Google Places Multiple Locations Strategy
-
Hi,
I have client who is a psychology college that has multiple locations across the United States. We currently have a Google places setup for their main location which is in Chicago. They also have multiple locations in California and Washington d.c.
My question is what is the best strategy for setting up Google places for each one of their locations? can it all be done from the Chicago Google places account or do I have to build out individual Google places accounts for each location.
Thanks!
-
You should def do it all from one google account. In your account you should have a places listing for each location you serve. Instead of having your main site listed with each places listing you serve, you should set up a sub domain for each location. ex: atlanta.businessname.com, newyork.businessname.com, etc...
Now create a page on your site for that location. ex: businessname.com/atlanta, businessname.com/newyork, etc...
Optimize the pages for the desired location keyword then 301 the sub domain to the corresponding location page you optimized. Then create a listing for each location like we said before and verify the listing with the location's sub domain.
Let us know how it works for you.
-Chase
-
Hi Jason, You can't force Google to alter their display of your business. All you can do is work on your Local SEO in hopes that you'll impress Google enough with your popularity that they will award you maximum visibility. As for altering your business name for different locations, I cannot recommend this technique unless your business has different legal names at different locations or a registered DBA with different names for different branches. Google does not want you to list anything but the legit business name. See: http://support.google.com/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=107528 Business Name: Represent your business exactly as it appears in the offline world. Do not include marketing taglines in your business name. Do not include phone numbers or URLs in the business name field, unless they are part of your business name. Do not attempt to manipulate search results by adding extraneous keywords or a description of your business in the business name field. Hope this helps!
-
I have a business with 2 location in the same city. When I type in the name of the business the main website shows up with 1 google places listing integrated into the listing. Not the places listing below but the pin and Zagat reviews just below the listing.
Is there a way to make both locations show up under the website? Or force the search engine to pull the places results as well?
It appears some business are accomplishing this by naming each location something slightly different. Such as Seattle Brewing Company Tap Room, Seattle Brewing Company Public House, Seattle Brewing Company Beer Room. Anyone seen this before? They all link back to the main site.
Thanks!!!!!
-
Hi Tony,
As Jason Fritton has stated, you can set up multiple listings from the same account. Heads up on this, though - due to the recent sea change in Google's local product (Place Pages changing to Google+ Local Pages) one of the most frequently asked questions right relates to multi-location businesses. According to Google's Joel Headly, there is currently no way for businesses with multiple Google+ Local Pages with a single Google+ Business Page, so this is causing some confusion. According to Google, they are aware of the issue and are working on it.
I recommend you read a couple of posts as you are moving forward:
http://marketing-blog.catalystemarketing.com/local-university-advanced.html
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/06/08/google-for-business-places-forums-wrapup/
Hope these resources help!
-
5 locations
-
How many locations are there in total, Tony?
-
One account is important. It's easier to manage. In order to rank on the maps, you should start submitting to local directories in each location. I used UBL.org to do the submissions for my locations. They were inexpensive and did a good job.
-
You can add multiple locations to a single Google Places account. I would strongly recommend registering all locations under just one account unless you intend for the listings to be managed by different people.
I'm currently struggling with trying to manage hundreds of locations spread across 16 different accounts and it's a giant mess.
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
-
Does Google automatically recognize pictures?
If yes, are there any methods to influence the image recognition?
Image & Video Optimization | | fduo0 -
Schema for a local business with multiple locations
Hello I am trying to add schema to a website that has several locations. Is the best way to do this is by tagging the home page of the website as the business main location and then create a page for each location and then mark them up accordingly? Thank you for your help.
Image & Video Optimization | | edwardfrebow0 -
Doing SEO for multiple clients, who should make the content?
