April2014.pdf April 2014 | Page 63

Marketing cal listing, but it also affects how Google ranks your site. Remember that Google will use all of the information that it finds online to rank the relevancy of your business’s webpage. cur, even if you have not claimed them. This can happen due to Google’s verification process. If your business does end up with multiple listings and a single physical address, Google could penalize you because you are not accurately representing your real-life business. To avoid such a problem it is important that you consolidate all of your local listings. Consistent and accurate information will help the search engine’s crawlers associate your Google+ Local listing with your business and its website. To do so all you have to do is claim all of your listings and move all of your enhanced content into a single listing, then delete the remaining listings. Some of the things that often lead to inconsistencies across the web can include a change of address, altering of a business’s name and even a change in the telephone number’s area code. Keep in mind that you may have multiple Google+ Local listings if you have multiple physical business locations. Always make sure that all of your business information remains consistent across all of your webbased platforms. Avoiding multiple listings Another potential problem to be aware of has to do with claiming your listing. It is against Google’s policy for a business to have more than one Google+ Local listing if there is only one physical location. Multiple listings will sometimes oc- Choosing a category Google Maps will offer your business the ability to categorize itself on their pages. These business categories make it easy for online searchers to find your business based on the type of services or products that you offer. Google will provide you with a list of pre-defined business categories to choose from. Dojo Digest • April 2014 63