How do you fix a Google Places category issue?
-
I have a Google Places listing that has the category set to 'Garage Door Supplier', yet if you do a search in Maps on this same phrase and zoom into the area of the map where the business is located, it doesn't get flagged as a garage door supplier. If you just search on the business name, is does get flagged in the right location.
I spoke with Google (yeah, an actual human) and they were baffled. The only suggestion they had was to try adding a few more categories to see if maybe that would force an update.
Has anyone ran into this, and if so, did you find a fix?
-
Hi Mark,
Have you considered hiring a local SEO consultant to help you with this? The list of questions in my original response are things you need to go over with someone in person to whom you can disclose all the details of your unique business. I don't specialize in troubleshooting issues like this one, but perhaps you could book some time with someone like Andrew Shotland, Mike Blumenthal or Nyagoslav Zhekov in a consulting position to see if they can advise you in an actionable manner and in full possession of the details. Sorry I can't offer more specific advice, but this really sounds to me like a case in which you need one-on-one help from someone who is looking at your listing and history with you. Hope this suggestion helps.
-
Thanks for the policy update, I hadn't seen that.
Based on this, I would say the listing is clean. I would say the most obvious issue is that if you go to Maps and zoom into the business location as close as you can get and then do a search on 'garage door supplier' a pin doesn't show up, not even a little orange dot. It does for the other garage door companies in the neighborhood though.
It's the same result as if I had searched for 'flower shop' or some other non-matching category. Google doesn't see it as a garage door company. You can do the exact same search on 'entry gates' and the pin shows right up.
If you go into their listing though, it says 'Garage Door Supplier' for the category.
I suspect there's a mismatch in Google's database, but not sure how I can force it to sync back up. The support person at Google agreed, but could only suggest poking the listing by making a few edits and saving.
-
Hi Mark,
By violation-free, I mean that the listing complies with all of these guidelines:
http://support.google.com/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=107528
*Note, Google updated their guidelines last week, so worth re-reading even if these are already familiar to you.
Yes, a penalized listing can sometimes still show up for various terms. Please understand, I'm not suggesting that you've been penalized, but it's something one has to consider whenever a site is failing to rank for something. It's just kind of a given that you have to consider that. Sometimes, a penalty is at fault...other times a lack of rankings boils down to other things like stiff competition, distance to center of business, number of reviews or one of hundreds of other factors. So, there is a ton to consider.
-
How would one go about knowing if a Google+ Local listing was violation free? I'm not aware of anything and of course Google didn't say anything (but I'm guessing maybe they wouldn't).
Although can a listing be under penalty and still show up on other categories in Places? This business shows up #1 for 'entry gates' in Maps and Places, even though their primary category is set to 'garage door supplier'.
-
Hi Mark,
This is one of those questions where it's hard to provide insight without knowing a ton of information and being able to look at the listing myself.
How did you speak with someone at Google? Was it via their new data issues phone number or did they phone you?
How old is the listing?
How old is the business (how long has it been online)?
Where does the business rank in the local pack in the main organic SERPs (not when actually inside of Google Maps) when searching for 'garage door supplier'? Are you in the top of the pack? Not in the pack at all?
Is 'garage door supplier' the complete search term, in which case Google is using your location to provide results, or are you adding a geo term to that search term, as in, 'garage door supplier san diego'?
How many categories do you currently have on your Places/Google+ Local page? If you've already got 5, I seriously question the advisability of adding more as that would likely incur a penalty (5 is the limit).
Are you confident that your Google+ Local listing is violation free in every way?
These are some of the questions I would want answers to, but again, without actually being able to see your unique results for your unique business, I can only be general.
What I can point out here is that 'garage door provider' and 'Joe's House of Garage Doors' are 2 totally different types of searches. What Google shows within maps.google.com for your business name is simply based on your business name, but what they show on a keyword search is going to be based on your rankings. In other words, if you search for 'chinese restuarant san francisco' there are hundreds of possible results, but Google is only going to show you pinned A-J rankings on the maps. Who shows up their is based on all of the factors that go into rankings. Does this make sense?
Please, feel free to provide further details if you can.
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
-
Can Google crawl this type of content?
Dear all, I have already asked few questions like that but its some different. it is videos portal. All videos are on server side like on JWS server. when page is loaded after that my video is loaded on loading time dynamically. But Google is unable to read all content of my videos. I have done all the things in sitemap as well. Can Google fetch the video content which is pure dynamic? Please have a look my issue. than only static few pages are coming in Google and two three videos. Please help me anyone regard this. Please guys...........
Image & Video Optimization | | docbeans0 -
How can we boost our rankings in a London-based Google search?
Hi all, I work for enterprise app development & mobile consultancy, Mubaloo. We tend to rank fairly well on Google for our targeted keywords in the Bristol area but not as well in London. Obviously there is more competition in London but that aside, we still don't rank brilliantly. We use our London address as our main address on our website, same for our London telephone number. Both of our offices are submitted to Google Maps and we include blog content with London and Bristol in the headers. Our main HQ is in Bristol but the London office is growing. What are the ways we can improve our rankings from a London-based Google search? Thank you in advance!
Image & Video Optimization | | donaldsze0 -
Do random listings effect Google Local Rankings?
So my clients business name is "Photojennette Photography" and while researching citations to correct I have found a completely random issue. There's an actress named Jennette McCardy that apparently has a ton of photos on the internet and with that are page titles like "Brand New Photo : Jennette McCardy" and "Look at this Photo Jennette McCardy" My question is, would Google be sending my listing down because of this? It's completely random and has nothing to do with the business. Thanks in advance.
Image & Video Optimization | | jonnyholt0 -
Google + local Multiple Locations
My client has three offices and I have created three separate Google + local listings for them - I have listed the specific locations page as the website address for each - Google specifies to add the coding to the homepage to link Google + however what do we do with the three different codes - does each one go on the home page or at the bottom of the specific landing page for that particular office?
Image & Video Optimization | | AllieMc0 -
Better ranking for google places
Hi, What can i do to rank better in Google for local listings? im already ranking number 1 for my keywords after local listings, but i really want to improve that, because im loosing a lot of traffic, I do have my business listed in local.yahoo.com, yelp citysearch.com etc.. and i constantly build my link to google places plage. Thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | vladraush990 -
How To Do SEO For Google Local Listing?
Hi, I have been reading around but i still don't understand how we can rank better for local search listing from Google place. I have tried: Adding keywords to descriptions
Image & Video Optimization | | chanel27
Adding the max of 10 photos And also get my customers to comment on my Google place listing leaving testimonials. Is there any tips? 🙂0 -
Google Places - second listing, same name
We will open a new office at a new location and I would like to add it to our Google places. How do I do this? Per Google guidelines: "Do not create more than one listing for each business location, either in a single account or multiple accounts." - Website & Phone: Provide a phone number that connects to your individual business location as directly as possible, and provide one website that represents your individual business location_._ Do I have to another contact page on my website for that location too? I will end up having to business listing with the same name but different locations. I want people to know that we have 2 separate offices because they serve different clients. I want to show up in Google places for the second location as well. Any thoughts?
Image & Video Optimization | | echo10 -
How to Fix Issue for Inactive Products in Google Merchant Center?
Today, I was checking my Google merchant center account. I come to know that, there are 145 inactive products are available from product feed. I have checked few products manually and found following error. "The URL specified in your data feed wasn't working correctly when we reviewed this item." You can view more by attached image. I have checked my URLs and it's working well. There is no issue in URL. So, How do I fix issue? 6327664099_0430ef187e_b.jpg
Image & Video Optimization | | CommercePundit1