Ranking Differences for Google+ Local vs. Places Listings
-
I'm seeing some odd behavior with Google+ Local and Google Places listings for clients. I'm wondering if anyone else is seeing it...
Here's the situation:
We've recently bought on 4 new clients that all have duplicate listing issues, and, weirdly, all have both places and a Google+ local created listings.
For three of those four, the Google+ local listing is outranking the Places account for a brand name search (e.g. Dr. John Doe). Weirdly, in one instance, the Google+ local account that is outranking the Places page is named in a less accurate fashion. e.g searching for "Dr. John Doe" the rankings look like this...
A) John Doe Plastic Surgery, P.C. - Dr. John Doe
B) Dr. John Doe, MD
Anyone else seeing this sort of behavior?
How are you creating local listings for clients these days - via the places dashboard, or Google+ Local?
-
Hi Bede,
Got it. No, I have not run into this or seen it reported. Very interesting. I think that might be worth reporting to Google via their data issues phone number, though I suspect they might tell you to merge the listings...in which case, I personally wouldn't follow that advice. You could try to call them about it, though:
http://support.google.com/places/bin/static.py?hl=en&ts=1386120&page=ts.cs
Wish I had more insight on this, but I've not seen it before.
-
Hi Miriam,
I think the confusion comes from my incorrect use of terminology more than anything.
What I had noticed in the examples I mentioned was that Google+ Local pages that were being managed via the old places dashboard (what I was referring to as a "Places Page") were being outranked by those that had been created (By clients) in the Google+ Local dashboard. This is for brand-name searches.
So, we ended up with 2-pack listings:
Rank 1 - Newer listing, created via Google+ dashboard (New Page > Local Business or Place > Search and find via Phone Number etc.).
Rank 2 - Older listing, created back when Google+ didn't exist, and places was the only option.
Does that make sense?
I had read about the new dashboard and merge feature on Mike Blumenthal's blog. No sign of for me yet, but I'm definitely excited about it!
Thanks for responding!
Bede
-
Hey Bede,
I'm so sorry I didn't see this thread earlier. It just showed up in my inbox today. I am a bit puzzled by what you are describing, and this is doubtless due to the confusion surrounding agreed-upon terminology for Google's products. To me:
-
There are no Google Place Pages anymore
-
They all became Google+ Local pages (with the new interface), though many are still being controlled via the Google Places Dashboard.
-
They are shortly about to all become Google+ Local pages being controlled via the new Google Places for Business Dashboard that Google is rolling out (and which, apparently is supposed to make the merging of local and social features easier via a simple verification action).
-
But if you don't have the Google Places for Business Dashboard yet, merging is hazardous. Who knows? It may still prove to be hazardous in the new environment as well. Too new to tell.
Do my definitions match yours? Am I missing something? Please, let me know as I am very interested in your question, Bede.
-
-
Hi Bryan,
Thanks for the response.
My post wasn't so much about "How do I fix this" as it was my observation of Google+ Local pages ranking higher in the local SERPs than a page that was created with the older Places dashboard. I was hoping other people might have experienced similar situations.
In the situation that I'm talking about, the pages are actually Google+ Local pages and Places Pages (rather than a standard Google+ Business page). The merge process that's currently available is for combining Google+ Business pages and Places Pages, rather than a Google+ Local page and a Places page. As far as I'm aware, you can't merge a Google+ Local page with a Places Page at this point.
That aside, unfortunately we've found the merge process to be very unreliable - we're generally not doing it at all right now, due to all the issues people are experiencing.
I was also asking out of curiosity whether more people were using the Google+ Local interface to create a new local listing, or if they were using the Google Places dashboard.
Again, thanks for taking the time to respond. I appreciate it.
Bede
-
Hi Bede,
You can merge them http://www.seroundtable.com/google-page-local-verification-15526.html
Also, when it comes to a doctors/dentists you can have a listing for the name of the place and each dr. that practices there.
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
-
Best way to manage multiple Google My Business accounts as a marketing agency?
