Help pls - Same building, same brand, different companies - Google say no.

[anorriss]

A client of mine is a global recruitment agency. Their GMB listing is very out of date and they are having problems updating them. Here is the issue:

They have 3 teams located in the building and on the same floor in London. Each team has a name; ‘Liverpool Street’, ‘Oxford Street’ and ‘Canary Wharf’. They are called these names because they used to have legitimate addresses at those places in London before they moved into one building, now located in Oxford Street.

The teams previously located at Canary Wharf and Liverpool Street now wish their GMB listing to reflect their new address at Oxford Street. Each team has individual telephone numbers. However, Google is saying that they are duplicated businesses located in the same building, in the same category, and therefore changing their GMB is not possible. They need to de-list the previous ones.

This is very distressing for them because candidates and clients keep going to the wrong address, where they are no longer based.

Is there any solution?

Many thanks for any advice in advance.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Unfortunately due to the categories being the same there isn't much that can be done. If the businesses were individually owned and licensed, it might be possible but still unlikely.

 

[MattPelkey]

Hey @anorriss, you're more than likely going to just have to merge them all into the Oxford Street GMB page if you haven't already. Similar to what Joy said since these are all technically the same business (same offering, same category, etc.) you won't be able to have 3 at one location.

I would definitely close the Liverpool and Canary Wharf pages to prevent customers going to the wrong address, and I would focus on the Oxford Street location and building that page up, going after reviews, keeping it active, etc. If the other locations were heavily-visited, you can also make an announcement on your clients' website letting customers know that everything has merged into one building.

 

[Cordell Crowley]

A client of mine is a global recruitment agency. Their GMB listing is very out of date and they are having problems updating them. Here is the issue:
They have 3 teams located in the building and on the same floor in London. Each team has a name; ‘Liverpool Street’, ‘Oxford Street’ and ‘Canary Wharf’. They are called these names because they used to have legitimate addresses at those places in London before they moved into one building, now located in Oxford Street.
The teams previously located at Canary Wharf and Liverpool Street now wish their GMB listing to reflect their new address at Oxford Street. Each team has individual telephone numbers. However, Google is saying that they are duplicated businesses located in the same building, in the same category, and therefore changing their GMB is not possible. They need to de-list the previous ones.
This is very distressing for them because candidates and clients keep going to the wrong address, where they are no longer based.
Is there any solution?
Many thanks for any advice in advance.

Curious if you ever got this resolved. We have 3 businesses operating out of the same building (all share the same owner, owner simply sectioned portions of the building off to each company to keep from needing to build/purchase any additional facilities) and we have all 3 of the businesses verified on Google Maps with no issue. We simply did Suite A, Suite B, and Suite C for the addresses.

We have a separate website for each company though, so that likely helps since website is unique unto itself. Just thought I'd offer it up as an alternative if you have not yet gotten it resolved.

 

[JoshuaMackens]

Google does allow a provision for "departments" where you could technically have your own GMB pages for each department. However, I've found their enforcement of this policy to be pretty strict. The last time I tried it they required different entrances for each department.

@JoyHawkins have you worked much with this department allowance within GMB?

 

[JoyHawkins]

@JoshuaMackens

Department listings wouldn't apply if the categories are the same. As you mentioned, they also generally need a different entrance.

 

[JoshuaMackens]

@JoshuaMackens

Department listings wouldn't apply if the categories are the same. As you mentioned, they also generally need a different entrance.

Fair enough!

 

[freerunr]

... We have 3 businesses operating out of the same building (all share the same owner, owner simply sectioned portions of the building off to each company to keep from needing to build/purchase any additional facilities) and we have all 3 of the businesses verified on Google Maps with no issue. We simply did Suite A, Suite B, and Suite C for the addresses.

@Cordell Crowley, did you go through the trouble of registering those separate suites with the USPS or anything?

 

[ianscott]

We have a separate website for each company though, so that likely helps since website is unique unto itself. Just thought I'd offer it up as an alternative if you have not yet gotten it resolved.

I have a similar situation with a client that is operating 3 different businesses under one roof. One is a Home Improvement shop, another is a U-Haul franchise, and another is a tool and heavy equipment rental, with its own brand.

Google created the Uhaul listing using the same information as the Home Improvement (same address and phone number).

But now, we want to create a third GMB listing for the rentals. A second phone number and even a separate unit is not an issue.

But the owner wants ALL of his brands on one website, under the Umbrella so to speak, of the Home Improvement shop website. I am wondering if this would be a problem - the rental department is clearly branded on the one website but all on the same URL.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

[Rich Owings]

I had a situation where an architect wanted to add a listing for their construction business operating out of the same address. They had separate phone numbers but only one website. The listing was approved but then Google merged the listings a few weeks later.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Yeah I have found lots of instant merging when the sites are the same.

 

[ianscott]

Thanks for sharing your experiences, @Rich Owings & @JoyHawkins - I'll discuss this with my client and go from there. Much appreciate it!