Found Bunch of Duplicate Google My Business Pages

[Dustybones]

I have been working on cleaning up duplicate listings in my dashboard. I decided to search G+ to see what popped up and found all these extra listings. They aren't in our G+ dashboard and client says they never created these either, so how can I get rid of them?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Dusty,

Looks like you stumbled on an issue I discovered last week.

You know how when you get a new client and log into dash you'll sometimes see one or more listings that are pending action, sitting waiting for some old pin that they never entered? OR they will have several dupes they suspended?

Well guess what? Now that we are in the world of G+ with everything tied together,
all those listings - unverified in dash and even suspended.... create G+ pages.
YEP even if suspended OR unverified in dash.

Last week I searched G+ (People and Pages) for a Dentist I worked with a long time ago and found like 7 G+ pages. I thought I remembered him having some unverified and suspended listings in dash. Think way back when there were only a couple and I said if not verified, don't worry, just leave them. Well he's had massive dupe problems and had a habit of claiming the dupes and suspending to try to get rid of them.

When doing consulting I have seen MANY dashboards with like 8 dead listings in there, some unverified and some suspended. But didn't think it was a big deal. If not verified or suspended, assumed they just did not exist.

Well they do. They exist as G+ pages I guess. I'm calling them REMNANT G+ pages - as in just left over scraps of data, that don't really do anyone any good.

I reported to Google and we discussed, but they didn't think it was a big deal because those pages are not very discoverable, unless someone searches by name in G+ (under people and pages.)

OK so all those extra dupe G+ pages won't hurt ranking because they are just G+ pages so they don't rank.

And aren't a Places violation because they are either not verified or are suspended, so are not active in dash.

However IF a customer searched for them in G+ because they wanted to follow them and IF they picked the wrong page your client could have followers scattered on different G+ pages and there is no way to merge pages or move followers.

So if you like to keep things tidy and organized might want to clean old dead listings out of dash.

IDEA - Search for the business name in G+ and then select "People and Pages". This could possibly also help alert you to other dashboards or could be helpful in hidden merged dupe discovery. Because if the dash they gave you log in to only has one listing, the listing you are managing, but G+ shows 4 then you know there are other listings in other dashboards somewhere. BUT warning when you research those G+ dupe pages you need to know how to tell what type of page it is - personal profile, brand, local unverified or local merged with Places, etc.

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OK so above is some general info and my thoughts and observations. Now back to your client above...

If you've cleaned up the dash you manage and there is only one listing in there. No unverified or suspended listings, then I suspect the client has another dash with all those listings sitting in it. Or possibly a previous SEO?

But 3 are verified? Do they have multiple locations? Ya I just checked that looks like the case.

If you can find suspended or unverified listings in dash, want to delete them and see if the G+ pages go away?

Either way these aren't a huge deal and likely won't cause problems. But I'm seeing more and more folks at the G forum saying I found this G+ page I never created and it's not in my G+ dashboard so how do I get rid of it? Was starting to wonder what was causing the issue.

So now you know, if this ever happens to you, it's likely an unverified or suspended Place page listing that left a remnant G+ page.

 

[Scott Rawlins]

Great name Linda...remnant. That's exactly what they are, left over pages.

Matter of fact, next time I ask my wife what's for dinner, I'll say, "remnants, again"?

 

[RMSNJ]

We have the same problem for a few of our accounts. Is it safe to assume that deleting them may be the best course of action?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Yes that's what I would do.

 

[RMSNJ]

Sorry for the dumb questions here Linda, but for some clients, they are not verified listings. So my questions are

1. If we delete the non verified listings that are in the clients dashboard, will Google actually delete them or just remove us from controlling it.

2. For verified listings that was claimed before we showed up, by deleting it, my guess is that they will basically be removed?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Oh dear, good questions. Totally depends and every single one could be a different scenario and I don't know what type of mess you have to deal with so I'll cover a few common scenarios.

Sorry for the dumb questions here Linda, but for some clients, they are not verified listings. So my questions are

1. If we delete the non verified listings that are in the clients dashboard, will Google actually delete them or just remove us from controlling it.

If they are non verified in dash, you aren't controlling them now anyway, they are just sitting there taking up space.

2. For verified listings that was claimed before we showed up, by deleting it, my guess is that they will basically be removed?

Nope but again there are a bunch of different scenarios.

1) Having more than 1 claimed listing per location is a violation and can cause all kinds of problems, especially now with upgrades to new dash and +. So if dupe listings are claimed really need to delete from account. That won't delete the live dupe so you still need to report it or call support to get rid of it.

2) If a listing is verified and it's a dupe that just has slightly different NAP, chances are that it's merged. (You can tell by looking at stats.)

If you delete from account that does not delete from maps. If it's merged, and NAP is slightly different then when you release from dash it will sometimes become unmerged and show as a live dupe again, then you need to deal with it like all dupes and report it or call support.

There are lots of other scenarios too so kinds depends on the situation.

 

[jonkeel]

Hello - we've found that MOST of the 200+ accounts we manage now have a newly created (by Google) page added to them. In some cases they also have newly created listings.

Problem is, they've marked our GOOD pages as the dupes and are wanting us to delete them and start using the newly created. When talking to Google, the only way to keep the old (good) page is to re-verify (which then drops it off the map until verification). Obviously we don't want to delete the old pages, as there is content on them and managers and we've published the links (and the connected YouTube channel links) many places.

Am I missing something? Is there a better way to handle these?

 

[Dustybones]

Thanks Linda. Sorry. Got caught up in the rest of the forum. Its like a rabbit hole. Funny thing...Actually got a call from a client this week complaining that all these pages were showing up in G+. Orthodontists are picky creatures and we try and keep the G+ landscape clean. We are having to deal with these now. Appreciate your input as usual.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hello - we've found that MOST of the 200+ accounts we manage now have a newly created (by Google) page added to them. In some cases they also have newly created listings.

Problem is, they've marked our GOOD pages as the dupes and are wanting us to delete them and start using the newly created. When talking to Google, the only way to keep the old (good) page is to re-verify (which then drops it off the map until verification). Obviously we don't want to delete the old pages, as there is content on them and managers and we've published the links (and the connected YouTube channel links) many places.

Am I missing something? Is there a better way to handle these?

Unfortunately Jon that's a problem.

That's why I've been telling folks for over a year not to manually create a G+ page and merge it. Google has said that as well.

Of course the problem was that way back when, when they announced there was a new option to create a page and merge it most did not read the subtle signs Google gives saying it was not a good idea.

No one realized back then that Google would be upgrading all existing Place pages to G+ and it would create duplicates.

Now I believe you can still keep the G+ page you created. BUT it won't rank or show up on maps. But if you wanted to keep using as a separate social page you could. Its just the dupe Place page that needs to be deleted.

But that's still not ideal. Then you'd have one page that was a combo and ranked and the other for social. Ideally you want it all together on one page.

And if you do the switch like you said and verify the other and delete the existing Place page I think you are going to suffer a rank drop and could possibly not rank at all for 6 weeks. You'd essentially be starting over with a brand new Place page and a new CID.

So if was was me, in most cases, I would keep the mature Place page ESPECIALLY if it had reviews and was ranking. Then post on the old + page saying you are moving all your social efforts over to your new G+ page and just do everything you can to transfer the social to the upgraded Place page. I think you have less to lose that way, esp since most SMBs don't have that many in their circles.