Should I delete and start over? Showing old places dashboard, but have new Google +

[bradleymarones]

Hey guys. My places account was setup a couple years back, when the old places pages were around. I can't remember if I updated my account manually to create new Google + social business pages or not, but in any event, it appears that I have two accounts with back-end dashboards - one for the original places page, and the other is the Google+ social page, for the same business! I can log on to both.

I'm thinking I should just delete both, the places and Google + page, and start over with the new places dashboard. I believe around the time I discovered this, maybe 6 months ago or so, my locals serp also dropped in rankings. I have 3 locations, so this is in effect for all 3 locations, and they all dropped in rankings.

Please advise.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Bradley,

Never start over, unless suspended or dead/purgatory listing. (I say this for a wide variety of reasons.)

Having the new or old dash does not affect ranking. But many suspect the AGE of the listing does, so that's one of the reasons I'm saying there could be value to keeping it.

The new dash is still gradually rolling out. Nothing wrong with your listing if you don't have it. Your number has just not been called yet.

Many problems are deep seated. Even if you delete and start over the underlying problem can still be there if you don't get to the root of it.

How to fix or why ranking dropped depends on a wide variety of factors.

So if they are all set up similarly, please share link to one Place page and the corresponding G+ page. Also share your most important KW phrase so if not obvious we don't have to guess. AND where you WERE ranking before and if you changed anything, around the time of the drop. Then we can eval and depending on what we see we can make recommendations from there.

I moved to help section so you can share the links.

 

[bradleymarones]

Thanks Linda, I appreciate the response. I actually had this looked at through some consulting, but didn't get a clear enough picture to make any changes. I can post a link to the Google+ page - that's what shows up in the SERPS, I only have access to the back-end dash of the old google places page.

Something else also just hit me, although I created these place pages under different accounts (separated each to be organized), I found that one of my locations' Google+ dash is accessible through one of my other accounts, which I thought was weird. Not sure how this happened.

Anyhow, here are the links:

Location 1
Location 2 (Linda fixed link)
Location 3

All help is very much appreciated, thanks guys!

 

[Linda Buquet]

Glad I asked for links because based on description in post #1 I thought you were talking about separate Place page and G+ page. But please confirm... there is no sep G+ page, these are merged and you were only talking about sep dash's not sep pages correct?

Ahhh sorry, didn't recognize the user name since it was Mark I did the consult for and I have no record of Bradley. Is this Mark or do you work for Mark?

As I recall I did 11 pages of research notes and went WAY overtime so ran out of time to go any deeper. As I recall too there were location issues too and I questioned whether Google would think 2 of them were viable/allowed locations and the MAIN office was a shared office I think too so that poses other problems as well.

I don't have time to go back through 11 pages of notes.

Can you tell me of the links below. Which is MAIN office and which is MAIN KW we should focus on since you have multiples? Just because for free advice here in the forum none of the busy consultants that comes here is going to take HOURS like I did before to try to sort through all the various KW combos for 3 locations. So help narrow down to like the most important please.

 

[bradleymarones]

Sorry, the link to 2 isn't working, here it is. Yup, it's me, Mark. I did receive a lot info, unfortunately I wasn't able to fix the issues or anything I could really be actionable on, if there were any issues aside from theoretical perspectives.

Anyhow, I think I figured out what the issue is, if anyone can confirm, that would be super. It appears that the main category or keyword that Google had picked out, which is "bankruptcy attorney," is the KW that I'm ranking for. Ideally, I'd want to rank for real estate, divorce/family law keywords, which I had been before. Not sure why Google picked "bankruptcy" as the main or default KW, even though that is not the case on my dashboard.

Thanks!

 

[Linda Buquet]

So for other's benefit Mark so they don't have to sift through and guess...

Which is main office

Which is main KW for that office?

 

[bradleymarones]

The main office where I spend more time at would the link I posted in my last response. Main KWs would be divorce attorney, real estate attorney. A category that I tried to have Google pick up was just "attorney" as a stand alone KW.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Sorry, the link to 2 isn't working, here it is. Yup, it's me, Mark. I did receive a lot info, unfortunately I wasn't able to fix the issues or anything I could really be actionable on, if there were any issues aside from theoretical perspectives.

