It’s nasty. No one wants to do it. It’s a pain and a total time suck. Yes, I’m talking about consolidating and updating all the Google Local (Google My Business) accounts that are floating around with either a wrong address or as a completely duplicate listing on a Gmail account that you barely knew existed and don’t have credentials for.
How does this happen? It’s fairly simple, really. You had an old intern, old marketing manager, old agency, an old whoever who was put in charge of getting your business set up with a My Business account, an account that was probably created with a different email that is not connected to your other Google services such as Analytics or Webmaster Tools. Even worse, it could be that someone falsely verified your business and you need to gain ownership. So now you have multiple Gmail accounts running around with your business information and guess what? That person didn’t write the logins down or even worse, you didn’t think to grab it from them!
To make matters more complicated, Google has consistently changed the options and methods for communicating with their support team on these issues depending on your scenario.
Today, I’ll run through the motions you should go through to get your listings up and running through Google’s support if you:
- Have multiple listings floating around
- Find that someone else has falsely verified your business listing
Try to Request Access to the Page as a First Measure
If you can’t contact the current owner OR if you do not have access to the email to add to your master Gmail as the page manager, you’ll want to go through the motions of finding the business through the My Business account you want to use to manage the page moving forward. You will be able to Request Admin Rights which will prompt a set of questions about the business itself. Google then sends an email to the current owner of the account to mediate the swap in ownership.
Contact Google via Chat, Phone, or Email
It might seem counter-intuitive to go through the first step above if you already know you don’t have access to the original email used to create your local account, but your diligence in at least going through this step will be helpful when you talk to someone in support. Support staff is now available via phone, live chat, and email. I can only speak to my experiences, but there have been occasions where I have been asked if I went through step one above before support staff can help me. It is frustrating, but sometimes support will just redirect you to step number one before they can help your case. This is a security measure on their end, especially if there is a 3rd party individual who is reaching out on behalf of a business, which brings me to my next point…
Verify that You are an Authorized Representative for the Company
You are most likely contacting Google support through the Gmail that you now want your account to be migrated to, but any old schmuck can make a Gmail and claim to represent you. If it seems like your support representative is hesitant to help or is unsure if you are the correct person to make the change on behalf of the business, you should inquire on how you can properly prove to them that you are authorized. This most likely requires you sending an email or having someone else in the company send an email to support with a @businessname.com email. This should open more access to you.
I hope these steps will help you to start the conversation with Google support to get the job done. Often times, traditional methods or online forms may not resolve the issue for you through Google’s automated system. And as always, Elevated is here to help.
4 Responses
Great points Claudia! Often times this is a huge pain point for business owners that don’t know what to do. Great stuff!
Thanks Jared. It’s something that no one thinks about in the moment, but is a huge detriment to local visibility when not managed correctly.
Great info, Claudia!!!! The issue of ‘Google Local’ comes up with 50% of the people I talk to – from local ‘mom-and-pop’ companies… to well-known established companies! It seems such a mundane item – but businesses having proper info indexed with Google is actually a BIG stepping stone in establishing an online presence as well as building a foundation for other marketing initiatives. Really good post. 🙂
Agreed Cameron. Having a proper local strategy, especially with Google’s product, is essential. Companies should never lose track of this! Thanks for your comment!