A single person runs a business with two very distinct offerings. They would like to present these under the same domain name, but they’ve already created two different Google business listings. The reason is that they want people to clearly show the two distinct offerings separately from one another on Google Maps.
Is it okay to then have the same domain for both? There could possibly be two different landing pages, one for each offering/service. Another possibility would be to use a second domain, but forward this to a page on the website (with the first domain).
Would be great if I could get some better insight as to whether there are any disadvantages or penalties involved with this approach – or even what exactly the best approach would be in this instance. Thank you for any answers.
Well Google typically wants one listing per physical location only (of course there are some exceptions they make). The website is not really the problem and should not be an issue to have both served from the same site (maybe two different subdomains? offering1.example.com and offering2.example.com).
However, it is unclear what you mean by offerings. If the offerings are just different services from one physical location, they should only have one listing. Google may punish you for having multiple listings for the same location since that is pretty much spamming the system. If they have two actually physical locations, then it may not be an issue.
Either way I don’t see a problem serving from the same site, but if it were me, I would probably split them into two different domains only for no other reasons than…
It is easier to keep them separate and track analytics (with both you will have to make sure analytics are not bleeding between the two… which is doable but just a pain to keep in mind for reporting)
Makes it easier if the user suddenly wants to shut down one of the offerings without it impacting the other.
If you haven’t reviewed it yet, it might be worth taking a look at Google’s guidelines. It may help make a few things clearer.
I think the only thing they really want to avoid is having multiple listings pointing at the same business location. Again I am not sure what is meant by offerings and if those offerings are different physical locations.
Are they separate businesses? If they are legally separate businesses then Google should allow it. Is there a way to get different addresses, such as Suite 1 and Suite 2? Also note that Google Maps allows locations to be designated as being within a main location.
Did you contact Google? Did you use their (free) option to claim the businesses? I am sure Google will be happy to take some money from you and then they will fix you up.
I do not know where it is and what it is called but something exists; it did in the past I am sure it still does. There are some businesses in Google Maps that are more visible than others and I assume that is (at least partially) due to money. I will do a search; I suppose I will edit this post when I find something.
I cannot find anything relevant but my point is to contact Google. About three years ago I was taking pictures of a new business and the owner came out and asked me what I was doing. I explained and he invited me in to take pictures. Later I talked with him and he said Google was going to come to his business to get the listing improved. I do not remember if he said he paid for it. But yes we know it is definitely useful to claim the business. At least do that. And we know about Google Ads.
