Creative way to secure local addresses for Google Places?
-
For those of us that operate business in other areas that we technically dont have an "address" in... are there any creative ideas/ways anyone has run across in securing a physical address that you can use for local listing?
I have already tried the virtual office type of companies, and their inventory is limited to major metropolitan areas.
-
I know of a company that likely worked out a deal with a chain of rent to own furniture stores and were able to get Google Places listings with their own unique local phone numbers at each physical address across the state of Texas. I notice now they do not have the places listings they once had? Maybe they did not hide their physical address as they should have since customers purchase online rather than come into store and Google shut all their places listings down. Not real sure. Also a lot of their local domains they bought do not seem to come up number 1, 2, 3 spots anymore. They appear on page 2 - 5 on Google although their main domain ranks for things well still.
-
Hi Ryan,
I think maybe you're right in that I'm not understanding the scenario you are describing (i.e., I don't know what your business does). The thing is, if you sell some type of a package to a bunch of real estate offices (just as an example) that doesn't mean you get to say you are located there. Now, if you were actually putting staff at the real estate offices and were getting a dedicated suite number and phone number within the office building for said staff, that would be akin to medical practices with multiple doctors in them. I'm not sure this if this is what you are describing, though. I'm not sure how much detail you are able to provide. More would be helpful.
-
Miriam-
I think you are assuming that I want to game the system, which is not the case. There are plenty of scenarios where securing a local address in a partnership with someone would be a great idea. i liked your post by the way, but in my case it actually strengthens the purpose:
I will have a local listing that does not accept customers at the location- hide the address and partner with a trusted source in areas that I do service. This is a perfectly legit plan, but need help executing.
-
Hi Guys,
I can't recommend attempting to secure addresses where you aren't physically located. Honesty is the best policy with this...if Google thinks something is fishy, their hammer is swift in falling and unforgiving. Also, be sure to take note on this new policy change if you are dealing with go-to-client-type business models:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/why-you-may-need-to-hide-your-google-places-address-asap
Rather than spending effort/time/money on getting addresses, my advice would be to hire a copywriter to start gunning for secondary organic rankings for all of your service locations. It's not only allowed, but it can really work.
-
Thmbs up'd. Love the idea! Not super easy to execute but could be very well it.
-
Please do! You can PM me here on SEOMOZ.
-
Agree on the value. I am probably going to hire/outsource someone to just focus on this task for me over the next few months.... well worth the money.
I will think about the franchise. The only slight issue I have there is that I am looking at a lot of small town places, so that may be hard. But worth a shot for sure.
One other idea I came up with that would work well for others (not myself because of competition) is real estate offices. Most franchises has locations in town, and the realtors run their own offices.
Will let you know what I find out on both ends.
-
I have never tried it, but I've also been pondering on the best method for this same subject. I'm not saying it would be easy but think about it.
You only have to cut one deal, with one major company that has a multitude of locations and your set.
Shoot! It could end up being worth it even if you hired a professional sales team to close that deal for you with the head honcho.
Many companies know the value an SEO company can bring to there business.
-
Thanks for the idea. have you done this before? The only worry i have with larger chains/franchises is that they would have to "run it up the flagpole" and i would get lost in the red tape. Has this worked for you though? I like the idea.
-
Piggyback on a franchise that has many locations by offering them some type of package deal of your services as an exchange.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
What exactly "monthly searches" from Google Adwords teach us?
I have noticed that monthly searches of our "brand" in last five years is almost same. But I can see our competitors have increased their brand searched for monthly in last few years. They are gaining popularity slowly where we are not. What are the other things we can learn when users searching for our brand are not increasing? Thanks
Branding | | vtmoz2 -
Really, what are the benefits of creating a Google Brand page for an e-commerce site?
We have a jewellery store client who already have a Google My Business page set up for its store front business. Should we also create a Google Brand page for its e-commerce site (which has a different business name to the jewellery store)? This client already has a pretty robust Facebook profile. Is it worth it maintaining a Brand page then - since it targets Google plus users?
