Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Hi John,

So, what you are talking about is called Containment Information. Google says:

• Containment information indicating that your business is located inside another business (whether or not the businesses are part of the same organization).
  • Not acceptable: "Chase ATM (in Duane Reade)", "Apple Store at Stanford Shopping Center", "Benefit Brow Bar - Bloomingdales", "Sam’s Club Tire & Battery (part of Sam’s Club)", "Geek Squad (inside Best Buy)"
  • Acceptable: "Chase ATM", "Apple Store", "Benefit Brow Bar", "Sam’s Club Tire & Battery", "Geek Squad"

See the full guidelines here: https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en

Regarding your URLs, I would go with

domain.com/city-street

Regarding keywords, this is tough because you are talking about so many locations. Typical advice looks like this

...but only if you have the resources to build a good, high quality page for each of the 1700 locations. If you do, I'd focus on service + city + regional terms and synonyms on the pages.

I might suggest, given the size of this client, that you hire a good Local SEO to consult with you, to whom you can show the actual business in confidence. The goal would be to have them confirm GMB eligibility, actually looking at your client. There can be nuances to that our community might miss, not looking at the actual business model. Investment in an hour or two of consulting with a top notch Local SEO would seem a wise investment to me, given the very big scope of the project. We have a list of trusted Local SEOs here: https://moz.com/learn/local/trusted-providers

Hope this helps!

Oh, my, I'm totally laughing at myself right now. I read your business name off your initial screenshot as 'OLD' rather than 'QLD' so I was searching for the wrong name. Hahah!

I was seriously wondering what 'old drone photography' was!

Okay, so yes, this is a GMB listing:

https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Queensland+Drone+Photography/@-27.4678042,152.8889523,11z/data=!4m8!1m2!2m1!1sqld+drone+photography!3m4!1s0x6b914dad2b40df69:0x6c4ea8347f585873!8m2!3d-27.5639479!4d152.882636

Looks like you've got some work cut out for you earning reviews, Tony, and the Google trust that goes along with them. Let me link you here to our Local SEO Checklist so that you can methodically go through any problems that might be holding your business back in Google's eyes, as well as helping you create a strong strategy for locally marketing your company.

Hope this helps!

Hi There!

If the client is running 2 distinct legal businesses (like a landscaping company and an accounting firm) from a single address, then he should get a unique phone number for the 2nd business, be sure the websites feature completely unique content, and then he will be eligible for a Google My Business listing for each.

If, however, the client is actually running one business but is attempting to make it look like two companies (like an HVAC company trying to sell its heating services as though they are a separate business from its cooling services), then he is only eligible for 1 GMB listing, regardless of the number of websites he builds.

In fact, in the latter scenario, having a second website for the company is not normally advisable, because what you are then doing is putting partial duplicate NAP (name, address, phone) on two websites, instead of one, possibly leading to a loss of trust on Google's part about the authoritative data for the business. In most cases, Local SEOs will recommend that a single business at a single address should go with a single, powerful website.

But, if the businesses are legally distinct, it''s normally okay that they share the same address, so long as the phone numbers and websites are unique.

Hope this help, and definitely do share Google's guidelines with the client. They help answer many questions like these.

Whoa! I see that. That looks really different to me. It's not an old school authoritative one box. It's two businesses, side by side, that when clicked, brings up new SERPs and the knowledge panel. Something about this is teasing my brain, like I once saw an example of something similar, but I just can't place it. It's certainly interesting!

What I can say is that Google is testing a ton of things right now. They've got the new image carousel, and then there's the whole local pack paid entry thing making buzz. What you've shared here looks like a test to me. And check this out. Look up 'law schools california'. A totally different display!

Thanks for sharing this. I'd be curious to know if you're seeing it on other similar searches.

Update: Check out Dr. Pete's article here: https://moz.com/blog/google-glossary

Looks like a Rich Lists SERP with only 2 entries. Hat tip to Darren Shaw for pointing that out to me

This is a great question. Matt has given you the list of the partners we trust with our Moz Local tool. I'd like to add a bit more about this.

Once you've got the basic citations built (Google, Facebook, Yelp, the list Matt shared, etc.) you're going to want to start looking elsewhere, and there are 2 things that can really help you judge the relevance of a citation source that have nothing to do with PR or other metrics like that.

1. How well does that site rank for your keywords? If it ranks highly, it's a good bet you should be listed there, as long as that doesn't come with some ridiculous price tag.

2. Are your customers actually using that platform? If the source also supports reviews, look up your competitors in your city. See if people from that city are leaving reviews on the site. That's a quick way to see if it's being used.

Likely, you are going to find yourself wading into the niche directory space once you've moved beyond building standard, core citations, and my honored colleague Phil Rozek just happened to publish an amazingly good piece on this topic: http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/2016/07/27/niche-local-citations-dont-get-enough-love/ It not only contains good advice, but also some good links to further reading on this topic of niche directories. I think that post is going to light up your day

Remember that for local businesses, both industry platforms and geographic platforms are possible citations sources. If you're a chimney sweep in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for example, relevant citations could include being listed on the National Chimney Sweep Guild site, and also on the local Tulsa Chamber of Commerce site, or on a local news site, etc. Think in both directions: industry & geography. Most local businesses can build many good citations this way, expanding their visibility as they go.

