Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Can I request removal of a duplicate competitor Google Business listing?
-
I have a local competitor that is boggling me with his local pack rankings. For certain keyword phrases, he is ranking in multiple local 3 pack spots. The thing is, he only has one business location.
So basically he has two different Google maps listings for the same business location ranking in the local pack. The NAP information is different for both listings except for the physical address. I can't understand for the life of me how this is actually helping him instead of hurting him....
My client has way more citations. A decent blog with solid content. An SEO optimized mobile website (compeititor website is not mobile ready). Etc.....
Don't get me wrong, my client is doing really well and is ranking top 3 in his area for nearly 30 industry related keyword phrases. I guess that is part of the reason I'm so boggled. Can anyone provide any insight? Can I bring this up to Google and have them remove the duplicate listing somehow? I'm literally sitting #4 in the local pack for some valuable keywords, and the only reason I'm not #3 or higher is because the same physical business location is taking up two of the spots. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
-
Super! So glad it helped. Spammers beware!
-
Thank you Miriam! Fortunately I was able to speak with a representative from Google about the situation, and the made the same exact recommendation that you did.
Really appreciate the help and link!
-
Hi Richard,
Sounds like good old spam to me, from your description. Definitely report it. This should help:
http://imprezziomarketing.com/seo-blog/google-maps/new-way-to-report-issues-on-google-my-business/
-
Yeah, kinda figured I was going to be on the short end of the stick on this one. I'm really hoping someone with some successful experiences removing duplicate competitor listings can assist me. I mean it's kinda crazy. The competitor website is seriously lacking, but somehow seems to cling in the local pack somehow.
-
I know it's frustrating, we have come across lots of listings like this in the past. About the only thing you can do is flag the listing and explain that it's a duplicate listing. You might have several people using different Google accounts flag the listing, as well.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Adding Multiple Country Locations for Google Business Listings
Hi Moz community, I hope everyone is well. I would like to ask for your advice on how to show a Google Business listing in both the UK and US for our brand. I understand that you can add multiple locations to your Google listing under the 'Manage Locations' tab but I wasn't quite sure how it worked in practice. I have a couple of questions below: If we have 2 registered locations/offices (one in the UK and one in the US) are we able to create 2 separate locations that will show our business listing correctly in the right-hand margin when people search for our brand in the US and UK respectively? If so, when a user finds our business listing in the US, are we able to serve them our US website version when they click the 'Website' button, as opposed to showing them our UK website? Our US website has been created as a sub-directory from our main UK site and can be seen as: www.example.com/us/ I hope someone is able to help, and thank you in advance.
Local Listings | | Katarina-Borovska
Katarina0 -
Does Google prioritise local domains?
I'm in Australia targeting Australian traffic. I often see US domains in the Google SERPS and wonder if that indicates an opportunity for local (Australian) domains to rank?
Local Listings | | Lazeh0 -
How to Remove Old Photos from Bing Maps (Yelp is Involved)
Hi All, We have a client with a Bing Maps listing with old photos on it that we can't seem to remove. The photos are being populated from other sites like Yelp. The kicker is, we didn't upload the photos to Yelp, a user did. We've messaged the user to please remove the photos and they haven't responded. Now Yelp won't let us contact the user again and we've already flagged the photos on Yelp weeks ago but they haven't been removed. We don't see a spot to flag them on Bing. Do you have any recommendations for how to remove these?
Local Listings | | ReunionMarketing1 -
Seasonal Setting Options for Google My Business
Hi there, Not sure if anyone will have any insight but I have a seasonal business that I am closed for from September to March. I don't want to mark my business as "permanently closed" through Google My Business as I don't want my customers to think I've gone out of business. I've seen a few times through forums that you can change your business to temporarily closed, but I can't find the specifics on how to do this. Any insight, suggestion or resources would be great! Thanks!
Local Listings | | MainstreamMktg1 -
Radius Size around GMB location for google local search
We are a digital marketing agency Our clients are (virtually all) retail automotive dealerships. We compete in various market places coast to coast (USA). Since Google puts retail automotive dealerships under Local SEO umbrella, is it known ( published ) how large is the radius around my client's Google My Business rooftop's address? How wide is their search 'reach' according to Google? Asked another way, in a triangular, three SEO geo area, with one city being at the epicenter of the population dispersion, and my client, versus my client's competitors being different distances from where the majority of the population emanates from, all other SERP factors being equal (assumption) between the two competitors, how far is each clients REACH from a Local Search standpoint. Is this known? Published by Google. ONE example: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/BMW+of+South+Albany,+U.S.+9W,+Glenmont,+NY/42.7662693,-73.8138088/@42.6727121,-73.7993527,12z/data=!4m9!4m8!1m5!1m1!1s0x89dde0fe8829c405:0xd915fb9b3b60bf33!2m2!1d-73.7973301!2d42.589211!1m0!3e0
Local Listings | | GaryT_SEO1 -
Disadvantages to Hiding Business Address on Google Places?
From a Local SEO standpoint, wouldn't hiding a business address on Google Places for Business create an SEO disadvantage in that I would expect in the local portion of the search results, there would be a bias to showing businesses that have not hidden their address as then you can place a pin on the map at the location? Or from a Local SEO standpoint does it not matter if you hide your address or not?
Local Listings | | Jazee1 -
Benefits of a verified listing vs. unverified
Is there any additional benefit to claiming a business listing other than locking it from being edited? It would seem to me that as long as the business information is consistent and crawlable, the SEO value would be the same right?
Local Listings | | GSO0 -
Competitor outranking me on google with their yelp, facebook and youtube pages
I'm working to rank for a local search term (my city wedding photographers). I'm frustrated that my competitor is outranking me not with their website (they are no. #9 and I'm #6) but with their Yelp account (#1) Facebook Account (#5) and Youtube account (#7 - not outranking me, but right below me). I'm going to continue working on my SEO to hopefully get higher up, but even then, they are basically dominating page 1 with their links. It gets worse on page 2. They are showing up 5 times for youtube/vimeo videos, and 1 time with a spammy landing page with no images, full of keyword anchored links to their main site. What gives? Since when are social media profiles outranking local sites on google organic searches? Could it be that our keyword is just so low competition that google has allowed all this stuff to rank so highly?
Local Listings | | studio35design0