Two Google My Business accounts for two companies at same address
-
I have a client (flat roofing) with two registered businesses both of which are based from the same address, upon trying to create a new GMB account for the second business, it was immediately suspended by Google. So somewhat unsurprisingly one address one business, but is there a way around this?
-
My pleasure, Simon! So glad I could help.
-
Thanks Miriam, amazing answer, yes I tend to agree. But i think yours is the definitive answer here. Thanks very much for taking the time to help.
-
Good morning, Simon!
Thank you so much for providing these key details. So, on the face of it, yes, Google has likely acted with suspension because the two listings share the same general category, address and phone number. They likely believe this is a single business attempting to create spam listings for its different services, which is not allowed. In other words, they think your client is one business which offers both flat and thatched roofs, and while the roofing types are quite different, the business has signaled to Google that it really may just be one entity offering a variety of roofing.
The only surefire way to resolve this would be for the company to operate out of separate staffed offices with separate phone numbers, as well as separate websites. I would not be confident that you can convince Google to reconsider the suspension without this. This is actually a very interesting case, because roof thatching IS such a specialty business. Google could well have let this slide had the phone numbers been unique, but, given that the business didn't take this approach, they are in a pickle now.
So, your path at this point, as a marketer, is to see if the business has the resources to open a second, totally distinct business. If so, then you can start over again with the citation building process for them. If not, you may be better off telling them to combine the two websites into one, representing a single business with multiple roofing styles represented by a single Google Business Profile with multiple categories and good service menus.
-
- yes both roof related one is flat roofing one is thatched roofs, but very similar.
- same phone number I believe
- separate websites...
- both legitimate separate registered businesses
- just a suspension, but have asked for a review.
-
Hi Simon!
Some questions:
-
Are both of the businesses that the client is running in the same business category? Are they both roofers? If not, what is the model of the second business?
-
Are they both using the same phone number, or unique phone numbers?
-
Do they have separate websites or the same website?
-
Are they legally registered as unique businesses with county/state/fed credentials?
-
Did Google provide any messaging regarding the suspension?
-
-
No Im pretty sure not, interesting though I hadn"t even noticed the GMB shortname yet...
-
Could it be related to this?
https://www.seroundtable.com/rumors-shortnames-google-my-business-suspensions-27861.html
-
Thanks Tim thats good too know, from what I had seen so far it seemed to be assumed that Google will not allow two GMBs at the same address, when my client set up the second listing, it was instantly suspended by Google, its god to know that its possible, nearly everything Id read had said Google is set against it.
-
Where I work we currently have two profiles for the same address and we have not been penalised. Have you made sure the account content is totally different and also verified the listings?
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
-
New Google My Business - No more Google+?
I created and verified a new Google My Business page for a client and found that there won't be any more Google+ created automatically. I spoke to Google Support and they confirmed this is the case because apparently, the two Google products confuse people. Now, if we want a G+ page created for our client, we have to go and 'Apply' for one here - https://plus.google.com/create We're not sure how to go moving forward with new clients. Has anyone tried to apply for a G+ account successfully using the above link? If we create a new Gmail account, don't we get a G+ account anyway (or is that not the case as well)?
Local Listings | | nhhernandez0 -
Hint from Google To Hospitality Industry Regarding Images + Bookings?
Hey To All My Favorite Local Folks Here! Have clients in the hospitality industry? You might be interested in this Mike Blumenthal post in which he does a good job of voicing the frustration business owners may feel when their preferred Google profile photo is overridden with Google's preferred pic. The post does more than just vent, though ... it actually hints at something quite fascinating that Google may have just offered up to the hospitality industry by switching from hotel-preferred exterior shots to Google-preferred interior shots of rooms. Mike's contention (and it's one shared by many in the industry) is that Google makes moves like this because they are maximizing profit. From the image switching that just happened, I think it makes sense to theorize that Google has gathered enough internal data to convince them that room shots lead to more bookings than do exterior views of lodgings. This wouldn't surprise me at all. When you're looking for a place to stay, it's the room you're going to stay in that matters most ... not really whether the exterior building is made of brick, wood or stucco, right? Certainly, a beautiful, fancy building could sway you, but if the rooms look awful inside, that's probably a deal breaker. If Mike is right, then I think Google's image switcharoo offers an extremely compelling reason to follow Google's lead and shine a major spotlight - on your website which you CAN control - on your interior photography. This suggestion could apply at all levels of the industry, from major hotel corporations that might want to rethink homepage contents and interior page layouts, to country B&Bs that have never made the investment in getting a pro photo shoot done that will truly showcase their rooms. I know, as a traveler, I've seen everything from stunning to downright dark, distorted and scary when it comes to hotel room photography. If Google knows it gets more bookings when good clear room shots are given pride of place, your hotel clients might want to be taking notes on that. Do you agree? As a hospitality industry Local SEO (or even as a traveler) what do you think is the most influential booking factor? Do you have any tips to share with others in the industry or an opinion on Google's switcharoo? Please, share with our community!
