1 Listing per Business Address

[JNFerree]

Hey Linda, I have a client in NYC that serves a bilingual audience, English & Spanish. In the good ole days (pre G+ Local) they had 2 Maps listings; one for their English clients and one for Spanish clients. During the Maps/G+ Local migration, their Spanish reviews are showing up on their English G+ Local listing. We've not yet created a 2nd G+ Local listing, since my research shows, Maps/Places TOS says they are permitted 1 business listing per business address? They have 2 web sites, 1 in English and 1 in Spanish with 2 different TLD's (top level domains) and 2 different phone numbers (but) only 1 business address.

English Free Case Evaluation Call : 212 944 9420 - Immigration Lawyers, New York, NY, NYC, Immigration Attorney, Manhattan
Spanish Nueva York: Abogados de Inmigracion - Abogados de Inmigracion

Is there some way I/we can create a separate G+ Local listing for each entity or is this a violation of the new G+ Local TOS and do we have to remain solo only?

Thanks

Neil

 

[Linda Buquet]

Is there some way I/we can create a separate G+ Local listing for each entity or is this a violation of the new G+ Local TOS and do we have to remain solo only?

Hi Neil,

Nope the rule is only one Place per business per location and it's not a new rule, it's been that way for a long time. Does not matter how many sites or phones or languages. It's per physical business location.

Interesting problem I had not though of. All I can think to do is link the Place page to whichever site is the primary language you are targeting. Then on that site home page or landing page, make it clear you also have a site in the other language. Then on Places description also indicate you have 2 sites, one for each language.

 

[JNFerree]

Thanks for the swift Reply Linda. I knew the 1 listing per 1 business address was going to be a hurdle.

I wonder though, since they have multiple suites in the 17th floor and a different phone # for each "division" would this scenario be "unique enough" to allow for a separate G+ Local listing or am I chasing my tail?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Chasing tail IMO. I mean there's a chance you'd get away with it, but if it were me, I wouldn't.

But a normal (in compliance) situation would be more like this. Let's say there were multiple Realtors all in same office. All legit separate individual businesses. Independent agents. In that case you'd try to do sep suite #s and phone #s. BUT not to side step the 1 listing per location rule but just to try to avoid having Google merge all the listings together.

 

[Nyagoslav]

In fact, having listings for the same business in multiple languages IS allowed. Here is an excerpt from the Google Places Help Center:

Multi-Language Listings
In bilingual countries, it is possible to add your listing in each language spoken in that respective country.

If content of each language is very similar in only one field, such as describing 'Most Famous Restaurant,' it's possible to add each translation in every field. For example, use the following most famous restaurant / restaurant le plus c?l?bre.

If the content needs to be translated in each field, business owners should create a listing for each language. To change the language in your Places account, use the dropdown menu in the upper righthand corner of the web page.

The problem is that these listings often merge (see here). That is most probably why your listings' reviews got mixed up. If I were you I was going to:

- Create two separate listings (if you already have them - great).
- Use the correct business name, address, and phone number for each of them (if the phone numbers differ for each - that would be great) - do NOT change the address, add different suite, etc.
- Use the correct categories in the correct language - make sure that NO category is repeated across listings, i.e. in your English listing you can have the category "immigration lawyer", but in the Spanish one you should have "abogado de inmigracion".
- Use different subpages, subdomains, or websites for each of the listings.

That's the best you could do in this situation, which of course, does not necessarily mean you are bullet-proof against mergers

Hope that was helpful.

Nyagoslav