Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Should I change my local listing Service type from Brick and Mortar to Service Area in Google? And will it affect my ranking in a negative manner?
-
Currently my company Big Boy Bail Bonds, Inc is ranking very well for the city it is located and, currently service type is brick and mortar. But my Company does not only service people at our location but we service the entire county of Los Angeles. And I wanted to know if you would advise me on weather I should change the service type from brick and morter to service area. and if doing that would effect me in a negative manner when it came to my ranking? Plz advice Thank you in advance.
-
It's my pleasure. Have a super week!
-
Thank you for taking the time to look and the links and giving me the best advise you have. I really appreciate your time. Thank you in very much.
-
Hi Gayane,
Thanks for the link and the further information. You could go either way with this, but personally, I would stick with designating the business as brick-and-mortar. If you choose the settings for a service area business, Google will determine whether or not to hide your address, and if you are the only business in your locale/industry with a hidden address, there is some chance that you could see a ranking drop in Van Nuys. And, given your location (a busy, competitive place) setting a service radius is unlikely to cause you to show anyplace but Van Nuys, anyway. So, personally, I'd stick with the settings for brick-and-mortar because you are eligible, and I would pursue the work described in my point #2, above.
Hope this helps!
-
Thank you for the respond. Let me be a little more clear. My business is a bail bonds company. Located in the county of Los Angeles, but in a city called Va Nuys. And when it comes to where I service my clients. Its pretty much half and half. Half the time they come to my office. The other half the time I meet the clients at the jail that the inmate is located at, or I will also go to my clients home. And currently I'm ranking very well with my city showing on in the local pack. But if I change it to a service area business, I dont know if it will effect me in a negative way or positive. Or will it not effect my ranking. Because I believe I'm ranking so well on the local pack due to my reviews being a whole lot more then my competition. The link above will take you to my local listing. In case you wanted to take a quick look. And give my your insight. Thank you.
-
Hi Gayane!
So glad you started a new thread on this. This is how this works:
-
Local pack results are all about your city of location. So, if you're located in the city of San Diego, your best hope is rank in the local packs for searches made from devices based in San Diego or searches that contain the word San Diego in them. You are not likely to rank in the local packs for any other city in your county or service area. This isn't the way Google's local results work.
-
So, if you want to rank for these other city terms in your service area, then you need to aim for organic results rather than local ones. This will involve a combination of onsite development of great local content + earning links and other SEO basics in hopes that you can compete for some organic visibility in these areas where you don't have a physical office. You can read more about this here: https://moz.com/blog/local-landing-pages-guide
-
The alternative is to pay to play. Invest in Google Adwords and target ads to these other cities.
-
In Google's local product, brick-and-mortar businesses are those that receive customers, in person, at their place of business. So, this would be a restaurant, dental office, chiropractor, hospital, etc. A service area business would be one that mainly serves customers at their locations. This would be an electrician, plumber, landscaper, etc. You'll need to decide which one of those business models best describes your business. You should pick the one which accurately describes your business best and should not change from one to the other for any ranking considerations.
Hope this helps!
-
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
-
Google My Business - Service Area - Use Zip Codes or City Names?
Google allows you to choose up to 20 locations as service areas, and you can choose based on cities, counties, or zip codes. I'm trying to determine if zip codes, cities, or counties are better to select for our GMB profiles. We are located in the US. I am thinking it's best to use all 20 areas allowed on a profile as long as they are relevant, generally giving Google all the info they will let you provide is best. I also am leaning toward using zip codes because it also includes the city when you choose by zip code. For example: Entered the zip code 21009 and the service area selection provided was: Abingdon, MD 21009, USA Entering the city/state returns a selection of Abingdon, MD, USA I also think it may have to do with how people search and find your business as well? Does anyone have experience with this? Best practices? My google searching has not turned up any reliable info.
Local Listings | | WadeBayMgmt0 -
Google My Business for Municipalities?
