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Hi Thomas!

The key here is to separate your brand from your locations in your mind. Your brand is the same, regardless of how many locations you have (just Whole Foods - not Whole Foods Chicago, Whole Foods Boston, right?). So, you'll want to:

1. Use just the brand name on all citations with no extra geographic descriptors in it

2. Have a unique page on the site for each physical location you own

3. Link your citations to their respective page on the site

Regarding Google brand and local pages, if you only have a single location, Google lets you do this: http://localu.org/blog/google-now-allows-brand-pages-become-local-pages/ but not if you have multiple locations.

This article will be the best to read on this topic:

http://localu.org/blog/merge-google-pages-usually-cant-now/

Not sure what you mean about the publisher tag.

Wow, I would love to see John Mu address this. You've brought up a really good topic Brett, for which I don't have an answer. Can anyone in our community help Brett out?

Before coming to Moz, I worked at a forum where any profanity was autocorrected by the platform. I'm not sure how that worked technically, but the issue you've raised is that Google is specifically stating that they don't want website-based reviews to be altered, while at the same time they want to safeguard their own review base from being degraded with profanity. It's a mixed signal, for sure. Google can choose to filter out a vulgar review on their own platform (or any review they feel doesn't meet their quality guidelines), but they apparently don't want you to have the same ability on your own site. This is definitely a conundrum and one I'd love to see a Google staffer address.

Hi Oren,

Are you aware that you can set your location to a different city while looking at Google's SERPs? I believe you have to be logged into a Google account to see this option. Look up your keyword in the main search results. Then, click the link titled 'search tools' located beneath the search box. A dropdown should appear, showing you the city google currently associates with you (e.g. boston, ma). By clicking on this, you can change the location and Google will then alter the SERPs to show you results for the new locale, including local results.

Remember, however, that no two users see identical results all of the time. The above tactic can give you some idea of what a user in a different city will see in the results, but personalization/localization mean that you may not see exactly what someone else sees.

My pleasure, Tom! Google reviews are important, for sure - widely considered to be a ranking factor in their algo, but I'd advise the doctor to get reviews in a variety of places, just so that all his eggs aren't in one basket.

Good discussion going on here, and agree with Ryan 100% about informing the business owner of the risks he is taking and, if you choose to continue serving this business, structuring the contract so that you are not responsible for negative outcomes.

One of the major risks I would discuss with the client is this, at least the way I am understanding what you've described.

1. The business had a site and built citations for it at location A.

2. The business then had you build a second site covering locations A and B and wants you to build citations for business B.

If this is correct, the trouble is that the business now has TWO websites representing the location of Business A and this is pretty much guaranteed to cause holy heck on Google's end. Google wants to find a single authoritative website representing each physical location (each Google+ Local page). Finding 2 authoritative websites representing location A is going to cause confusion and could water down the authority this client has built for business A, decreasing the benefits he's earned. The client needs to hear this.

Ideally what should be happening here is that:

A) The customer fully separates out his two businesses, legally. He runs 2 different companies out of 2 different offices with no connection between them. He runs 2 different websites and supports them with 2 unique citation sets. This would be the above-board, risk-free approach.

B) If the customer will not do this, then I agree that he is making a poor choice in trying to make a single company seem like 2 different businesses, doubtless for SEO purposes. I see trouble ahead for the business if this is their approach to marketing. It's possible that you could continue to work on the site you built, removing ALL references to the location of business A and only building citations for location B, but without knowing all of the nuances of this, it seems pretty iffy to me.

I totally sympathize with the pickle you're in on this, not having realized what the company was doing before you developed their new website. You could choose to walk away from the contract if you are not comfortable moving forward. I'd personally be tempted to do so, if the client refused to act on my marketing advice regarding this. At the very least, the one thing you have learned from this is to structure into your initial client discovery form questions regarding all sites they currently own. This is a hard way to learn this - but an important lesson, for sure.

Hi Jacob,

From what you are describing, it sounds like you are actually experiencing two different things:

1. Google not showing in-SERPs stars for your geo-industry (they do make these pop in and out of existence, so they could come back).

