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Hey There!

Sorry to hear about this. First, I do want to be sure to mention that there has been a shakeup in the packs in the past week. Please see:

http://www.localsearchforum.com/google-local-important/42891-lot-movement-3-pack-local-finder.html

and

http://searchengineland.com/google-filtering-business-local-search-results-258044

I'm looking up 'Sea Leveler Cape Canaveral' in Google right now, and do see a Knowledge Panel for your business, so that's good news, and see this GMB listing:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sea+Leveler+Sport+Fishing+Charters/@28.4086071,-80.6143363,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xb376f8aa9ed43c09!8m2!3d28.4086071!4d-80.6143363

So, I see no signs that your listing has actually be suspended. Please let me know, did you see your issue resolve? Are you able to see the above listing okay?

So glad to help!

Okay, thanks for that helpful clarification. So, this SEO company is working in clear violation of Google's guidelines, which state:

_Use a precise, accurate address to describe your business location. _

So, as far as Google goes, please follow the guidelines provided in this great article by Joy Hawkins for combating spam: http://www.joyannehawkins.com/ultimate-guide-fighting-spam-google-maps/

Linkedin offers this: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/61664/reporting-fake-profiles?lang=en but you may need to dig deeper.

This resource may help connect you to the support for a variety of other platforms: http://www.reengageconsulting.com/be-where-your-customers-are-with-local-business-listings/

Now, all this being said, it seems like you might want to get legal advice in this matter. I'm not qualified to give that in any way, but it seems like a cease and desist-type letter to the SEO company might get them to do the work of removing all of this spam, rather than the burden being on your shoulders. Hope this helps, and sorry for the frustration of this situation.

Hey Again CalicoKitty

I started a discussion thread on the new filter here: https://moz.com/community/q/community-discussion-did-your-google-listing-suddenly-disappear

This issue is important enough to bring to the community's attention, I think, as so many businesses are being affected. You might want to keep an eye on that, and contribute anything else you notice. I'm hoping our community will pitch in with what they are seeing, too!

Hi CalicoKitty,

Yes, you are bringing an excellent practical perspective on exactly why this change of Google's is not serving the user's needs. And that's particularly telling that you come up as a top rated business but are not being featured as a top ranking business unless you filter/zoom the results.

I agree, Adwords is a band-aid while we see how this shakes out, and I do think it's worth it to contact Google directly to make the case that they are not delivering relevance. Really appreciate you sharing your experience with this.

I am seeing signs that the filter may be letting up. CalicoKitty - I'm seeing your listing reappearing for 'fishing charters cape canaveral' again in both the 3 pack and Local Finder. Can you confirm?

Hey Wbmsmet, great video link. The sound is a little wonky, but I recommend anyone experiencing this filter take a free hour and watch it. Very informative!

Hi Calico,

Clicking on the 'more' link at the bottom of the 3 pack to go to the local finder, are you still only seeing 1 business come up in the list at your address? When I checked yesterday, I was seeing 4 different companies, including yours, coming up at that address. Curious what you are seeing in the local finder today.

Hi There!

Thanks so much for sharing the details of your experiment. I agree that recommending that clients change their address is not advisable, but your experiment definitely shores up the explanation that Google is filtering based on shared addresses. Some Local SEOs are theorizing that Google's aim is to improve result diversity, and thus, quality of their results. I could see that being true in some cases, but in CalicoKitty's case in this thread, I think Google is actually delivering less helpful, rather than more helpful results.

So appreciate your contributions to this thread!

Hi Brian!

So, normally, yes, you'd just put that in an image, but as you've mentioned accessibility issues, I'm not sure. For example, you might want to be sure that people with visual impairments or other challenges can access this information. If this is an important consideration, then you could be sure that your physical address is clearly marked-up in Schema in a variety of places on your website, and that you list the P.O. box as a mailing address and don't mark it up. Will this be 100% safe ... unfortunately, no. There is a chance NAP confusion could arise, but I'm afraid I've not dealt with a case exactly like this to be able to say what % of risk there would be. An image pretty much nullifies risk, but other methods may carry some.

It would be nice if we could get some feedback from community members who are expert at accessibility. I think you've asked a good and important question!

Hi Omer,

Adding modifiers of any kind to the business name is against Google's guidelines. Your client is actually right that having city names in the business name can increase local rankings, but it's considered spam to do so and businesses that are ranking via this tactic are at risk of red flags being raised at Google if they notice it, if a competitor reports the company, etc. So, while your customer is right that this tactic can increase rank, it isn't really worth it to spam Google.

Hi Hector!

Just want to add a proviso to Sean's good advice. As it looks like you are in the HVAC business, I'm guessing yours is a Service Area Business (meaning you go to customers instead of them coming to you). In that case, Google wants you do add your physical address in the Google My Business dashboard, but take the steps they provide to hide that address via the text in the dashboard that refers to serving customers at their locations. Google wants all SABs to hide their addresses. If your competitors aren't doing this, it's either because they a) have a physical location customers come to, b) are unaware of Google's SAB guidelines, or, c) they know the guidelines but aren't complying with them.

Here are Google's guidelines. Hope this helps!

Hi Susannah,

You're very welcome! Until the client can get a separate phone number for Location B, don't create the GMB listing or any other citations for it. Hopefully, you can share Google's guidelines with them and help them see the good sense in complying with Google's wishes on this. In addition to being guideline compliant, unique phone numbers greatly lessen the risk of accidental listing merges, so pretty much any multi-location business needs to make a basic investment in a unique number for each locale.

