Question Re G+Local Listing Business Name

[jvaquino]

Hello Local SEO'er

I just want to ask something.

I have this client in Australia who owned an Escort Service company. On the real world there is the word "Escort" on his business name but he did not include that on his G+ Local listing because he said Google will penalize it because of the world "escort". Do you think Google do not allowed that kind of word on the business name?

I read the Google Place Quality Guidelines and don't see that as a problem. I also search for other same kind of businesses and saw them ranking pretty well.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Chris McCreery]

Hi jvaquino, you read the guidelines and are correct that he can definitely include "escort" in his G+ listing, especially if it's actually part of his official business name. Also note that the guidelines recently changed in regards to the business name and you can now include a single descriptor that helps the customer locate you or understand what you offer.

http://support.google.com/places/answer/107528?hl=en

 

[jvaquino]

Also note that the guidelines recently changed in regards to the business name and you can now include a single descriptor that helps the customer locate you or understand what you offer.

Yes I read that latest update on the guidelines. Thanks Chris!

 

[Scott Rawlins]

I have to agree with Chris. If that's in fact their real business name, shouldn't be an issue. But hey, it's Google, so you just never know.

 

[chadkimball]

This category is notoriously difficult. It is filled with spam, so it is highly scrutinized and very difficult to get a listing approved, similar to locksmiths. Even a legit locksmith with a brick and mortar store has trouble getting his listings approved unless he is willing to take a walk on the dark side LOL.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

It's interesting that Google has Escort Services as a default category in the dashboard, yet they have this in their content guidelines:

"Further, we may not allow verification of local Google+ pages for certain products and services such as escort services or other regulated goods"

Policies & Principles - Google

Is that doc simply outdated?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Colan I was trying to find that early today for this post because I knew I had seen it. Could not find it prohibited in the Places or MapMaker Guidelines, but that's the G+ Guidelines so not that everyone is being upgraded...

Yes agree with Chad even at times when escort listings have been allowed it's very tough to keep them live and they are under extreme scrutiny.

Even if that Guideline Colan pointed to was no longer relevant (but I think it is) you need to go the extra mile to ensure compliance. Escorts need to be legal in that particular country and address needs to be hidden, etc.

 

[Chris McCreery]

Looks like it was crawled recently (2 days ago) so they must update it frequently or at least crawl frequency would indicate they want their indexed version of it recent.

Policies & Principles - Google

 

[jvaquino]

"Further, we may not allow verification of local Google+ pages for certain products and services such as escort services or other regulated goods"

So maybe that's the reason why Google until now, do not update the business name. I tried to modify the business name almost a month ago and put the word "Escort".

The problem here is that I used the real name (with the word "Escort") in all of his citations and since Google don't want that word on my client's G+Local listing, I dunno if has some bad effect on the rankings.

 

[Linda Buquet]

I think as long as the core part of the name is the same it should not be a big deal.

So for instance if name is "Happy Endings Escorts" and that's how the citations are listed
but "Happy Endings" is on the live listing I think she can make a match.

My guess is too that Google will try to match up the data in dash, more so than what's on the live listing.

 

[Keenan Glass]

The restriction in G+ doesn't affect the Places Listing. It just means the page won't be upgraded to include the social features of G+.

I think the problem with getting the name updated on the live page is completely unrelated. You could check the record in MM to see if it is included as an additional name and make the edit there or via Edit Details. If you still can't get it updated put in a request to Places Support.