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Hi Mash, I recommend that you definitely link to these three office landing pages from your top level menu. You could link to them from your contact page, as well. Absolutely want those links to be high-level and crawlable!

Hi Jason I've never had this problem yet (touch wood) but what I find works is verifying the actual business via phone or postcard, which you have done, linking the web URL in the 'Contact Us' section and then creating a Google+ button on your webpage which links to the URL that you have entered. E.g. http:www.russkellfurniture.co.uk https://plus.google.com/106174762290348981656 Sometimes it takes a couple of days for Google to recognise that they are linked, but this is the way I usually find works. If you're still struggling in a couple of days time I suggest you try https://support.google.com/places/contact/c2c_places (they are online from 2pm UK time). I've spoke to these guys a couple of times regarding issues with Google Places and Local accounts and they always sort the problem for me. Let me know if you're still having trouble! Luke Gilrane

Glad to help and thankful to be part of such a great community!

Miriam, Thank you for the in-depth response. I really appreciate it. I have yet to try the null approach. This business is in good standing, and has been for the 4 years I've worked with them. We did change website the domain name recently, and TDLF did relocate almost a year ago. A great deal of leads came from mobile search, which, of course, come from local places listings and this has caused a serious drop in phone calls. Ben (the owner) noticed immediately, before even knowing what had happened. One thing we did take into consideration, is that other law firms sometimes play dirty. I'm wondering if someone could have flagged this as being closed in an effort to "get ahead". I know of other law firms I work with who claim that other firms will engage in similar behavior by clicking on PPC ads of competitors' - knowing that an "injury attorney in Denver" ad may cost $30-40 per click. We've even caught competitors bidding on our firm's names, which lead to a landing page about why not to hire that firm, yada yada yada. So...yesterday I actually spent 3 hours on the phone and was able to reach the person who, supposedly, in charge of the "map" in the entire state of New Mexico. For some reason I have doubts about this, but we'll see what kind of response we get. It just seems like there would be a "switch" somewhere with the options: Open or Closed. I'll post an update when I resolve this...if I have anything going for me its persitence. I once reached the CEO of a well known airline after 4 hours on the phone - when my bags were misplaced.

Thanks for the insights and I'll investiage both options. Cheers!

Thank you very much for all your answers. i think its because the Google-Places-Account and the Google+-Page are on different Google-Accounts. I try to connect them both. Many thanks!!!  

Yeah, this is a critical point - you have to pin down where the old entry came from, to sort out if this is a G+ issue or a data issue in something like Freebase. Keep in mind, too, that knowledge panels can come and go, and may depend on things like your brand authority.

Thanks a lot. I will have a look at them.

I agree with Miriam, without further details, it is really hard to say what is going on. However, depending on where you are actually searching from does factor into the results as well as the website associated with the listing. Additionally, the number of citations a location has and how well those citations match up, meaning name, address, and phone are all exactly the same, can influence local listing rankings as well. Whether or not the competitor has claimed their listing isn't really a huge factor in determining rankings. The fact that your competitors website outranks yours is an indication as to why those local listings may appear to be more relevant to the search, and therefore rank higher, than yours.

Hi Matthew, From your description, these appear to be your client's options: Rank locally (in the local pack) for their single physical office via NAP, content and SEO work on the website + their Google+ Local listing and citations. Rank organically for other cities in which they vend properties via content, on-site SEO and linkbuilding. PPC may be a necessary component, too, given how competitive this market typically is. It shouldn't be a goal for the client to rank locally for anything but their city of location, and it's forbidden to list for-sale properties in Google's local product, so this isn't a way to get around the lack of location either. Basically, it's going to come down to the organic strength of the business to build a presence for the various cities in which they sell properties. You'll be cleaning up duplicate content and developing new, unique content for each of their major cities + wanting to earn links to this content. A blog could be a BIG asset here if the client has the resources to blog in a hyperlocal fashion about properties and local communities and on-topic subjects like buying/selling a home. I think you're receiving some good advice on this thread. I hope my suggestions are helpful, too.

Thanks John. Yes, I would definitely verify the individual doctors page so they can get a custom url like you say.

Yes, in the great world of marketing we all know that a negative experience gets amplified far more often and to a greater extent than positive ones. I guess we'll take this one as a win and see how the rankings hold. Thanks for your responses!

Thanks Andrew. I did speak with someone at Google Places yesterday about this issue and they informed me that places on the old dashboards would eventually be upgraded to the new layout, hopefully fixing my problem. I'll also look into the article that you've linked! Thanks for your response/help.

Super! I hoped it would be, Blaine.

Hi Matthew, You write: "... my client operates as a financier. As a result, the company offers online finance applications, which are supported by an effective call centre." I want to verify: 1. Does this business actually make face-to-face contact with its customers? 2. Are the ranking changes you are noticing in the organic results or in the local pack of results?

No problem if the listing is free or paid but when it comes to local SEO your NAP (Name, Address and Phone Number) should be consistent across the website and if any service is changing the phone number that means you will face the issues with regards to local SEO. My idea is to use the service that submit your business to these yellow pages and data aggregator website once, and then manually shift the listing to featured (I you like) usually not all local citation websites produce leads but websites like Yelp, YP.com, super pages are good names when it comes to conversions through citation websites. Hope this helps!

Thank you yet again for the great advice.  We have two major universities here in town...  This is a wonderful idea!

Most ESPs (Email Service Providers) will be able to break down the information you input in your customer forms so you can create custom lists based on them. For example, if you want to just email people who live in California, if you have that information, it can segment based on that. Different providers will do different types of automation, depending how you set it up. Some popular providers include: MailChimp, Bronto, and Exact Target. Pricing is usually based on level of software (SMB or enterprise), if you want your own whitelisted IP (recommended), and how many you send per month or year. You can also use marketing automation software to send emails based on website triggers. To be transparent, I've never used software, but I know some popular providers are HubSpot, Bronto, and Marketo. Some companies build their own triggers and marketing automation and then will maybe use a smaller email provider just to send emails and ensure deliverability. (This is what we do at Moz for say q&a emails and our ranking reports, but we use a full ESP for marketing emails.) Hope this helps put you on the right direction!

Hi Sangeetac, With the new dashboard, I believe most/all verifications are now postcard only. So, simply follow through with postcard verification and then you'll be able to complete the process by entering the postcard pin number into the dash. Takes a bit longer, because you have to wait for the postcard, but typically only 1-2 weeks these days.

Hi Scott, I am not aware of a process for what you describe, unfortunately. Obviously, you would want to make sure the info has been manually corrected at Google+ Local, Axciom, InfoGroup and Localeze, but I'm not sure even these major providers will ensure that a closed business message is replicated across the board. You've asked a really interesting question and maybe others in the community will have new feedback on this. In the meantime, I recommend you read: http://moz.com/blog/local-search-moving-locations https://support.google.com/places/answer/154102?hl=en