Local SEO Plus Performance Based Pay Per Call Multiple Phone Numbers

[greenhornet77]

In my learning about Local SEO recently, I keep reading the importance of NAP (name, address, phone number).

But what if you are only using different phone numbers because you are tracking pay per call.

How would set up my Local SEO strategy?

The newest phone numbers are NOT going to match all the websites, social media and previous listing in directories, etc.

Is this a bad move?

Should I suggest that we do one or the other going forward with other clients but not both?

Thanks a lot...

[MiriamEllis]

Hi GreenHornet,

Yes, the use of call tracking numbers in Local has long been a problem, because it can ruin the clarity of your all important NAP (name, address, phone number) signals. Here is one of  David Mihm's early posts on this topic, from 2009:

http://searchengineland.com/be-wary-of-call-tracking-numbers-in-local-search-26895

A couple of years later, and also on Search Engine Land, Chris Silver Smith wrote this post regarding call tracking 'solutions' that could be categorized as cloaking:

http://searchengineland.com/for-local-seo-lack-of-call-tracking-solution-spawns-cloaking-70198

I'll excerpt from Chris' post here, regarding options:

" Avoid call tracking numbers for your website and for any online directories or online yellow pages which are being actively indexed by Google and other local search engines. Using them in banner ads, in PPC ads, and on landing pages which are set up to not be indexed is fine, so they can be used for paid search advertising with zero local SEO impact.

If you have used call tracking numbers in the past or are using them now, discontinue it. You’ll need to periodically audit local information sites to see if your listing info with the tracking number continues to appear on websites online, and carefully update/remove the tracking numbers from them.

If you think you’ve been penalized for using call tracking numbers from a provider who added cloaking software to your site, remove the offending code and submit a reinclusion request to Google explaining what happened.

As part of your standard phone script at your business, consider asking callers directly where they found your listing. Have employees who answer the phone write down responses for you to see later. This remains an excellent and free way of polling to see how effective different channels are performing.

If you are in some sort of unavoidable situation where you must get some phone tracking information, implement the tracking numbers for a brief period of time without using any sort of cloaking code. I would suggest only using tracking numbers for two or three months, maximum, and that should be sufficient to get a rough idea of how effective a particular channel is performing — then, return to using your regular phone number and audit to fix any places where the tracking number continues to appear."

Also in 2011, Greg Sterling covered Telmetrics' introduction of a call tracking solution that doesn't use call tracking numbers, but to be honest, I never saw this idea covered by anyone else and can't say how heavily it was adopted or how well it works:

http://searchengineland.com/telmetrics-introduces-call-tracking-without-tracking-numbers-93450

In 2012, the only thing I've really come across is part of an interview at SEOBook of Jake Puhl and Adam Zilko:

http://www.seobook.com/interview-local-marketing-experts-jake-puhl-adam-zilko

Here's the relevant text:

"Call Tracking Recommendations (Or Not?)

Back to Topics

Eric: Yeah, we do see that a lot, especially with people who are trying to do campaigns with different phone number tracking, where they put different phone numbers in yellow and all these different places. Do you have anything? Do you use a specific type of call tracking application?

Adam: No, we completely recommend against it, absolutely 100% against it. Any time you have any variations with your map, your name, your phone number, like Jake said, you're going to weigh down your citations, weigh down your listing, weigh down your trust with Google and that's been a big thing. We've seen, even without any other sort of off page efforts, just by cleaning up your citations across the web, we've seen a significant increase in rankings, many, many times because of that.

Every now and again, you come across, say, a seven pack with dentists, you see one that maybe doesn't have a website, in a very competitive market. Typically, it's because his citations are so dialed in, he's been in one place for 30 years and the only data out there is exactly the same, so there's a lot of trust with the map. The same kind of rules apply. We completely recommend that you never use a tracking number, and if you have to use one on your site, you put it in the form of an image file, and we'll even go as far as to make the all tag on it their actual phone number. There's just no room for any confusion at all."

I've not seen this discussed any more recently than this, and the consensus of opinion pretty much remains the same as it has for the past 3 years since this subject was first spotlighted. To wit: Call tracking numbers are bad for local campaigns, and if you absolutely have to use them, you need to make an effort to hide them, as discussed in some of the above articles.

I suggest that you read through everything I've linked to above so that you can make an informed decision about this. Hope these resources help!

[AdamThompson]

I don't fully understand your situation, but I would ensure your main number is on your site, and use your main number anytime you are trying to build citations (local directories, yellow pages, business listings, etc.) You can use your tracking number in PPC ads, emails, banner ads, etc, as they won't function as citations anyway.

[greenhornet77]

Thanks for your answer Adam.

Well we will have the main number but then we are also running a performance based model with a new number.

Which number should I promote?

[NakulGoyal]

If you think about it, a lot of yellow pages essentially get the data from same sources, some even scraping other yellow-pages as well as licensing data scenarios. It's okay to use your paypercall kind of tracking on your websites, PPC campaigns, radio ads etc. It's not going to affect your local search rank-ability.

I hope this helps.

[AdamThompson]

Oftentimes with call tracking you place your real phone number on your site, then use a JavaScript to dynamically display the tracking number.

You should probably be using your real phone number on all your offsite listings.