Local Listings | | MiriamEllis1 -
1 company, 2 shop locations, 3 Google+ pages - help!
Hello, I work for a furniture retailer and I'm doing an audit of our digital presence and need a hand with our G+ pages. Thanks for reading! We are one company but with two shops, located about 10 miles apart. One shop has been established over 10 years, the other is roughly a year old. The shops are called: 'Our Company' and 'Our Company, Second Location' Each shop has its own website (which is confusing and we'll hopefully shortly revert back to just one) We currently have three Google+ profiles: the first G+ was set up a number of years ago and was set up as a personal page, not a business and it links to both shop's websites. The other two G+ pages appear to have been created when we created a Google Local listing for each shop. My questions are: What is the best tool to handle all this info across the web? Bright Local looks good. Should I junk the original G+ profile? If I do, how will I know I won't remove any important stuff from Google? Should I keep 2 G+ profiles, one for each store or have 1 G+ profile and put both store's details in there. Or should I have 3 G+ profiles: 1 for our company name, and 1 for each of our 2 locations? When I search for 'Our Company', I only ever get our original company to show in the Google Local listing on the right hand side of search results. Our second shop is shown in 'People also search for'. Is this the best I can hope for? Is there any way to control this? Both of the G+ profiles that are linked to our Google Local listings have the original G+ URL. Should I customise this and if so, are there any naming conventions I should follow? What should we do with the (2?) G+ profiles for each shop? Both have currently got no content on them. Thanks in advance for any tips and advice.
Local Listings | | Bee1590 -
Google Local Storefront or Google Service Area?
We have been seeing some strange things happen in Google local after the most recent update. We used to show up in the maps all the time and have made no major edits or changes to the profile. Now when we search for our services, we show up high in the organic results, and not at all in maps (local listings). We have our profile setup as a service area since we do meet with people and provide services at their location, but also have checked the option that we also serve people at our address. I am wondering if the recent update favors actual storefronts when people are searching for services. Any ideas? Technically all the actual work is provided at our location, and the service we provide at the service area locations is based upon consultations. If we switched it to an actual storefront listing could that possibly help? Our profile is fairly strong, and has reviews, long history of posts, etc. What gives Google?
Local Listings | | David-Kley1 -
Segmenting Google Mybusiness traffic in analytics
Hi, Does anyone know if there is a way that I can segment traffic coming from my Google mybusiness listing from my organic traffic? I saw this post from a few years ago, but I'm not sure if this is still works (since so much time has passed). Any insight will be greatly appreciated. http://localu.org/blog/how-to-segment-local-search-analytics/
Local Listings | | AfroSEO0 -
Google My Business- Will a large service area dilute local search results?
I am considering adding our actual service area to our Google My Business profile, but I don't want this to dilute our local search results. As it is, we come up in the top 3 or so when searched in our HQ's city and several nearby cities when you search for us in Google Maps (although when I look at the top 10 organic for Google for some reason when you search for these cities + our keywords Google doesn't show any local results). Our actual service area is fairly large, comprising the states of CA & Hawaii & parts of CO, AZ, and UT. I would be adding the service area by zip code rather than radius, as a radius wouldn't make any sense in this case (particularly considering the distance between HI and CA). Is it better to keep our relatively high ranking in local results? Will adding the service area not affect local results negatively? Also, do you know why Google isn't showing me local results when I look for our keywords + our nearby cities? When I look for these keywords in larger cities like LA or San Diego, Google always shows me local results.
Local Listings | | BohmKalish1230 -
How to show on Google Maps for specific areas close to me?
Hi there, Im wondering the best approach to get more consistent listings for google map searches (the pins on the map) for a business.
Local Listings | | Ampweb
Here is a small overview. My client provides storage services in London. His business is very local as customers will only want to use them if they are from surrounding local suburbs within the City. His business is showing on the map for some of the suburbs close to his business, but it does not actually show when you search for the closest location (suburb) that his business is located in, or other local suburbs. What would be the best approach to ensure google shows a pin for his search results when users search for all close-by suburbs to his business address? Is this possible or will it just happen over time? He already has landing pages on his website for each of his suburbs that he is trying to target, eg: "Self Storage Camden".0 -
Correlation between ranking on Google organic result page and ranking on the local listing
Hi Moz fans, A quick question: any correlation between ranking on Google organic result page and ranking on the local listing or vise versa? Thnx Saab
Local Listings | | S.Saab0