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Where to get proper Google Places help?

by Breakinglink
14 replies
I have had an issue with a clients listing not showing up in 1 of the 3 towns that they have offices in. It has been about a month and still the listing is not linked to the website properly. As I said I have not had a problem with 2 of the towns, they linked up with no problem and are ranked number 1, it is just the other town.

I checked to make sure the info on the listing was good, I have also went to the support forums for places and got no help, and I have waited to see if it is just taking a long time.

Any suggestions on where I can get some proper help with this issue or should I keep waiting? The support forums are peer driven from what I can tell and are not able to help with any real technical support. Thanks for any suggestions.
#google #places #proper
  • Profile picture of the author Kung Fu Backlinks
    When you say that the listing is not linked properly... what do you mean exactly?

    Does the listing have a live URL, or are you getting a "this location is not supported" message?

    On your website, do you have the 3 citations on the same page anywhere?

    Are the listings in the same Google account?

    Are you using the same phone number on any of the listings?

    Do you have unique business listings on 3rd party sites properly done for each location?

    Are your images displaying properly on the problem listing?

    Do you have a Google + Business Page setup for each location?

    If you could post a link to the website, that would be helpful, too.

    Assuming all of the above is good, you may have a duplicate listing causing a problem. You should send off a support request to get them to specifically look for a dup listing.

    It could also be that the business owner verified a listing before and you two floating around. You wouldn't necessarily find this duplicate when doing searches through Google. Sometimes these dupes are ghosts and only Google reps will see them when they specifically look for them.

    I'll check in later to see your answers.

    Cheers,
    Patrick
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    • Profile picture of the author Breakinglink
      Originally Posted by Kung Fu Backlinks View Post

      When you say that the listing is not linked properly... what do you mean exactly?

      Does the listing have a live URL, or are you getting a "this location is not supported" message?

      On your website, do you have the 3 citations on the same page anywhere?

      Are the listings in the same Google account?

      Are you using the same phone number on any of the listings?

      Do you have unique business listings on 3rd party sites properly done for each location?

      Are your images displaying properly on the problem listing?

      Do you have a Google + Business Page setup for each location?

      If you could post a link to the website, that would be helpful, too.

      Assuming all of the above is good, you may have a duplicate listing causing a problem. You should send off a support request to get them to specifically look for a dup listing.

      It could also be that the business owner verified a listing before and you two floating around. You wouldn't necessarily find this duplicate when doing searches through Google. Sometimes these dupes are ghosts and only Google reps will see them when they specifically look for them.

      I'll check in later to see your answers.

      Cheers,
      Patrick
      Thanks Patrick for the reply, I will just take each question as I go in the order you asked.

      It does have a live URL. I went to the link that says "Manage this page" Under the heading that asks "Is this your business". It had already been created by Google but the site was not linked.

      I did not know about any citations that I needed (I go by just in time learning) so I may need to look into that.

      The listings are all on the same account

      No, the listings all have different phone numbers associated with them. I had secretaries at each of the locations jot down the verification number when I was setting the listings up.

      I do not have any 3rd party listings up.

      Images are displaying without a problem.

      I do not have a business page set up.

      I am a little hesitant to post a link to a clients website because I have seen instances of shady warriors jumping in and messing with other warrior's deals. I am sure you wouldn't do that but anyone can read this post. If you think it will help I will send it in a private message.

      I have tried to request support for the listing but I am having a really hard time finding the proper methoid of contacting a actual Google rep. I called their headquarters and they told me they do not have phone support for the Google Places (now Plus) pages and all would be handled through a forum. The forum as been no help at all.

      What I have done is just gone to each listing that already existed and just went to the manage button and verified through phone. The other two listings that I did the same way are linked properly but this one just isn't appearing.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kung Fu Backlinks
    Thanks for replying quickly:

    It does have a live URL. I went to the link that says "Manage this page" Under the heading that asks "Is this your business". It had already been created by Google but the site was not linked.
    Do you mean that the listing didn't have the business URL there? In that case, just log into the backend and add it.

    I did not know about any citations that I needed (I go by just in time learning) so I may need to look into that.

    I do not have any 3rd party listings up.
    Optimizing for G+ Local requires 3rd party business listings. If this business location isn't found in other directories like YP.com, MerchantCircle, Yelp, etc. then there's no reason why Google would rank you page 1. You're missing a HUGE piece of the puzzle by neglecting this, so I would get on that right away.

    No, the listings all have different phone numbers associated with them. I had secretaries at each of the locations jot down the verification number when I was setting the listings up.

    Images are displaying without a problem.

    I do not have a business page set up.

