Google place in pending status for past five months. Please help

[jerry]

I'm working with a client whose Google place dashboard has been pending for past five months. The address has been hidden in Google places dashboard, set the service area, did poking (all this was done five months back), sadly nothing worked.


The link to Google + Business & Local page:
https://plus.google.com/109688198353306790401/about
https://plus.google.com/118386947636552328099/about


I used troubleshooter and following is the mail which i got from Google+ local team on Jan 19.

Hello,

Thanks for getting in touch with us about your listing not displaying on Google Maps.

We have identified the cause of your listing not showing and we have queued your listing up for review.

We don't have a concrete timeline which we can give for this. We are working with our Engineering teams to establish a pathway to revive your listing. Your submission helps us keep track of this problem and we will be reviewing your listing. I'll also be following up with you once your listing is reviewed.

Thanks for your understanding and patience. If you need any additional support, feel free to contact us again.

Regards,
Gus
The Google+ Local Team

I asked the same question in Google Forum. Could someone please look into this and advice. Any assistance to resolve this issue is really appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Hi Jerry,

Thanks for the great screenshots. I think the advice that you received on the Google Forum is really all that can be offered. However, I think racebum's suggestion from his own experience in this thread might be worth exploring:

http://localsearchforum.catalystema...e-business-got-deleted-places-heres-what.html

I think the call feature for support as explained in that post might be worth exploring.

Question, you said, "The link to Google + Business & Local page:
https://plus.google.com/109688198353306790401/about
https://plus.google.com/118386947636552328099/about"


If I'm not mistaken, those are both G+ business pages. Neither looks like a G+ Local page.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Jerry,

I'm tied up after fatal PC crash trying to get 2 new systems set up to get back in biz by Monday so can't review this right now. But wanted to share this post with you as well, in case it offers any other clues.

http://localsearchforum.catalystema...t/2302-places-stuck-months-pending-state.html

 

[jerry]

Thanks Linda, Colan.

If I'm not mistaken, those are both G+ business pages. Neither looks like a G+ Local page

Yes, spot on Colan. Both are business page created in two separate categories - local business/place category & organization/company by their previous SEO firm. I assume keeping both page doesn't violate any Google guideline, correct me if i'm wrong.

About the call support feature, i'll inform my clients. I don't want to mess Google place listing any further by deleting/starting new account.

Thanks again for all your support.

 

[David Deering]

Jerry, I noticed that the address is not hidden on the Local page. You also might want to consider rewriting the website's title and description tags, as right now Google might view them as a little "spammy" because of the frequent use of the word "roofing" in both.

 

[jerry]

Yes, it' not hidden because Local G+page wont allow me remove/delete/save address because field validation says "You Can't Leave This Empty". Also it says "Your edits won't show up in our local listings unless you verify that you are the business owner" and as a SAB, i should not verify Local G+ page: correct me if i'm wrong.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Correct, you can't verify. Not only should you not due to Place page with address hidden. But even aside from that can't merge if the Places listing has problems, which this one does.

That messaging is just wrong in G+ or it's buggy. I've reported to Google a couple times and written a couple posts about it. More info here: Google Plus Business Page - Being FORCED to Verify??

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hey Jerry, David above kindly sent me a PM wondering if there was confusion in this thread and possibly I was reading something wrong. I admit I could have because I've been crazed not only with the crash and recovery but death of my favorite cat. So I've been pretty distracted.

On top of that it's so complicated to try to help people and ensure we are on the same page because of different types of pages with similar names and different types of verification. So let me try to clearly summarize and then please confirm I've got it right.

I see 2 G+ pages for you. This one is a G+ business page, set up in the local category.
https://plus.google.com/109688198353306790401/about

But I don't believe your G+ Local page is live. (The one that used to be called a Place page, the one in your Places dash that should be in the SERPs or a map search.)

David said your address should NOT be showing but you cannot edit for the reasons you stated.

Well that's a G+ business page - all by itself - not merged. Does not rank in the SERPS and is not attached to the Places dash so THEREFORE I do not believe G+ has that same rule about hiding address. That rule is only on the Place side of the house.

So as long as you do not verify the G+ business page - which would merge it with the Place page then I believe you can keep the G+ business page that's local just as it is. A separate social page.

So then we are back to my post above, explaining that G trying to force you to verify is USUALLY just bad messaging. If you read the post I linked to most can go ahead and edit their page. That messaging does not mean you CAN'T edit. It's just letting you know your edits won't show up in the SERPs or map search UNLESS you do verify. BUT some have on top of that had a technical glitch where they could not edit. BUT if you are just trying to edit to hide address I don't believe you CAN on a G+ page and I don't believe you NEED TO either.

