Accurately, in the world where competition is high and everyone is trying hard to capture a viewer’s attention, it is crucial to manage your business’s online presence. Among these, the most useful tool is Google My Business, which enables businesses to control how they will be represented in the local searches and Google Maps. However, one of the problems that might reduce your business’s prominence in the search results is the presence of multiple listings in Google My Business.
This impacts the customer since it creates confusion and at the same time, it affects the local SEO ranking since it is not good for your business to have several listings in the same category. In this complete tutorial, we will learn about appropriate measures to follow in cases of Google My Business duplicate listings and how not to let them undermine your business’s performance online. As the best digital marketing company operating out of India, we specialize in Google My Business optimization, and here is what you need to know about it.
What Are Google My Business Duplicate Listings?
Duplicate Listing means there are two or more GMB listings from the same entity that signify the same business or are at a similar physical location. These duplicates may occur unintentionally due to a variety of reasons, such as:
- A business owner is using the previous address even after having shifted to a new location.
- Have more than one person managing the same business premise and then come up with more than one listing.
- Claiming the wrong listing instead of using an existing one through a random search.
- Such discrepancies make Google automatically generate listings.
Although duplications might not appear dangerous initially, they are extremely dangerous because they weaken your Google My Business listing, create confusion to prospective clients, and… adverse SEO outcomes.
Why are duplicate listings a problem?
Duplicate listings pose several challenges for businesses, especially those looking to maximize their local SEO efforts:
- Confusion for Customers: In situations where there are many listings of the same business, the customers may end up being inconvenienced by two many options and ending up selecting the wrong one. This means that there could be missed opportunities especially in cases whereby one list is outdated or invalid.
- Negative Impact on SEO: Duplicate listings can actually be unhealthy for your local SEO plans. This may cause Google to share the ranking authority between the two listings and therefore poorly rank both listings.
- Inconsistent Information: Customers do not obtain updated business information such as address, phone number and business hours, and this can cause confusion to google algorithms as they deal with duplicate listings that may contain wrong details.
- Difficulty in Managing Reviews: The locations of reviews are such that customers find it hard to have a comprehensive view of your business.
Identifying and managing Google My Business duplicities helps to strengthen the availability of your business’s data set, maintain data coherence and enhance its relevance for search operations.
How to Identify Duplicate Listings
First things first, it’s crucial to figure out which of your Google My Business listings are actually duplicates. Here’s how you can spot them:Here’s how you can spot them:
- Google Search: The first step that you should take is to use the search bar in Google and type your business name and address. If there are more than one listing in the result, you should be careful, as there might be a case of duplication.
- Google Maps: First open Google Maps and then type the address of your business place. These probably still exist here, particularly if your business, which is located in a physical structure, has had one or more owners or is located in different structures.
- Google My Business Dashboard: To begin with, log in to Google My Business and look for multiple profiles that are present under the same business name or location.
- Third-party Tools: Sheet 7 There are other third-party softwares like BrightLocal or Moz Local that can assist you to search for duplicate listings and remedy the problem across multiple platforms like Google My Business.
By performing your search in this way, you can easily pinpoint all instances of multiple listings for your specific business.
How to Handle Google My Business Duplicate Listings
Once I’ve found the duplicates I have to do something about it and write down the next steps. Here are the steps to handle Google My Business duplicate listings effectively:
1. Claim the Duplicate Listing
If you come across a duplicate listing that isn’t claimed, the first thing is to claim the page. This will give you control of a listing as well as enable you to perform other actions such as merging or deleting it.
How to Claim:
- Barr look for the duplicate listing on Google.
- Go to ‘Own this business?’ and complete the steps if you want to confirm your ownership of the business.
You happen to be then going to be able to take care of the listing through your Google My Business account.
2. Remove or Merge Duplicate Listings
Once you have completed the steps above and have successfully claimed the duplicate, the next thing that you should do is to choose between unlinking and linking the duplicate to your main listing.
- Merge Listings: If the duplicate listing holds good reviews or some business information, then it is better to merge the listing with the primary one. It also sees to it that all the information regarding a business and the reviews it has are integrated into an authentic one.
How to Merge: The two listings have to be merged and for this, the user has to get in touch with the Google My Business support. Before merging, it is possible to come across a verification by Google.
- Remove Listings: If the duplicate listing is actually one that does not contain useful information or is an unneeded listing, then it is best to delete the entry. It is also cropped up, you may suggest Google to delete the listing by reporting it more often this is a duplicate one.
How to Remove:
- Sign in to Google My Business.
- Select the listing you want to remove.
- Click on “Mark as Duplicate” under the “Info” tab.
This will prompt Google to know that the listing in question is a duplicate and they will proceed to have it removed.
3. Contact Google My Business Support
If you face any issues while merging or removing duplicate listing, or if you think that a problem exists that requires a manual intervention, then you should reach out to Google My Business Help. They can assist you with complicated double questions as well as keep your major list real.
4. Monitor for Future Duplicates
After you’ve dealt with the existing duplicates, you should continue to keep an eye on your Google My Business profile, so that no new duplicates appear. Apply the same approach to perform duplicate checks from time to time, preferably after enhancing the business data, for instance, business change of address or altering the name of the business operation.
