Hello, I'm Dan Thies. I've been writing about, teaching, and practicing search engine optimization for over 12 years.
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Google Local Listings – How Could They Screw This Up?
Podiatrist Todd Schafer reached out to me for help with a vexing problem today… although he has gone through all the steps, and jumped through all the hoops, to correct the physical address Google displays for his business, Google just can't seem to get it together.
As you can see in his blog post for customers, Google shows an old address for his practice on search results. For example, if you search for Chino podiatrist, you get the old address displayed on the SERP, and an invitation to view that address on a map. If you click through a couple times to get to the map at maps.google.com, it still shows the wrong address.
Now, Google Maps has a feature (an Edit link with "NEW!" next to it) that's supposed to let you correct a bad address… Funny thing is, when I clicked on that link, Google instantly showed the new, correct address. So clearly, Google has the correct address stored in a database somewhere, but in spite of this they show the old address on SERPs.
Google clearly has at least two separate databases with business addresses, and going through the whole "postcard in the mail, call in, punch in the secret code" trip only fixes one of them.
Are you kidding me? All those computer scientists, and not one of them says "hey guys, shouldn't we have one record for local businesses?"
In researching this for Todd, I found that this and similar issues are affecting thousands of folks. I'm sorry Todd, I can't help you solve this, because you've done the right thing.
Now, Google needs to do the right thing. It's frickin' obvious, and people have been fighting this for a long time. Get it right, Google.
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Comments on Google Local Listings – How Could They Screw This Up?
since matt cutts is the only "public" voice for google.. maybe Todd should complain to him about it.
Just be patient, this kind of thing happens a lot. Google has multiple data centers, it takes a while for everything to sync up. Sometimes a long while.
I managed to resolve this for a client who had the same problem and was receiving complaints from customers.
I had to create a second google account and then add the incorrect details as they were showing. This way I was able to own those incorrect details. After about 2 days the correct website address was showing.
Prior to this I'd posted in the Google Maps group but hadn't gotten a response and noticed noone else's posts were being replied to either… what a waste of time.
We've seen the same issue and it's even more problematic for clients with multiple offices. We have a client with 50+ optical shop offices that is having a major problem getting all their addresses listed correctly.
Hi Dan and Team, I came across this site while searching Google for page #6 penalty. I am not sure if I should be posting this here or not. I know there has been a lot of speculation as to whether or not a position #6 penalty even exist. I can’t say for sure or even if I have been penalized. I have a well-established site that has been coming up in the SERPS on Google for the last two months. Two weeks ago I was fluctuation up and down on page 2 of Google.
Last week, my site bounced from the top of page 2 on Google to the bottom of page 1 all week long. What got me concerned, is that it kept bouncing to page 1 sometimes in position 6, 7 and 8 for the entire day and then it would bounce back to position 6 on page 2 in Google and stay there until the following day. Now, I seem to be stuck in position 6 on page 2 and I am not fluctuating at all. I don’t know if I have been hit with some sort of penalty or what. I would love to here your thoughts on it. I can post the link here if you want me to.