Google Local: Multiple Businesses, Same Address

[chrisauman]

We have a grocery store client that essentially has multiple businesses at the same location.

They're obviously a grocery store but they also have a Pharmacy, Bakery, Bank, etc.

Each would have unique name, phone number, category, etc. but the same address/same building.

I'd like to see if I can get a consensus on how I should handle this.

Ultimately I want someone to type in "Pharmacy+City Name" and get a unique/optimized listing for the Pharmacy with a unique phone number to call, etc.

I don't want this lumped in with the grocery store listing.

Appreciate your thoughts. Thanks in advance!

Chris

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Chris, sorry for the delay.

Ones like this are super tough. This one is a little borderline to me and could 'possibly' fit into Google's department guidelines:

"Departments within businesses, universities, hospitals, and government buildings may be listed separately. These departments must be publicly distinct as entities or groups within their parent organization, and ideally will have separate phone numbers and/or customer entrances."

But I really think that's more for universities and hospitals. And in this case it's all one door - then everything is inside.

Most grocery stores have a Pharmacy and a Bakery. But they are part of the store. I don't think every Vons, Safeway and Albertsons has separate listings for those departments.

Thinking like Google and expanding this out. If departments within stores were allowed, every Costco, Target and Walmart could have like 20 listings each. Multiply by 40 big department stores all doing that in a large metro and it would be a mess.

Hmmm but in searching maps I DID find some Pharmacy listings set up as container stores.

See old post from Vanessa here about container stores: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/business/Oaa7o1lpYF4 But again that's old and the help doc she linked to is no longer valid. But that content is still in the bulk directions: https://support.google.com/business/answer/3370250?rd=1

BANK - Many grocery stores have a bank branch inside too - BUT it's not THEIR bank it's a B of A or Wells branch - so they should not create a listing for that one. The bank could create it themselves and list as a container store inside the grocery store.

So those are my thoughts, but I admit I've never looked at a situation like this and I'm not sure where Google draws the line on container stores. My guess is the pharmacy MAY qualify but I don't think the bakery would.

If you just did one listing, you could list as many of the categories as applicable and also mention or link to a couple of the main departments in the description.

 

[Lloyd Silver]

If I could slightly hijack the thread, since it's related to at least the title:

I'm looking into a CPA firm that in addition to traditional CPA types of services also provides payroll & human resource management.

Same address, different legal entity, different phone number, different website.

Think I can get away with a second listing?

Obviously the services provided are in the same overall genre but not all CPA firms offer these types of services (however, some do).

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Lloyd,

To me that's so gray. Especially when you are talking services.

At what point does Google draw the line and say, that's a category, not a department or separate business?

And this part of the guidelines could apply, but not sure:

"A practitioner should not have multiple pages to cover all of his or her specializations."

I know lots of attorneys for instance violate that guideline. They'll have a different name, site and phone for the Tax Law part of the practice - but they get in trouble because Google does not see it as a separate business.

 

[Lloyd Silver]

Yeah, I agree. But if you have employees solely dedicated to one business, that creates completely different training and qualifications than the other, I think it allows you to at least make a reasonable argument.

But at the end of the day, I'm not seeing payroll, HR, etc. popping up in the local pack. So I might just recommend a Google+ brand page and not even attempt to get it verified local.

And to make things worse, they are currently using Yodle so the CPA side of the business is completely a mess. And yes, I think there is cause and effect to what I just said.

 

[chrisauman]

Thanks for the time and thoughts Linda. So here are a couple observations and one more question to stir the pot...

There are a couple grocery store competitors and they're receiving local pack listings.

They're also clearly labeled as a pharmacy even though they're a grocery store - as in this example here: https://plus.google.com/102695749044818588164/about?hl=en

Also, it looks like these listings were not actually created by the company but auto-generated by Google with the ability to claim.

So here's where I'm at on this. I'm going to go for it and try to get separate listings for the Pharmacies unless someone can persuade me otherwise.

So my question is, if I can find Google generated listings like this for my client, should I try and claim the listings or should I just start from scratch and create new listings from the ground up like this I would with any other business?

Thoughts?

 

[Linda Buquet]

So here's where I'm at on this. I'm going to go for it and try to get separate listings for the Pharmacies unless someone can persuade me otherwise.

So my question is, if I can find Google generated listings like this for my client, should I try and claim the listings or should I just start from scratch and create new listings from the ground up like this I would with any other business?

Yes I'd do one for the pharmacy.

But NO don't create from scratch if there is already one out there.

Never do that. Always search and claim an existing listing if there is one.

1) If Google created it, it's already established and has some maturity. Age of listing is a minor ranking factor I believe.

2) If she scraped it - it has some credibility already.

3) If you create a new one then you'll have that dupe to try to clean up.

 

[chrisauman]

Thanks Linda. I think I already knew that but forgot since most of our clients are starting from scratch with local. It's odd to already have an unclaimed listing floating out there.

GREAT advice. Thank you!

Chris

 

[Lloyd Silver]

I've seen in the Google Business forum another top contributor basically state that if there are two legally distinct companies at the same address that they are entitled to two pages. My understanding is that the key issue would be whether they are a distinct standalone business, not legally separate.

So two companies owned and operated by the same people, but setup separately for a reason such as licensing or branding, would be treated as a single business.

That's not to say a business with a different name wouldn't be able to get past the initial filters.

What are your thoughts on that? I know it's a little grey.