What’s this about?
This is an extract from TWIS SEO Update 9th June 2017.
You can read actionable insights into the ways of Fixing Google My Business Listings in this post. If you would like to discuss ways these insights and local SEO listings fixes could impact your web business, please feel free to contact me.
#SEO #LocalSEO #GoogleMyBusiness
Fixing Google My Business Listings
Summary:
- Long and decent article from Moz about fixing various Google My Business listings issues.
- Google My Business is a SNAFU when it comes to modifying, rectifying or tweaking issues.
- Great care, and detailed steps are needed to fix these issues, and even then it is a whim of Google to fix.
Credit: Moz
How to Fix Google My Business Listings:
- Read the article from Moz.
- Take notes and hope you don’t have to implement any of the steps.
- Remember that a lot of patience is needed to modify GMB listings – it takes time and results can be capricious.
- Often, existing Google relationships can be leveraged to get results, but even then, outcomes can be very patchy.
- Don’t spam your Google My Business listings.
- Contact me if you would assistance updating or modifying Google My Business listings..
Discussion:
Ah, Google My Business, formerly Google Places, Google Local, Google + Places and whatever odd combinations of local / business and places Google came up with in its madder moments.
This is one of Google’s biggest search functions with up to 1/3 of search being defined as having local intent, and of course it is heavily searched on mobile. But, its systems and management are one of the biggest sources of frustration and disappointment available on the internet today, second only to whichever clickbait headline you’ve most recently clicked.
For a company whose key competitive advantage is the indexing, ordering and retrieval of information, Google My Business is such a let down. Its methodologies are arcane, tricky and more often than not, unrewarding. Of course, it is a free product, so you get what you pay for, but considering the sheer volume of search and the sheer volume of businesses who want accurate and up-to-date information displayed, you would hope that Google with all its power could engineer a proper fix. Instead, you have what is obviously a bureaucratic and programming nightmare, where systems have been built upon systems and tweaks have been rolled out to individual sections, but not all. Realistically, Google My Business needs a ground-up rewrite, but I don’t see that happening any time soon. In the meantime, submit those changes and…wait.
More info:
The State of SEO Mid-2017 Released
TL;DR
- Read The State of SEO in mid-2017.
- Google My Business listings are tricky to fix.
- Follow the instructions, and wait.
Thanks for reading. If you would like to discuss what these changes mean for your web property, or would like to know how to implement them, please feel free to contact me.
