Company with one site, name, but locations in different states

[MERGE-Chicago]

Our business has a location in Milwaukee, WI and Chicago, IL but one URL and want to keep the name the same because obviously it is a single company.

I am trying to find the best way to:

A. Optimize the NAP for consistency
B. Figure out how to merge google local with the G+ for each location separately
C. What to do with the publisher tag

Appreciate the help!

[highwayfive]

We have this issue with Law Firms or Solicitors as they are generally know in the UK and I can only echo what has been mentioned above. Claim those Google+ listings, getting you NAP sorted, add as much info to the Google+ listing, We have had more success when we have uploaded photos to the new sections (indoors, outdoors and staff).

We also have location pages with good on page SEO elements in place and link from the Google+ pages to the location pages on the client website. Good luck

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Thomas!

The key here is to separate your brand from your locations in your mind. Your brand is the same, regardless of how many locations you have (just Whole Foods - not Whole Foods Chicago, Whole Foods Boston, right?). So, you'll want to:

1. Use just the brand name on all citations with no extra geographic descriptors in it

2. Have a unique page on the site for each physical location you own

3. Link your citations to their respective page on the site

Regarding Google brand and local pages, if you only have a single location, Google lets you do this: http://localu.org/blog/google-now-allows-brand-pages-become-local-pages/ but not if you have multiple locations.

This article will be the best to read on this topic:

http://localu.org/blog/merge-google-pages-usually-cant-now/

Not sure what you mean about the publisher tag.

[Giovatto]

Here's what I would do for each:

1. List NAP for each location on a contact page and clearly label both so there is no confusion over which information belongs to which location etc.
2. Visit this page https://support.google.com/business/#contact=1 and have a Google rep call you directly. They are extremely helpful and rather than dealing with the headache of verification, duplicate listings, etc, they can recommend the best course of action for you and make immediate changes. I also believe that if you visit google.com/business and claim a page, there are instructions for claiming a business with multiple locations.
3. Publisher tags, I'm not entirely sure what the best practice here is as I don't use them that often so maybe someone else should answer this part.