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
-
Philosophical: Does Google know when a photo isn't what your meta data says it is? And could you be downgraded for that?
Not something I've ever heard discussed before, probably still a bit too esoteric for present day, but I've always been one to be guided by where I see Google headed rather than trying to game the system as it exists now. So think about it: Most stock and public domain photos are used repeatedly throughout the internet. Google's reverse image search proves that Google can recognize when the same photo is used across dozens of sites. Many of those photos will have alt and/or title text that Google also has crawled. If not it has the content of the page on which the photo exists to consider for context. So if Google has a TON of clues about what a photo is likely to be about, and can in theory aggregate those clues about a single photo from the dozens of sites using it, how might Google treat a site that mislabels it, old school "one of these things is not like the others" style? Would a single site hosting that photo be bolstered by the additional context that the known repeated photo brings in, essentially from other sites? If 10 sites about widgets are using the same widget photo, but the 11th uses an entirely new, never before published photo, would the 11th site then be rated better for bringing something new to the table? (I think this would be almost certainly true, drives home the importance of creating your own graphics content.) Anyway, like I said, all theoretical and philosophical and probably not currently in play, especially since an image can be used in so many different contexts, but it's New Years and things are slow and my brain is running, so I'm curious what other folks might think about that as the future of image optimization.
Image & Video Optimization | | BradsDeals1 -
Do random listings effect Google Local Rankings?
So my clients business name is "Photojennette Photography" and while researching citations to correct I have found a completely random issue. There's an actress named Jennette McCardy that apparently has a ton of photos on the internet and with that are page titles like "Brand New Photo : Jennette McCardy" and "Look at this Photo Jennette McCardy" My question is, would Google be sending my listing down because of this? It's completely random and has nothing to do with the business. Thanks in advance.
Image & Video Optimization | | jonnyholt0 -
Places page help
Hi I was hoping somebody could provide me with some help regarding places pages. If I search 'recruitment agencies Chester' I get this result https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=recruitment+agencies+chester&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&gws_rd=cr&ei=LsBTUr6rJ8Sw0wXt74CQAg I am confused as to why certain sites are ranking higher than others for example: The site with the a) ranking has no reviews and the place page doesn't seem particularly optimised. The site ranked at c) has 2 bad reviews The site ranked at g) seems to have a much more optimised places page yet ranks below the other sites. Is this just a strange batch of results or can somebody provide me with more information/ help? I don't understand the ranking system at the moment. Thanks for any help you might be able to offer!
Image & Video Optimization | | onlinechester0 -
Trying to Merge Google + Local and Google Business Page _ How to?
Hi I have been reading so many posts about merging Google Plus + (Places) accounts and the new Google + Business Pages. I am working with a business who has a verified account in both. How ( and in fact should we try and merge). The old Places page has a review the newly create Business Page does not but is better optimized. Any help would be gratefully received as my head is spinning/ PS based in New Zealand
Image & Video Optimization | | AllieMc0 -
Multiple Google Places Accounts - Same Physical Location
Hi there, One of my clients is a local law firm. I have created, populated and verified a Places page for them, but now I have discovered that they had previously created one for each of their attorneys at that location. According to Google's quality guidelines, this is totally fine. However, I am wondering if I should try to verify each of these accounts within Places to enhance their listing coverage? One thing I've already tried is modifying some of the listing details via Map Maker, but it would be nice to just make edits en masse, I think. Any suggestions?
Image & Video Optimization | | G2W0 -
We currently do not support the location
Should I be worry that the link below returns that message? My listing is live and well, it can be accessed from anywhere except from Google places page, under "Respond to reviews
Image & Video Optimization | | echo1
Owners can post a public response to **reviews **by Google users." Any thoughts?0 -
Google Plus for clients
Hi folks, I am coming to the realization that most of my local business clients simply do not have the time, desire or knowledge to establish a Google Plus personal profile and business page. Therefore, I have been contemplating the best approach to establishing Google Plus business pages for multiple clients. It would appear that information attached to the personal profile for the primary Google Plus account is not revealed when a business page is viewed, and a single personal profile can establish multiple business pages, would it be safe to assume this may be the correct approach? For example: I have a personal profile and a page for my SEO business. Could I simply create additional business pages for my clients under my account - even though I am not business owner? Are there any adverse ramifications to this approach (e.g. ownership transfer, local SERP issues, etc.)? Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | SCW0 -
How to get my forum to be listed on Google in the Discussions section?
I'm running several community sites with forums (for example http:// www.finalstitch.co.uk). All of those sites have a forum section like http://http://www.finalstitch.co.uk/forum/ So far Google didn't recognize the forum. When I search for the site and click the Discussions filter on the left, no forum topics from my site show up. What should I do to change that? Thank you. 20110616-gu1beph7p673x1jkgahy1q63r.jpg
Image & Video Optimization | | asmirasro0