As marketing agency we have for each client a Google My Business account. This means that we have more than 100 Google My Business accounts. We know that GA has a limit of 100 analytics accounts (free version), but is there a limit in Google My Business too? For now, we have created multiple accounts that own different Google My Business accounts of our clients. Can I just change all the different e-mail accounts of our marketing agency and change it to one? So we can manage all the Google My Business accounts of our clients in one e-mail account?
Image & Video Optimization | | conversal0 -
Local: Checking to make sure this NAP is good before launching campaign
Hello, I'm launching a local campaign. Here's my NAP, I want to make sure that it looks good and that there aren't any new developments in local SEO that will effect my campagin. Here's the address we'll use: 913 S Latah St #H, Boise, ID 83705 where H means suite H Any suggestions before we launch this campaign? Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | BobGW0 -
Any tips for optimising for Local Search/Google Places
I have a client that used to come up on Google Places consistently for some very competitive keywords - when they ranked quite low for them through their normal website - places would see them above all the organic results in normally number 2 position - whereas they would rank between 16 - 26 normally We have optimised the site and have 'A' grade keywords for the ones we are interested in google placing for and just recently we are out of it all together, even though we have improved their optimisation for that word with SEO Someone said that their phone number on the website had to match perfectly with google places and so does their address. Is this true? Is there anything else that will help them keep their position in places ? ie. setting up a Google + page etc., Any advise would be appreciated thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | intermingle0 -
Google Local Page Not Showing in Search Results
Hi! I am having an issue with our business's Google+/Local/Places/whatever-the-heck-you-call-it-these-days page not showing up in search results. I work for a company called Nexxtep Technology Services. We are located in Valdosta, GA. We have a Google+ page that's filled out nicely and I would love it if it would show up next to the search results when you search "nexxtep technology services" or "nexxtep valdosta" in Google. For some reason, it does not. I have a feeling what might be a source of the issue...we have developed and hosted websites for clients, and we used to put a link to our site in the footer. Now, I know that's not a good thing to do. We don't do that anymore, and I have since removed those links from existing sites. I removed them almost 6 weeks ago now. Should I give Google a little more time to crawl these sites again? Any guidance would be tremendously appreciated. Thank you for your help!
Image & Video Optimization | | nexxtep0 -
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 -
Local Ranking Factors Question
Local SERPS continue to confuse me. I feel like I can tell what's going on but I'm never right. How do these two listings rank for "best bar" in the local Chicago SERPS? It's the same if you search for "best bar in chicago". http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&biw=2109&bih=1218&noj=1&gs_upl=3495l4209l0l4335l8l5l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=best+bar&fb=1&gl=us&hq=best+bar&hnear=0x880e2c3cd0f4cbed:0xafe0a6ad09c0c000,Chicago,+IL&cid=17128325649974296516 or http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&biw=2109&bih=1218&noj=1&gs_upl=3495l4209l0l4335l8l5l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=best+bar&fb=1&gl=us&hq=best+bar&hnear=0x880e2c3cd0f4cbed:0xafe0a6ad09c0c000,Chicago,+IL&cid=455944883716881589&ei=aQPqTo7mN4mIgwe4oc3fCA&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=placepage-link&resnum=5&ved=0CFgQ4gkwBA This has had me stumped for months. I've analyzed everything and there aren't any good indicators as to how this was done. The former doesn't even have a website. The latter example has some category keyword stuffing, which I don't get why they're account hasn't been suspended because of it. It also has a very small and not very powerful link profile. Any insights would be much appreciated!
Image & Video Optimization | | MichaelWeisbaum0 -
How to Track Traffic from Google Places Pages
Hi, Is there anything I need to do in Google Analytics to setup tracking for traffic coming to a site via it's Google Places page? I can see some traffic from maps.google.com in the Traffic Sources > Referring Sites report, but it does not appear to marry up to the data reported in the Google Places dashboard. Thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | WCR0 -
Is there a very quick way to geenrate the google top 100 for a any given keyword
I ma looking to produce a list of the top 100 websites in a list format from any given keyword. Bascially a process or ftool that will generate a list so i dont have to copy and paste all of them.....any ideas guys and gals
Image & Video Optimization | | raytax0