Problems getting management/ownership of Google business page

[Rich Owings]

Hi,

I'm trying to claim a Google business page for a client: https://plus.google.com/118180078875261183134/about?hl=en

Google says it has already been verified (even though there is no check mark on the page). We've gone thru the process to try to recover ownership info, but no one at the firm has gotten an email from Google to release or share ownership/management of the page. I've responded to the email Google sent when we initiated this a week ago, but have not heard back.

What would you do in this case? There is a duplicate listing for an old address... https://plus.google.com/107572939557215330760/about?hl=en Should I try to claim it instead and change the address?

Thanks for any help that anyone can offer!

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi,

I'm trying to claim a Google business page for a client: https://plus.google.com/118180078875261183134/about?hl=en

Google says it has already been verified (even though there is no check mark on the page). We've gone thru the process to try to recover ownership info, but no one at the firm has gotten an email from Google to release or share ownership/management of the page. I've responded to the email Google sent when we initiated this a week ago, but have not heard back.

What would you do in this case? There is a duplicate listing for an old address... https://plus.google.com/107572939557215330760/about?hl=en Should I try to claim it instead and change the address?

Thanks for any help that anyone can offer!

Hey Rich, welcome to the forum.

I would not claim the one with the old address, address changes can be messy and create problems. But really need to remember to mark that one as closed after you get the new one claimed.

The top one IS verified in Places. You can tell because it has images, description and categories.
The verified check mark only happens once they've been upgraded to G+ which most listings have unless they have problems. And I note a problem below that could be the reason they have not been upgraded.

AND the categories have violations you need to clean up right away after you get verified.

It looks like it was just verified Dec 13 and again on Jan 14. So maybe was even verified by 2 different people. Or someone did it. Lost login and did it again. That's likely why it has not been upgraded to G+ yet, due to being dual claimed. (However in that timeframe they should not have even been allowed to reclaim, just like you could not - so maybe MapMaker is wrong.)

Anyway it was recent so someone there has to remember doing it. The account email they used was info@theirdomain.

BEST OPTION: Get their log in. That's it. Coach them on all the different ways to try to find it or remember it. Ask them if they had a webmaster or SEO that could have set it up? A secretary? The principle's wife? Ask them to ask anyone that could have done it at the office to check all their Google accounts. Someone at the office would have had to verify. Ask who has a Google account using the email info@

You used to be able to just re-claim but you can't any more. And when you did that in the past it caused all kinds of problems.

Sometimes if you threaten them with an extra charge, then that log in they could not find, will magically be found in 5 minutes flat.

"If you can't find your log in then it creates all kinds of problems and extra work and I'll need to take time to get ahold of support. So if you really can't find it I'm afraid I'll need to bill our support fee of $95 per hour for any extra time it takes to work through this issue for you."

Amazing how fast they come up with it then.

So above is REALLY the best way and really the easiest. Someone there, just did it, should not be that hard to get. It's hard when someone verified 2 years ago and left the company, but should not be in this case.

Last resort if you can't get it, you need to call support and they will get it sorted. Will need to call or email the company to prove ownership and approve the re-verification. So important to have them give you a domain email you can use. Or better yet be sure the info@ domain is OK to still use.

Here is feedback from one of our members about what usually happens when he has to re-claim via support.

Hope this helps, let us know if you have any other questions and let us know how it goes.

 

[Scott Rawlins]

I would probably wait another week, then call support. You can call support today if you want, but I have been told by support before that they typically wait 2 weeks to release the listing. If there has been no activity on that page for a while, they may unlcaim it and let you claim it right away.

Overall, support has been pretty good for me.

As Linda likes to say, you can tell them you would have to do much more work to get that listing under control and it will cost them a lot more. They usually find that login info pretty quick.

 

[Rich Owings]

Thanks Linda and Rawly. I think I can get someone to search their info@ email so we'll start there. Linda, I'm curious, how did you determine the dates it was verified and the email address they used?

And thank you so much for taking the time to manage this forum. It's a great resource!

 

[Linda Buquet]

Linda, I'm curious, how did you determine the dates it was verified and the email address they used?

And thank you so much for taking the time to manage this forum. It's a great resource!

You are very welcome.

I used Map Maker history - mandatory trick of the trade. But it's changed and does not show the level of detail is used to.

Since it seems you maybe new at this will tell you how to do it. Go to Map Maker and plug in the phone #.

Here is the listing: Google Map Maker

Hit details below and you'll see email.

Then hit history on top then show all changes.

Google Automated Internal Syncer is the bot that copies listings over from the Places dashboard. The dates aren't always exactly accurate but close. There are 2 records from Google Automated Internal Syncer so I'm not sure that means it was claimed twice. Now that I think about it, could have been claimed in Dec, then more info or changes done in Jan. I can't remember if Google Automated Internal Syncer copies over again when you make chances. But I know the 1st instance is when it's verified and pulls the data over.

 

[Rich Owings]

You rock Linda! Thank you so much.

I've been in the geo space and doing SEO for myself for a long time, then started helping friends, etc. Hung out my shingle a couple of years ago, but this is the first time I've ran into one where I couldn't get access. So yes, I'm a bit new to it. It seems like no matter how long you've been doing it though, there's always more to learn. And things change too. It's one of the things I like about it.