Hope this helps!

Hey Steven,

Ryan & Varun are correct in the quote of the Google guidelines. You just want to use the name of the church across all three locations unless the churches officially rename themselves with modifiers. You might need to research this a bit. I've never marketed a church and I'm not sure how they are legally registered. Do they have some form of county registration or license? If so, and they feel that their congregation members may be getting misdirected or confused, they might want to consider officially rebranding the three locations so that their location names are part of the church names. So sorry, but I've only worked with commercial entities and am not sure how churches register themselves in communities. I'd look into this, because I think there may be a legitimate concern here, given that the website doubtless differentiates between the 3 locations in the way they are referring to them, and ideally, you'd like their citations to match that, so that James River Church West Campus is being referred to exactly that way, everywhere on the web. Time to do some research Good luck!

Hi Cornelius,

Good question! Virtual offices are not permitted by Google's guidelines as they are not deemed to be real physical locations. If you have a client who doesn't have an official office, they will be better served using their home address and listing themselves on those directories that allow the address to be hidden, rather than using a virtual office which is a Local SEO taboo!

Phil Rozek has written a couple of good articles over the years on which directories allow one to use their home address while hiding it:

http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/2013/04/22/private-local-citations-where-can-you-list-your-business-but-hide-your-address/

http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/2012/08/13/can-you-rank-well-in-local-google-without-revealing-your-street-address-anywhere/

Hope this helps, and please let our community know if you have any further questions about this important topic.

Hi Cornelius!

Another great question from you. Here's how to understand this:

1. If these are 3 legally distinct businesses (a lawyer, a bakery and a chiropractor) all at the same physical location, and each is staffing the office during stated business hours and each has its own unique phone number, you should be A-OK. Google is pretty sophisticated at parsing out multiple businesses at the same address these days. But...

2. If you ever suspect that these are NOT 3 legally distinct businesses, hold on. If, for example, a legal firm is trying to pretend that its personal injury services, estate services and criminal law services are 3 distinct businesses, then they are being spammy as all get-out trying to list them as 3 different businesses. It's the Local SEO's job to tell them they shouldn't do this and that they are headed for a listing takedown if Google, competing Local SEOs or the public notices what they have done. Another example of this would be an HVAC company trying to bill itself as two different business: one for heating and one for cooling. Eligibility for local business listings revolves around physical location, not the number of services a company offers. So, one physical location for a single business = a single local business listing.

There are some exceptions to the above, like a multi-practitioner office or a multi-department campus. Happily, you'll find that the Guideline For Representing Your Business On Google lay this all out in pretty clear terms, and these are what Local SEOs study and refer to in creating local search marketing strategies that keep clients safe from penalties and takedowns. If you're just getting started marketing local businesses, start with the guidelines. Google has been the dominant player in Local Search for over a decade, and so their definitions of good vs. bad practices have, perforce, become industry definitions in many, many ways.

Hope this helps!

Hey Ira,

I agree with Kevin, given that it sounds like you've run out of options with YP's customer support. Just be sure you do close out the old listing and don't end up with duplicates. It's kind of odd that YP says they will close a listing, but won't let you reclaim it. Strange policy.

I wish YP was a Moz Local partner so that we could surface and manage the listing for you, but they're not in our network

Sorry there's not a better solution for you here.

Hi Bridget!

I'll respond to your important question with numbers, for easier reading:

1. Moz Local will surface any listing we discover that strongly matches your Moz Local listing. We're making you aware of the existence of these listings, but this does not necessarily mean that they are, in fact, duplicates. It's up to the customer to decide whether a listing is a duplicate or not.

2. It's very important that your law firm study the Guidelines for Representing Your Business On Google. Read the entire document and pay particular attention to the sections on naming and practitioners.

3. Google does allow multi-practitioner firms to build a listing for the business and one for each practitioner. If there is only one lawyer at the practice, Google doesn't want him to build a separate listing, but if there are multiple lawyers, then it's allowed to build a listing for each of them, in addition to the listing for the practice. This is all laid out in the guidelines

4. If there are multiple practitioners, it is highly advised that each one has his own, unique phone number, not shared by any other practitioner or by the business. He should be directly contactable via the number. And, it is also advised that you create a landing page on the website for each of the practitioners and link their listings you build to these pages. All of this serves to differentiate one practitioner from another and one practitioner from the business, itself, hopefully securing you against ranking problems, accidental merges, customer misdirection, etc.

So, in sum, practitioner listings are not true duplicates, but you must follow guidelines for creating them and be sure that the practitioners are being properly differentiated from one another and from the business. And, finally, if you judge that a listing Moz Local surfaces for you is not a true duplicate, you can use the 'ignore' button to have it removed from the list.

Hope this helps, and please let me know if you have any further questions!

Thanks, Wendy!

