Using same business number on different websites
-
Hello,
I have number of websites in different locations with different business name and address with verified listings. However, I am thinking to use the same phone number on all the websites as it is difficult for me to keep track of all the numbers.
So, is it okay to use the same phone number on different websites with different business name and address?
Waiting for your thoughts.
Brian
-
If the call is ringing 10-12 times before the call forwarding provider connects with your phone, I would drop that provider. A good company will have a seamless transition so no one would ever know the difference when they call you. Who are you currently running tracking numbers through? Sounds like either you've set up too many redirects in the call system or the provider has some serious support issues.
-
Hi Brian,
As others in the community have rightly indicated, sharing a phone number across multiple websites is definitely a no-no. It may help to think of it this way. You have a Google My Business listing for your company, HappyTrees.com, and it points to your website. Google's bots travel from your GMB data to your website to cross-check for accuracy. They find your name, address and phone number on the website page your GMB listing points to and say, "A-okay, this checks out."
Then they crawl further and they begin to encounter the phone number you've got on your GMB listing and HappyTrees.com on BigTrees.com, TallTrees.com and GreenTrees.com. The bot stops and says, "Wait a minute, I thought this phone number belonged to Happy Trees. What's up with this? Hmm ... my data isn't trustworthy about this business. Likely, this shouldn't be ranking as well as this competitor here who clearly has this very consistent NAP."
Maybe a somewhat cartoon-ish explanation, but I find it can be helpful to visualize how Google may react to decisions you are making in your online marketing. One of your best bets for achieving high rankings is to have utterly consistent NAP across the ecosystem, and so, the following things can dilute this:
-
Any mismatches in name, address, phone, website anywhere on the web
-
Taking a multi-site approach instead of a single site approach
-
Duplicating your content across multi sites
-
Sharing details or interlinking between multi sites
-
The use of call tracking numbers in any local search campaign except in a very few instances which are described very well in these 2 posts:
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2014/11/25/guide-to-using-call-tracking-for-local-search/
http://localu.org/blog/truth-about-seo-call-tracking/
Any mistakes in these areas have been described as severely damaging to a business' ability to rank well for its desired terms, so a thorough study of the history of each of these types of issues would be your best bet for protecting your company against unwanted outcomes.
Hope this helps, and glad you've asked!
-
-
Hello All,
Thanks for replying.
I am already using a tracking number but the problem is if you call the business on our tracking number, it rings over 10-12 times before it’s picked up. This results in a large number of callers not leaving a message or just hanging up.
About how to answer, the nature of business is independent of where the call came from. The only thing matters is the call but as I said I am using tracking number and I cannot replace that service provider.
Further, as per the responses, I think it would be bad to put the same number. Is there any other solution?
Thanks in advance!
-
Under no circumstances if you want to rank for local results should you use the same telephone number for multiple locations or different companies that will destroy your ranking as you will compete against yourself and confuse Google. There are many excellent methods of getting additional phone numbers that are legitimate
do not mess with your NAP
Name
Address
Phone number
Level 3, jive communications, grasshopper, trilo, 8x8, Vonage, & Ringcentral are just a few that come to mind.
I believe you can save money on grasshopper in Moz.com/perks I can personally vouch for jive, grasshopper, trilo & 8x8 for inexpensive phone numbers trilo is tough to beat but may not be the exactly what you're looking for. I encourage you to look at all the phone systems I can tell you I think
http://grasshopper.com/blog/should-you-have-a-local-number-for-business/
http://grasshopper.com/blog/local-numbers-have-benefits-too-ya-know/
-
I assume that doesn't matter, otherwise the question asked wouldn't make sense.
But good point! I'd like to know the answer as well
-
SEO aside ... how would you know how to answer the phone?
-
Hi there.
It surely would look strange and maybe even suspicious in eyes of google. What about simple call forwarding? Just forward all calls from all of those numbers to your main one. Win-win situation.
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
-
Website with higher domain authority and good content not ranking locally?
