Email Address to use for G+ Local

[Chris McCreery]

Just wondering what is the best practice for which email address to use when claiming a Local listing or creating a new one?

Thank you

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Hi Chris,

If possible, I would always try to claim a Google Places listing with an e-mail that is associated with the business that is to be claimed.

Every opportunity to try and add to the trust that Google gives the listing, the better.

Another best practice would be to claim listings into their own individual accounts whenever possible. This practice will help to avoid a situation where an account gets suspended because of one listing which in turn affects every other listing in that account.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Chris,

Colan is exactly right. Google does not put everything in the guidelines, so when she even hints at something best to try to comply.

Guidelines say: If possible, use an email account under your business domain. For example, if your business website is Google, a matching email address would be you@google.com.

If you can't, you can't. Just realize that what spammers do is just create a bunch of quick and easy Gmail accounts. Plus if there is ever a question about hijacking or whether the listing is really legit as Colan said, have a domain email helps increase trust.

 

[Chris McCreery]

Thanks so much.

Just wondering if either of you have seen increased rankings for business domains that are Google Apps subscribers? or perhaps email addresses that contain specific keywords (keywordphrase@domain.com)

 

[David Deering]

Nah, that won't make a difference, Chris. I'd actually recommend not doing that, as it will look very spammy and unnatural to people who visit your listing. It would look more professional to just use an email associated with your domain as Colan and Linda mentioned and just use your name or a typical business email address, such as chris@, info@, contact@, etc.

 

[Chris McCreery]

Thanks David and any thought about if rankings are increased if the business domain is actually a Google Apps domain?

 

[David Deering]

That won't make a difference. As Colan mentioned, it's best to use an email that's associated with the domain. Google won't care what email you use and they definitely won't bump you up in the rankings just because you used a Google-associated email address. So it's best to use an email created with your domain, such as chris@chriscompany.com. Perhaps this is just my personal opinion, but a business that uses a third-party email such as gmail or yahoo just does not look professional at all.

So basically, it doesn't matter if you use a gmail address or add a keyword or two to your email address. That won't help you rank any higher whatsoever. You're better off focusing on the many other things that will help you rank higher in local search.

 

[Chris McCreery]

Sorry David I don't think I'm being clear about this. I'm referring to domains that have actually registered for Google Apps service and therefore would use the Google servers for their mail delivery. google.com/a/

So for example I have a few clients that use Google Apps for their @companydomain.com email and was wondering since they would have to include their business name and contact details, billing for that service if that would add additional ranking to their listings?

Thanks

 

[David Deering]

Oh, I see. Sorry if I misunderstood what you were asking, Chris. But no, the email address used for the listing will not help it rank any higher. The main things to focus on with the listing are following Google's guidelines very carefully, making sure that you complete the listing in its entirety, and optimizing it.

 

[Chris McCreery]

Ok great, thank you very much David. I'll give it a go. Perhaps a bit unrelated but is it typically best to optimize your site prior to claiming your G+ Local page or is it an ongoing work in progress to fully optimize both for your regional rankings?

 

[David Deering]

Well ideally, you want to optimize the site while you're building the site if it's your own or as soon as you begin doing SEO work for a client. But even after creating a new Google+ Local page, it takes a few days to get the PIN and then several more days after verification before the listing goes live. So you could always use that time to optimize the site.

But if you have any more specific questions regarding optimizing a Local page or your site, I'd maybe suggest creating a new thread to keep the topics separate, if you know what I mean. There are a lot of great Local minds on this forum that can help you out.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks so much.

Just wondering if either of you have seen increased rankings for business domains that are Google Apps subscribers? or perhaps email addresses that contain specific keywords (keywordphrase@domain.com)

Be advised that right now, oddly enough Google Apps accounts can't verify Google+ (AKA merge Places with G+ Biz pages.) That's what the issue is with all these companies that are getting all the 403 errors.

So if any of these clients are going to want to merge (which many of us don't advise doing yet) just be advised.

Here is one of MANY posts about it. https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!searchin/business/apps/business/KTwe5sOcO5c/Y7i36NySfQYJ

Jade says they are working on it.

OK guys, here's the deal with 403 errors -- that's the error message when trying to verify a page that's managed with a Google Apps account. At this time, local Google+ pages cannot be verified using Google Apps accounts. If you?re looking to verify a local Google+ page for your business, we suggest using a personal Google+ account to be able to fully manage your page.

But the G+ 500 errors have been going strong since August and that issue is still not fixed.

 

[Keenan Glass]

I advise clients to create a new email address like places@yourdomain.com or something like that specifically for their local listing. And then create a yahoo email to be used as the recovery email.

That way they can share the login details with me and not be tempted to use it for Gmail, G+ and other personal stuff. They can add whatever email they want in the contact details.