Verify Business Page, No Street Number Listed on Postcard

[russofford]

Hi,

I'd like to verify a G+ Business page for my client, but when I click the verify button, it shows that the postcard will be sent to an address with no street number.

The post card address only shows the company name, street name, city and state... there is no street number and no zipcode.

The page shows the proper address + street number (just no zipcode).



Another (related? / unrelated?) issue:

Could this have anything to do with hiding the address in Google Places dashboard?

This (service area) client recently had Google call them to 'verify' their address... then their G+ Local listing disappeared off the face of the earth... though it still exists in their Dashboard.

When we created the listing in the first place we double checked to ensure that the address was hidden, yet Google still deleted it after the phone call.

I tried to re-hide the address then resubmit from the dashboard yesterday, but Google only shows "We currently do not support the location" when choosing "See your listing on Google" from the dashboard.

Any suggestions?

- Should I try to put the street address in the 'Attn' box?
- Will I need to post this on Google's forums?

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Hi Russ,

I don't think service area businesses are able to be verified/merged yet.

I wouldn't do anything just yet. Wait until Linda comes to this thread.

Most likely, the best advice will be to delete the G+ Business page and just have the G+ Local page until SAB's are able to merge/verify.

 

[russofford]

Ah, good call... so that means that Google 'knows' it is a service area business... so that is likely why it is stripping the street # info by default. As I tried to create the G+ Biz page using the same account as the Places dashboard listing, it is probably obvious to Google, as well.

Rant:

It is sad that Google allows it's employees to delete listings EVEN WHEN the address had already been hidden upon G+ Local listing creation! Why can they not know/see the address was already hidden when they called my client???

Rant over.

Would it help to post the info about Google calling / deleting my client's listing on a particular Google support forum?

Russ

 

[Linda Buquet]

Russ,

1) As Colan said you can't verify/merge listings that are SABs with address hidden. I've posted a bunch of threads about that. And that's why there is no address on the postcard.

2) The other situation where you can't merge is when the Place page has data problems. Do not support is a pretty big data problem. Basically you can't merge a listing that's missing or not working.

So due to both issues above you should not try to merge this one.

In fact SABs with address hidden who DID already merge were told by Google a couple months ago that they needed to DELETE the G+ page and go back to just a G+ Local page.

It is sad that Google allows it's employees to delete listings EVEN WHEN the address had already been hidden upon G+ Local listing creation! Why can they not know/see the address was already hidden when they called my client???

Agree, it totally sucks and is not fair!

I've also posted a few times about a bug or problem where listings that have the address properly hidden in dash STILL SHOW ADDRESS IN MAP MAKER and I believe the mods that call and delete are likely looking at MM. Not sure they can see what is in dash. So I reported to Google that I was afraid that MM address issue was causing compliant listings to get deleted. So possibly that's what happened to your client.
Double sucky!

 

[russofford]

Thanks.

I've deleted the G+ Business Page (I had forgotten that SAB's couldn't merge, but also didn't realize they couldn't 'verify' via post card.)

Since re-submitting my Google Places dashboard listing doesn't seem to re-publish the Google-delete listing, should I start fresh with a new listing (in the same dashboard)... or try to bring this to Google's attention in the Google forums?

Sincerely,

Russ

 

[Linda Buquet]

Russ I've never seen a listing go live that was re-created after being deleted. I think there is a black mark on the location and new listings don't work either.

So all you can do is follow the standard advice Google gives here: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/business/SffU131-xg0

Be sure it's totally pristine and no other guideline issues then report as missing listing via troubleshooter. Can take a couple months to get the listing re-instated unfortunately.

 

[russofford]

Hi Linda,

I have an update regarding this situation.

Basically I created the G+ Local listing with an address that wasn't fully recognized / pin-pointed by Google Maps.

The address was USPS official, but Google only recognized the street address if there was a space in the street number such as this: "W172 N7271" instead of this "W172N7271"

My blog post here explains it in more detail:

Google vs USPS Mailing Industry Standard – Caused G+ Local Listing to be Deleted? | Orion Group

Do you think I'll just have to cave in and format the address as Google recognizes it, even though it goes against the USPS standard and against their existing NAP citations?

Thanks,

Russ

 

[russofford]

So I just recieved another reply from Google and "Bilques O." said:

Thank you for that information and clarification. Please go ahead and put the space between the number so our Maps system can recognize it. Once you do that, please allow a week for your listing to display properly on Maps.

 

[Keenan Glass]

SAB's (who are required to hide the address in Places) can create local G+ business pages. They simply are advised to not attempt to verify them at the moment.

Google only advised that Verified +Pages be deleted, but if it has not been verified, then you can still use it.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Basically I created the G+ Local listing with an address that wasn't fully recognized / pin-pointed by Google Maps.

The address was USPS official, but Google only recognized the street address if there was a space in the street number such as this: "W172 N7271" instead of this "W172N7271"

My blog post here explains it in more detail:

Google vs USPS Mailing Industry Standard ? Caused G+ Local Listing to be Deleted? | Orion Group

Do you think I'll just have to cave in and format the address as Google recognizes it, even though it goes against the USPS standard and against their existing NAP citations?

The correct address is "W172N7271 Shady Lane Menomonee Falls WI"?

That's really odd. I've never seen an address formatted like that.

Lets see what our Map Maker experts have to say. They normally show up late at night.

 

[Phil Rozek]

Bing Business Portal often strips out the suite # in the postcard they send. I've never been sure why.

 

[russofford]

Hi Linda,

I followed up on the addressing issue on a GMM form thread here:

"Addresses with 'N' & 'W' Street Numbers are not Located Properly"
http://goo.gl/eBU6l

I started the thread by citing a completely different address (not for this client), so that threw thing off a bit.

However Flash called this addressing method the 'coordinate system' (rather than the 'normal' system.

From what I understand, perhaps the coordinate system can be 'official' in that state, and used by the masses... but it doesn't necessarily mean that Google will understand nor accept it.

The "W172" part of the "W172N7271 Shady Lane, Menomonee Falls, WI" coordinate address refers to 'Shady Lane'. I like what Flash said "It's sort of like saying Shady Lane 7271 Shady Lane."

haha... that makes me think of how people might ask "Do you want that with con queso cheese?" Literally translating 'con queso' from Spanish would make the sentence read "Do you want that with with cheese cheese?" hehe

The sad thing is... that Google Maps also does not pull up the proper location for "7271 Shady Lane, Menomonee Falls, WI"

I found it interesting that he said "USPS is just something to help, it isn't proof at all, as physical addresses, rather than postal addresses, are used in Map Maker." (emphasis and commas are mine) ... and here I was thinking USPS.com was the golden standard to base all G+ Local addresssing decisions on.

In the end, I guess the trick is finding what format of address Google will accept. In this case... will it be a matter of using the coordinate system, yet providing a customized clear map marker position in the dashboard? We'll see, I guess.

Russ

 

[Linda Buquet]

Sorry, I have no clue. Complicated maps/addressing issues like this don't come up much and are way over my head to solve. Flash and Andrew are your best bet.

 

[russofford]

I'm not sure how many other States use the coordinate system, but over 25% of my current clients have a NAP with the N/W in the street address number, so I have a vested interest in this topic.

Also, what is interesting here is that many clients near / around the Milwaukee metro area who are technically in a different town... can get away with using 'Milwaukee' as their city name.

Some SAB clients even purposefully try to get a 414 area code phone number to try to cater, psychologically, to potential customers... to make them feel as though the company is closer to them than they are. (Though for the business owner, they don't care if they have to drive 1/2 hour or more to service them.)

Russ