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Hi Steve, So far as I know, we're still waiting for this! You might like to read: http://localu.org/blog/merge-google-pages-usually-cant-now/ It's a good one.

Well thanks for clarifying

Haha, love it

Hey Keri, Thanks for the response, the issue looked to be on Google's end, as after getting a hold of someone on the phone they expressed everything had been done correctly, however it was being bogged down on their end. I was told that they are working on fine tuning their process to make sure it goes quicker for the future.

Glad I could help. I would just run it through one or two more versions of that tool just for peace of mind. You can just google "spider view tool" and try out a couple others.

Hi Monster Web, Unfortunately, without actually being able to look at your unique business, this cannot be diagnosed as there are so many variables. If you cannot share this information here, in a case like this, I would recommend that you hire one of the Local SEO firms listed on GetListed.org's recommended companies list so that you can show your info to someone in confidence to begin diagnosing the situation. In the meantime, some things to consider: 1. You say you aren't ranking for desired keyword phrases, but are you at least getting a local result when you search for 'business name + city'? If not, then... 2. How old is the listing? 3. What is the status of the listing in the dashboard (pending, suspended, needs action, etc.) 4. If the listing does exist for the search in question 1 and is simply failing to rank for desired keywords, then... 5. You might be dealing with a penalty; be sure you are compliant with all Google Places Quality Guidelines (http://support.google.com/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=107528). 6. Do some competitive analysis of competitors vs. your business. I like 51 Blocks free local search analysis tool for this. http://www.51blocks.com/online-marketing-tools/free-local-analysis/ This will give you a sense of how you compare to competitors who are ranking well for your desired keywords. These are just a few thoughts. If you would like to share information about the listing, we can take a better look at your unique situation. If so, please share not only your business info, but also the keyword+geo phrases you are trying to rank for.

Let's assume that all on-page factors are held equal - essentially both pages get a grade of A when you run them through the Moz campaign tool - everything on the page is dialed in. And, internal linking to each page is identical. There are only 3 factors remaining: Number of external links pointing at your page. Level of competition in each SERP. The fact that your business is recognized as being in Miami. Due to the fact that these 2 pages are new, let's pretend that you haven't manually built any external links to either page. Next factor is the level of competition in that SERP. Considering it's Miami vs. New York, I'm not surprised that New York isn't performing as well right off the bat. Build up some more internal links and do some external link building, and more long term build up your Domain Authority. You'll get there. Final factor is the fact that the business is in MIami. That absolutely makes a difference. You're just going to have to hustle harder to get into the New York SERP without the benefit of having local signals due to the business location.

Great explanation.  Thank you for further clarification!

Hey Tom, Thanks for tipping us off on this post.  We'll take a look at it!

Use Open Site Explorer on your research tools, find the competitors that are ranking at the top and see the types of links they have. Remember to use branded terms as well as the odd anchor text though!

Im not positive, but ill always default to what is best (or less clicks) for the user and visible to google. This may help you make the embed responsive. I tested this and I still can't really interact with it successfully on my phone. http://niklausgerber.com/blog/responsive-google-or-bing-maps/ Here is what I know. The embedded map is very useful to me on a desktop. A link to google maps is more useful to me on mobile. Although it is not the elegant solution we would prefer, I believe it'd be optimal to deliver the embedded version to desktop users and the best responsive, useful-to-a-user version to mobile.

Interesting, I like this. I see how this could be beneficial because the content would be similar just changes gears a bit. I'm interested in if this would be better for my overall domain authority or having just one link on each site (home page more likely then not) in the footer with different anchor text and title tags to our home page.

If you already have the 4 sites running on different domains, each has different content, and you linking sparingly and appropriately between the domains, I'd call it a toss up as to whether it's better to keep them separate or bring them together.  Have you looked into buddypress for managing the separate domains within a single CMS?  I think it can handle that.

Sweet, thanks for the reply!

Honestly, I would spend the time on off-page factors as I do not believe these tags are weighed that heavily anymore. As long as the kw string on these pages seems natural and not "overdone" you should be fine.

Hi, First of all you need to assess your link profile and if you do have a large amount of spammy and over optimized anchor text links then you are a candidate for Penguin. If not, you need to look elsewhere. You first need to check your Google Analytics (organic traffic) and a organic visibility graph for your site ("general ranking graphic" using a tool like sistrix or search metrics). if you don't have access to sistrix or search metrics or any other visibility tool just post the url he rte and me or someone else will run the url for you. In google analytics and in any of the visibility tools you need to look for a sudden drop in and short after the bellow dates (when Penguin was released): October 5, 2012 May 25, 2012 April 24, 2012 If you have a spammy link profile and your organic traffic dropped and is corelated with loss of rankings in the same day then chances are high that you are under this Penguin filter. Hope it helps. Cheers.

I actually don't think it is alright to use Authorship or Publisher on every page and this is not what Google intends, check out their blog on this: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/relauthor-frequently-asked-advanced.html Specifically they say "Authorship annotation is useful to searchers because it signals that a page conveys a real person’s perspective or analysis on a topic. Since property listings and product pages are less perspective/analysis oriented, we discourage using authorship in these cases. However, an article about products that provides helpful commentary, such as, “Camera X vs. Camera Y: Faceoff in the Arizona Desert” could have authorship." So while at this time using Authorship on non-article, product pages is 'unlikely' to get you Google slapped, you are going against their direct advice - which often then gets put into the algorithm when they notice something being abused. You are right many sites are using this on every page, and it will as of now give you an advantage, even in not in higher rankings then in a more visible results listing which may have a improved CTR. However, as I said once Google see this is being abused they will attempt to stop the practice and make sure it is used for rich content pages only. Publisher is different in that they want it to be from ideally the homepage to the Business G+ page, they are both different things and Google treats them as separate. Hope this helps - basically, if what you are doing on your site doesn't benefit your site user, then you are right to question it.

I would not use robots.txt to disallow, as then every link pointing to your search page will leak its link juice. Duplicate content is not a problem unless you have a lot of it so that your site looks like it is a majority fo duplicate content. have one page that has small parts from other pages is not a problem. The think with duplicate content is that only one page will get credit, it is not a penalty unless the vast majority fo pages are duplicate

I think that is a wise choice. If you later decide to add that type of social sharing to your site, I have had good experiences with AddThis.