Location keywords in your GMB titles?

[CaribouFondue]

Hello,

I've got a three location business with hundreds of citations for each location, all the citations, and our GMB currently use "My Business Name" as the title.
I see my competition (multiple location chains) frequently using "Their Business Name - City Name" as their GMB titles. As I understand google gives a big boost for keywords in GMB title.

Questions:
1) Should I start adding a single word city name location keyword to the end of my GMB titles?
2) If I do #1 do i need to fix all my citations to have that city name in the business name?

Thanks!

Example of competition doing this:

 

[ElizabethRule]

You don't need to fix citations yet, you need to get a DBA with the city name in it for it to adhere to Google guidelines. Changing the name without it could result in a suspension.

Follow this to properly change your business name before changing it on GBP Rebranding Your Business | Checklist for Google My Business & Local Search

If you think your competition is using location keywords when they shouldn't be, try suggesting and edit to remove the descriptor keywords that do not belong. If that does not get approved, use a redressal form to report them to Google support.

 

[CaribouFondue]

Changing the name without it could result in a suspension.

Seems like google doesn't really enforce that considering how many get away with this (see below). This seems like one of those cases where wearing the white hat really does bog down your results.

 

[ElizabethRule]

Google isn't always the best at enforcing their own rules BUT they are getting better at it by the day and investing in tools to automate it.

White hat will always win out as it offers more security in the long run. That is why I linked to the rebranding checklist. You CAN add location names into your business name via a DBA and prove to Google it's legit if they do take action (which I have seen them do before).

 

[CaribouFondue]

Google isn't always the best at enforcing their own rules BUT they are getting better at it by the day and investing in tools to automate it.

White hat will always win out as it offers more security in the long run. That is why I linked to the rebranding checklist. You CAN add location names into your business name via a DBA and prove to Google it's legit if they do take action (which I have seen them do before).

Ah ok thanks for clarification that makes more sense, because there are companies like U-Haul which have 1000s of locations with keywords in them.

 

[JeffClevelandTN]

Google isn't always the best at enforcing their own rules BUT they are getting better at it by the day and investing in tools to automate it.

White hat will always win out as it offers more security in the long run. That is why I linked to the rebranding checklist. You CAN add location names into your business name via a DBA and prove to Google it's legit if they do take action (which I have seen them do before).

I would also add to Elizabeth's suggestion, in regards to DBA, many states refer to this as an "Assumed Name" or "Fictitious Name". It is typically super easy and inexpensive with a fast turnaround for a business to do this on their respective Secretary of State's website.

 

[dgrunited]

Seems like google doesn't really enforce that considering how many get away with this (see below). This seems like one of those cases where wearing the white hat really does bog down your results.

It is not necessary to add the city name into your business name. This is because Google will take the city name from your address & add it into your business name during the search anyway.

For example, based on your screen shots, try searching for:
xyz storage east york
public storage mendota
public storage elizabeth

Note that none of the above businesses have added their city names into their business names. Yet, they show up prominently for the search strings above.

 

[CaribouFondue]

It is not necessary to add the city name into your business name. This is because Google will take the city name from your address & add it into your business name during the search anyway.

For example, based on your screen shots, try searching for:
xyz storage east york
public storage mendota
public storage elizabeth

Note that none of the above businesses have added their city names into their business names. Yet, they show up prominently for the search strings above.

Not correct, it is different now than my screenshots because I suggested some edits on google and it seems to have stuck so far. Google does not add search term into business name AFAIK.

 

[dgrunited]

Not correct, it is different now than my screenshots because I suggested some edits on google and it seems to have stuck so far. Google does not add search term into business name AFAIK.

It was correct as of my posting date (last Thursday). It could have changed in the last 3 days.

 

[CaribouFondue]

It was correct as of my posting date (last Thursday). It could have changed in the last 3 days.

Not sure I follow what you are saying here, maybe i'm confused. It sounds like you're trying to say that google inserts location search keywords into the GMB names, and this simply is not true. Maybe you are suggesting something else and I'm not following.

 

[dgrunited]

Not sure I follow what you are saying here, maybe i'm confused. It sounds like you're trying to say that google inserts location search keywords into the GMB names, and this simply is not true. Maybe you are suggesting something else and I'm not following.

Explained slightly differently, try searching for public storage elizabeth or public storage queen.

You will find that the public storage at 36 Queen Elizabeth Boulevard will show up. This business is in your earlier screenshot. You will also notice that their business name is merely Public Storage. Google decided to display them prominently because the keywords elizabeth & queen are found in their address anyway.

My point is, they did not have to inject a location name into their business name. Their business still showed up for that location.

Hope this clarifies your original question about the necessity of location keyword injections

 

[CaribouFondue]

Google isn't always the best at enforcing their own rules BUT they are getting better at it by the day and investing in tools to automate it.

White hat will always win out as it offers more security in the long run. That is why I linked to the rebranding checklist. You CAN add location names into your business name via a DBA and prove to Google it's legit if they do take action (which I have seen them do before).

Hi, so we did go ahead and get the DBA and then changed the names. Recently one was changed back, what is the method for showing google our DBA documents to dispute this change?