GMB Places listings for *Recruiting* offices, not customer-facing offices?

[Tim Colling]

One of my clients has opened an office that is used only for recruiting purposes, not for meeting with current or prospective customers. Should we / could we create a GMB listing for that office?

Google states that in order for the location to be eligible, "In order to qualify for a Google My Business listing, a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours."

So is it just plain open-and-shut that the recruiting office does not qualify for a GMB listing?

Thanks!

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Hi Tim, can you tell us some more detail about the recruiting business? What is the nature of the business?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks for asking Colan. I was wondering too.

Recruiting as in for jobs?

Staffed full time for walk in applicants?

Sounds like maybe there is another office? What kind? How far away?

 

[Tim Colling]

Sorry to be so cryptic. Here's more info.

This client provides home care services throughout Los Angeles County, Orange County and San Diego County, with employees who work as caregivers. The client has five offices that operate as full-fledged operational offices where they meet and hire prospective new caregivers and also meet with elderly customers or the families of elderly customers, usually at the beginning of providing service.

They have opened another office in another nearby county but its only purpose is to be a place where they meet and hire prospective new caregivers. Recruiting sufficient numbers of caregivers is a big challenge in the home care industry. They may later offer home care services in that new county, but they don't do so right now.

Does that help?

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Hi Tim,

Thank you for the detailed description. Based on it, this doesn't seem like a situation that would qualify. Mainly because of the guideline that you cited. They are not making in-person contact with customers.

 

[Tim Colling]

Thanks, Colan. It's too bad, in a way, that Google doesn't provide a way to list such job-creation locations in a useful manner.

 

[Linda Buquet]

They are not making in-person contact with customers.

My feeling is that in some cases the word customers could be substituted for "people" or "people you serve" and would still be allowed. For instance a police dept does not have "customers", yet they are allowed on maps. And there are many other examples of businesses that don't have customers per se, but yet are meeting/serving/ their local residents in person and are allowed on maps.

In this case Tim's client IS seeing "people" face to face. People looking for jobs, which his client is interviewing (serving) via face-to-face contact. I believe other employment agencies are allowed on maps too?

Now that is if everything else lines up and there is nothing that would make it questionable on some other level. I.E staffed during business hours listed, not just a Regus office, not mainly online or by appointment only.

Those are my thoughts anyway. But sometimes it's up to interpretation and Google would disagree with what any one of us guesses to be logical. But I feel like care-givers, looking for jobs and walking into the office for interviews would quality.

Thoughts???

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Good points Linda, and I agree. Another option is to add the feature through GMaps or MapMaker. In that case they don't fall under the exact same guidelines as GMB. That way you still have a POI on the map so that potential recruits can find the place.

 

[JoshuaMackens]

I would say it qualifies. You need for recruiters to make it there via Google Maps, correct? If you add it as a POI on GMaps or MapMaker it's going to end up as a GMB page anyway, correct?

 

[Colan Nielsen]

I would say it qualifies. You need for recruiters to make it there via Google Maps, correct? If you add it as a POI on GMaps or MapMaker it's going to end up as a GMB page anyway, correct?

Hey Joshua, if a page isn't owner verified, than technically it doesn't fall under the GMB umbrella. At least that is how I understand it. GMB is really just the back-end interface that allows owners to have greater control over and interact with their business listings.

I think this is a debatable issue, however.

 

[JoshuaMackens]

Hey Joshua, if a page isn't owner verified, than technically it doesn't fall under the GMB umbrella. At least that is how I understand it. GMB is really just the back-end interface that allows owners to have greater control over and interact with their business listings.

I think this is a debatable issue, however.

Yeah, I meant the public interfacing page on Google search. I call it the GMB page. What is everyone else calling it?

Also, just to clarify, if it's on Google Maps it's making it onto Google Search with a Knowledge Card (what I call the GMB page) and also into the Local Finder, correct?

 

[Colan Nielsen]

I generally refer to the live page as a GMB page, or Google Local page. My point is that Map Maker and non-ownerverified pages have different regulations compared to GMB.

A good example of this is when you see a page get suspended in the GMB dashboard, but really all that did is remove the page from the dashboard and now it lives as an unverified page, still connected to GMaps. Why? Because the business owner (GMB) violated a GMB guideline, but the page still gets to exist live, but not connected to GMB.