You only paid for 2 hours, I gave you 3 so did 1 hour overt-time at no charge. As I explained, you have complicated multi-faceted problems. So in that amount of time I could only explain what they all are not all the things that needed to be done to fix them.

In a big broad overview like I said you are using a badly formed scattergun approach. It's like you have a bunch of pieces from 4 puzzles scattered on the floor. Some are pieces are broken, some are missing but more than anything they are all mixed up. No way for you to be on top in your market with this mess of a puzzle.

It appears that the main category or keyword that Google had picked out, which is "bankruptcy attorney," is the KW that I'm ranking for. Ideally, I'd want to rank for real estate, divorce/family law keywords, which I had been before. Not sure why Google picked "bankruptcy" as the main or default KW, even though that is not the case on my dashboard.

Google tried her best to pick the most relevant KW based on what YOUR SITE is feeding her. Which again is very mixed up.

The main KW you are telling Googls is MOST important on home page is "Michigan Attorneys. That's a waste.

If you were looking for a convenient dry cleaner near your office would you Google Michigan dry cleaners and get locations all over the state - maybe 2 hours away? No - you would google City dry cleaners.

Google is looking for SPECIFIC City + KW phrases. YOu can't encompass all those cities and KWs on one page. It's shot gun and does not work for Google.

If someone types: "divorce attorney troy mi" Google is looking for that EXACT phrase on web sites and will put the ones on top that are an EXACT or close match.

Pretend you are Google (a bot that does not know your business and is only trying to guess based on the specific phrases on your site. It's trying to deliver the best results simply based on the words.

Someone searches for: Divorce Attorney Troy Michigan

What is the title tag for the #1 listing???

title: Divorce Attorney Troy Michigan | Family Law

compared to yours...

TITLE TAG
Michigan Attorneys: Troy, Warren, Sterling Heights | (248) 825-8042 | Bankruptcy Attorney, Divorce, Criminal, Real Estate

Which one looks more directly related to the query?
The exact phrase divorce attorney troy mi is not in your title at all.

And like I said leading with Michigan Attorneys is a waste.

You list all 3 cities with no atty KWs attached to any locations. Then separately you have some KWs. But the main KWs you want to rank for Divorce and Real Estate don't have city or attorney attached, they are just separate KWs.

So the only distinct KW phrase you are feeding Google is Bankruptcy Attorney. Your site is telling Google by the way the title tag is formatted that that is most important. BUT you don't even rank high for that because it's KW only, not City KW.

Then if you pretend you are a bot that does not know your business, only knows what it reads in plain text - there are 3 cities in title tag, and 4 in body. I warned you about the mixed NAP. (Due to potential merging) But again how does Google know what's most important? It's just a mish mash of data.

Note: Title tag is only one small part of it, just using it for example because it's most obvious and easy to explain, but there is a ton more that goes into it, especially when more than one main KW and more than one location is involved.

Something else also just hit me, although I created these place pages under different accounts (separated each to be organized), I found that one of my locations' Google+ dash is accessible through one of my other accounts, which I thought was weird. Not sure how this happened.

The other major issue I raised in the consult and tried to explain so you can fix, but I see it has not been addressed, is the issue of merging. What you describe above could possibly be a symptom of merging and giving G enough mixed signals to get her confused due to mixed NAP.

BUT obviously I realize you don't want to rank for just one key in one city.

That's where the comprehensive multi-location strategy comes in that I mentioned comes in and it would also help to avoid merging.

It would take a good 6 - 8 hours of consulting to explain it all, make all the recommendations, check to be sure done right etc. You paid for 2 which was only enough to try to explain what the issues are, not enough to explain step-by-step each thing that needs to be fixed. (Alot of the time I spent was devoted to try to help you understand that some of your locations may not even be allowed by Google which is yet another issue that would need to be addresses.)

I am booked and not able to take on any consulting clients, but if you want help please email me and I'll refer you to someone really good and their fees are a little lower than mine.