2. Possum. If you are sharing a physical building and Google categories with a competitor, this is most likely why your business isn't showing up in Maps unless you zoom in. Here's a very good guide to this: http://searchengineland.com/everything-need-know-googles-possum-algorithm-update-258900

Hope this helps.

Hi TheCTC,

You're really on the ball to have noticed this, and I'm actually surprised we haven't had multiple threads on this here in Q&A. This is a known issue, being reported by multiple businesses - both the review thing and the drop in stars. Mike Blumenthal has been covering this. Recommend you read:

http://blumenthals.com/blog/2013/12/04/google-reviews-new-quirks/

As to when/how this may be 'fixed', nobody but Google knows, but at least you can know you're not alone in experiencing this fluctuation. Hope this helps!

Hi Jesse, If you know they are planning to move in the next few months, I would definitely hold off on anything. You don't want to have to go back and re-do the work. Right now, Google+ Local does not support multi location businesses. Multi location businesses and claim/manage their listings via the old Google Places dashboard. I highly recommend a careful read of this post on the subject of merging: http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/08/10/google-business-pages-to-merge-or-not-to-merge-that-is-the-question/ Hope this helps!

Google prefers local phone numbers that connect directly to the place of business, but in recent times, they have allowed toll free numbers into their system. You can read the guidelines here:

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

Hi David!

I think this might be the answer to what you're seeing:

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-titles-and-descriptions-2016/163812/

Does that seem right?

Hey David,

I'm sorry your question hasn't received a reply yet. I'm not actually familiar with this product. Is it this: https://www.google.com/partners/?channel=ha&sourceid=awo&subid=us-en-ha-g_prt-hasearch&gclid=CMHsgbmo2cgCFYhefgod_ncP6A#a_home

That's correct, Jesse. You've understood this correctly. Hopefully, we'll see functionality of this kind in 2013!

That's really interesting regarding your client, William. Too early to say if there's a connection there, but it would be cool if you could find other similar examples in your client pool. Now, common sense would say that if Google is downgrading the visibility of third party reviews, this could indicated that they are placing less trust in them, and perhaps, relying more on a Google-centric representation of user sentiment, but there is nothing to confirm this, at this point. Third party reviews have long been considered an important ranking factor, so it would surprise me to see their value totally vanish in that regard. And, of course, review diversity is important for more than just rankings. I think it will be some time before we understand the shakedown from this small but significant move on Google's part.

I'd be glad to hear any theories about this from the community!

Hi Carwrapsolutions,

That's really nice to know Moz has been a help to you in your SEO. I wish we could help out on this one, but basically it appears that Google does not consider this to be a bug. It sounds like they consider the latest update to a review (adding or changing photos) to be cause for updating the date on it. I can see their point of view - the date they are showing is the one on which the review was most recently updated. So, for example, if I reviewed a restaurant in 2014 and then dined there again yesterday and updated my original review with new photos of the taco I ate, Google feels there is freshness associated with my new activity.

That being said, if the review in question is being updated with any content that violates Google's guidelines for reviews or images (as in a case where someone might be a harassing a business with inappropriate images) then this is something you can report.

I'm curious to know what the actual situation is with the business you are monitoring, if you can share it. Is a competitor or a past employee or something like that harassing a business?

Hi Bob,

If by national, you mean virtual (you don't meet with clients face-to-face) then local business directories would not be a good fit. But, if your national business does meet face-to-face with clients, then it may be eligible for inclusion in local business directories. Without more details, it a bit hard to say.

Hi John,

Oh, those pending states are so frustrating. So, there could be many things causing this, but let's take a look at your Google+ Local page. I am seeing something on it that I've never seen anywhere before. Your business description looks like this:

Shearer Painting is a Seattle Painting Contractor started in 1990,  a full service painting contractor recognized as one of Seattle's Top ten painting contractors.

