Having a business listed on Google My Business (GMB) is essential for any business that wants to be found online. GMB is a free tool that allows businesses to manage their online presence across Google, including Search and Maps. It helps customers find your business, and it also provides valuable insights into how customers interact with your business.
Unfortunately, duplicate listings can occur on GMB, which can lead to confusion for customers and make it difficult for businesses to manage their online presence. In this article, we’ll discuss what duplicate listings are and how you can resolve them on GMB.
What Are Duplicate Listings?
Duplicate listings are two or more listings of the same business on GMB. This can happen if someone creates a listing for your business without your knowledge or if you create multiple listings for the same location. Duplicate listings can also occur if someone creates a listing for a different location of your business but uses the same name as an existing listing.
Why Are Duplicate Listings Bad?
Duplicate listings can be confusing for customers who are trying to find your business online. They may not know which listing is correct or up-to-date, so they may end up going to the wrong location or calling the wrong number. Additionally, duplicate listings can make it difficult for businesses to manage their online presence because they have to keep track of multiple listings instead of just one.
How Can I Resolve Duplicate Listings?
If you find that there are duplicate listings of your business on GMB, there are several steps you can take to resolve them:
1. Claim Your Listing: The first step is to claim any unclaimed listing by verifying ownership through Google’s verification process. This will give you control over all of the information associated with the listing and allow you to make changes as needed.
2. Merge Your Listings: Once you have claimed all of the relevant listings, you can merge them into one single listing by using Google’s “Merge Duplicates” feature in GMB. This will combine all of the information from each listing into one unified profile so that customers will only see one version when searching for your business online.
3. Update Your Information: After merging your duplicate listings, make sure that all of the information associated with your profile is accurate and up-to-date so that customers have access to accurate information about your business when searching online. This includes things like address, phone number, website URL, hours of operation, etc., so make sure everything is correct before submitting any changes in GMB.
4. Monitor Your Listing: Finally, once everything has been updated and merged into one single profile, it’s important to monitor it regularly in order to ensure that no new duplicates appear in GMB or other search engines like Bing or Yahoo! You should also check periodically for any incorrect information associated with your profile so that you can update it as needed in order to provide customers with accurate information about your business at all times.
Conclusion
Resolving duplicate listings on Google My Business is essential for businesses who want their online presence managed correctly and accurately represented across search engines like Google Search and Maps. By following these steps – claiming unclaimed listings, merging duplicates into one single profile, updating information regularly – businesses can ensure that their profiles are accurate and up-to-date so that customers have access to correct information when searching online for their products or services