I'm looking at the result you've shared, and in the knowledge panel (on the right) I do see the box labeled Website, linking to the website. Also, clicking on the map to get to your GMB listing, I also see a good, working link to your website:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Maybelle+Center+for+Community+(formerly+Macdonald+Center)/@45.524164,-122.676669,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xfbc0ab862da909a4!8m2!3d45.524164!4d-122.676669

Are you still not seeing the website button next to the directions button in the panel? If not, that's very curious, indeed, and I'd recommend checking from a different computer to see what you see.

Recommended reading, Gal, from start to finish: http://blumenthals.com/blog/2014/11/25/guide-to-using-call-tracking-for-local-search/

I hope it's muy helpful!

Hey Andy & Kristen!

I would just love it, if you get a chance, if you could let us know what kind of turnaround time you see with this. Thanks so much for being willing to share the results of the experiment with the community. Very cool!

Great question! And one that is built into the scenario of a single location business expanding to new locations.

There are typically 2 routes local multi-location businesses can take.

1. Build a single set of service description pages + a unique page for each location.

2. Build pages for every possible keyword/city combo + a unique page for each location.

Benefits of route one: by focusing your resources on this more limited set of pages, you may find you've got what it takes to build the BEST page on, for example, native plant landscaping in the industry and the BEST page about your location in San Francisco.

Drawbacks tend to relate to how to optimize major pages of the website (homepage, about). With just 2 locations, you can likely include some optimization for both cities on these pages, but if you start opening numerous locations, this can become untenable. After all, Whole Foods does not list hundreds of cities on its homepage ;). And, once you've got these two sets of pages built, you can turn focus in all kinds of exciting directions, creating all kinds of new content that continues to build your brand and increase conversions.

Benefits of route two: If you have the resources to do this well, you can end up with some very thorough keyword coverage. However, it may or may not be great for human users. Will users genuinely be helped in some unique way by the presence of your page on 'native landcaping san franciso' and your page on 'native landscaping oakland', describing the exact same service twice? In some cases, yes, but in others, no. So, make a wise choice here. Does a set of pages covering every possible service/city combo exist for users, or because you're crossing your fingers search engines will take note?

Drawbacks become quickly apparent where resources are lacking. Thin, duplicate content can easily result from this route, weakening your website instead of strengthening it. With proper resources, this doesn't have to be the case, but if you suspect it might be tough to pull off dozens of truly top quality pages with the route 2 approach, I'd advise sticking with route one.

Hope this helps, and Rand's most recent Whiteboard Friday might help with organization of the work ahead of you: https://moz.com/blog/build-content-keyword-map-for-seo-whiteboard-friday

Oh, that's really interesting, Ira! Flooring Contractor is definitely a standard category in Google's category base. The fact that SABs seem to be excluded makes me think about how Google differentiates between what they think of as a 'place' instead of an SAB. SABs, for example, are excluded from the Google Places API, and the reason they gave for this is that SABs aren't 'places'. So, when Google's new feature is asking you to 'add a missing place', it could be that they mean this only in their own, literal way.

Unless they expand to include common SAB categories, looks like this feature may be a no-go for any non-brick-and-mortar enterprise.

Thanks for sharing your experience with this. I guess it's back to the GMB dashboard for your flooring client. Good luck!

Oh, yes, Ira ... even if you are listing an SAB, it has to have a physical address, but then hide it. Only about 20 categories? Wow - that is really a limited data set. That wouldn't even cover core brick-and-mortar enterprises. Hmm!

Hey Ira!

Believe it or not, I was going to go fetch that list and republish it here, but then saw you had done so. Thanks a ton! Looking at those categories related to home, private residence, etc. makes me wonder very much what Google has in mind here. Those are not categories in Google's category base so, why include the 5 different iterations of dwellings?

Perhaps they might be some guard against malicious spam? If adding a place has been opened broadly to the public via this feature, wiseacres might add their untidy friend Joe's house to it with a jokey business title of some kind (Joe's Pigsty). Choosing one of the 5 residential categories might immediately alert Google that these are not businesses and should not be accepted? Hmm, maybe.

Or, could it be that Google now wants us to start labeling our homes? That seems very strange to me, but then, why those 5 categories?

You've noticed something quite interesting here, Ira. Thanks for sharing the list.

Oh, wow, Kristen! Two (or three) heads are better than one! I didn't realize that field was one you could type in. You are absolutely correct. Thank you so much for pointing this out, and it will be so interesting to see how long it takes for the listing you've created to appear. Really appreciate this discussion and the little clues being uncovered. Cool!

Wow! That really was fast. Now, where do you go from here? Are you being directed to claim the listing in order to take control of it, add photos, etc?

So appreciate you following up as you test this out!

Hi Catherine!

Thanks for saying that. I want to be sure you are following exactly these steps.

1. Be sure you are in the GMB dash for the specific business and are clicking the big red edit button that's over that large header background image at the top.

2. Then, click the edit/pencil icon next to the address

3. Then, be sure to use the scroll bar on the side of the popup to scroll down to the 'I deliver goods and services' text with the little radio buttons. That's where you need to be.

Can you get there? If that is totally absent, I recommend contacting Google directly about this.