Wrong GMB Listing Appearing when Searching for Physician by Name

[Jay_SEO]

When I search for "dr atif haque" it used to pull up his GMB listing seen here. However, when I search for it now, it's pulling up the listing for his old clinic called Fort Worth Brain & Spine Institute, LLP, as seen here.

Does anyone have any reasons why this is happening, and, probably even more importantly, are there any optimizations I need to do on Dr. Haque's listing to help it appear again. It's just odd to me that a named search isn't pulling up his listing but rather his old office where he doesn't even practice any longer.

 

[Stefan Somborac]

@Jay_SEO - Both of the links you provided bring up this Business Profile for me: Dr. Atif Haque

The Business Profile links to a 404: Page Not Found | Baylor Scott & White Health

My first thought was that you should 1.) make sure that your landing page is well branded with his name (e.g. <title> tag) and 2.) make sure his name has been removed from the previous website, as much as possible. (Other external references connecting his name to the previous website might play a role as well.)

Number 1 is clearly an issue b/c of the broken URL in GMB. I'd start there!

 

[Jay_SEO]

@Jay_SEO - Both of the links you provided bring up this Business Profile for me: Dr. Atif Haque

The Business Profile links to a 404: Page Not Found | Baylor Scott & White Health

My first thought was that you should 1.) make sure that your landing page is well branded with his name (e.g. <title> tag) and 2.) make sure his name has been removed from the previous website, as much as possible. (Other external references connecting his name to the previous website might play a role as well.)

Number 1 is clearly an issue b/c of the broken URL in GMB. I'd start there!

Thanks, Stefan, I really appreciate the help. That's really odd about your #1 note regarding the broken link. It's definitely an active bio page link, and I just confirmed that it's linking to his bio page here: Atif Haque, MD

I wonder if something was going on with our main site when you clicked the "Website" link from Dr. Haque's GMB profile.

I'm attaching a screengrab of the SERP that's showing the old clinic associated with the "dr atif haque" search, for reference. I doubt we'll be able to remove mentions of him from their site, since they seem to be related to published papers that he's included in alongside some of their current physicians.

 

[Stefan Somborac]

Thanks, Stefan, I really appreciate the help. That's really odd about your #1 note regarding the broken link. It's definitely an active bio page link, and I just confirmed that it's linking to his bio page here: Atif Haque, MD

I wonder if something was going on with our main site when you clicked the "Website" link from Dr. Haque's GMB profile.

I'm attaching a screengrab of the SERP that's showing the old clinic associated with the "dr atif haque" search, for reference. I doubt we'll be able to remove mentions of him from their site, since they seem to be related to published papers that he's included in alongside some of their current physicians.

Hi @Jay_SEO

I don't see your screenshot. Maybe you forgot it? Maybe it was filtered out? (I don't actually know if this forum has automatic content filters.)

Not sure what happened with that URL. I was getting 404s at the time but it's working now.

On the other hand, I only see one Business Profile: Dr. Atif Haque

(This does raise the question "Why create a new profile instead of editing the existing one?" Of course, what's done is done.)

If you are still seeing the old Business Profile, try searching <Dr. Name> + <Old Clinic Name> (with quotation marks, like this: "dr atif haque" "Fort Worth Brain & Spine Institute"> to see if Google is getting confused by incorrect data on other listings.

E.g. https://www.md.com/doctor/atif-haque-md

 

[Jay_SEO]

Hi @Jay_SEO

I don't see your screenshot. Maybe you forgot it? Maybe it was filtered out? (I don't actually know if this forum has automatic content filters.)

Not sure what happened with that URL. I was getting 404s at the time but it's working now.

On the other hand, I only see one Business Profile: Dr. Atif Haque

(This does raise the question "Why create a new profile instead of editing the existing one?" Of course, what's done is done.)

If you are still seeing the old Business Profile, try searching <Dr. Name> + <Old Clinic Name> (with quotation marks, like this: "dr atif haque" "Fort Worth Brain & Spine Institute"> to see if Google is getting confused by incorrect data on other listings.

E.g. https://www.md.com/doctor/atif-haque-md

Perhaps the photos was filtered out for some reason. I did see some instances of his old clinic being listed on some various listing sites, so I'm working to get those updated. It's just odd to me that his accurate listing has appeared in SERPs for months, and now all of a sudden they're not. Thanks again for the advice.