Google Maps - ranking our head office over smaller offices

[Houses]

Hi,

We have Google Maps listings for all of our offices but a small office often shows up instead of our head office.

Is there any way to get head office showing instead?

Thanks

[Chris_Hickman]

Searching Google Maps directly is a little different than traditional SEO, mainly because the users location plays a role in the results that appear. If their location changes, listings adjust to the businesses closest to them.

However, there are some steps that can improve your specific listing for maximum exposure on Maps listings.

1. Verify all info is correct and the same business name is being used on major data providers such as Yellow Pages, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Yahoo Local, etc. And be sure they are linking to your website. Here is the full list:
   https://moz.com/learn/local/local-search-data-us
2. Make sure your full address is mentioned on your website contact page.
3. Get quality backlinks from related websites and include the city(s) name in the anchor text.
4. Use a local phone number area code and keep it consistent
5. Possibly have your smaller offices identify themselves with a specific location in their name
6. Get more positive Google reviews for your office
7. Include location and business keywords in your Google Maps description

I hope these suggestions help you top the rankings.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi There!

You might like to check out this earlier thread on the same topic: https://moz.com/community/q/google-places-multiple-company-listings-how-to-rank-the-hq-page-over-a-branch-location

As Nick points out, rankings are not static. What you see in the results while you are physically in one location will be different than what you see when you move to a different location. That's called the 'user as centroid' phenomenon, meaning that Google is customizing local results for you based on your physical location at the time of search.

Because of this, it's important to include in your troubleshooting a notation of where you are located when you are seeing any results.

[Houses]

Thanks, I had wondered if it was location based but it wasn't making much sense - the computers used to check were all much nearer the head office than the satellite office that showed up top - in fact the satellite office is a long way away. We used three different machines and each time we got the same result. The smaller office is in Leicester (UK) and the head office in in Christchurch which is where where 2 checks were done, and another was done in Blandford, all getting Leicester come up top.

Our head office address is the only one listed on Facebook etc so it's a bit odd.

I've just tried it again and got a more local office showing, but it's still not head office.

Thanks for the links to other posts and thanks for the suggestions:

1. Verify all info is correct and the same business name is being used on major data providers such as Yellow Pages, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Yahoo Local, etc. And be sure they are linking to your website. Here is the full list:
   https://moz.com/learn/local/local-search-data-us - **all the info on Google places is correct and the head office. Will see if there are other places we can list it though **
2. Make sure your full address is mentioned on your website contact page. - this is already the case
3. Get quality backlinks from related websites and include the city(s) name in the anchor text.- will try this
4. Use a local phone number area code and keep it consistent - we use a central call centre for most places although the local Leicester office that was showing above head offce uses a local number so even more strange that is should show as it's miles away
5. Possibly have your smaller offices identify themselves with a specific location in their name - will look into
6. Get more positive Google reviews for your office - will look in to but Leicester has no reviews so bit odd
7. Include location and business keywords in your Google Maps description - already doing

Thanks both