Branding | | Gavo
And what are the chances of a Brand page appearing on search results when you're not a Nike or a Calvin Klein? Thanks heaps in anticipation of your response.0 -
Getting Google Plus Page to Appear
I've recently been making changes and updates to my company's verified local Google + page--my question is when and/or how do I configure it to appear in the search results? When I type my business into Google (Exchange Capital Management), it's not even within the results displayed. The page isn't accessible unless someone were to Google "Exchange Capital Management Google Plus." As mentioned, the page has been verified, updated, and has about 8,000+ views. Any advice or feedback is appreciated! All best, Lauren McLaughlin
Branding | | LMcLaughlin0 -
Brand Name searches: Low Click Through Rates in Google - What are your CTR in the SERPS for your Brandname?
Hello, Checking the Analytics part - Search Engine Optimization/ Queries - I found suprising results for my website: The website is no. 1 for my brand name but only has a 28% CTR on the brandname in the Google SERPS! Please see exactly what I mean here: http://screencast.com/t/GKjwliZ6GTF7 I'm looking for your experience of CTR of other websites in the same situation. Do you have similar low CTR? Some background info; The website is no1 for the brandname. Sitelinks are shown. Google Maps is shown on right. In the period are no adwords advertisments on my brand name as I know. I checked several times. I cant understand where 72% go after searching for my brandname. Thanks for sharing your experience. Best Regards Daria
Branding | | nmedia0 -
Yahoo Directory, BOTW, BBB and Business.com for local SEO?
I've heard conflicting reports about using these paid directories for SEO purposes. I am a local Realtor with a website and blog. My site is on page one but near the bottom since the national sites dominate the top. Would these directories help me for local seo purposes? Does Google consider these paid links and therefore devalues them? How difficult is it to get into these directories since they can decline a submission and there goes my money? Are these directories worth the money? In total it would be like $1200 do get on all. I've already done what I believe to be a lot of good seo practices. Emphasis on I believe since I'm no expert. Just learning as I go. Now I'm up against the big brands in real estate and meet to compete. Any tips if these directories are worth it and anything else I should look to do?
Branding | | bronxpad0 -
What is the impact of the new google+ share button on SERP
Hello mozzers, I'm currently wondering what will be the impact of the new social signal ( Google+ Share ) on SERP an organic traffic. As we all know by now , Facebook share have an higher social signal authority then the Facebook like on SERP @Randfish posted some great info at: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/facebook-twitters-influence-google-search-rankings Since Google rolled out the new Google+ Share social signa at : https://developers.google.com/+/plugins/share/?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=gplusdevelopers&utm_campaign=shareplugin I was wondering if somebody had the chance to do some clear testing on the SERP impact of this new social signal even if its a fresh addition to the social signals. Best regards, Yan Desjardins - Online marketing manager
Branding | | SherWeb0 -
Link local online newspaper ad to newspaper's spash page or my site?
We just started advertising on the web version of our local newspaper. They suggest our ads go to a "splash page" they created for us on their site. The page haslinks , images and text taken from each of our main categories,. Plus links and feeds from our twitter and facebook pages. And a google map. This page shows a page authority 1 with 0 links. Is there any reason to link our ad to a page like this rather than going direct to our website page? Thank you Handcrafter
Branding | | stephenfishman0 -
What tools do you use to submit a site to local yellowpages?
Hey all, two part question for you. Do you use any tools to automatically submit websites to local yellowpages (example: http://business.intuit.com/directory/marketing/100_syndication_sites.jsp)? and if so, what one and why? Are there any dangers to doing it this way? It seems that this might save a lot of time and be incredibly helpful to manage your brand profile pages in a centralized location. Also some tools that I am seeing incorporate brand monitoring (which you can do through a variety of tools I know). Anyways, thoughts? comments? tips?
Branding | | prima-2535090