Please advise on GMB and citation building - 1 owner, 2 businesses, 1 address + 1 phone no.

[Gavo]

Our client has an established driveways business, "A", that has been servicing higher end customers. This business has GMB and citations built. He has now started another driveways business, "B" that targets mid-class customers. This second business operates out of the same office with the same phone no. A Google rep has advised that the 2nd business will not be able to have a GMB of its own if it's operating out of the same address as the 1st business.

How would you actually tackle citation building and creating a GMB for this second business?? Would appreciate any advice!!

[donsilvernail]

I ran into this issue once late in 2015. It was a law firm that did business as 2 different names to reach 2 very different target markets. Google would not verify the one business because it was in the same building as the other and used the same phone number. The other business had 2 locations.

I was given the workaround to set up as a local service that traveled to customers. Obviously this did not work for a law firm, but as a driveway installer this certainly does for your business. Set up the mid level business as a service that travels, you will not need to give an exact address but a central point and dictate a radius such as 30 miles from your current location. I have been able to get plumbers and contractors verified who have a  po box for an address this way. They use their home location as the center point and give me a radius for service, usually 30 miles or so.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Gavo,

The Google Rep is right - what you're describing about the second business has all the earmarks of a listing that would get flagged and removed by Google, and this could actually hurt the work you've done for the first business. What are those earmarks?

• Shared category of products/services

• Shared address

-Shared phone number

If your client's second business was selling vacuum cleaners instead of driveway services and had its own phone number, it would be okay to move forward, but from your scenario description, attempting to use Google to market the second business would be a mistake.

Now, not every directory shares Google's stringent policies, BUT if you do decide to build citations other than at Google for the second business, you should take these precautions:

• Separate phone number

• Separate website with totally unique content

• Don't link between the two businesses to try to cross promote them

Even with these precautions, there is risk of troubling citation inconsistencies arising from the fact that two driveway businesses are sharing the same address. You could wind up with merged listing details out there in the ecosystem, so if you choose to go this route, forewarn the client of the risks before taking any steps in this direction.

So sorry ... this is probably not the news your client is hoping to hear, but honestly, if you prevent him from making a costly mistake, you could be saving his bacon