GOOGLE TESTING NEW LOCAL PACK IN SAN DIEGO WITH ROLLOUT OF ADVANCED VERIFICATION

In early October, Google announced a new test for service area businesses that offered direct consumer contact and exhibited lots of spam (ie locksmiths, plumbers etc) that involved an advanced verification process. The advanced verification process is similar to, although less rigorous than the vetting process involved with the Home Service Ads that were showing in the Bay Area. Along with this Advanced Verification test, Google announced that any plumber or locksmiths in San Diego that did not Advance Verify or did not meet the standard would be pulled from the index sometime after November 10th.

What Google didn’t announce but that has now become obvious from this screen shot provided by Joy Hawkins on Twitter is that were will also be a new local display unit, the Home Services Pack, that highlights SABs that have done through this more rigorous vetting.

The Home Service Pack lists just Advanced Verified local businesses and displays them with a check mark to signify the higher level of verification. And it appears that the unit can appear in addition to the Local Pack which shows store front businesses.

Since this has yet to really role out and seems to still be only occasionally visible we are not yet sure how many previously listed SAB Plumbers and locksmiths will be removed.

Test your site with Google and see how it works across devices

Did you know that nine out of ten people will leave a mobile website if they can’t find what they’re looking for right away?1 Now, think about your business’s site. Does it perform quickly on both laptops and smartphones? If not, you’re probably losing customers while the pages slowly load. But if you’re not sure how to make it run more smoothly, don’t worry – we’re here to help.

Today we’re introducing an easy way to measure your site’s performance across devices—from mobile to desktop—and give you a list of specific fixes that can help your business connect more quickly with people online.

You don’t need a lot of technical knowledge to understand your site’s performance. Just type in your web address and within moments you’ll see how your site scores. You can also get a detailed report to give you an idea of what to do next, and where to go for help at no charge. We recommend sharing it with your webmaster to help you plan your next steps and implement our suggested fixes.

Why you should test your site

Your customers live online. When they need information or want to find a nearby store or product, they grab the nearest device. On average, people check their phones more than 150 times a day,2 and more searches occur on mobile phones than computers.3 But if a potential customer is on a phone, and a site isn’t easy to use, they’re five times more likely to leave.4

To avoid losing out in these crucial moments, you need a site that loads quickly and is easy to use on mobile screens. The first step is seeing how your site is performing. We can help by scoring your site for mobile-friendliness, mobile speed, and desktop speed. Plus, it’s easy to share these scores. (By the way, if you’re a site guru, you may also want to visit PageSpeed Insights, which is the power behind the scores.)

What your scores say about your site

• Mobile-friendliness: This is the quality of the experience customers have when they’re browsing your site on their phones. To be mobile-friendly, your site should have tappable buttons, be easy to navigate from a small screen, and have the most important information up front and center.
• Mobile speed: This is how long it takes your site to load on mobile devices. If customers are kept waiting for too long, they’ll move on to the next site.
• Desktop speed: This is how long it takes your site to load on desktop computers. It’s not just the strength of your customers’ web connection that determines speed, but also the elements of your website.

Test your site and find out what’s working, what’s not, and which fixes to consider.

The world’s gone mobile. Now, it’s your turn.

Originally Posted by Yong Su Kim, VP SMB Sales Americas

How To Deal with Duplicates Listing in Google My Business

There are so many different scenarios that could exist in the Google My Business (GMB) world when it comes to duplicate listings. The approach you take with them could mean the difference between ranking and not ranking on Google Map Results.

Before doing anything listed below, always make sure you check both listings to see if there are reviews that need to be moved.

Listings for Businesses at Physical Locations (Have Storefronts):

2 Listings for the same business at the same address

• If they are both verified, you will first need to Contact Google My Business (GMB) to get ownership of both before they can be merged. The GMB team will have to merge the 2 for you.
• If only one is verified, go into MapMaker and get the URL for both the verified and the unverified one and write them down (save this somewhere). Go to the unverified listing and click the little drop-down beside the title and select “report this”. For the reason, select “Duplicate Exists” and in the remarks section, clarify that there is a verified duplicate that exists for the business and include a link to the verified listing.

2 Listings for the same business at different addresses

• If the incorrect address is an old address of the business (they were there at some point in time)
• Contact Google My Business through Twitter Support (@googlemybiz) and ask them to mark the old listing as moved.
• If the incorrect address is one that the business has never existed at, go into MapMaker and select “delete this” and then “place does not exist”.

Listings for Service Area Businesses (SAB)s Without Storefronts:

2 Listings for the same business at the same address or different addresses

• If they are both verified, you will first need to contact Google My Business (GMB) to get ownership of both before they can be merged. The GMB team will have to merge the 2 for you.
• If only one is verified, go into MapMaker and pull up the unverified listing. The verified one shouldn’t show up in MapMaker if the address is properly hidden. Go to the unverified listing and click the little drop-down beside the title and select “delete this”. For the reason, select “place does not exist” and clarify that this is a service area business and they are not permitted to be listed on the map.

*Important Note: Unverified listings for SABs should never be marked closed, they should always be deleted.

Listings for Professionals/Practitioners

• Public-Facing professionals (doctors, lawyers, dentists, realtors etc) are allowed their own listings separate from the office they work for unless they are the only public-facing professional at that office. In that case, there should only be one listing formatted as “Business Name: Professional Name”
• If you find an unverified listing for a public-facing professional who no longer works at your location but did at some point, contact GMB support and ask them to mark the listing for the professional that no longer works there as moved to the practice listing. In order to accomplish this, the practitioner listing *must* be unverified. If it’s currently verified you need to get access to it first and delete it from your Google My Business dashboard to make it unverified. For more details on why it absolutely must be done this way, read my case study here.
• If a listing exists for an employee who is not public-facing (ex: a hygienist, nurse, or paralegal) or someone who never worked at that address, you should go into MapMaker and select “delete this” and then “other”. In the notes explain why you are deleting it so the person reviewing it can verify the information.

Did I miss any scenarios you have come across? Tell me about it in the comments.

Originally Posted at joyannehawkins.com