address there to reflect the change.4. Monitor your Google+Local/Place Page to be sure the listing never reverts to the old address.And that should do it. Not surprised if there is confusion surrounding this issue. Google has changed their policy twice in the past 6 months. The guidelines I've quote above represent their most current policy. Hope this helps!
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
-
Local seo strategy for local gardening business ideas?
Hi all, I am just setting up a local organic garden maintenance business in my home town. I have set up the website, got social media accounts active (FB, Twitter and G+), set up google local listing (currently 5th in the local maps thingy), I have done loads of citations (many more than my competitors, but not a ridiculous amount), I've got 4 customer reviews on google so far, checked my DA against my competitors (mine 1, my comps 8-9), checked my comps links (less than 10) and been writing a blog on my website every couple of days. I realise the one thing I have against me is that my domain is just less than a month old. How long until google builds a bit of trust in it to see it come up in the serps? Also, I would love some ideas of what else I can be doing in the mean time. The idea here is to get the site rocking on all cylinders before the gardening season starts again in March. Do-able?
Image & Video Optimization | | HappyOx0 -
Google categories for local limousine service
I manage the Google places page for a SAB (local limousine company). The question is, should I add "taxi" and "airport shuttle service" as categories? I have listed only "limousine" and "car service' for now and I want to play it safe although those 2 are related to limo service. Sometimes people refer to limo service as "taxi service" or they are inquiring about prices for shuttle service to the airport and they end up booking the service quite often. Does Google look to our website to find these words in the content? Google Analytics show lots of people are finding us through those two keywords as well although you cannot find the word “taxi" on our website. The interesting thing is that when searching for "taxi + my zip code" the company shows up 4th on maps results and when searching for "shuttle service + my zip code”, the company shows up 2nd on local results and also 2nd in organic results. Is this enough to make me add these 2 categories? Second question is about the area served, does it make a difference (in rankings) if I choose “Distance from one location"over"List of areas served"? What happens is the red pin would be in a different location. If I choose "Distance from one location" the pin would be right in the center of the city (which I think it shouldn't matter anymore that much since the proximity to the centroid is not a ranking factor anymore). If “list of area” served is selected, (the city name will be chosen) then the pin would be about 5 miles West of the city center. Any thoughts will be appreciated. Thank you!
Image & Video Optimization | | echo10 -
Optimizing title tags for a different town then the business is located in.
I'm looking for a little help, because I'm stuck. I was taught that when doing geo specific title tags you must include the city the business is located in. For example,Dentist North Springfield, even if there is nobody searching for dentists north boulder because everyone is searching for dentists boulder. As in they are considered one in the same. Can I optimize for Springfield or will I be penalized. Thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | kevinp30 -
How do you handle local SEO when a business has had multiple names?
Hi, Here is a quite simple question... that comes from a real life example. When a local business, with one phone number and one business location, has been promoting itself with up to 4 different names over the years. How do you handle local SEO? Do you try to update all pages (and directories) on the Web to the new name? Do you keep the existing records as they are and find some ways to show Google - and people - that those are all the same business? Thanks, Adrien O'Leary
Image & Video Optimization | | AdrienOLeary0 -
Targeting cities and services
I'm having a dilemma about targeting different cities and services. My client has offices in different cities but the services offered are the same. Let's say for divorce, the current url structure is website/city1/divorce website/city2/divorce website/city3/divorce 6 different locations so that makes 6 different divorce pages. They offer 13 services so there are 7 different pages of each of the 13 services targeting different cities. I hope I said that clearly but I guess you know what I mean. My problem is the pages are kinda competing with each other since all of them are about the same topic. It also messes up the internal linking since sometimes you link to one city using the anchor text "divorce" and then link to a different city later on using the same keyword. Any advice on how to target different cities and services better? I was thinking of subdomains in order to target the different locations without having competing pages but I'm not sure if it's a good idea. city1.website.com/service city2.website.com/service That way each site is stand alone. What do you think? Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | spersily0 -
Encouraging people to review my client's business on google places
Hello mozzers, I would like to encourage visitors that come to my site's client to review their google places listings. In order to do so, I need the Google places badge or seal (if it exists) to place it on their website. Does anyone know if it is available or not? If it sn't available what should i do to encourage Google places reviews? Thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | Ideas-Money-Art0 -
Can you get in trouble/get results by sub-dividing one physical address into suites for local search?
We have a client in our area that offers a multitude of home services -- plumbing, HVAC repair, landscaping, etc. -- out of one physical location. It makes it difficult for them to rank highly for all of their services in local search since many of the competitors that rank highly only offer one of the services that they do. They have come to me asking if they could create a Google place page for each service by making imaginary suites for their main address. So, for example, plumbing would be located at 100 Main Street, Suite A; and HVAC repair would be located at 100 Main St., Suite B; etc.? Seems like this is either a great idea or could get you into some Google trouble. Has anyone experienced anything similar? Thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | monkeeboy0 -
Is it a bad idea to include a single keyword phrase at the end of the business name in Google Places?
I'm concerned about this for local SEO and citation purposes. It's not spammy and it flows well, and it sounds like a logical extension of our name, but I'm concerned that it will make it harder for Google to pick up our citations. Any thoughts?
Image & Video Optimization | | greghard0