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Hi,

A google plus local page could help for local rankings, especially when Google SERPS return a 'local 7-pack' of results.

In my experience I have not seen many Google SERPS with G+ Local listings showing in the results for web design / seo related queries.  However, I have seen Google show a G+ Local listing for one SEO company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin because they branded themselves as the "Milwaukee SEO Company" with a matching domain name, but this seems to be the exception.

When you say 'Google Plus Local page', I assume that you mean a Google Plus Business Page created in the 'local' category.

At this time you can only merge a G+ Local listing with at G+ Business page that was created in the 'local' category, however service area businesses (SABs) do not qualify for this merging at this time. Meaning, that if you are required to hide your address in your G+ Local/Google Places dashboard (if you only service customers at their location and/or customers do not come to your office), you most likely won't be able to verify your G+ Business page, so they wouldn't get merged either.

I would recommend using opensiteexplorer.org to find out what type of links the site has coming towards it (you might have already done this). Also, do you have access to the domain owner's Google Webmaster Tools account? perhaps you could poke around there first if they will allow you access.

Scott

According to Google's help files: http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=34648 your solution should be just fine.

Scott O.

One of the most important things to me was Raven's ability to do automated reporting as PDF files sent to my clients' inboxes on a monthly basis. That, combined with Traffic reports, etc was a cornerstone of our progress reporting.

I'm not considering abandoning Raven just yet. A lot of our internel processes are tied into Raven and their Content Manager and Link Manager, and other tools they have, but it does make it much more appetizing to go find other viable solutions that can help me manage my Internet Marketing client base.

This is an interesting scenario. Do you think they are doing this on purpose to get more exposure in the SERPs, or is it a matter of IYP (Internet Yellow Page) listing overload? Perhaps they don't know how cannibalized their NAP (Name/Address/Phone) listings are, or perhaps they are doing it on purpose to gain visibility.

In the long run, this will hurt them, because the search engines are always going through and confirming listings. If you think it is a real issue, you could try to report a listing as duplicate or "closed".

Let me know if that helps address any of your concerns.

Scott O.

What tool are you using to measure this? Does your server's webstats support this data? It is odd that there would be zero. Especially if you still rank in the search engines and if you are still getting referral and direct traffic.

Amelia

When you say: "Google is now looking for all those old Landlords pages under Smartloan." Do you mean in GWT you are seeing broken links reported?

After marking those URLs ask "fixed" in GWT, do they come back again as broken links a week or so later?

Are there any references to the smartloan site from the landlord site that are not supposed to be there?

Did you do a "Change of Address" in GWT or just request to block certain URLs? If you did a Change of Address, you might want to check to see if that is still in your GWT settings and remove it.

Otherwise, I imagine after a few weeks, the GWT will just clear up naturally by itself. It probably is not an issue to be concerned about.

Scott O.

I would recommend reporting this as you can.

Otherwise, there are other ways to get Google's attention (and the Map reviewing community) by using http://www.google.com/mapmaker

PM me if you need more info on that.

Scott O.

If you have control over your hosting, you normally can log in to the server's hosting control panel and see stats there. Are you currently using Google Analytics on your site? If so, you might want to check if the data is still going in to that profile and that your tracking script is still embedded on all pages of your website.

Scott O.

If you feel I have been helpful, please choose "Good Answer". Thanks!

You can safely mark them as "fixed" since there is no other website linking to those pages. They aren't actually broken links.

Don't worry about doing a 'change of address' now.

If you feel my answer is appropriate, please select "Good Answer".

Thanks.
Scott O.

As per the info you sent via PM... this has managed to be taken care of via GMM (google map maker) at least for now.

Some GMM pros marked the 'other' 2 listings as duplicate of the first, official listing.

I see that the editors/reviewers first changed the addresses of the offending POIs (point of interest) to match the original listing... and also added extra phone numbers into the original listing (to help show Google that it is all the same business.)

Search again... and you'll most likely find that the dealership only has one G+ Local Page appearing.

More info: https://plus.google.com/113059806113646417939/posts/eHbxfnMwWbL

If you like my answer... please mark this accordingly.

if you are using tagging (like in WordPress), I'd recommend blocking the tag pages from appearing in your sitemap and from being index by the search engines. It will just look like duplicate content.

Then, in your template, remove the link (or add a nofollow) from that tag that goes to the tag category view so that the keyword doesn't cannibalize your targeting away from the page you are trying to rank for that keyword.

This way, you can use tags as much as you want, and they will add text to your posts, but they won't mess with your indexing and won't create duplicate content issues.

Scott