Entering city name in GMB listing name

[liorenda]

Hi there,

After reviewing the GMB name guidelines, I'm still not sure whether it's valid to insert city name in the GMB business name.
On the one hand, it says not to use city or neighborhood name. On the other hand, according to the guidelines, it's ok to write "Holiday Inn Salem" or “Equinox SOHO”, as long as it's a "recognized real-world representation" (what does it really mean?).
Some of the competitors in the business I'm promoting do use the city name in their GMB name, and they don't seem to get penalized for that.
What are your thoughts? Does inserting city name even help in local search? After all, Google knows where my business is located, even if I'm not stating it in the name.

Thanks,
Lior

 

[diptimayee]

It's not advisable to add city name in GMB business name as per Google guidelines. But practically many businesses are using city name in GMB & getting good rank.

I don't think they are getting more positive rank only due to the city name in their GMB business but they must have well optimized on-site contents & better data in GMB which Google must be taking positively than their competitors.

So I wouldn't suggest to add city name or neighborhood in the GMB business name.

 

[JoyHawkins]

It is against the guidelines unless your signs, business cards etc include the city name. That being said, Google is horrible at enforcing this policy.

 

[Tim Colling]

^The upshot of all this is that (1) it's something that Google frowns upon, and (2) you may get away with it... until you don't.

 

[Phil Rozek]

@liorenda, I would suggest not adding the city name. It probably will help your rankings (it pains me to say) in the short-term, but your competitors can and probably will follow suit. Also, it's extremely easy for a Mapspam-cleaner-upper like me to get the city name removed instantly.

Easy come, easy go.

 

[OneBlessedDude]

Most of the "cool kids" are definitely doing it.
Odly I tried for a year to take some down even with other top contributors and got no where. But ever since this new update about 50% of suggested edits are going live instantly. So im thinking there was some update to fight spam recently too.

This has me a thunkin!
So it has so much weight it out weighs the benefit of having perfect matching citations?

In other words most every one I've ever checked has no city name in citation but it does in GMB and they are ranking well.