Multiple Businesses at the Same Address
-
Hello everyone! Fairly new member here with a quick local question.
A friend is starting a new business and sharing a showroom with another local business until they close up shop in a couple of months, at which point he will take over the showroom entirely.
My question: in the meantime, what would be the best way to have two businesses at the same address? The best I can come up with to avoid the pages being merged or who knows what else would be to list one of the businesses in a non-existent suite, for example 123 S Someplace Ave, Suite 100.
Is this strategy likely to cause any problems for either business? Ideally I would like to have both businesses appear in the listings until the first one closes, at which point I will just delete the page entirely.
-
You're very welcome! I'm glad the link was helpful.
-
Hey Miriam, thanks for chiming in.
I had noticed that a lot has changed since the last time I create a g+ page, so thanks for the link with all of the updated guidelines. I will definitely be back if (when) I get lost again.
-
Hi Rbmac,
Nice answer from Donna, and I just want to add a little note here that Google has just done one of the largest overhauls to their Guidelines For Representing Your Business On Google (including changing the name, haha) that I've seen in quite some time:
https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en
The whole format of the page has been overhauled as have several key elements of the guidelines that any local business owner just getting started should read up on. Following the guidelines at the outset can save many troubles down the road.
-
I agree rbmac. Seems logical.
-
Thanks for the info Donna.
To clear a couple of things up: yes they are separate legal entities, they will each have a unique phone number and unique website. However their business categories are basically the same which is what had me concerned about the two businesses merging.
After some further discussion with this friend, it sounds like their business would actually be better classified with a service area rather than a physical address, but they want the showroom to remain on the map. So it seems like the best course of action would be to (like you say above) allow the showroom to remain under the old company name until they close up, and build up the new company as a service area business until such time as they can fully claim the address.
Thanks again for your help.
-
The rules for Google local listings are fuzzy and the results can be somewhat unpredictable. Seems clear that the two businesses are separate legal entities. It's not clear, at least not to me, whether they'll share a common phone number, website or whether their clients or business categories overlap.
You could go the route of establishing a separate suite for each of the two businesses, but you're still at risk that the data associated with the two listings will get merged. That's not quick or easy to undo.
If I were you, I'd wait a few months until the other business closes shop and then stake a claim to the address on Google local.
This question has been asked in the past. Miriam Ellis usually chimes in and she knows Local SEO inside and out. Here's the answer she gave to how to handle multiple businesses at the same address a few years ago. It's still relevant.
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
-
Has anyone tried using AMP links in Google Business Listings?
We have a client with multiple locations, and Google Business listings for each location. We've also created AMP pages for each of those location landing pages, and they're ranking on page one of their main queries, just below the local pack. We're wondering if anyone has tried pointing a GMB website listing at an AMP page, or if there are considerations to keep in mind before testing it out. So far, we've discussed whether to use the AMP url (amp.domain.com) or the Google viewer url (google.com/amp/s/amp.domain.com), and potential concerns for desktop users.
Local Listings | | WompM0 -
Google My Business - two businesses, same location
I have client that has developed a new brand targeting a specific segment of their wider market - the more price sensitive customer. They have launched a website for this brand, which specialises in promoting special offers. Both operations have the same physical address and the new brand - that targets this niche, I believe has been set up as a service-area business on Google My Business. I think they should change this as they do publish their address on their website and do on occasion welcome customers on their premises. My question - at last! - is that can both businesses exist on Google Maps - with the same business address and is this the right way to proceed if I want to target directory listings for the new brand. Any thoughts welcomed! thanks.
Local Listings | | nathangdavidson21 -
Multiple language in site links on SERP
hi there guys! I have this client that sells roofing reparation. His site is in two languages. In this image here, the green square are the results in english and red square in french. The picture is from a english SERP. What would you guys do to make sure that the SERP shows the right language to users on Google? It is very important for us to have both language separated. Our region is bilingual so, it's a big problem! The original language of the site is in french and I don't have any problem with this version. But when i checked the english side, there is this problem... mixing language in the SERP is not very good for my ROI. Thanks guys! toiture2.png
Local Listings | | TonikSEO0 -
What is the best address format to display for a buissness for SEO?
There is a new location opening soon and would like to set up local pages for it. What is the best/most SEO friendly way to write out the physical address? I looked on USPS and they show: 7227 W GRAND PKWY S
Local Listings | | nat88han
RICHMOND TX 77407 But local businesses seem to have the West and South written out: 7301 West Grand Parkway SouthRichmond, TX 77407Is there a best practice for this, or does it not make much of a difference as long as the website/local listings all match exactly? Not sure about writing out "West" or using "S." for the cardinal direction.0 -
Google My Business- Will a large service area dilute local search results?
I am considering adding our actual service area to our Google My Business profile, but I don't want this to dilute our local search results. As it is, we come up in the top 3 or so when searched in our HQ's city and several nearby cities when you search for us in Google Maps (although when I look at the top 10 organic for Google for some reason when you search for these cities + our keywords Google doesn't show any local results). Our actual service area is fairly large, comprising the states of CA & Hawaii & parts of CO, AZ, and UT. I would be adding the service area by zip code rather than radius, as a radius wouldn't make any sense in this case (particularly considering the distance between HI and CA). Is it better to keep our relatively high ranking in local results? Will adding the service area not affect local results negatively? Also, do you know why Google isn't showing me local results when I look for our keywords + our nearby cities? When I look for these keywords in larger cities like LA or San Diego, Google always shows me local results.
Local Listings | | BohmKalish1230 -
2 businesses same phone number
I was wondering how I should approach a scenario where I am optimizing two different companies websites that have the same phone number but different addresses. This sounds like a weird scenario, however it is out of my control. Is treating them as two separate companies fine, or do I have to take special precautions when submitting business directories and what not? Thanks for everyone's help! As a side note, is their a way to use Moz Local with both companies, right now it is getting confused as to what business belongs to what listing.
Local Listings | | brfieger0 -
What is the process to add multiple locations to our Google My Business Account?
We have a business that has expanded into multiple cities across Canada. What is the process to add these to our Google My Business account. Our existing locations business pages were set up by a previous SEO agency and now we are handling this in-house. I've tried to search step by step guides but was unable to find any solutions.
Local Listings | | Lorne_Marr0 -
Convert Google Plus page to Business page
I have a google plus page for my company edspire.com, https://plus.google.com/b/107395030190889162381/107395030190889162381/posts When I created it I don't think I set it up as a business so I'd like to convert to one. As far as I can see it is not possible to do this. What is the recommended process, do I just create a new one and migrate content over or is there some way to merge them? Should I then delete the old one or is it helpful to keep double posting? Thanks, Jim
Local Listings | | yojimbo230