Local Business: Chiropractic Services & Massage Services - HOW TO BRAND
-
Hello!
I have a client who has a chiropractic business and has started offering massage services. Client has registered a DBA For the massage component of the business. Client doesn't want to cross contaminate reviews and doesn't know whether or not he should brand the two businesses in one name or separately.
Currently client has inconsistent business listings for the business and is unsure of the proper way to brand and optimize for local search. Example would be:
- Chiropractic AAAA
- Dr. John B - Chiropractic AAAA
- Massage BODI
- Chiropractic AAAA & Massage BODI
- Background info:
- Main business is one entity and second is registered as DBA.
- Right now, Chiropractor is a sole practitioner. in the past has had other chiropractors working in the office.
- Has only 1 website promoting both services
- Both operate out of the same location.
What is the best way to optimize for local search for both services and what is the best way to brand without cross contaminating reviews online. If recommendation is to target local search separately for the services, should the client has 2 websites since these services target 2 different industries.
Your feedback is greatly appreciated.
-
So glad to have you here, Brent, asking good questions like this one
-
Thank you guys!
-
Thank you very much!
This is a great response. This all makes sense, and I will go with your recommendation. Thanks for answering.
-
Hey Brent!
Great topic. And a complex one due to several factors:
-
First, it's really important for you scrutinize with exceeding sharpness Google's guidelines: https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en. In particular, pay attention to the guidelines for names and practitioners, but read the whole thing a couple of times, if you've not already done so.
-
Google can handle more than 1 business being located at the same location, BUT
-
They must each have a unique phone number; no shared numbers
-
They should each have their own website, with completely unique content - your client should definitely not be mentioning two businesses on the same website, nor attempting to put 2 business names on the same GMB listing, as he is risking the NAP consistency of both by doing so
-
Even with the above precautions, there is some danger here; read on
-
Google is very clear that they don't want you to build out separate GMB listings for different categories of a business. In other words, an HVAC company should not build a GMB listing for its heating services and another GMB listing for its cooling services. This is completely forbidden. The danger here is that, technically, Google might view the chiropractic and massage services as actually just being 2 services belonging to the same business (like the HVAC example). Seeing them both located at 123 Main Street might cause Google to suspect that this is really just 1 business trying to spam them by appearing to be 2 businesses. I'm not saying that this WILL happen, but it's important to know that it could, and that, should you build out 2 separate websites and GMB listings, it could still end up getting red flags. Or, Google might decide that the massage business is simply renting space within the chiropractic office and is therefore not eligible for its own GMB listing (see Ineligible Business section of the guidelines as it relates to 'an ongoing service, class or meeting). Upshot here is, there are some risks to what the business is doing here, even if they are legitimately running 2 businesses out of the same building.
-
An alternative to this might be found in the fact that your client is a solo practitioner. Instead of promoting 2 businesses, your client would be eligible to build 1 GMB listing for his chiropractic company and use chiropractic categories for it, and built a solo practitioner listing as well, but use massage-related categories for it. If he's not in too competitive of a city, this could lead to some business for his massage services as well as his chiropractic ones, without any concerns about DBAs, 2nd websites, etc. It would be vital for the business to build up the single website with lots of good content for the massage service as a category of services being offered in addition to the chiropractic services. So, important to know that this option exists.
So, a lot of factors to consider here. If this were my own client, I'd be hesitant to advise them to go this route of the DBA existing in the same office, but if they really wanted to go forward with that, I would take every possible step to the differentiate the 2 businesses with unique phone numbers, unique websites, unique citations, etc ... but only after fully advising the client of the risks.
Hope this helps!
-
-
Hi there
I would suggest first finding what exact business name your client wants to use. I would then go through cleaning up unnecessary business listings, updating relevant business listings, and creating business listings that are relevant to the service area as well as the industry itself.
From there, I would make sure that contact information is properly listed on the websites with Schema markup so that crawlers can verify your information. Take a look at these resources as well:
- How to Perform the Ultimate Local SEO Audit (Moz)
- Local SEO: How To Rank Your Local Business (SEL)
- The 2015 Local Search Ranking Factors (Moz)
All of those should help get you get on the right track!
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
-
Local Reviews.
Hi I was wondering if someone can tell me if I understand this correctly or at least my observation has been right? Does Yelp pick up the reviews left of Google and post it on yelp, if you are using the same gmail to log in to both your yelp and google account?
Reviews and Ratings | | LittleDog0 -
Does advertising on Yelp help a business get more Yelp reviews?
I've gotten this question from a few clients. There seems to be a correlation in some cases between paying to advertise on Yelp, and the volume of reviews received. Of course, correlation does not necessarily equal causation. And I can attest to the fact that other clients who have at times advertised on Yelp did not even see a correlation. Has anyone else seen this correlation? And if so, can you speak to the possible causation or lack thereof?
Reviews and Ratings | | irapasternack0 -
Local review site discovery
Rand and others have shared a link to a free service where you type in a state location and it shows a list of the most used local listings & review sites for that area. I can't find this service or link anywhere. Was this a service that was on getlisted.org that no longer exists?? Anyone know where it is or where it went?
Reviews and Ratings | | clearlyseo1 -
Why ratings (no. of reviews & stars) still not showing in search results?
We implemented Schema and submitted the pages (with actual ratings and reviews) to Google Webmaster's Structured Data Markup tool a few weeks ago, but the ratings (stars and no. of reviews) are not showing yet. How long do I need to wait? TIA!
Reviews and Ratings | | zpm20140 -
Duplicate Google Plus Business Listings
Hi everyone, We have a client with duplicate Google Plus pages for two of their locations. The ones that are showing in search results for the most part are the ones we control, but we'd still like to report or delete the duplicates (which we do not control from our existing accounts). I used to notice the option to report a page as duplicate but no longer see that...any advice? Thanks!
Reviews and Ratings | | SUCCESSagency0 -
Google reviews only show up in local results, right?
Two quick questions: 1. google reviews only show up in local results right? 2. If you're 100% e-commerce business with no office location, can you even get a google review? Thanks, Ruben
Reviews and Ratings | | KempRugeLawGroup0 -
Localized vs Professional Images
When it comes to local directory sites such as Google+ Local for business, Yelp, Bing places for business, etc., what is everyone's opinion on the type of images that should be used? I am trying to decide if I want to use 10 professionally produced images (the same 10 will be used across hundreds of locations under the same brand across the country) or if each location should use their own unique 10 images that show localized images from that exact location. When it comes to profile completeness, I think each site does not care, as long as they represent your company well. However, I am curious if there are any case studies or the like that show that one image type is better to use over the other in terms of helping customers make decisions to contact your business or not. really appreciate any comments you have to share.
Reviews and Ratings | | dsinger0 -
Wondering best ways to optimize for google maps/local listing
I'm wondering if there is any strategy to optimize a client to show up in the local listings. I assume a lot of this is tied to Google + / Google Places for Business. Is it possible to have a company show up in the local listings over a certain geographic area even if they are not technically addressed in that area? Any help is much appreciated. Thanks, Dan H.
Reviews and Ratings | | higherimages0