GMB issues for international train company
-
Hi There
I work for an international train company which operates in multiple locations across several European countries.
I have been asked to claim our Google my business profiles for each location so we can manage reviews, images etc..The problem i have is that our physical location (ticket desk, check in area etc..) in each country is in a train station (obviously). We share the same address and postcode with the train stations ( i have personally phone them to make sure that was the case)
My question is, can i claim our business in GMB using the same details as the train stations?
If i can, it is literally impossible for me to verify each profile through the use of coupon as I can't travel to each destination. I heard i could do bulk verification if we own more that 10 properties but I am not quite sure how to do all of itAny help on both these questions would be greatly appreciated
-
My great pleasure, Neil. Best of luck to you!
-
Thank you so much Miriam. I really appreciate you taking the time.
Very helpful indeed
Neil
-
Hi Neil,
I'm so sorry for the delayed reply. For some reason, I didn't receive a notification that you'd responded. So sorry about that!
Okay, so there are some guidelines you need to refer to here. It does sound like your business may qualify as a department of the train station. Google's guidelines on this state:
Public-facing departments that operate as distinct entities should have their own page. The exact name of each department must be different from that of the main business and that of other departments. Typically such departments have a separate customer entrance and should each have distinct categories. Their hours may sometimes differ from those of the main business.
- Acceptable (as distinct listings):
- "Spring Gardens Optical Centre"
- "Cafe Nero"
- "Manchester General Hospital Department of Dermatology"
- Not acceptable (as distinct listings):
- The Apple products section of PC World
- The hot food bar inside Meadowhall
For each department, the category that is the most representative of that department must be different from that of the main business and that of other departments.
- The main business "Barclays" has the category "Bank" whereas the department "Barclays Advisors" has the category "Financial Consultant"
- The main business "Southend Toyota" has the category "Toyota Dealer" whereas "Southend Toyota Service & Parts" has the category "Auto Repair Shop" (plus the category "Auto Parts Shop")
- The main business "GetGo" has the category "Convenience Store" (plus the category "Sandwich Shop") whereas the department "GetGo Fuel" has the category "Petrol Station", and the department "WetGo" has the category "Car Wash"
So, from reading the guidelines, and given that you have a distinct name, the above should clarify your eligibility for a GMB listing for each of your branches.
However, regarding your phone number, that does concern me a bit. Google states:
-
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.
- Use a local phone number instead of central, call centre helpline number whenever possible.
- The phone number must be under the direct control of the business.
To be totally safe, you should have a unique phone number for each branch that is being answered at each branch. Any other route can lead to NAP confusion, ranking issues and other problems. So, before you start listing your branches, I would recommend resolving the phone number issue.
I hope this helps, and please let me know if you have any further questions!
- Acceptable (as distinct listings):
-
Thanks for taking the time myriam.
I have responded to the questions below
-
-
Is the name of your business different than the name of a given train station. Yes
-
Do you have your own phone number at each train station, or are calls to you being routed through an answering service/desk belonging to each train station? Calls are rerouted via a call centre
-
Would you consider your business a "department" of a train station? Yes
-
-
-
Thanks, Neil! And thanks for being understanding (we just don't have many trains where I live in the US and I've never consulted with a business in your industry). Just a few more questions:
-
Is the name of your business different than the name of a given train station.
-
Do you have your own phone number at each train station, or are calls to you being routed through an answering service/desk belonging to each train station?
-
Would you consider your business a "department" of a train station?
Please, let me know. I want to be sure I advise you to the best of my ability.
-
-
Hi Miriam
We run train services between several countries. We sell/exchange tickets at the stations from our our ticket desk facilities which also include VIP lounges, departure lounges etc.. So it's all brick and mortar stuff. It's pretty much the same as an airlines within an airport.
-
Hey Neil!
Not very familiar with train-oriented business models. What does your company actually do, vs. what the ticket desk of the train station does?
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
-
GMB Account Fallen Off Rankings in past 24 hours
My map pack presence has fallen off the face of the earth over the last 24 hours. My location The Escape Game Chicago was top 3 yesterday for 'escape room chicago' and now they only show up when searching for the exact brand name. What's weirder is I still rank #1 organically for that keyword.I have looked through the account, nothing seems to be totally amiss. Google has not notified me of any issues or penalties. I have no clue what happened.Can anyone point me in the right direction or provide some insight as to how I can recover my ranking?
Local Listings | | danieldaher0 -
Unlinking Google Local Listing from your GMB Account with other locations you have
I have listings that I need disconnected from my main Google My Business account. I can close, or remove which is similar as closing, but the goal is not to close the listings, just to remove the association to my google account, and im not transferring the listing as well. Anyone know how to accomplish this? Goal is to clean up old listings that are exist but I dont manage Thanks for all the help
Local Listings | | vmialik0 -
Google My Business: Company listing is showing in search instead of division address - similar names/same city
Hi! I have a client whose company name is very similar to one if their company divisions. This division has multiple locations but its main location is in the same city as the parent company. The problem is that when you search for the division, the parent company shows up. The parent company has a physical address, but most users searching need to be going to the division address which takes customers. They are having problems with customers coming to the parent company address instead. I have made the Google My Business parent company page to show service areas instead of their business address. Yet, their listing still comes up first when searching for the division location. This is because of part of the parent company name is in the division name. My client wants users to be able to find the division more so than the parent company. Anyone had this issue before? Any tips would be great!
Local Listings | | agrier0 -
Can you manage multiple department store hours showing up in a GMB knowledge card?
Recently one our clients noticed that their GMB knowledge card is showing multiple opening hour sets for different departments. Is there anyway to directly influence these results? We know schematic markup helps but are there any other options to manage these different department hours? Thanks
Local Listings | | BigChad20 -
GMB Listings: No customer actions data for the last week
The medical clinic listings I manage for a client are showing zero customer actions for the last week (since Oct. 9). Visit your website, request directions, calls -- all dropped to zero. Only the View Photos metric is continuing as normal. The same thing has happened to the "Where customers view your business on Google" and numbers from listings on search and on maps. This has happened across multiple (20+ so far that I've checked) listings. Has anybody else seen this?
Local Listings | | Decagon_Digital0 -
How does Google Local Insights report impressions for multiple mappack listings (same company) showing up for one query?
I had a client ask me a difficult question about impression reporting via Google Local Insights. Lets say a client is a popular ice cream chain and somebody does a local brand search for "San Francisco Exotic Tasty Ice" and three locations for the same company all show up in the Google Local Pack. Does each one of these locations receive their own impression via Google Local Insights? Or does Google just count this as one impression for one location altogether? Logically speaking I would think that each location would get its own impression in the insights report. However I'm wondering if there is anything to negate that. Any feedback is appreciated.
Local Listings | | RosemaryB0 -
Will local optimization effect international ranking?
Lets say a company serves Canada and US customers regularly, but they are based in Canada. They currently have no local optimization or confirmation of their location on their website. If I were to begin local optimization (google my business, local content, link building, schema etc), would Google recognize this website as a Canadian business and remove rankings in the US that it is currently appearing in now without any locational information?
Local Listings | | aaronleven0 -
2 Company Divisions One Address
Hi, we have a client that has 2 distinct divisions 1)XYZ Construction and 2)XYZ Pools they reside at the same address and share a phone number. They do have 2 different websites. How can we handle this from a Local listing perspective without getting our listings merged or penalized?
Local Listings | | JohnWeb120