Update business name across 150+ locations
-
We have 150+ locations. The current names in GMB vary based on the branch. They may include a branch number or city location in the title or some variation of the company name.
We'd like to update these to reflect our company wide branding and drop the branch #/location. Any ideas on the impact of this change?
-
Hi Jason!
I agree 100% with what Miriam and Ben have said.
I would go through all your listings and take out the geo-modifiers if that is not actually part of the legal company name. This could be causing confusion for Google and negatively impacting your rankings—not something you want to do!
However, if Google has not caught on to this (if the company's name does not actually include the geos), and you change these, it could impact how you rank for local search results. By having the city in the company name, you increase your chances of showing up in the local pack.
This is a situation where you will need to track, test, tweak, repeat until you find the right process for your particular situation! Hope this helps.
-
Having a single brand at all your locations will definitely help people recognise you and avoid conusion - especially if you use your brand without any variations on signage at your location.
With the branch number, I'd say do what is right for the customer. Does the customer care about the branch number, for example because it's on their collection notiification? If not, drop it as it's not useful to them and may even lead to confusion. If they do, keep it.
With the city name I'd say the same thing. If yor store signage calls your branch "Widgets R Us London" then having the listing name and the store name match exactly will reassure people they've found the right place. If your signage and other collateral says "Widgets R Us" then drop it. Even if there are multiple locations in one town their addresses are displayed in the search results so there should be no confusion. Have a look at how supermarkets in major cities do it (I'm in the UK so I've just checked Sainsbury in London while writing this) and you'll see that even when they have several branches close together they don't put their locations in the name as the address and the location of the pin on the map is enough to guide people.
Some people wonder about the beneits of including the city name as it might help them appear higher in the local results. From what I've seen including the location in your listing name has very little impact. Your location relative to the point being searched for and the reviews you've received are much more powerful factors. So moving toward a completely coherent brand shouldn't have any negagtive impact on your branding.
-
Hey Jason,
Unless those modifiers (city names) are part of the legal business names of the 150 businesses, then the Google My Business listings are actually in violation of Google's Guidelines (see: https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en).
So, cleaning them up would be all to the good in terms of avoiding possible red flags at Google!
But, I'll be totally honest here. Could removing city keywords from your business name fields negatively impact you? Yes, it's possible, in that Google is still a bit goofy about weighting some exact match keyword brands in their SERPs. They shouldn't be doing this, they may be better at this than formerly, but I think this is still a factor.
So, you might see some ranking drops, BUT, that being said, I'd still recommend cleaning up your name as I'd rather struggle positively toward high rankings than deal with Google forming a negative 'opinion' of my business for violating their guidelines.
As you work on cleaning up your NAP, one thing to note. You will have to leave city names on your Facebook Place listings. They are the odd man out in this regard, requiring that you add modifiers to the business titles of multi-location listings, which is the exact opposite of what Google wants. Go figure!
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
-
How promote more then one location wise keywords
Hello, I have Client Who ran, Gym Business. he is having 5 Gym Location, After head Branch. So my Question is : How We can promote All his 5-6 Location Keyword wise, For an Example, Gym in sydney, gym in Melbourne, Etc As in Website Title we have Given Title Like For Yoga Service, YOGA & PILATES Australia How i can Get result for Yoga Center in Sydney, in Melbourne Etc Kindly Suggest What are Steps I need take to apply perfect onpage Title, Description For location wise Keywords,, Thanx, in Advance
Local Listings | | iepl20060 -
Is it ok to use a mobile phone number for business listings?
Hi all
Local Listings | | coolhandluc
I know the use of 0800 numbers and toll-free numbers are a big No when it comes to NAP but what about mobile phone numbers?
Will google penalise the use of a mobile over the use of a land line? Thanks0 -
How do you go about updating / correcting bad business listings when you cannot contact the website directly?
There is a business listing I wish to correct / update on 411dir.biz There is no way to contact the website online, and in cases like this, I try to do a whois lookup, and reach out via the email / phone number there. This site seems impossible to connect with, has anybody else come up against situations like this in the past, if so what do you tell your client / what other approaches do people have? Thanks!
Local Listings | | ParadigmPCB0 -
How to add a branch location to Google+ Page
I have a verified local Google+ Page all set up for my local business and linked to my website.. it shows up nicely in local results for my city. Being ambitious I am expanding my presence into another city and would like my website to start showing up in local search for that area as well. What is the protocol for best results ? Start a new Google+ page or somehow add the branch onto the existing page (although there does not seem to be anywhere for this as the page is a local business and seems to lock it in with only a single address)..
Local Listings | | wicko1 -
Verifying business info with old address and inactive phone listing
I'm cleaning up a number of inaccurate business listings for a client, starting with an old Google Plus page. It's unverified, but both the address and phone number are so old that calls or mail send to those will not be forwarded. Any suggestions for verifying a business listing when the typical verification methods simply won't work? Thanks!
Local Listings | | flyntime_tx
Mike0 -
Company with one site, name, but locations in different states
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
Local Listings | | MERGE-Chicago
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!0 -
Promoting a home based business on yelp
Hi,
Local Listings | | corn
I have several clients who run firms out of their homes but they want to promote on yelp. Does yelp allow someone to hide their address but to still come up in search results for a city? If so, how do I do this? Cornelius0 -
Confusion and Issues With Google Places + Google Plus for Business
Hi all, I'm currently dealing with the frustration between our Google Places page and Google Plus for Business. I know, it's not an uncommon issue, so I'm hoping there's an easy fix to mine! I am currently dealing with 2 Google accounts and 2 businesses. Each business has 2 locations. Each account has 1 location of each business. Obviously this isn't ideal. 😕 A few questions: 1. Each account has already been setup with a personal Google Plus page. Will this interfere or cause any issue when I claim the existing Google Places businesses for a Google Plus for Business? 2. Once I have verified the Google Plus for Business page, I can then merge it with our standard Google Places page, correct? 3. Is the merging only for control/login and dashboard settings? Will there still be 2 separate pages/URLs? 4. If someone +1's our Google Places page, does this reflect on our Plus page, or vice/versa? 5. Is there a way to assign these listings to different accounts/logins without deleting the listing and creating them fresh again? I'm assuming no, but would love to hear of a solution! Thanks a lot!
Local Listings | | kirmeliux0