{"id":3939,"date":"2020-04-28T15:00:42","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T15:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpmudev.whitespark.ca\/google-my-business-duplicates\/"},"modified":"2024-10-28T16:05:18","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T22:05:18","slug":"google-my-business-duplicates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/google-my-business-duplicates\/","title":{"rendered":"How do you find and deal with duplicate Google listings?"},"content":{"rendered":"

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But on Google Maps, it is anything but flattering to find out your Google My Business listing has a doppelg\u00e4nger. A duplicate GMB listing can hurt your rankings and put your business listing at risk of suspension. Meanwhile, it\u2019s not uncommon to see your competitors spamming Google Maps by creating multiple listings for one business. So why do duplicates seem to help some businesses and hurt others? In this guide, we\u2019ll help you determine when you should remove a duplicate and when you should merge, and show you how! But first let\u2019s look at what a duplicate is, and how to see if your business has any harmful doppelg\u00e4ngers hanging around.<\/span><\/p>\n

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What is a Duplicate Listing? Why is it Harmful?<\/span><\/h2>\n

A duplicate GMB listing is an additional listing for a business or place that already has a listing. These listings can cause problems for business owners and users alike. Duplicate listings can divide ranking power and review counts, outrank or hide the owned listing, and cause confusion and distrust for search engines and searchers alike.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Where do Duplicate Listings Come From?<\/span><\/h2>\n

There are few possible sources for duplicate listings:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Added by a user (Likely unclaimed. Difficulty to remove: Easy)
    \n<\/b>Google Maps users can add missing places, including businesses they don\u2019t own and aren\u2019t affiliated with. When a new place is added manually by a user, Google should surface any existing listings that share the same name or address, but if it doesn’t make the connection, or if the user creates a new listing anyways, a duplicate is born.”<\/li>\n
  2. Forgotten listing or previously verified by the business (Likely claimed. Difficulty to remove: Medium) <\/b>
    \nIt\u2019s possible a business lost or forgot how to access their listing, or that a past marketer never gave them access to their listing and the business later created a new listing rather than trying to claim the old listing.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Automated with information scraped from other online sources (Likely unclaimed. Difficulty to remove: Easy)<\/b>
    \nSome GMB listings are created automatically as Google detects unintended variations in business information in <\/span>sources that provide business information to Google<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Spam created by a business against Google My Business guidelines (Likely Claimed. Difficulty to remove: Hard) <\/b>
    \nBusinesses not following Google My Business guidelines may create multiple listings with keyword-stuffed business names or unique categories to increase their reach.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Need expert help managing your Google Business Profile and local SEO? With Whitespark on your team you never have to worry about a rogue duplicate listing causing trouble for you. Learn more about how we can help you manage your local SEO<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

    How to Find Duplicate Listings<\/span><\/h2>\n

    Finding a duplicate listing comes down to three major identifiers: <\/span>N<\/b>ame, <\/span>A<\/b>ddress, and <\/span>P<\/b>hone number (NAP) and all their possible <\/span>variations<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>
    \n<\/b><\/p>\n

    Name<\/b>
    \nA business\u2019s name is one of the most important identifiers. Lucky for us <\/span>    spam-fighters<\/span><\/a>, we can use that to our advantage. To find duplicate listings, search for the business name on Google Search and see if multiple listings populate. If so, look in Maps to see where these listings are located and determine if they are duplicates. In order to stay under Google\u2019s eye, duplicate listings will add keywords or mix up their business name to not be detected.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Find out the businesses registered name by looking for signage in street view, visiting their website and assessing their logo, or searching for them in a local directory or <\/span>Secretary of State business entity search<\/span><\/a> (U.S. only).<\/span><\/p>\n

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    Address<\/b>
    \nWe have found that businesses will frequently hide under the radar from Google\u2019s spam detection by forgoing adding a suite number that they have on their other listing, moving their map pin, or simply creating a second listing as a Service Area Business. Make sure to look into these inconsistencies:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n