I've got a client that has a higher domain authority than top ranking sites, is pretty well optimized from a content perspective, has good local reviews but still isn't ranking well at all... often not at all in local results. We don't show in map pack or even regular organic listings in a pretty small city. They are a local sign shop- so they make business signs/church signs etc. Have you seen anything negatively impacting local rankings that is worth digging into as possible cause? A few historical insights: They had some spammy backlinks (we think a competitor was being shady) that I've sent disavow files into Google for They had a previous SEO person create 100's of orphan pages for every possible city + offering combination you can think of- I've cleaned those up via 301 redirects Should I just keep waiting, doing content optimization or am I missing something else?
Local Listings | | karmadigital0 -
Best Listings for Service Area Business?
Hi Moz community! I'm wondering the best places to get a local service area business listed online? I'm working with a client who installs synthetic grass around Vancouver, but could apply to any local SAB ... I found this resource from Local Visibility Systems but it's almost 5 years old at this point ... http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/2012/08/13/can-you-rank-well-in-local-google-without-revealing-your-street-address-anywhere/ I started setting up an Apple Maps Connect account but it doesn't seem like they support the concept. Is there a way to hide an address in Apple Maps Connect? Is it worth submitting at all? Does anyone have a comprehensive list of modern directories that matter for local SEO that support SABs? Thanks very much everyone! - Paul
Local Listings | | paulz9991 -
Google My Business - two businesses, same location
I have client that has developed a new brand targeting a specific segment of their wider market - the more price sensitive customer. They have launched a website for this brand, which specialises in promoting special offers. Both operations have the same physical address and the new brand - that targets this niche, I believe has been set up as a service-area business on Google My Business. I think they should change this as they do publish their address on their website and do on occasion welcome customers on their premises. My question - at last! - is that can both businesses exist on Google Maps - with the same business address and is this the right way to proceed if I want to target directory listings for the new brand. Any thoughts welcomed! thanks.
Local Listings | | nathangdavidson21 -
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?
Local Listings | | Jason.Capshaw0 -
"Duplicate" on Google Local - Attorney and Business Listing
For our law firm, we have a Google Local listing for the firm (Riddell Law LLC). Google also created a local listing for one of the attorneys (Riddell) (we didn't create it, but are in the process of verifying it). Both listings are at the same address. Moz Local says these are "duplicates" - is that true? Would Google penalize us for this? I am not sure how to fix it - both the individual attorney and the business are in fact at the same address. If anyone has any advice I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you!!
Local Listings | | bpurdue0 -
I don't have a business address, Any problem?
I am targeting local area, Melbourne in Australia. My business address is my private (home) address and I don't want to list it as we don't have a shopfront, and I don't want my personal address online. Is there a way to get around this? Web site - brandstenmedia.com.au Services - Aerial Photography & Videography
Local Listings | | Green.landon0 -
Different Search Results Depending On Location
Hello all, I was talking to a client earlier this week and they were telling me that they were not ranking fora desired keyword term. When I, however, ran a Google search for the keyword term in question, the client's website was showing a ranking on my end. We are both located in California. I'm in Southern California and they're in Northern California, but I don't think that should make a significant difference should it? Anyway, I've never run into such a quandary before and am curious to know if any of you out there can help me better understand why we're receiving different search results. Any and all insights are welcomed and appreciated.
Local Listings | | maxcarnage0 -
Multi-Location Listing Best Practices for Home Office, In-the-Field Positions, and Business Centers
Hi fellow Mozzers! Our marketing agency (based near SF) has partnered with 3 individuals in NYC, LA, and Seattle. I would like reflect our expansion on our site and local listings, but want to make sure we're on the up and up, since it's not a traditional brick-and-mortar expansion. Many people have used similar tactics in a black-hat way, so just want to make sure we don't get grouped in there. Is pursuing local listings in advisable in this case? In the Field/Home Offices - What is the best practice for listing a location in the field with home office - but no official B&M office? Business Centers - How does Google treat business centers where we have a part-time presence? (We legitimately use, can receive mail/phone calls, have an office share allocation, and host meetings in their boardroom.) Local Numbers and Addresses - Will a local phone number forwarding to our main HQ work? We'd prefer to filter all of our calls through our HQ since we have the infrastructure there. Other Considerations - Other than setting up our address and phone numbers on our site and major listings, is there anything else that should be top priority or concern? Thanks for your help here! Andrew
Local Listings | | Alaniz0