find out more information aboutHistoric House Painting, Wood Staining and finishing, Benjamin Moore PaintSee a walk through of interior painting project on a historic home  and a Seattle House Painting project on a 1913 built home- You shouldn't be using the word 'Seattle' in your business description. It's not in the written guidelines, but many people in the Local SEO community believe that the use of GEO terms triggers a penalty.- But the thing that is really jumping out at me is the links in the description. I've never ever seen that before. I didn't even know you could put links in the description. My eyes popped open, and I have to wonder if there is any chance that this is the root of your pending status.According to Google And Your Business Forum TC, Joy Hawkins:"_If a listing's status goes back to pending after being active, it could be any number of issues, including a quality guidelines violation, and needs to be evaluated on an individual basis."_See:
http://localsearchforum.catalystemarketing.com/local-search/1278-pending-status-after-verification.htmlSo, perhaps there is a problem with that description, but on the other hand, as you've moved, I'm curious about the steps you took with your Google+ Local listing. These days, Google's advice is that if you move, you're supposed to close your old listing and open a new one, though there has been much debate in the Local SEO and MapMaker communities about whether it's possible to avoid this if you move within the same city. How did you handle your move?Regarding reviews, yes, it is common to lose them when you move. Google considers your new location a new place.What attempts have you made to communicate with Google? What response have you received.Interestingly, as your listing is live, John, how exactly is the pending status affecting you beyond a note in the dashboard? And, apparently, loss of G. Places analytics data?Can you provide some further information? Moves and pendings are complex, and in the end, communication with Google will likely be the only way to resolve your issues, but I'd be very interested in your answers to my questions and will help more if I can.

Hi Andre!

I wish I knew more about Local SEO in Germany, but your screenshot looks like the new-ish 3-Pack that Google rolled out in the US last winter to replace their Carousel results. See coverage of this here:

http://searchengineland.com/google-axes-carousel-new-local-3-pack-208710

For hotels, restaurants and other hospitality/entertainment searches, Google had rolled out the Carousel in the summer of 2013, but this has been replaced by these results. Naming conventions have been kind of scattered. You'll hear terms like 3-pack, snack pack, local stack, hamburger pack. I think it's just easiest to call it a 3-pack. I'm not sure when these 3-packs rolled out in Germany, but this is likely what you are seeing. The upshot is that it has just become harder than ever to compete when Google is only awarding pack status to only 3 businesses!

Hi Again,

Agree that it's bizarre that this disgruntled customer would be going to so much effort. Is this your business:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Car+Wrap+Solutions/@26.069977,-80.210786,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x518642b0ad3f68c?sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjCgYywwanSAhVK1WMKHbhuC3UQ_BIIngEwCg

And is the negative review in question left by someone with the initials P.B.?

Hi Anton, Is your business local or virtual? If local, then yes, city landing pages are extremely common and typically contain the city name in the URL of the landing page. However, it is key with these types of pages to be sure that you are creating unique, high quality content that will be of value to the user. Do not simply duplicate content and change out city keywords across multiple pages. That would be spammy. City landing pages work well for service radius businesses like plumbers, landscapers and general contractors, because the staff travel to clients in a number of cities. They are not as good of a fit for brick-and-mortar businesses like dentists, restaurants or retail shops, because in such cases, all clients come from their locations to the locale of a business. If a brick and mortar business wants to write about cities other than its city of location, it has to discover a valid reason for doing so. For example, a doctor located in City A might have hospital privileges in City B and give seminars in City C, giving a good reason for him to publish content about his involvement in these other cities. But, to simply create pages for cities in which he has no involvement, just because he hopes patients living in those cities might travel to him, doesn't really make sense So, what you do with your city landing pages is a case-by-case situation. One rule covers all scenarios - always build unique, quality content on the pages with the goal of helping users.

Nice feedback here. The one thing you've asked about that I don't believe I've seen addressed is your question regarding having geographic modifiers in your business name. You are correct - Google does not want these, unless they are part of your legal business name or DBA.

This was a bit of a goofy situation. Originally, Google's guidelines expressly forbid the use of anything but the legal business name or DBA in the business title. Then, in the fall of 2013, they suddenly changed their policy on this, permitting business owners to add descriptors. So, at that point, lots of business owners jumped on this and added city names and other descriptors. A little over a year later, Google reversed their policy, returning to their original stance on this in which they do not want city names, state names, etc. in the business title unless they are part of the real-world business name.

You can read the guidelines here, under Name: https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en