Author | Chatmeter TeamDate Posted | December 21, 2018

Google Places Cleaning Up Listings for Local SEO

As Google moves business listings from their old dashboard to their new one, some conflicts have risen for business owners. Google no longer accommodates more than one authorized owner per business location. In the past, Google allowed multiple Google user accounts to claim a single business listing. One major reason was that both large retailers and agencies could do bulk updating and claiming for multiple locations.  They have changed their policy on this and now only a single user can own a location, so it’s cleanup time. Even small businesses with just a single location may get notified if some past Google user has claimed a duplicate listing of yours. The dashboard shows some businesses had listings that were claimed into more than one account or had been claimed in multiple ways. Google has been sending out emails to these businesses urging them to take action, otherwise some of their information will no longer be shown to Google users. “When people search for your business or a category your business is in, you won’t show up in the listings”…that is definitely not good news.

From what we have heard, Google’s emails to businesses have been confusing and most people don’t know what they should do. Mike Blumenthal from Understanding Google Places & Local Search wrote a very helpful article on what actions businesses need to take in response to Google’s email, but this situation just goes to show how messy and challenging listing clean up can be. For businesses with multiple locations, it can be very difficult to manage all of the duplicate listings you may have. It’s not just Google that you have to worry about either because some people use Bing, Yahoo or the myriad of other search engine options out there. This is where Chatmeter can help you manage your business’ online search presence.

One of the many services our platform provides is helping you see the accuracy of your business listings across the web. Having accurate business information for each of your listings is very important to your local SEO strategy because a discrepancy in the name, address, or phone number (NAP) will negatively impact your search rankings. You will be at a disadvantage if you have one listing on Google with your correct NAP, but wrong on Yahoo. Duplicate listings are also very problematic. Not only do they lower your search rankings, but when consumers search for you they won’t know which listing is the correct one and will move onto another option. Now with Google’s new rule about duplicate listings, consumers won’t even see your business. With Chatmeter’s dashboard, your business will be able to see all of the listings of your company, including duplicates. You will encounter inconsistent information from all your listings and can manage all of it one place. You’ll be able to go directly to the listing and edit the incorrect information or claim a listing.

You would think the NAP of your business is one of the easiest things to have down, but it can be the hardest to manage with the vast internet. In today’s world, people rely heavily on local search (especially on their mobile phones) so you can’t afford not to make sure people can easily find you as well as receive accurate information.

If you are an agency or large retail brand, please fill out this form to learn more about how Chatmeter can help you implement the best Local SEO solution.