Tale of Two Cities And A Client on the Border

[Lanerizz]

I have a client (non-SAB) who just moved to an office building on the border of two cities: Dallas and Farmers Branch, TX.

We changed the GMB address to the number, street and zip code, in Dallas. GMB accepted the edit (without a postcard verification by the way, which is a whole other thing I am confused about).

Upon further review, I am finding out *legally* the building is in Farmers Branch. However:

1. GMB got the pin correct
2. Driving directions work properly
3. Even the building management has been vague about what city its in.
4. As I understand it they've improved this over the past 5 years, but for search purposes we'd still want the listing to say Dallas, correct?

I have asked the client to tell me what they will be putting on their mail and have that decide it. Am I correct in all of this? Is there advantage to being listed in the larger city and no risk of issue if the pin and driving directions work?

Second question on the Move: It's really strange we were able to move the address without a pin reverification, right? The outside view still shows the old address and there's some strangeness with the pin when you hover over the listing on maps, so I'm wondering if we're going to end up with issues later...

Any advice appreciated!

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Hey @Lanerizz Google bases rankings on the physical address, not the mailing address. More on that here - Mailing Address vs. Physical Address and When It Matters

There would be an advantage to them being physically located in Dallas since that is a much larger city. Do they fall within the Dallas shaded border when you so a search for "Dallas" on Google Maps?

 

[Lanerizz]

Thanks Colan! They do not fall in the shaded area. From that viewpoint pretty clearly Farmers Branch. Recommended to change then?

 

[Colan Nielsen]

I wouldn't edit it again. Leave it as is. Just keep in mind that ranking in Dallas will be a challenge since they aren't physically located there according to Google...but not impossible.

 

[Lanerizz]

oh okay! So it can still say Dallas even though it's Farmers Branch, interesting.

So NAP consistency would necessitate everything else say Dallas too, right?

 

[Colan Nielsen]

So I would build all of your citations based on the physical location. I'm more suggesting that you do not edit the Google listing because you've already edited it once just recently so editing the city again could have a negative impact. Google knows what city you're physically located in regardless of what you enter in the city field based on where your PIN marker is.

 

[Lanerizz]

ah okay, so Farmers Branch it is then. Thanks for the fast responses Colan!