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.
Help!!! GMB Service-Area Business
-
Hello fello SEO’s! I’ve got some GMB questions that have been wracking my brain for the last couple weeks and need some ideas.
Tl;dr - How should we properly set up service-area GMBs? Create GMBs for every county we serve? Additional context and questions below:
I have an enterprise level client who operates in the flooring industry. One thing that separates them from the pack is they don’t have physical locations (service area business) despite serving mostly the entire continental US.
Currently, I am working to cleanup the GMB profiles because they have been neglected. My idea/what I think is the norm, was to create GMB profiles for the major markets they served. Within those GMB’s we would target major counties served within that area aka the service areas.
However, I was met with some push back on this. Someone mentioned that we should instead be creating individual GMB profiles FOR EACH county that was served. I cautioned against this mainly because of the amount of work it work it would take to create/maintain/drive reviews for/etc if we had a GMB set up for almost every county in the US.
Now that we got that boring context out of the way, my question to you is this.
1. How should we properly set up service-area GMBs? Create GMBs for every county we serve? Or Create GMB’s for main markets only and list the counties served in the GMB profile backend? 2. For each GMB profile create, a matching city-page will also be created. What information should be listed on the city page? Obvs, NAP, map, reviews, etc. I’m talking about copy. Is one of our keywords in “laminate flooring installation Los Angeles” should that keyword be optimized in the Los Angeles City page? Or should the LA city page be a hub, and have multiple surrounding pages optimized around keywords. For example, just having a page dedicated to the keyword “laminate flooring installation Los Angeles”Helpful answers appreciated!
-
Dear Bryan,
Please accept my apologies for the delayed reply to your important question. I only just now noticed this thread. If you are looking for sound advice on this, I highly recommend this article:https://www.sterlingsky.ca/multiple-google-my-business-listings/
-
Set up the service-area GMB for the main cities and list the counties served in the GMB profile backend. For the service areas, I would suggest looking for the top-areas where services are searched, then add up to 20 of the top service areas in GMB based on the data.
For each matching city-page, I would suggest adding NAP, Map, Reviews, Optimized Copy for the targeted keywords and try to include some geo-tagged images which will help with local ranking. For Keyword Optimization, having a dedicated page for each of the services will help in ranking, such as a page for “laminate flooring installation Los Angeles” optimized for keywords similar to ‘laminate flooring’. The same process can be followed for other services or cities as well.
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
-
Unsolved SAB Solution
What is the best solution using Moz Local for a Service Area Business?
Moz Local | | smartlocaldenver0 -
Unsolved Apple Maps isn't syncing
Hi there! I have been using Mozlocal for a local client for a few months now. They recently opened, so I began the syncing process a few weeks ago. Apple Maps is reporting as synced when I view it in my Listings, but when viewing the actual listing on Apple Maps, the hours are very wrong. It is an important time of year for this business, and appearing as not open for 6 days a week is not great. Is there anything else I can do through Mozlocal to get this listing fully synced?
Moz Local | | Beth_Shockley0 -
Unsolved How long do you tell your SEO customers to wait before they start to see actual results from their SEO?
So, this is probably one of the most challenging questions for SEO agencies likes ours to answer. That is how long does it take for a business to see an increase in sales, because of the business investing in organic or local SEO. It ultimately comes down to how competitive the business sector is, we do know that. We are just wondering what various SEO companies tell their clients. Is it for example, they have to wait a minimum of six months of paying for SEO, before they can get the business on page one of Google? Or, instead, do you carry out an SEO audit at the start, and then make an estimate for how long it will take to get the business on page one of Google?
Moz Local | | sarahwalsh0 -
Unsolved Google My Business and Virtual Offices
Moz support suggests that the community may be able to answer this question, and I would appreciate the help. I own a coworking space that offers virtual office services. Based on my reading of Google's guidelines, A virtual office doesn't qualify for a GMB listing. However, multiple virtual office sites are offering GMB PIN codes if the member signs up for 6 months of service. The claim is that Google will see the address as "stable" after 6 months. The only possible reference I can find for this is 6 months for SEO results. Google expressly states, "virtual offices are not eligible for a business profile." Thanks for any feedback
Moz Local | | Acrowe1 -
MOZ not verifying my Google My Business listing
Hello Folks, Moz Local is not verifying my Google My Business Listing nor is it verifying the manual CSV upload. My Google My Business Listing and my manual CSV upload correctly display all of the same information as my Google My Business Listing and Facebook Page using the following Moz Local guidelines. The only thing that I can think of is that Moz Local is currently pulling up and older listing with a toll free number; however that has been corrected and the feed is real time, so I'm at a loss. Facebook The name, address, and phone number (NAP) listed on the page must be an exact match with the listing in Moz Local. The primary phone number listed must be a unique local number or a toll-free number. The primary page category must be “local business”. A minimum of 2 visitor check-ins are required. Not sure what to do here? Head to Facebook's resources to see how to let people check in and how you can check in. The page must be fully accessible to all potential visitors, so any restrictions based on age, location, etc. must be disabled. This can be easily checked by attempting to view the Facebook page in a Chrome incognito browser while not logged into a Facebook account; if you can view the page normally in these conditions, the accessibility should be in good shape! Google My Business The name, address, and phone number (NAP) listed on the page must be an exact match with the listing in Moz Local. The primary phone number listed must be a unique local number or a toll-free number. The business must not be listed as a “service area business”. A service area business displays with the street address being hidden, as well as the listing not being surfaced through the Google Places API (which is where we pull the listing details from). The listing must be verified by postcard. As a note, it may take a couple days after the postcard verification process for the listing to be available through the Google Places API. The listing must be completely searchable through Google Maps, with the full NAP listed correctly. Any help would be appreciated.
Moz Local | | Kodiiac0 -
Moz Local: Does cancelling change information in business listings?
I was reading the FAQ on Moz Local and would like clarification about this question/answer: What happens to my listings on the sites in your network if I cancel my Moz Local subscription? Moz Local will simply report to the sites in our network that the listing is no longer under management by one of our customers. In this event, Acxiom and Neustar Localeze will revert your listings to their status prior to your Moz Local subscription. In some cases, your other listings will lose enhanced content like website URL, secondary category information, logos, and other images. Moz Local will not actively remove your listing from our network of sites. You will always have the ability to reclaim your listings manually on each site if you decide to cancel your Moz Local subscription. So let's say my business moved to another location. Then I signed up for a Moz Local subscription, updated my business address, and then did not renew. After I cancel the Moz Local subscription, will my business address in the Acxiom and Localeze listings revert to what it was before I changed it through Moz Local? Please let me know. Thanks!
Moz Local | | lssi_admin0 -
How does Moz Local work with business that don't have a physical location? (e.g., handyman, locksmith, etc.)
I'm wondering how Moz Local will handle a business that doesn't want to publicly display an address. A handyman, landscaper, or locksmith might want to do something like this. Is it easily handled or do you have to manually try to "work around" to hide the address on sites that let you? Thanks!
Moz Local | | Philip-DiPatrizio0
