Multiple Businesses at the Same Address

[rbmac]

Hello everyone! Fairly new member here with a quick local question.

A friend is starting a new business and sharing a showroom with another local business until they close up shop in a couple of months, at which point he will take over the showroom entirely.

My question: in the meantime, what would be the best way to have two businesses at the same address? The best I can come up with to avoid the pages being merged or who knows what else would be to list one of the businesses in a non-existent suite, for example 123 S Someplace Ave, Suite 100.

Is this strategy likely to cause any problems for either business? Ideally I would like to have both businesses appear in the listings until the first one closes, at which point I will just delete the page entirely.

[DonnaDuncan]

The rules for Google local listings are fuzzy and the results can be somewhat unpredictable. Seems clear that the two businesses are separate legal entities. It's not clear, at least not to me, whether they'll share a common phone number, website or whether their clients or business categories overlap.

You could go the route of establishing a separate suite for each of the two businesses, but you're still at risk that the data associated with the two listings will get merged. That's not quick or easy to undo.

If I were you, I'd wait a few months until the other business closes shop and then stake a claim to the address on Google local.

This question has been asked in the past. Miriam Ellis usually chimes in and she knows Local SEO inside and out. Here's the answer she gave to how to handle multiple businesses at the same address a few years ago. It's still relevant.

[rbmac]

Thanks for the info Donna.

To clear a couple of things up: yes they are separate legal entities, they will each have a unique phone number and unique website. However their business categories are basically the same which is what had me concerned about the two businesses merging.

After some further discussion with this friend, it sounds like their business would actually be better classified with a service area rather than a physical address, but they want the showroom to remain on the map. So it seems like the best course of action would be to (like you say above) allow the showroom to remain under the old company name until they close up, and build up the new company as a service area business until such time as they can fully claim the address.

Thanks again for your help.

[DonnaDuncan]

I agree rbmac. Seems logical.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Rbmac,

Nice answer from Donna, and I just want to add a little note here that Google has just done one of the largest overhauls to their Guidelines For Representing Your Business On Google (including changing the name, haha) that I've seen in quite some time:

https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en

The whole format of the page has been overhauled as have several key elements of the guidelines that any local business owner just getting started should read up on. Following the guidelines at the outset can save many troubles down the road.

[rbmac]

Hey Miriam, thanks for chiming in.

I had noticed that a lot has changed since the last time I create a g+ page, so thanks for the link with all of the updated guidelines. I will definitely be back if (when) I get lost again.

[MiriamEllis]

You're very welcome! I'm glad the link was helpful.