New listing was 3rd on page one but has vanished

[Gio Greenard]

Hi everyone,

Great website Linda, as there seems no way of getting help via Google Plus local/Places help forums.

I cant give my clients listing details right now, as my boss is not too keen on the idea, although I realise I may have to.

So I added a new listing about 2 weeks ago dropped in on page one, we did change the telephone number but the rank remained. I have been building citations for the last 3 weeks BTW.

So since Friday the listing has vanished! On the dashboard it shows no impressions, when I search the business it appears, so the listing has not been removed. I'm at a loss what the hell has happened or how to explain this to my client.

Another weird thing is that in the dashboard when I click on show the Google listing it says it's not supported, yet I go on maps and it shows up....

I hope all the above makes sense...... really getting over Google Plus local nothing but issues.

 

[Nick.SEOSpark]

Hi there,

One reason that listings have "vanished suddenly" has been the "failing to hide address issue:

Why You May Need To Hide Your Google Places Address ASAP | SEOmoz

In short, if the business "serves customers at their locations", you have to hide your address to avoid google deleting your listing.

Just mentioning quickly as something you can check off for now.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks Nick!

Hi green, thanks for posting and for your PM. Sorry but you posted this at 11:30 PST on a Sunday night when I was in bed. And this AM have been tied up helping lots of others with problems.

Well it IS going to be hard giving any specific answers, but can tell you some general info that may help.

"when I click on show the Google listing it says it's not supported, yet I go on maps and it shows up.... "

Joel Headley from Google just announced at LocalU at SMX East that that feature is broken and it can take weeks for that internal link sync up and work right on new listings right now. (Recently it was normal for it to do that for about a week after verification.)

So that's a non-issue as long as the listing comes up with a maps search.

"So I added a new listing about 2 weeks ago dropped in on page one, we did change the telephone number but the rank remained. I have been building citations for the last 3 weeks BTW.

So since Friday the listing has vanished! On the dashboard it shows no impressions, when I search the business it appears, so the listing has not been removed. I'm at a loss what the hell has happened or how to explain this to my client."

New listings can take about 6 weeks to rank and start showing impressions. If yours did initially that is not the norm BUT if it was a live listing you just verified it may already have been in the local database.

My best guess, without seeing the listing and getting more details, is that the phone # change caused the listing to have to start over in the cycle. Which can happen since phone is a key part of NAP and it changed. My guess is it showed for a bit even after phone change, just because the database had not updated yet.

Now there COULD be other issues, but that's my best guess with the info I have.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Oh, one other thought.

"So I added a new listing about 2 weeks ago dropped in on page one, we did change the telephone number but the rank remained."

Did you claim and edit the phone at the same time? Should not. Sometimes when you do that it splits the listing in 2 temporarily. Search maps for both old and new phone and see if maybe that happened on this one.

 

[Gio Greenard]

Hey Linda and Nick thanks for your input. Yeah the address is all in order.

Having researched further I have found a duplicate Po box listing, so I have requested that be removed, I will have to see what happens in a few weeks. It wont be through lack of citations

I also discovered that the business name is company-x, but from the website it has renamed to company x! so I changed the code on the main website so it pulls it through correctly (may not be a deciding factor).

I believe it's more of a giving it time thing. For some reason people think listing on places is as quick and simple as the Yellow pages.

---------- Post Merged at 12:23 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 12:23 PM ----------


Hey Linda and Nick thanks for your input. Yeah the address is all in order.

Having researched further I have found a duplicate Po box listing, so I have requested that be removed, I will have to see what happens in a few weeks. It wont be through lack of citations

I also discovered that the business name is company-x, but from the website it has renamed to company x! so I changed the code on the main website so it pulls it through correctly (may not be a deciding factor).

I believe it's more of a giving it time thing. For some reason people think listing on places is as quick and simple as the Yellow pages.