Local Citation with multiple offices
-
We have 5 different offices and each has its own google+ page and yell page. At first they were ranking poorly and the wrong offices were coming up for searches in that town so we change the name to :
BusinessName (Location1)
BusinessName (Location2)Etc. those listing all starting to rank top for searches in Location1 and Location2. We have now been told that it is bad for our overall SEO to have the business name appearing differently in different listings and this led me to look at Moz Local. My question is should I remove the (Location1) from the Google+ business listing so that all our offices have the same name (but obviously different addresses) even though it appears to have a negative impact on rankings?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
-
Nice feedback here. The one thing you've asked about that I don't believe I've seen addressed is your question regarding having geographic modifiers in your business name. You are correct - Google does not want these, unless they are part of your legal business name or DBA.
This was a bit of a goofy situation. Originally, Google's guidelines expressly forbid the use of anything but the legal business name or DBA in the business title. Then, in the fall of 2013, they suddenly changed their policy on this, permitting business owners to add descriptors. So, at that point, lots of business owners jumped on this and added city names and other descriptors. A little over a year later, Google reversed their policy, returning to their original stance on this in which they do not want city names, state names, etc. in the business title unless they are part of the real-world business name.
You can read the guidelines here, under Name: https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en
-
Thank you that is very helpful. I have gone through and upated almost all of the listings but I am having real trouble with Facebook and wonder if you can help.
We have one Facebook page which is linked to our head office address. One Moz Local it says that our other 4 offices do not have facebook pages. Is there no way of adding offices to facebook or do I literally have to create a new facebook page for every office? This seems silly and a bit annoying as we only really want one single facebook page for our company rather than one for each office, but if this is the only way to do it then will the SEO benefit of having a facebook page outweigh the hassle of managing 5 and the confusion it will cause customers?
Thanks
-
Hi there
Take a look at Whitespark - or you can take a look at BrightLocal's list and vet out those that benefit your business most.
If you have addresses for your business dedicated directly to those cities, you should be fine and not needing to add in (city name). Search engines and crawlers are smart enough to pick up on the address and locality of your Google+ and other citations to return them in proper searches.
Let me know if you need any more help!
-
Thanks. Unfortunately I just tried to sign up to Moz Local but it is US only (I am UK based) so it wouldn't let me :(.
Each of our offices has its own google+ page as I couldn't see any way of adding all the offices to 1 page. The business has one name, the name is the same at all offices "Business Name" but each office does have a different address and phone number. Are you saying that it is better for all my google+ pages to be called "BusinessName" rather than "BusinessName (London)" and "BusinessName (Manchester)"?
-
Hi there
If your business locations have separate NAP information, then you will need to do a listing for each location. Moz Local has great bulk upload capabilities so you will be in great hands there.
If all businesses have the same name, make sure that all of those names are correct with different addresses and contact information - this is extremely important as Google and other search engines use this information to verify your business for search. You don't need to delete anything, just update the information in your Google+ page, and also make sure each location has a Google+ Business page - complete with their information and a link to the company website (if they don't have their own site). Make sure that the main Google+ page is verified as well. You may be able to verify all of those pages but that might take some research.
Hope this helps! Good luck!
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
-
3 Main Local Ranking Factors
In the Moz article titled Should You Pay for Local Listings Management? by Miriam Ellis, she makes this statement: "Prominence, proximity, and distance are the three types of factors Google tells us it takes into account when ranking local businesses. " I always thought that classic on- and off-page SEO was one of those three factors. What puzzles me about Miriam's statement is this: What's the difference between distance and proximity? Aren't they the same thing?
Local Listings | | btreloar3 -
Local Listing Conundrum
Hello Mozzers, I have a client with a unique situation that I am hoping I can get some feedback on. One of our service industry clients has a location that is claimed on all major sites (Google, Bing, etc., etc.) - so all is good there. They are experiencing an issue, however, because their check-in building is actually located at their conference center across the street, which has a different address. The issue is mainly that it is confusing and a pain point for customers as they get to the destination without realizing they need to actually be at the building across the street first for check-in. The client is considering changing their primary address to the conference center address across the street, which was previously not a separate / claimed entity. They would still maintain the main business listing and just adjust the name. Their thought process is that Google would bring people to the conference center / check-in building first rather than to the main business building. I personally have major concerns about making the switch. I feel like this would be potentially confusing to both users and search engines. And, the main business listing has already acquired a ton of reviews that we would be starting from scratch with. My immediate recommendation would be to better communicate the check-in process to guests and not go through the change of address process, but I figured I would throw it out to the community for feedback. Thoughts?
Local Listings | | mbochic0 -
Google Knowledge Graph Missing Telephone Information/Multiple Locations
Does anyone have experience correcting the Google branded knowledge graph for a local listing? We have an issue with the knowledge graph not displaying telephone numbers on a clients local knowledge graph panel in the SERPs (for desktop searches). We manage over 1,500 local listings for the same company and the majority of those listings display telephone numbers on the right hand side of the branded knowledge graph panel. However, a handful do not display a telephone number. If you click through the map section of the knowledge graph panel, into the Google Maps/Google My Business page the numbers are listed, they are just not showing up on the knowledge graph panel in the SERPs. The local numbers are listed on the Google My Business page. Does anyone have any experience with this and can recommend what other items we should check for that could help get the numbers to show up on the on the knowledge graph panel in the SERPs? Thanks for the help!
Local Listings | | lunavista-comm
0 -
How to tell Google My Business what area is local to my company?
Hello Mozers I've been stumped by the changes in the interface with Google My Business. I used to be able to set up the area for which I wanted a business to cover. Now I can't find anyway to tell Google. The company I work for is in St Albans and our main workload is London. It would be helpful if I could actually control what Google Local sees as Local for my company, i.e. to encompass central London which is only 19 miles away. Can someone give me an idiots guide has to how to tell Google the area I'd like our local listing to cover? Thanks
Local Listings | | Catherine_Selectaglaze0 -
address on my websiteto help with local searches
If I put my address on my website, does it help that page to rank for local searches? especially if it's the same address that i am using for moz local and all my citations? I want my other pages to rank in different cities as well as i have a service that travels to all cities in my state. Will that address of my home town on my home page make google think that i don't service other cities? Thanks, Ron
Local Listings | | Ron100 -
Getting Google To Correct Your Citation
Over the last few months, I have done everything other than drive out to California and bring google flowers to get them to edit the stupid zipcode for our downtown Tampa office. Does anyone have any experience getting these types of situations corrected? I'm at a total loss, and I do not know what else I can do. Extremely frustrated...but always grateful, Ruben
Local Listings | | KempRugeLawGroup0 -
Bright Local - Citation Burst. Winner or Loser?
Bright Local have a package called "Citation Burst." This looks great but, we all know directory submissions can have an extremely negative impact. Has anyone used Bright Local for Citation Burst, please let me know? Thanks Gary
Local Listings | | GaryVictory1 -
Why there is sometimes A-1 in Local result title?
Here is an exemple: https://plus.google.com/local/Montréal, QC/s/a-1?hl=fr Is this a legacy from Yellow Pages? A way to be first in the paper edition or it's something else?
Local Listings | | TVFreak0