Can a Canadian business that is required by law, post two listings in the LBC? One in French and one in English? Can a Lawyer that services both English and Spanish clientele from a San Diego office have a listing in both languages? Can an English guest house that services European clients have a listing in 6 languages?
The question of whether a business could create the same listing in multiple languages comes up from time to time in the forums and in this blog. It was assumed that the Business Listing Guideline that stated: Create only one listing for each physical location of your business meant that having the same listing in several languages was not acceptable. Apparently, that is not the case and it is acceptable under Google’s guidelines to have the same listing in as many languages as appropriate.
Here is what Google had to say when asked if it was OK for a business to list in multiple languages:
Yes, users can do this. The thing is, there isn’t a feature currently available, but there is a workaround. What users can do is first create the listing in English. Then they can select the appropriate language from the drop-down menu in the upper right-hand corner of the Local Business Center and create the same exact listing in that language.
We hope to make this easier for users in the future.
Creating the same listing in a different language doesn’t violate our guidelines. Our policy states that a business owner can’t create 2 different business listings at one location.
Hi Mike
That is great information as I know of a couple business’s who could benefit from having a listing in Spanish. Does Google display local results
for foreign languages in the USA?
I did a search for “used cars Chicago IL” and got a 10 pack
did a search for “coches usados chicago IL” and did not get a local result?
Maybe nobody has a listing in Spanish for used cars but unlikely. Have you seen a foreign language listing in the USA?
Andy
Comment by Andy C (2 comments) — August 10, 2009 @ 9:26 am
Yes I have seen spanish results
for abogado san Diego.
I assume that google returns alternative language results when there are a significant number of searches.
Comment by Mike (1029 comments) — August 10, 2009 @ 10:00 am
Thanks for that mike.
Just so I understand, are you saying that Google will return a local result
after X number of searches for a certain term.
I had understood that if the search term matched what was in their local
database it would give that result.
Your insight make me question what I know. Which is a great!
Andy
Comment by Andy C (2 comments) — August 10, 2009 @ 12:33 pm
Oh, nifty tip here, Mike! Very good to know.
I’ve seen Spanish results for ‘panaderia san rafael ca’ and they are being categorized under the English categories ‘bakery’ and ‘bakers’. The 10 pack results all yield the world panaderia in the business title. Mike, does this mean to you that they are simply being pulled because of their business title and not because they are in a foreign language category? I find that a bit confusing.
Comment by MiriamEllis (362 comments) — August 10, 2009 @ 4:21 pm
Sorry, the above comment should read:
“all yield the word panaderia”
Comment by MiriamEllis (362 comments) — August 10, 2009 @ 4:21 pm
@Andy
Google tracks queries and responses pretty closely. I have seen 10 Packs disappear where they once were. The patents talk of user logs being used so I assume that when there aren’t sufficient queries nor sufficient click thrus Google will modify the results that they show.
@Miariam
Yes I assume so
Comment by Mike (1029 comments) — August 10, 2009 @ 6:03 pm
Good news
Very important for Touristic websites. An hotel in Florence or in Venice (Italy) or in Paris (France) must have several description in several language.
Comment by Luca (5 comments) — August 24, 2009 @ 10:51 am