Dealing with Multiple Listings for One Business Inside Google Maps
Google obtains its initial data for business listings from multiple sources and this sometimes leads to duplications of listings for the same business. Often it may be due to a different phone number, street address, or slightly different name of the business in one or more other data set. A phone number may be wrong in one source, or perhaps the business changed locations and one of the data providers still had the old info.
Google does try to consolidate duplicated listings, but many still slip through the cracks. This can cause difficulties and frustrations for business owners attempting to claim their listings. Especially when they attempt to claim the duplicates too. Here are some guidelines to follow.
First Claim the Most Relevant Listing
If you find there are duplicates for your business in Google Maps you first want to determine which is the most relevant one you would like to be the true representation for your business. It is not necessarily the one with the correct info (you can always edit that after). You'll want to choose the one that has the most "references" and other trust factors.
For each business listing in Google Maps there are other sources of information that become associated with that listing. If you click the "more info" link on your listing(s) you will see tabs for things like Reviews, User Content, and Web Pages. Google uses these things as added trust signals about your business and is part of the maps optimization process. When you have multiple listings showing you'll want to first claim the one that has the most references for those kinds of things.
Go through the process of claiming your business listing on that most relevant listing. You can later edit your contact info, if need be, as well as add more information like categories, hours of operation, payment methods, upload images and videos, etc. This listing will now become your primary listing.
Do Not Delete the Other Listings
You should definitely go ahead and claim the other duplicates but once inside your LBC account DO NOT try to delete them. At least not yet. As they are tied to the same account, and much of the information in those listings is similar to your main listing, trying to delete one of them may disable all your listings. The original data source Google used to create the duplicated listing likely still exists so deleting it ends up putting it right back into the system where it needs to be claimed again.
Instead, edit all the contact info to be identical to your main listing. Do not add extra info like descriptions, categories, etc. Just strip them down to a basic listing with the same address and phone number as your main listing. Google has been slowly merging duplicates into one when the contact info is the same. So make your duplicates the same and wait for a merge to happen. Your main listing with the most trust factors will, in most cases, rank higher than the duplicates. User reviews and user generated content that gets created will most likely accumulate in your main listing. As Google gets better at merging duplicates the problem will take care of itself.
Update Major Data Sources
Because Google creates listings using data from various directories like yellow pages websites you'll need to clean up the bad data that is floating about the internet. Use the web pages links that appear for your listings to view those sites and check for which ones have wrong phone numbers or street addresses. You can also do a google search of your business name with the wrong phone number or address that had appeared in your bad Maps listings. This might help you spot more of them. Where you can, update the info on those sites.
Most of the third party data providers rely on UBL data (Universal Business Listings). It is a very wise investment to pay the $30 fee at UBL and update your information there. There is a wide number of business directories that use this data and it's the easiest way to ensure your business information is up to date across a wide range of data providers. UBL data is used by Google Maps, Yahoo Local, MSN Live, AOL Local, Ask City, Map Quest, Yellow Pages, SuperPages, Citysearch, Insiderpages, Yelp, Merchant Circle, Kudzu, Dex, and others.
Updating your information through UBL may also assist Google with merging your duplicate listings, so well worth doing.
Wait a Few Weeks & Delete the Duplicate Listings
With all data now consistant in the Maps listings and across the other many data sources, and your duplicate listings no longer appear in Maps for searches for your business, you can safely assume they have been merged. Now you may delete those extra listings from your account.
For much briefer description of the merging process, from the mouth of Google, read this.