I'm working with the City of Lakewood, WA, on an image campaign that overlaps a bit with some SEO goals. If you Google "Lakewood, WA", in the knowledge panel to the right of the search results is an image of building on fire. I'm not sure where this image comes from or why it has been selected as the image to represent the City of Lakewood but its been there for a while. If this was a small business, I would simply claim their Google My Business page and feed some good images into it. Problem solved. But Google doesn't offer an option to "Claim this City". LOL. Can you create a GMB page for a municipality? Does anyone know the right thing to do here to make this picture go away and give the city more control over its own image?
Local Listings | | TheKatzMeow2 -
Local SEO penalty?
Hi Moz Community We are in a unique position. We just launched a new site for a client. The site was doing fine before but it wasn't very user friendly. We created a site with almost identical architecture and content as the last one, just new design and layout. Within 5 days, the site dropped off of LOCAL search almost completely, it now ranks on the 9th page in Austin Texas. (reliantplumbingdotcom). Every other location (Dallas, LA, Philadelphia, Houston) all show the site on the first page for relevant keywords (Austin Plumbers, Austin Plumber) I have no idea what to think about this and don't know if we're being penalized somehow (checked GSC and no manual penalty) I have never experienced a site being blacklisted locally but well ranked everywhere else. Thoughts?
Local Listings | | GrueBleenAgency1 -
How do you do Local SEO in a small town?
Good afternoon everyone! I wanted to start a discourse on a subject that I think might benefit a few select readers. What would be your best plan-of-action to successfully propose and execute a Local-SEO campaign for a small, local business in a rural town? The type of town that has next to zero local directories, the type of business that has hardly any (if any at all) "fresh mentions" on the internet, etc. I'm interested to see how other SEOs would handle tackling this kind of campaign. Can't wait to hear what people have to say!
Local Listings | | TaylorRHawkins
Thanks!
Taylor1 -
Schema type for non-profit fundraiser?
Anyone have bright ideas for which schema.org type to use for something like a run/walk fundraiser? Ive been using SportsEvent, but that's really more fit for, "I'm buying a ticket to watch the team play the football game at the stadium." What we're trying to do is sign folks up to create their own fundraising webpage, then show up at an event. Google wants ticketed events to have a performer, but this is more like RSVPing for a party. Events and products feel a bit like a round peg in a square hole, but Website seems really generic for everything going on in this kind of site. At the same time, participants are creating fundraising pages...yeah it's related to a location/time-based event, but visitors aren't really buying tickets to watch that runner "perform," they're donating to a non-profit to fight cancer. And think about applying the fundraiser to a non-sports event (e.g. donate your birthday, grow facial hair, be a secret santa, etc). Or a donation drive...those might have a product attached (kickstarter), or the giving itself might be the "product" (gofundme). Thoughts? Here's what I've mapped out at the moment, but I don't know how I feel about it.
Local Listings | | ZERO_Cancer-JD0 -
Google points of Interest / POI
Hello, Looking for some guidance on how to appear and get listed in Google Points of Interest in the Search Engine Results Page. Like when searching for "attractions Seattle" at the top of the SERP these listings appear. Cannot seem to find some good resources on the topic as well. Thanks Conrad
Local Listings | | conalt1 -
Can I request removal of a duplicate competitor Google Business listing?
I have a local competitor that is boggling me with his local pack rankings. For certain keyword phrases, he is ranking in multiple local 3 pack spots. The thing is, he only has one business location. So basically he has two different Google maps listings for the same business location ranking in the local pack. The NAP information is different for both listings except for the physical address. I can't understand for the life of me how this is actually helping him instead of hurting him.... My client has way more citations. A decent blog with solid content. An SEO optimized mobile website (compeititor website is not mobile ready). Etc..... Don't get me wrong, my client is doing really well and is ranking top 3 in his area for nearly 30 industry related keyword phrases. I guess that is part of the reason I'm so boggled. Can anyone provide any insight? Can I bring this up to Google and have them remove the duplicate listing somehow? I'm literally sitting #4 in the local pack for some valuable keywords, and the only reason I'm not #3 or higher is because the same physical business location is taking up two of the spots. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
Local Listings | | GO2Tech0 -
Description on Google+ & ALL Citations the same or?
Does it matter if the description is different on Google local and all the citation websites? Some websites allow a lot of description, some don't. So my question is it only the company name+address that needs to be the same across the board or the description has to be the same too?
Local Listings | | surfsup0