You're welcome, Omer!

Hi Donald,Great question. 2-3 months may not be a good time estimate to give a client for moving the local needle. Bernadette wisely raises the issue of citation management. Have you been doing this? Real estate agencies often have very convoluted citation scenarios due to the continual arrival of new agents, old ones retiring, duplicate listings, multi-practitioner listings sharing details (like phone numbers) that they shouldn't.

If you've not yet delved into citation management yet, it's very important to do so, with the understanding that:

1. Structured citation building is not typically a competitive difference maker in tough markets, because tough competitors will likely already have large, clean structured citation profiles. So, basically, you'll be playing catch-up if you've not yet engaged in managing citations.

2. Competitive difference maker or not, inconsistent citations are lead-killers. Misdirecting customers via inaccurate information is not good for business. And, of course, inconsistencies are believed to weaken the 'trust' Google feels in the data they are finding about your business.

3. Duplicate clean-up can sometimes move the needle in the local packs, so this would be a high priority task.

I'd recommend going through our Local SEO Checklist for other ideas. Hope this helps!

Hi Donald

Woops! My mistake. I see your client is a real estate attorney, not a real estate firm. So sorry about that. Interestingly, as far as Local SEO goes, some of the same issue apply in terms of both industries commonly featuring multi-partner practices and that rolling out as citation confusion. But, you say you've done a good job of managing their citations and want advice beyond the average checklist of local search basics, I have two thoughts:

1. I'm hoping you may get some more feedback from community members with legal clients. I haven't personally worked with more than a handful of lawyers over the years and don't have any tips that would be stunners specific to the industry.

2. Are you aware of NiftyLaw? They're a subsidiary of NiftyMarketing.com, owned by Mike Ramsey. You might comb through their blog (http://niftylaw.com/blog/) to see if they are giving away any gems, or, if the client is really having a hard time, you might even consider consulting with them.

Hope this helps!

Hi Erik!

Coincidentally, I just had a piece published at Local Search Insider that describes how to handle business moves. I wrote this specifically for seasonal businesses that move every year, but the steps would apply to you, too:

http://www.lsainsider.com/its-so-easy-its-scary-how-halloween-businesses-can-avoid-losing-customers-to-seasonality/archives

Please, let me know if reading that answers your questions, and if you have others, please ask away!

Hi Gabe,

1. If they don't have separate phone numbers, then I personally would not advise building citations for them. Google wants the number you list for a location to connect as directly as possible to the specific location. Lacking this, I wouldn't build citations, but you might find varying opinions on this.

2. Yes, if you decide to build citations for each building, you are talking about building a complete, unique citation set for each locations. So 20 buildings would equal 20 citation sets.

3. In a correct scenario, properly created listings for multi-department businesses should not water anything down. However, your scenario may not qualify as 'correct', given lack of unique numbers.

4. Here's an example. This is USF: https://www.google.com/maps/place/University+of+San+Francisco/@37.7766466,-122.4528717,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x8085874a311220bb:0x6a56ca6f837ff84e!8m2!3d37.7766466!4d-122.450683

And here is a unique building on this campus (note separate phone number): https://www.google.com/maps/place/Phelan+Hall/@37.7762416,-122.4497874,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x68467e565121581b?sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEjOWA7YDQAhVkilQKHbXTA0YQ_BIIeDAK

I haven't looked closely at how this university is doing things, but I was able to find that example in a couple of seconds. Hopefully, you can find others.

Adhering to the letter of Google's guidelines, any citation set you build should have a real world guideline-compliant name, direct phone number and accurate street address. Any variation from this can lead to problems. Hope this helps!

Hi Marcus!

Thanks for pinging me on Twitter. I'm not a penalty expert, so I'm going to start my advice with this recommendation: I highly, highly recommend that you hire a penalty expert to consult with you on this prior to advising your client to make a move in any direction. The sheer length of your client's story = a very tangled scenario that is going to need to be investigated from the ground up for resolution. Advice given while not looking at your actual client's properties could actually make the problem worse rather than better (arggghh!) and that is the last thing your client needs right now. So, I highly recommend investing in consulting with an expert. I would recommend you consider seeing if Joy Hawkins has availability. Her coverage of both Penguin and Possum is excellent. She knows her stuff and may be one of the few Local SEOs out there with the patience and skill to get to the root of your client's issues and map out a plan for cleaning them up.

So, with that being said, this is what I see:

1. It's extremely unfortunate that in your client's effort to avoid NAP confusion with their father's business, they ended up sharing a property with a same-industry competitor. That really raises a red flag for me, and when coupled with the fact that the competitor then copied their structure/strategy/content ... yes, it makes perfect sense that Google would be suspicious that this is really one business trying to brand itself as two. It has all the earmarks. Worrisome.

2. This thread at Linda Buquet's Local Search forum might interest you, http://www.localsearchforum.com/local-search/43121-have-you-seen-any-local-rankings-you-feel-were-affected-penguin-4-0-a.html Marie Haynes might also be another good person for you to contact.

Hope this helps!

Hi Marcus,

I haven't see a case like you described regarding getting caught in a duplication filter. Like I said, I'm really not an expert on penalties. In your shoes, with a client with this complex of a history, I would hire an expert. It could save the client months of trouble. I'm sure you really know your stuff, but even the best SEOs can overlook things. I'd want a second opinion from someone who looks at penalties and filters all day long to tell me if I'm missing something.