Google Changes Their Business Listing Quality Guidelines

Google made a change last week to their Business Listing Quality Guidelines. The big issue was that Google was requiring people to list their full legal business name as the company name, but they quickly reversed direction on that decision. Many companies don't actually do business under their legal name (I don't!) and requiring it on a Google listing may have been a step too far.

Another big change is that PO Boxes no longer count as physical addresses. I can see this really affecting how mobile businesses do their listings, especially in the lawn maintenance, locksmith, plumber, electrician, and repair industries. I have a few customers that I'll need to fix this for. There has to be an elegant way to address this issue for those kinds of customers. I guess we'll have to wait for Google to come up with it.

As always, pay attention to what Google wants and you'll get good results in your Local Search efforts.