Darrin,

Google Places is a nasty neighborhood right now. Think open terrain, wild west, no law enforcement. Banditos and rats run rampant. It’s the new frontier, and it’s certainly not bug free.

How closely associated with the other merged business are you? Same address? Same business category? Similar name? You may need to provide more evidences that your business is not the same and is the authority. If you were number one before the merge and now are not found after the split then its most likely the authority and the citations are all being credited to the business you were once merged with.

Did you check the emails associated with the account? If someone is reporting your listing for various things google may actually send you an email, in that case it’s not a glitch but an actual edit.

Brent,

Per their most recent update to their Quality Guidelines, Google does not like P.O. Boxes…

– Do not create listings at locations where the business does not physically exist.
– PO Boxes do not count as physical locations.

If you are not in a competitive market than you have a good chance of showing up for your ideal zip code by adding it to your area’s serviced. Although you will not look as local as the guy who’s listing is actually in that area. Per Google Places rep, Jessica, they want the local (in proximity) businesses to show in the maps. “We want to little guys to have a chance.”
.-= Thos003 recently posted: 5 Things I learned at SMAZ =-.

Just curious. What affect will having a virtual mailbox affect the listings… or SEO for that matter? I have a business that serves a particular zip code. We used to be located in that zip code, but now we re-located quite outside that zipcode, even though we still service it.

That zip code really is our bread and butter, so I’d like to continue having a presence there. I was thinking about a mailbox rental, where we can use the address. But after reading your post, I’m wondering if I’m going to be hurting my online presence by gong with that option.

Thoughts?

Google’s form has a story of an emergency situation where the hospital was trying to contact the patient’s doctor and was dialing the wrong number because the google map had merged the doctor with his neighboring doctor’s office. Close call for the patient. Not a fun situation to be in.

But Google is doing the best they can and smart business owners would be well advised to make sure their listings are correct.
.-= Thomas Ballantyne recently posted: Pest Control Customer Satisfaction Scores =-.