Google has yet again changed the look to their Business Page. So, when you first log in everything looks the same.
However, when you go to “Edit” that’s when you’ll see something different.
As you can see they removed the Description and some other options. The look and feel gives it a simplicity feeling. Google seems to be wanting to just get down to the raw facts about the Business and not have excess that’s unneeded.
As an SEO Company we’re always coming across issues with legitimate businesses that have problems either verifying or making certain changes. We always advise that people play by Google’s Guidelines. We do have an advantage at times because we can call Google and work with a representative, however at times that can get frustrating and take longer than expected.
Below are some very important Guidelines that we abide by so that it doesn’t damage any SEO Work.
Google Guidelines:
- Always use a correct address to describe your business location. PO Boxes, UPS Mailing Addresses, and Virtual Offices are not acceptable or ideal. Why? People overused and abused using the PO Boxes and UPS Addresses and tried cheating the system. Virtual Offices became a quit fad because it was expensive and Google has been known to do check ups. We had a client that said someone called him pretending to be a potential customer and it turned out to be Google checking on him. Let’s always have this on mind: Google is not dumb. You may be saying, “I know someone that’s getting away with this.” And yes maybe someone is but will that person get away with it forever? Probably not.
- Use a Local Phone Number. This gives you more credibility that you are where you say you are.
- Business Hours should be done correctly. It’s another additional thing that adds trust to your business.
- Categories should be kept at a few. I’ve seen people have 10 different Categories and it’s not going to make you rank for all those keywords. Lots of Categories can look odd to Google.
You can View more information on Google’s site: Guidelines for Representing your Business
The simple fact is we’ve been doing SEO for years and we’ve all seen how Google has gotten more efficient at picking out the companies trying to cheat the system. I have a feeling that over the years this will only get more advanced and eventually a real person maybe coming to your Business to see how “legit” you really are.