Dash Etiquette!

[david.victor]

Curious about "dash etiquette" on GMB.

At the moment, I only use the name of my business. But as we know, the name has a lot to do with 3-Pack Love.

Some of my competitors are doing the following:

"Glib Glob Digital Marketing - SEO & Website Design in Charlotte"

As if to say "Oh yeah, we all know that the dash means it's not my real name."

Is that okay to do? If so I'll be changing my "dash name" ASAP.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[JoyHawkins]

David,

Technically, no, it's not okay. Google is terrible at enforcing this though so lots of people do it.

 

[david.victor]

Okay, I suspected that, but I see it even being promoted by certain marketers out there. Thank you, Joy.

Google could easily curb this naughtiness if they would stop placing so much prominence on something as banal as the name of the business.

 

[Cherie Dickey]

I see it even being promoted by certain marketers out there.

Grey hat, black hat, white hat... yeah. There are some marketers that will do whatever as long as it works, and hope they don't get caught. I tend to stay as white hat as possible though because penalties are not fun to deal with. They are also not fun to explain to clients.

But like Joy said, Google is terrible at enforcing this one, so it's up to you.

Something you could do that's completely white hat is to suggest an edit to those business names every time you see it. That should at least temporarily change the names to what they should be, without the KW stuffing. Depending on how often the listings are maintained, that could stick for a while.

 

[david.victor]

Good idea! Thank you, Cherie!

When I suggest an edit, I should do that from -- a different Google account, yes? Do you have any guidelines as to good "suggesting an edit" or spam-fighting, account etiquette?

The only time I tried it, I immediately hit that weird, old-skool Google 400 error page!

 

[Cherie Dickey]

Hey David,

I just use my own Google account. Sometimes, I'll also suggest from the Google account we have set up for the client as well. If it's really being a bugger, I'll ask my team to also suggest the edit.

But yeah, your normal account should be fine. Just make sure you're suggesting the correct business name as its shown on the website. The error could have been Google having fits that day.

Edited to add: It can take some time for Google to accept the edits, if they do at all. Some types of edits are more of a pain than others, and some the suggest feature is useless for. So this isn't foolproof. But in the case of business names, it's definitely worth a try. Same for spam listings.

 

[david.victor]

Appreciate the additional deets. Thanks again, Cherie!