With the help of our Google My Business Management services at Device Doctor India, we make sure that such duplicate listings are detected and eliminated quickly and your listings remain favored by the local search.
This video shows how one can avoid listing the same product more than once on online selling platforms for sale.
It is the best practice not to allow duplicate listings to appear in the first place. Here are some preventive measures to avoid duplicate listings on Google My Business:Here are some preventive measures to avoid duplicate listings on Google
How to Prevent Duplicate Listings
The best way to handle duplicate listings is to prevent them from occurring in the first place. Here are some preventive measures to avoid duplicate listings on Google My Business:
1. Claim and Verify Your Listings Early
It is imperative that you own the account and verify the Google My Business listing as soon as possible. This helps to avoid generation of scammers or multiple listings by other users or data collecting agents. This is best done as soon as you open a new location or department; it will actually allow you to claim the listing and control the business’s online identity.
2. Keep Your Information Up-to-Date
If there are changes to your business details in the future, make sure to update your page as soon as possible especially when the changes involve business location, phone number and business operating hours. This problem means that if one uses outdated information, they could cause Google to develop automatic duplicate listings.
3. Avoid Creating Multiple Listings for the Same Location
But it is advisable to produce only a singular account in Google My Business for each location irrespective of the variety of services. It is advisable not to make multiple listings each to represent the services that it offers, but to use the Google My Business categories. This will eliminate any form of duplicate that may not be necessary to the system.
4. Regularly Audit Your Online Presence
It is also important to carry out periodic Google My Business, and other online profile check. Review for consistencies in information and take necessary action to merge data so that there won’t be an instance of creating multiple identities.
5. Work with a Professional Digital Marketing Company
Last but not the least; hiring the services of an experienced digital marketing firm such as the Device Doctor India– the leading digital marketing firm can assist in managing your Google My Business profile effectively. GMB management services are available, in order to help manage your business’s online listings, coordinate the prevention of duplicate listings, and help to manage your business’s SEO output.
The Impact of Duplicate Listings on Local SEO
It will be seen that duplicate listings can be very detrimental for the performance of local SEOs. Google prefers business listing which provide an easy, convenient and accurate information regarding the business. When you have different locations for your business with various info on them, you confuse Google and they rank low in local search engines.
Here’s how duplicate listings affect local SEO:
- Diluted SEO Authority: This may reduce the probability of your primary listing awareness since Google might split the so called ‘ranking power’ between the two.
- Lower Search Rankings: Sometimes there may be several listings established with wrong or conflicting data for your business, which certainly would reflect negatively on your local SEO rankings.
- Inconsistent NAP: This is especially important because duplicate listings usually contain different NAP information, such as name, and phone number, which wriggles Google’s algorithms and makes your business less reliable when its listings appear in the search results.
If you do not deal with these duplicate listings properly, then these can yield such adverse effects, and your business’s localized SEO positioning will not be as solid as well.
Conclusion
Any business that requires local consumers to find it would benefit from excellent GMB profile optimization for its benefit in serving such clientèle in a specific geographical location. They harm your business’s SEO ambitions, which is already a reason why you shouldn’t have them, plus can cause confusion to customers and management difficulties. To prevent such duplicate listings from occurring in the first place, or avoid having to delete or merge them, you want to make sure that your business’s listings are as accurate and unique as they can be.
Google My Business optimization is s a service that is offered by Device Doctor India and here we can assist you in removing duplicate listings, increasing your local SEO and makng sure that your customers can find you easily. Attracting the attention, we claim ourselves to be the best digital marketing company and our goal is to assist businesses like yours to succeed in the conditions of stiff competition in the digital environment.
FAQs
Q1: How can I identify if my business has duplicate Google My Business listings?
A: To detect the duplicate listings you should type in the business name and address in Google and Google Maps. Thus, in your Google My Business account, or, if you do not have it, in BrightLocal or Moz Local, search for multiple profiles.
Q2: What should I do if I find a duplicate Google My Business listing?
A: First, the second listing should be checked to see if it has been claimed or not and if not claimed the listing should be claimed. Then, decide whether to merge or delete it. To merge, the customer has to reach out the Google My Business Support. To delete or to report it as a duplicate, visit your GMB account and get the opportunity to do it.
Q3: How can duplicate Google My Business listings affect my local SEO?
A: Many would argue that duplicate listings have the potential of reducing your SEO authority thereby eliminating the listings from your searches. The problem with supplying conflicting information between the listings can also complicate Google’s algorithms, thus having a negative impact on local SEO.
Q4: How do I prevent duplicate Google My Business listings from occurring?
A: Some of the things that can hinder you from getting duplicates include registering early and verifying your listings, updating the business information, avoiding to create multiple listings for the same physical location, conducting a frequent check on the listings and consulting a digital marketer.
Q5: How can Device Doctor India assist with managing duplicate Google My Business listings?
A: Thus, Device Doctor India provides full-scale services that involve detection of the duplication of the profiles, customization of the pages, and work on the promotion of the business on the Google My Business platform. Being the best digital marketing company in the world, we help your business to get the correct leads online.
