I'll pay for help. Over my head

[Randy Kirk]

As reported in an earlier post, I have a client whose website and places listing were both doing amazing, especially in a highly competitive place. I merged his blogger blog to the website and that seemed to cause some worsening of his position. I did buy some links back in Feb that helped his position and might be a problem now.

Then, his places listing got smacked. "We no longer support" I made some minor changes to the listing, sent in a report to Goog, but nothing. My main theory is that the blog had a lot of links to the website and/or that the links I bought got the website in trouble. I don't know enough about fixing either of these issues. I don't even know if it would be a good idea to decouple the blogger blog from the website.

I charge people $200 for a look under the hood to find out if there is something going on with their Google Places listing. That's my area of specialization. So, I'll pay someone $200 if the can tell me what is going on with this site and listing. The website is mortgagehelplosangeles.com

 

[David Fesler]

In reference to the website, I'm not sure if you already have, but I'd check out Webmaster Tools and check out the quality of the site as seen by Google. They usually have some pretty useful information as to what may not be in sync with Google's quality guidelines.

 

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Randy,

A few questions -

How recent was this? Could your client have been hit by the EMD penalty?

How long ago did you first see the 'do not support' message and how long ago did you report the issue to Google?

I don't see a contact page or NAP on the site you've linked to. Is this a virtual business? If so, did you take proper steps to hide the address?

Please, provide as much info as you can. Thanks!

 

[Linda Buquet]

Good questions Miriam!

Randy if you answer those it can help us help you.

PLUS another Panda update just started rolling out on Thursday. I don't think that domain is an EMD but if it just dropped the past few days maybe it's this update.
Google Panda Update 20 Released, 2.4% Of English Queries Impacted

I think you have multiple problems. Separate problems on both the site and the G+ page.

"Do not support" is TYPICALLY now like the new suspended. It usually happens due to guideline violations. And if Miriam is on target and they should have had address hidden but you didn't hide it, that's normally the biggest reason for "Do not support". But if that's not it and they have a commercial office, then we need to see what's in dash to analyze any other possible violations.

I did a quick search earlier (didn't dig deep) but it looked like the site was dinged in organic as well. From what I remember it seemed to just not be ranking where it should, but I didn't have time to check to see if it's totally out of the index.

 

[Eric Rohrback]

Linda:

You say that "we do not currently support this location" is like a new form of suspension, but what would you recommend doing in that situation? Delete the page and start all over again? I've had some instances of that message and sent support tickets to Google. The pages go live for a while, then go right back into that state. What is the best course of action if his clients get that message, clean up the violations, resubmit, then get hit with that message again?

 

[Linda Buquet]

You say that "we do not currently support this location" is like a new form of suspension, but what would you recommend doing in that situation? Delete the page and start all over again?

This is something I cover in detail in the training you requested info about EsR and it's SO much easier to explain via phone then type it all out. SO complicated and depends on situation. I guess I just need to do a new detailed post covering all the do not support issues.

BUT in a nutshell if it's a hide your ass (address) violation DO NOT DELETE AND START OVER. It won't do any good. For awhile G was telling SMBs to do that and NOT ONE out of TONS reporting in the forum ever successfully got a new listing to work. So I think it's a ban or black mark on the location or something in NAP or full NAP.

If it's hide your address OR another violation, clean it up and clean it up good, then use Troubleshooter for missing listing.

NOTE - If it's newly verified DO NOT SUPPORT FROM DASH can now show up for WEEKS. So you need to search maps by phone to see if listing is live. Sometimes it's just a sync issue with that dashboard link.

If NO violations, occasionally it's a glitch and a POKE can 'sometimes' knock it back to live.

 

[MiriamEllis]

Linda,
I surely suspected the hide address penalty of horror! Glad to know you feel this could be the case. Sounds like you are going to be giving some helpful training on this.

 

[Randy Kirk]

Thanks for the recommendation to check my Google Webmaster account. There was a big issue there, which we are cleaning up. The Google Places is still "suspended." I suspect that there might be a change when the website is fixed.

On the other hand, the client is a mortgage broker. They have a very real office in a major office bldg on Wilshire. They do see clients there. Does anyone know if Google assumes one way or the other on mortgage brokers regarding the hide the address issue?

 

[Linda Buquet]

There was a big issue there, which we are cleaning up. The Google Places is still "suspended."

You didn't mention suspended before. That's kinda of a biggie for us to know about. You are saying it's suspended in the dashboard by Google?

If so many say the account is dead and you have to start over with a new listing in new account. i don't have any experience with suspended listings but that's what the TCs in the forum usually say.

On the other hand, the client is a mortgage broker. They have a very real office in a major office bldg on Wilshire. They do see clients there. Does anyone know if Google assumes one way or the other on mortgage brokers regarding the hide the address issue?

No if they have a commercial office that's staffed and they see clients there they don't need to hide address. That issue is mainly for home based businesses and businesses like plumbers that ONLY go out to clients.

 

[Randy Kirk]

Sorry, sometimes the language of our craft gets confusing. I put suspended in quotes as it was used in an earlier response. Right now the dashboard is showing live, but there is no activity, and the "location not supported" is showing. The listing is not showing online, that is for sure.

I did some minor revisions on the places listing and resubmitted. I suppose I could do some more and resubmit. Again, the status change on Places seemed to be coincidental with the huge drop in the website standing. May not have been connected, but it was about the same time.

I have submitted the issue.

 

[Linda Buquet]

OK I got it. Good luck and keep us posted Randy!

 

[David Fesler]

I'm not certain, but one way Google could determine whether or not a location services customers is the occurrence of citations across the web. While you're waiting for things to happen, it might be a good idea to check your citations for consistency and make any corrections as needed.

Per the Best Sources for Local Citations your Local citation hubs are:

Yelp, Yellow Pages, Citysearch, Yahoo! Local, LA Times, Superpages, Facebook, Youtube, Service Magic, Manta.

I'd check whether or not your business citation exists or is correct on these local search sites. Even if it doesn't fix your issue, it's still a great thing to do.

 

[Flash]

Are you sure this client has a proper office at this location? Have you visited it yourself?

I ask because a check of the address shows it must be quite a crowded suite with all the mortgage brokers and lawyers that work out #900.

For example, here's an entire law firm sharing office space with him. http://www.divorcemarketinggroup.com/fmbk07-dgfull.pdf

 

[Andrew Sawyer]

You didn't mention suspended before. That's kinda of a biggie for us to know about. You are saying it's suspended in the dashboard by Google?

If so many say the account is dead and you have to start over with a new listing in new account. i don't have any experience with suspended listings but that's what the TCs in the forum usually say.



No if they have a commercial office that's staffed and they see clients there they don't need to hide address. That issue is mainly for home based businesses and businesses like plumbers that ONLY go out to clients.

I'm guessing they got suspended for keeping bad company in the form of a Virtual Office (not positive, but that's what it looks like). The second address listed on the website is 515 South Flower Street, Suite 3600, Los Angeles, CA 90071 which appears to be a big office because it reportedly contains:

• A & E Court Reporters‎
• Authentic Trade Financial‎
• Dansure, Inc.‎
• DSL Los Angeles‎
• Global Hawk Protective Services‎
• Local Cable Finder‎
• Pacific Structural & Forensic Engineers Group Inc. PSFEG ?‎
• Royal Crown Property Management‎
• Sona Investments Group, Inc.‎
• Synergy Real Estate Group, Corporate Advisory‎
• T1 Los Angeles‎
• The Killino Firm, P.C.‎
• The Law Office of Christopher Paul Mesaros, APC‎
• VoIP National‎