Where's my pin? Where's my listing?

[Elliot]

I want to simultaneously thank in advance for help, and also ask for forgiveness for probably asking basic questions, but I can't seem to get a clear answer from what I've read.

I'm trying to rank my father's tree service consulting company (Tree Service Nashville ? The Tree Service Guru) for the term "tree service" whenever a search is done around the Nashville, TN area.

It's been verified a little over 10 days and I'm on the 3rd page of the map listings (a small victory for someone who has no idea what they're doing).

But my main concern is that, unlike other companies, I'm not getting a pin location at all, even when I do a exact brand name search for the company. ( https://www.google.com/maps/place/T...2!3m1!1s0x886468161dbc0b3d:0x39802a51c6e0924f )

My main reason for worrying about this is, once I verified my listing at my home address, I moved my pin about 7 miles southwest to the center of the city (as shown here Screenshot by Lightshot ), then listed myself as a service area business that covers a radius. Was this a bad idea? Should I have left it alone as my home address?

Another question I'll ask is, how important is my business Google+ page's ( google.com/+treeserviceguru ) onpage optimization in regards to map results? Is there anything I'm not doing on mine I should be?

Thanks so much for your help guys!

 

[JoyHawkins]

Hey Elliott,

This was definitely not a good idea. I would keep your pin exactly where it was supposed to be or you might send the wrong signals to Google about your listing. you don't have a pin on the map because you are a Service-Area business and Google hides your address.

 

[Elliot]

Thanks for the input Joy. I guess this just means about half my competitors are still "accepting customers" at their location.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Elliot,

Breaking the 'hide your address" rule with Google is like speeding. Lots of people do it, but when you're the one that gets caught it's no fun.

But Joy is absolutely right. You can get suspended for moving your map marker. It needs to be accurate. But then when you hide address Google will put it generically in the center of the area you choose - it won't be right on top of your house.

 

[Elliot]

Certainly makes sense, I really just wanted to make sure I wasn't being devalued because I attempted to place my service area in the center of town.

 

[CodyBaird]

Elliot

Congrats on rolling your sleeves up and helping your father optimize his business. Here are a couple of tips to get you going;

1. Follow Joy's advice and put the pin back at the address location
2. Make sure that the business address on your website, on Google+Local, and on Tennessee State records are all the same. I did a business entity search here. State records may not be available depending on the business type. However, it is very helpful to your optimization efforts that there is a state record and that it matches website + Google+Local.
3. List your business with data aggregators Express Update, Localeze, Acxiom, and Factual. I don't see the listing. It is free to list with Factual and Express Update. $299 for Localeze and I believe $50 with Acxiom. I recommend using Moz Local ($84) to clients that aren't already listed/listed correctly with Localeze & Acxiom.
4. List your business with other popular search engines, secondary engines, and directories. This list or this list will help.
5. Keep reading the forum to learn many other local optimization tips

My points are the tip of the iceberg but they should be a good start.