Google Places - how best to target business area?

[lyndanicholson]

Hi - something of a novice here, so please forgive my ignorance!

My company has 3 GP listings - none of which I can get up to give you a url as Google keeps saying that they 'don't support this location' - what does that mean?!

I've inherited these 3 listings - we cover a large area and have 3 physical locations within it. They all seem to be GP listings but not G+.

I suspect I am going to have to start over, so my question is:
How do I best target the whole geographical area with the 3 physical locations. Should I have 1 listing? Or 3?
How do I convert the GP listings into G+, if I should be doing that?
Then how do I get ranked well for the entire area, not just the places close to our stores?

Thanks so much in advance for any help,

Lynda

 

[Flash]

What do you mean by three locations? Three storefronts? Or something else? We'll need more information in order to properly advise you.

 

[Broland]

The unsupported location message could be that they are deleted or just an error. See if you can find them by searching the address or phone number in google/maps and also check for them in Google Map Maker.

Also as stated some more info would help such as, what are the locations - Is each a legit storefront or place of business?

Does each listing have a unique phone number Are the titles of the listings the actual business name or do they contain keywords or locations?

Does the business only service customers at the customers location?

Do you have control of these listings via Google Places backend?

 

[lyndanicholson]

Hi - thanks for all the questions. Yes, there are 3 storefronts, at 3 different addresses, but with the same phone number, as it's a central call center so that we can take calls 24/7.

We go to the clients location, hence our ability to cover a specified territory.

I do have access to the backend of the 3 GP listings.

Lynda

---------- Post Merged at 09:02 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 09:00 PM ----------

Oh, and the titles of the listings are just the business name, so they all 3 have the same title at the moment.

Thanks

 

[Flash]

Hmmm... that eliminates the most common reasons for that message. Sharing a name and phone number will create issues, but shouldn't create this issue.

You say you cannot provide the URLs do to the "Do not support"; can you please then provide the business name and the 3 addresses so we can investigate deeper?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi - thanks for all the questions. Yes, there are 3 storefronts, at 3 different addresses

Yes they aren't considered "storefronts" if there is no walk in store and you only go out to see customers. Sounds like you have a service area busines which can present several problems with Google depending on the locatations and how they are set up.

The do not support location message often indicates you were deleted for guideline violations BUT as others said could just be temporary or something else.

So ya we need the web site, or name and addresses in order to investigate. Also would help to know when you verified. Then we can help you a lot more.

 

[Nick.SEOSpark]

at 3 different addresses, but with the same phone number, as it's a central call center so that we can take calls 24/7.

This is another potential problem, having the same phone number for the 3 different locations. It's the ideal situation when you can have different "local" numbers for each locations. If you do want to have calls going through to ONE call centre, then it may be a case of having 3 seperate local numbers re-directing to the main one.

 

[Broland]

Yea, phone number is the biggest distinguishing factor when verifying a business and scraping for citations. Having 3 listings with the same biz name and phone number will cause more confusion and harm for both users and search engines. You would do better to create one strong listing.

Try to update a a bit of info in the back end of Google Places, sometimes this helps if it's a bug/error.

Also did you try google maps and map maker search as mentioned above? "See if you can find them by searching the address or phone number in google/maps and also check for them in Google Map Maker."

It's sounding like they may have been removed, but definitely check map maker.