Service Area Business Not Showing on Google Maps

[FriarTuck00]

We have a client (https://plus.google.com/+Growingreen/about) who is located in a smaller town in between two of the larger cities in our metro area: Winston-Salem and Greensboro. He wants to be found more in Greensboro which is the larger of the two cities. We've recommended adding content showing that he's relevant in that city, as well as getting reviews/testimonials from customers in that city.

Anyway, he spends lots of time Googling his business and competitors. When he Googles "lawn care Greensboro", he's upset because he doesn't show at all (not even a small red dot).

When we search "lawn care Kernersville", which is the town in which he's located, he appears in the search results in the upper left, but no red pin or marker appears.

Is the reason that there isn't a pin/marker because the business is setup as a service area? I'm just trying to figure out how to have him set up correctly and gain visibility. Thanks!

 

[Linda Buquet]

Yes, he's properly set with address hidden which is the way it needs to be.
Would be a violation to have his address showing.

But you are right new maps started not showing map markers for hidden address listings. It even started to happen in regular search for some industries.

Here is a related discussion.

<a href="http://www.localsearchforum.com/google-local/27796-service-area-businesses-hidden-address-missing-google-search-map.html">Service Area Businesses with Hidden Address Missing from Google Search Map?</a>

The only thing you can tell him is that no one can control the way Google displays thing. PLUS I don't think that many consumers search directly on maps. So the most important thing is if he ranks high in the pack in regular Google search. If so, then that's about the best he can do until Google decides to change things again.

 

[JoyHawkins]

I am finding it harder and harder to rank organically in a city without a physical address there. Getting a fake address is against the rules so I generally steer my clients toward AdWords when they really want to rank for a city they aren't in.

The local results normally outrank the organic results so even if you work your butt off and get them a high organic ranking, it generally doesn't serve the results they want because all the actual local businesses still steal the majority of the SERPs.

 

[FriarTuck00]

Yeah, I've basically told them the same thing. Short of adding content about services they offer in those cities, I've said (and it's not the first time) that Adwords is the way to go. So, we'll see.

Thank you both for your advice and input!