Weird Google Places Question?

11 replies
I have a roofing client that I am able to get ranked high on page one for 4 competitive search terms. I have been working with this client for 2 months. I only guaranteed organic listings but I would like to get the Google Places. Only 1 of 4 do I rank on. The other 3 we are on page 7 and 8. I have over 3500 backlinks that Google has picked up. I have done some on site SEO. I have found one possible problem. Just curious, what I should do. For some reason, the roofer set up 2 Google Places accounts for the same listing before I started working with him. Neither one has been deleted. Is this hurting the account?
#google #places #question #weird
  • Profile picture of the author aminwasu
    From you experience on Google Places, would you care to share if one can make Google Places in multiple cities? What is the best practice of setting up a Google Place for a site that focus on international market? Do you think Google Place is suitable only for Local Markets?
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    • Profile picture of the author mouseffects
      Places IS THE SAME as Google Local. It's designed for the local business.

      That being said, you can get an international company a Places page but only in their home town and/or areas where they have satellite offices (physical addresses).

      The real question... will your customer benefit from local exposure enough to warrant it or should you concentrate spending their money on more organic domination?

      Originally Posted by aminwasu View Post

      From you experience on Google Places, would you care to share if one can make Google Places in multiple cities? What is the best practice of setting up a Google Place for a site that focus on international market? Do you think Google Place is suitable only for Local Markets?
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      Larry Perry
      innovedia
      www.innovedia.net

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      • Profile picture of the author CapitalSEO
        Can anyone give me an A-Z tutorial on how to get a Google Maps listing on Page one?
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        • Profile picture of the author rbrShorty
          At Linda: I think the worst cases are when the data all around the net is as consistent as possible and STILL Google creates a duplicate out of this data, and the dupe contains exactly the same information as your original listing. The other extremely annoying one is when your listing has merged due to same or even ONLY SIMILAR address with some completely different listing (happens usually in large city business buildings...) This is the total hell
          At CapitalSEO: Unfortunately, it greatly depends on the situation and on the competition. There is no exact formula, but you need your business listing as full as possible, with exact data, and matching this data with such coming from around the Internet. It must be EXACTLY the same everywhere, otherwise things like these that CatalysteMarketing talks about happen. You will need reviews from happy customers posted directly via Google Places (ex-Hotpot) or on third-party websites. You will need your website merged with the listing as well. These are the main points for ranking high. Rank first... takes time and a lot of effort, especially in highly competitive markets.
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  • Profile picture of the author thegolfer
    Originally Posted by rolltide View Post

    I have a roofing client that I am able to get ranked high on page one for 4 competitive search terms. I have been working with this client for 2 months. I only guaranteed organic listings but I would like to get the Google Places. Only 1 of 4 do I rank on. The other 3 we are on page 7 and 8. I have over 3500 backlinks that Google has picked up. I have done some on site SEO. I have found one possible problem. Just curious, what I should do. For some reason, the roofer set up 2 Google Places accounts for the same listing before I started working with him. Neither one has been deleted. Is this hurting the account?
    Yes,this will hurt you with Google. Delete one of them and optimize the other one. It will take a bit of time though before the system recognises the correct one.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ashley Wright
    yh - deffo delete one, not worth the risk really... Are they both verified?
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  • Profile picture of the author rolltide
    Thanks,
    I just deleted the other account
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    Make $150 everytime someone backs up their computer!
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  • Profile picture of the author Sondor
    I wonder if there's any advantage to merging the two instead of deleting one? I realize it's too late in this case, but I just read some stuff from Matt Cutts about merging multiple listings.

    Anyone have any insight on this topic by chance?
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    • I've dealt with tons of dupes because all my clients have them. Certain industries like Medical, Dental and Legal tend to have more dupes due to Google scraping.

      There are lots of different types of dupes: ghost dupes, rogue dupes, mirror dupes, split dupes, innocent dupes. I give them all names.

      There are also several ways to deal with dupes and the best way depends on the type of dupe. If a dupe has stolen trust points from the main listing and/or is outranking it, you don't want to delete it, you want to merge. BUT if the dupe has violations you need to be careful so they don't merge into the main listing.

      If a dupe is unclaimed sometimes there are better ways to get rid of it than claiming and suspending. But which way to go depends on if it's innocent or problematic. If it's stealing reviews or has a wrong phone number or is confusing customers because G got the address wrong, then you need to decide the best way based on that particular situation.

      Word of warning: If a dupe is claimed and has already MERGED with the main listing (you can tell if it's merged if the stats are exactly the same) never delete from maps or suspend as it can also delete the main listing.
      BUT you need to get rid of it so you don't get your main listing rejected or suspended, so you want to hit delete, then remove from my account.

      Word of warning #2: Dupes can be a nightmare, can take months to deal with and if they are scraped dupes they will almost always come back unless you fix the upstream data that's causing them.
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      Linda Buquet :: Google+ Local Specialist and Google Top Contributor
      ADVANCED Google+ Local Training :: Also offering White Label Local SEO
      Latest Google Local News, Tips & Tricks

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      • Profile picture of the author Sondor
        Originally Posted by Catalyst eMarketing View Post


        There are lots of different types of dupes: ghost dupes, rogue dupes, mirror dupes, split dupes, innocent dupes. I give them all names.
        ...Rofl - That's awesome, and do you mind if I start using those names too?

        Thanks for the lesson. It's VERY helpful!
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        • Sure NP!

          As I run into new variations and name them I'll add to the list. :p

          Oh there's a new variant I've been running into a lot lately. It's a hybrid dupe.
          I call it a merged hidden ghost dupe.

          Seriously, I run into them a lot. If you ever have a Place page that shows different LIVE data, that's not in the dashboard, such as extra categories you can't delete, a different description or whatever. Then there is a listing somewhere in a different account that's merged and the only way to get rid of the merged bad data is to find the dupe, which is sometimes impossible.
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          Linda Buquet :: Google+ Local Specialist and Google Top Contributor
          ADVANCED Google+ Local Training :: Also offering White Label Local SEO
          Latest Google Local News, Tips & Tricks

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