    I am a little hesitant to post a link to a clients website because I have seen instances of shady warriors jumping in and messing with other warrior's deals. I am sure you wouldn't do that but anyone can read this post. If you think it will help I will send it in a private message.

    I have tried to request support for the listing but I am having a really hard time finding the proper method of contacting a actual Google rep. I called their headquarters and they told me they do not have phone support for the Google Places (now Plus) pages and all would be handled through a forum. The forum as been no help at all.

    What I have done is just gone to each listing that already existed and just went to the manage button and verified through phone. The other two listings that I did the same way are linked properly but this one just isn't appearing.

    So it sounds like each listing is verified properly. The problem listing is live online, so the only problem is that it's not ranking page 1, correct?

    Well, again, it doesn't sound like you've done any optimization for it, so I'm not surprised you're not page 1.

    If your listing is verified, it's live, and it's displaying images properly, there's no reason to suspect that the listing is broken in any way. You're just not ranking.

    I suggest you do some homework and learn how to do a proper setup. It sounds like you've missed an awful lot. In a way, that's good news, though, because that means you still have lots of opportunity to turn the situation around.
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    • Profile picture of the author Breakinglink
      Thanks for the tips, I am by no means a GP expert. I did the linking as a favor to the business because they had been very generous to me thus far and I needed a business to be my guinea pig. I wanted to run a couple other things by you if you dont mind.

      First, I just noticed that the address was wrong. Would that have any bearings on the listing. I have changed it, I just wanted to know.

      Also, my problem is not that they are not ranking. I have gotten their business to 1 for one keyword and 3 for another. They are out ranking other verified listings it is just that they are not showing up as being part of the GP local listings. It is just the regular Google listing.
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  • Profile picture of the author equal
    Breakinglink, some time ago I found site only about GP. They've got free 50 pages report about that. And they are selling their service for $1,500.... I don't know how much they sold but info there is pretty good.
    PM if you want that report.
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    • Profile picture of the author Breakinglink
      Just to help people in the future, I will share how I FINALLY got this fixed. It was a problem with the address. It was not correct and Google was not linking my Plus Local Page to my website because of it.

      I had to go in and create a new listing and mark the old one as closed. Will take two weeks to get a post card from the big G and once I verify the listing, I will delete the incorrect addressed listing.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kung Fu Backlinks
    Just FYI, you can just change the address on the existing listing and get a new post card for that. No need to create a new listing.

    Anyway... if it's done already, just wait for your postcard and do what you were going to do.

    Glad you got it sorted out
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  • Profile picture of the author equal
    How did you missed that in the first place?
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    • Profile picture of the author Breakinglink
      Originally Posted by equal View Post

      How did you missed that in the first place?
      Lol. I claim a little bit of deniability. I was using the client's website as the point of reference to make sure the address was correct but when both are wrong then it does me no good. I do acknowledge that I should have used an outside source but it is what it is.

      Thanks again for the help guys and gals.
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      "Someday" is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you.


      Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of. -Ben Franklin

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

        Just to help people in the future, I will share how I FINALLY got this fixed. It was a problem with the address. It was not correct and Google was not linking my Plus Local Page to my website because of it.

        I had to go in and create a new listing and mark the old one as closed. Will take two weeks to get a post card from the big G and once I verify the listing, I will delete the incorrect addressed listing.
        Originally Posted by Kung Fu Backlinks View Post

        Just FYI, you can just change the address on the existing listing and get a new post card for that. No need to create a new listing.
        Actually IF it was just address formatting you can edit it.

        But IF it was the totally wrong address, either a bogus address or an old address because they moved then you CAN'T just edit it on the Place page. You must do as BreakingLink was told and mark the old address closed and create a new listing at the new address.

        It's horribly clunky and I've been working with upper management at Google+ Local trying to get them to fix it, change it or at least document for businesses how to do it. Because even though it's their internal best practice AND it's due to the fact that their scraping mechanism is out of control - they've never really published it anywhere that SMBs or consultants can find it.

        I've referenced it at my forum and linked to a couple of posts buried in the Google forum where Vanessa has talked about it, but they've not published an official doc yet. They are working on some new stuff around moves that I think will make things a little better.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kung Fu Backlinks
    Awesome to know. Thanks, Linda!

    Would you say it would be the same for changing business NAMES or Phone numbers? Again... not a formatting issue, but a completely different name / phone.
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  • Profile picture of the author jharri
    My advice would be to put google+/places on the back burner until google gets everything straightened out. Things are changing every day, zagat, review scores, rules, etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kung Fu Backlinks
    Sometimes things are a pain, but G + Local is where the money is for local businesses. While it does seem that the new Zagat reviews has decreased clicks on listings, it's still an incredible return on investment.
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