I realize that since content marketing is (or can be) a part of SEO, then it would logically follow that it's up to whoever is doing the SEO to create the content*. And when it's 1 person or a small group of people that work for 1 company, doing its SEO, that makes perfect sense. But I'm having a little trouble wrapping my mind around how that's supposed to scale up for an outside agency responsible for the SEO of 5 or 10 or 50 other companies. One of the biggest factors in my misunderstanding of the system is the reasoning for creating content in the first place. I absolutely understand how a professional in some field (let's say dentistry for example) could write up some insightful, accurate blog post about why flossing is great. After all, a dentist does (or should, hopefully) have a level of expertise on the subject that most people don't have. That blog post is a tangible addition of value to the website for anyone curious about the subject. But why would anyone want to read a blog post about wisdom teeth written by just some random person at a marketing company? If that person has the time to do a lot of research and BECOME something of an authority on the subject of dental care, then that's fine. But what if they also need to create content for clients that do plumbing, car repairs, and cooking? I don't really see how someone can become enough of an expert on enough subjects and still have any time to do the other parts of their job. Maybe I'm just expecting too much, but I sort of feel that the internet is already full enough of advice and information from people that have no idea what they're talking about, so content from someone that's not an expert (but is a marketing person that the expert hired) seems... frivolous to me. So to get back to the actual question, should/can an SEO ask their clients to create at least some of their own content, or is it the SEO's responsibility to generate all the content, even if it's not always stellar? Or is it just one of those "Could God make a rock so big that he couldn't lift it? Yes, he could, and then he would lift it" (or however that saying went) sorts of deals? Thanks for the feedback, this can all be kind of overwhelming for me at times. *"Creating content" in this specific case meaning writing blog posts, making videos, etc.
Image & Video Optimization | | BrianAlpert781 -
How to delete Google Places Negative Reviews?
Hi Friend, I have a question and hope you can help me answer. What is the best way to get rid of negative reviews or get the rating higher. Is it possible to get bad reviews removed from Google places? Quality Excellent: 3 Quality Good: 1 Quality Poor to fair: 4 Score Overall 10 out of 30: Poor to fair. Thanks in advance. KLLC
Image & Video Optimization | | KLLC0 -
Is specifying a floor descriptive enough for Google Places?
Hello everyone, I have a quick question regarding Google Places. I have a client who operates her business in a building with multiple other businesses. This address is completely legitimate and our client provides fitness services at this location. We have asked her for a more specific location, but she does not have a suite or room #. The best we can do is the floor #, but there are other businesses on her floor as well. Would this lack of specificity affect her ability to rank in local results? There are 4 other businesses at the address. If we provide strong and relevant citations, will this be enough? Thank you and my apologies if this has been asked before. I searched the previously asked question but didn't find what i was looking for.
Image & Video Optimization | | Robertnweil10 -
Getting a Google Places listing verified on an automated phone system.
I've been having issues getting my Google Places/+ listing verified as we have an automatic phone system. If you call our office you have to dial a number to reach an actual human being or before you can leave a message. Whenever the Google Bot calls we aren't able to receive our Google Place verification code. Currently.. there is no option to send a postcard.. which is weird because for awhile that was the only option. Has anyone had any success on an automated phone system & how did you do it? Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | DCochrane0 -
Competition leaving bad reviews on our places page, what to do?
I have flagged the reviews as not useful from multiple IPs. I have attempted reporting the review as well. Google does nothing. It's very obvious that the review(s) are fake. Often all the other reviews of the person's profile are for different cities and all 5 stars for businesses that they are most likely doing SEO work for. Are (blackhat) SEOs using bad reviews as a technique to keep the competition out in your business/market? What did you do about it?
Image & Video Optimization | | adriandg0 -
Ranking Penalty in Google Places for Primary Cell Phone Number?
Say a business runs out of a home (so, technically, the address of the business has a land line). But the business owner works outdoors all day long and so really runs his business off his cell phone. Is it OK in Google Places to list the mobile phone as the primary contant number, and list the home phone as a secondary number? Or will Google penalize the business's ranking in local search results for using a cell number as the main number?
Image & Video Optimization | | keethgee0