So here's where we are at. Your Place page is missing because it's pending.
Your 2 G+ pages should be fine.

The advice you got at the G forum unfortunately is the correct advice and the only thing you can do for the missing/pending Place page. No one can fix or revive it but Google and since you've already gone through all the appropriate steps to get help and HAVE been in contact with them. There is nothing you can do but wait.

If it were me, I would reply to that email once a month to ask for a status update. But I personally would not do it more than that because I think they get frustrated with some of these business owners that are constantly emailing them, like daily. And I don't think bugging them excessively helps your chance of recovery.

Please confirm that all makes sense and I'm on the right track or explain if it seems I'm missing something or jumped to a wrong conclusion somewhere.

 

[jerry]

Linda, everything you mentioned is correct.

Place page (pending review) (not live for past five months)
Have two G+ business page (not verified)
https://plus.google.com/109688198353306790401/ (local category)
https://plus.google.com/118386947636552328099/ (organization category)

Two G+ business page is confusing, particularly the one with local category (address visible).
Is there any rule that SAB should not create G+ business page with local category?
What will happen once the pending place page is live, will they create G+ business page(local category)?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks for confirming. I was pretty sure I was on the right track.

"Is there any rule that SAB should not create G+ business page with local category?"

Not that I know of AS LONG AS YOU DON'T VERIFY IT - which would cause it to merge with the Place page IF the place page was live. Then it would be a problem. Leaving it separate should not be.

If they were not using it for social and had no posts or circles, I'd suggest getting rid of it just to be on safe side. But again the rule for hiding address is on the Place page side of the house. So if don't the 2 pages don't merge, it should be OK.

"What will happen once the pending place page is live, will they create G+ business page(local category)?"

If what SHOULD happen, happens - then the old Place page AKA G+ Local page will just show up live and be separate. Then they will have 2 local pages the G+ L page that shows up in search with reviews and the G+ biz page as is, that has the social features. As long as you don't VERIFY the G+ biz page then they should remain as separate pages and you should be good.

So the only thing now is just waiting for Place page reinstatement by Google. Follow up with support a month after the last follow up. And if you want/need to, send client here so they know you've done everything you can and Google is just really problematic for service area businesses.

 

[David Deering]

Hey Jerry, David above kindly sent me a PM wondering if there was confusion in this thread and possibly I was reading something wrong. I admit I could have because I've been crazed not only with the crash and recovery but death of my favorite cat. So I've been pretty distracted.

David said your address should NOT be showing but you cannot edit for the reasons you stated.

Well that's a G+ business page - all by itself - not merged. Does not rank in the SERPS and is not attached to the Places dash so THEREFORE I do not believe G+ has that same rule about hiding address. That rule is only on the Place side of the house.

Yep, totally my mistake, Jerry. I quickly looked at the page and had in mind that it was a Local page, since the other was a Business page. Should have noticed the "follow" button at the top. So my comment was in regards to a Local page, not a Business page. My apologies to you and to Linda. Sorry if I confused you on this.

 

[Linda Buquet]

No worries at all David and I appreciate you caring enough to question me.
In my current state of mind I could have easily been off in left field.

 

[jerry]

No prob David.

To err is human, to forgive divine : so they say

Even i'm going to participate/help others and learn from my mistakes.

 

[MiriamEllis]

Just want to say, Linda, you brought such insight here. You're the tops!

 

[jerry]

After six months in pending review status (only Google knows the reason) finally, the clients listing is live now I want to thank all of you for your support.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Awesome! Thanks for letting us know Jerry!

 

[jerry]

Linda, just read your tips in this thread I just noticed our clients listing is in middle of forest. The distance from one location in Google Dashboard is set to "Jacksonville, FL 32217, and locations within 50 miles". Should i set it to just Jacksonville, FL and locations within 25 miles so that it's displayed in the middle of Jacksonville or just leave as it is? Any suggestions?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Yes but 1st... I'm going to use this listing as a case study and example for that thread or a new one to show what happens.

Here is link to the map view I used. If you Map search "Jacksonville, FL 32217" you'll see it lands in the exact same spot as your listing. CENTER of that zip.

BRC High Tech Roof Division Inc Jacksonville, Florida - Google Maps

I made a screen shot so I can show a before and after once you change the setting and remove zip.

​

Let me know after you change it so I can show the after when your client's map marker pops right into the center of town.

 

[jerry]

Just made the edit, set distance from one location to "Jacksonville, FL, and locations within 20 miles". Marker is at the center (away from business location), I hope it doesn't violate any guidelines

 

[jerry]

Here is the screenshot of the edit