More threads by Linda Buquet

Linda Buquet

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Just had an interesting problem that I bet comes up more often than we realize. Wanted to warn you guys to look for this issue if you have someone complaining they dropped out of blended or a dupe displaced the main listing.

Dentist with 2 listings. Practice listing and Dr dupe, which as we know Google won't remove.

RANK: #2. But it's the bare unclaimed Dr listing that ranks, not the gorgeous, fully maxed out and even VERIFIED/MERGED G+ page that has 16 wonderful Google reviews and 304 Demand Force reviews.

Search maps and here are the 2 listings.

RANKS #2 - Dr Name, address, phone and display URL website.com
(Unclaimed, blank, no reviews)

MISSING - Practice Name, address, phone and display URL website.com
(Claimed, merged, verified with 16 reviews)

So I minimize the Dr dupe per my instructions in this post and am waiting for the "edit details" edits to get approved in maps.

BUT I was totally puzzled. Why does Google like this unclaimed Dr listing more than the claimed and VERIFIED practice listing. Both have correct NAP. Why did Google dump the practice listing in favor of the Dr listing?

Then I move on to investigate why their precious 304 Demand Force reviews are not showing up on the Practice G+ L page.

Google had dropped suite off the G+ L page and suite was ON the DF page so NAP was slightly off. But I didn't think that would be enough to break the sync.

THEN I clicked the link the site from DF and noticed it went to http:// website.com (NO www).

I had not noticed before the site does not use WWW and if you try to go their WITH WWW it redirects to the NO WWW version of the home page. So at 1st I thought the DF link was wrong.

THEN I clicked the link from the G+ L page and it also went to http:// website.com (NO www).

BUT THEN I hovered over both the links on the 2 G+ L pages.

The unclaimed Dr Dupe went to the proper version of the home page: NO WWW.
The claimed practice listing went to the wrong version of home WITH WWW.

So not only was the practice G+ L listing linking to the wrong home page, when it hit the page there was also a redirect and Google does not like re-directs.

But again when you view the listings on map search, what displays is just website.com. When you look at the G+ L page, the URL that displays is also website.com. I had to mouse over to see that one listing had a WWW in it and I think that's in part what threw Google for a loop.

Checked the Places dash and the URL was correct there. (No WWW). Then checked the G+ interface and that's where the URL was entered with the WWW. (NOTE: I did not do any of their optimization or create the G+ page, was just consulting after the fact to fix the problem.)

Still waiting for this all to shake out. I think once Maps makes my edits to the Dr listing and then G updates to pick up the corrected URL this listing will be fixed and the practice listing will be back in the pack. Then I'll do the on-site SEO and hopefully move them up from #2 to #1.
 
Just had an interesting problem that I bet comes up more often than we realize. Wanted to warn you guys to look for this issue if you have someone complaining they dropped out of blended or a dupe displaced the main listing.

Dentist with 2 listings. Practice listing and Dr dupe, which as we know Google won't remove.

RANK: #2. But it's the bare unclaimed Dr listing that ranks, not the gorgeous, fully maxed out and even VERIFIED/MERGED G+ page that has 16 wonderful Google reviews and 304 Demand Force reviews.

Search maps and here are the 2 listings.

RANKS #2 - Dr Name, address, phone and display URL website.com
(Unclaimed, blank, no reviews)

MISSING - Practice Name, address, phone and display URL website.com
(Claimed, merged, verified with 16 reviews)

So I minimize the Dr dupe per my instructions in this post and am waiting for the "edit details" edits to get approved in maps.

BUT I'm totally puzzled. Why does Google like this unclaimed Dr listing more than the claimed and VERIFIED practice listing. Both have correct NAP. Why did Google dump the practice listing in favor of the Dr listing?

Then I move on to investigate why their precious 304 Demand Force reviews are not showing up on the Practice G+ L page.

Google had dropped suite off the G+ L page and suite was ON the DF page so NAP was slightly off. But I didn't think that would be enough to break the sync.

THEN I clicked the link the site from DF and noticed it went to http:// website.com (NO www).

I had not noticed before the site does not use WWW and if you try to go their WITH WWW it redirects to the NO WWW version of the home page. So at 1st I thought the DF link was wrong.

THEN I clicked the link from the G+ L page and it also went to http:// website.com (NO www).

BUT THEN I hovered over both the links on the 2 G+ L pages.

The unclaimed Dr Dupe went to the proper version of the home page: NO WWW.
The claimed practice listing went to the wrong version of home WITH WWW.

So not only was the practice G+ L listing linking to the wrong home page, when it hit the page there was also a redirect and Google does not like re-directs.

But again when you view the listings on map search, what displays is just website.com. When you look at the G+ L page, the URL that displays is also website.com. I had to mouse over to see that one listing had a WWW in it and I think that's in part what threw Google for a loop.

Checked the Places dash and the URL was correct there. (No WWW). Then checked the G+ interface and that's where the URL was entered with the WWW. (NOTE: I did not do any of their optimization or create the G+ page, was just consulting after the fact to fix the problem.)

Still waiting for this all to shake out. I think once Maps makes my edits to the Dr listing and then G updates to pick up the corrected URL this listing will be fixed and the practice listing will be back in the pack. Then I'll do the on-site SEO and hopefully move them up from #2 to #1.
The pesky www! Good catch. I can review your edits if they're still pending should you desire.
 
Thanks Andrew. Last I checked they still were not showing up in MM even though I got emails from Google saying thanks for the edits. Just got home. Will check again in a bit if I don't conk out 1st.

Really appreciate the offer!
 
Andrew rocks SOOOOO hard!

The problem is FIXED and the practice listing now ranks instead of the bare unclaimed Dr. listing. I tweaked some problems on the Practice G+ page today too, but I'm sure it was Andrew's help on the edits to the unclaimed Dr dupe per my recommendations in this post, that did the trick.

And it was an almost INSTANT FIX! The beautiful claimed Practice listing, with all the nice reviews popped right into the #2 spot where it belongs, right after Andrew's edits got approved.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

If you guys need MM help, Andrew is the man! :)
 

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