Owner name on Google, Yelp, etc.?

[EvaWFDPM]

We are repeatedly/increasingly running into the issue of how to identify or list owner names on Google, Yelp, etc. in cases where there is not a singular person who owns the clinic or business, but a company (such as Practice Velocity: Urgent Care EMR | Billing | Startup by Practice Velocity).

For Google, we've signed up with First name: [Business Name], Last name: Listings. Could that cause a problem? I don't see how but I also don't want to find out the hard way.

For Yelp, there's more focus on the owner (background, profile picture, etc.) and we're struggling with how to approach it. We've listed office/practice managers and such, but that just doesn't work in some cases.

I understand that many directories are designed/set up to focus on small businesses with a traditional single-owner set-up, but that's simply not going to be the case across the board. Ideas on what to do or stories of what people have done?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Eva and welcome to the forum.

That question is really complicated to explain and I'm in a lot of RSI pain so can't type too much. And Dragon is making lots of errors so I need to try and keep this short.

In general and I stress the word general, it's best not to create practitioner listings at all. Because practitioner listings will almost always hurt or sometimes kill the practice ranking. Additionally, they can bleed off reviews that you want building up on the main practice listing. So for those reasons I would never create a practitioner listing.

But even if you don't create one, Google generally will, and the reason Google creates the listings is exactly because it finds them on directory listings or other places on the web. Even if she creates them, she will no longer delete them, so they usually pose a ranking and/or review problem.

So the main thing I teach and the main problem that comes up with practitioner listings, is how to deal with them so they don't hurt the practice.

I created a strategy to help minimize practitioner listings. You can read about it below:

<a href="http://www.localsearchforum.com/google-duplicates-merges/864-overcoming-google-practitioner-duplicate-listing-problems-dentists-attorneys.html">Overcoming Google Practitioner Duplicate Listing Problems for Dentists, Attorneys</a>

That does not directly answer your question, but does it help?

 

[EvaWFDPM]

Thanks Linda! Nice to be here, and I appreciate your response immensely.

I also need to clarify my question. We do not create practitioner listings any more -- based in large part on your advice! -- and in this case are simply struggling with how to identify an owner (especially on Yelp) when there is no one single person that owns the business. Seems like a small issue, but as it comes up more and more, we find ourselves grappling with the confines of certain directories. Is there a preferred style guide for businesses without a single owner or office manager (the other option Yelp offers, but not always a good fit for us)?