Actually the www and non-www versions can be seen as the same if you (a) have a Google Webmaster Tools account and in the settings tell them to prefer one or the other (doesn't matter which, but from then on, use only the preferred one), and/or (b) get your web hosting company to set up a 301 redirect (they'll know what that means) from the non-preferred to the preferred (say you prefer www, so they set up a redirect so that anyone arriving at your site via the non-www version is automagically redirected to the www version.
On the physical address being similar to each other (was that what you were referring to?), it is a difficult and ongoing issue with Google (through their Place Pages - formerly known as Local Business Center), but you need to be sure that ever (read that again - every - not most, some or a few) place that refers to your address must use the same address as you've told Google you have. They must also use the same local phone number and your name must be the same in every spot (you are XYZ Bed and Breakfast, not XYZ B&B or XYZ Bed & Breakfast).
Google is very literal - any deviation means it may be treated as a different business..
That's where I saw this...Webmaster Tools. When I click to use just the 'www' one, I get an error saying I have to validate I own both versions. There is noting else there to allow me to validate the non-www version. Somewhere else it says that Google should be able to figure it out once the 'www' one is validated.
The other thing I noticed with the map pin is that a LOT of local businesses have been moved to the 'South.' I think I mentioned that to you awhile ago. My pin no longer shows up over there, but a bunch of restaurants have been 'moved.' I don't know if I CAN fix every version of my address that's out there because I don't even add my info to half the places it shows up. All those directories that just grab info grab whatever they find and they are all using the wrong location on Google Places if they provide a map. I'm outnumbered!
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Morticia said:
That's where I saw this...Webmaster Tools. When I click to use just the 'www' one, I get an error saying I have to validate I own both versions. There is noting else there to allow me to validate the non-www version. Somewhere else it says that Google should be able to figure it out once the 'www' one is validated.
The 301 redirect is a setting on the server (for some webservers it is made in the mod_rewrite settings), and must be done by your web host, unless you have direct access to the servers or to the .htaccess file. However, this redirect tells all visitors (and specifically search engines) that (for example) the non-www version is permanently moved to the location of the www version. That should take care of the verification issue.
To be clear, you still may not be able to verify the non-www version independently, but you should no longer need to verify it, as, to the search engines, it is the same page as the www version.
Morticia said:
The other thing I noticed with the map pin is that a LOT of local businesses have been moved to the 'South.' I think I mentioned that to you awhile ago. My pin no longer shows up over there, but a bunch of restaurants have been 'moved.' I don't know if I CAN fix every version of my address that's out there because I don't even add my info to half the places it shows up. All those directories that just grab info grab whatever they find and they are all using the wrong location on Google Places if they provide a map. I'm outnumbered!
As you and I discussed, we were appearing in incorrect places on the Google map, too. I finally had to go to TeleAtlas, who supplies the maps for Google, and they removed the multiple incorrect locations. There are still a lot of other businesses incorrectly located around us. I asked Google to move one, and they claim they did so, but all they really did is move it to another incorrect location.
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