For Local SEO on a business with many locations, should the city be included in the business name?

[brianspatterson]

For a franchised business with ~50 locations spread across the US, should the city be included in the business name when building citations?

Fictional example:  We have a staffing franchise called 'Hamilton Staffing'.  They have 50 locations in the US.  They are all called 'Hamilton Staffing'.

We need to finalize the correct NAP information so we are consistent in building citations.  For the name, should we just use 'Hamilton Staffing' for all of them?  Or should we use 'Hamilton Staffing - Chicago' and the like for other locations?

It looks like InfoUSA and Axciom are just using 'Hamilton Staffing', whereas Google is using 'Hamilton Staffing Chicago' and the like.

Thoughts on this?

[LoganYard]

Hey Brian,

This is something I've been mulling over for the better part of two years. I am assuming you've made a decision on this already, and I was curious to see what you ended up doing?

We currently have 10 franchises, and continue to grow. We will have four offices in the Seattle MSP (currently all in different suburbs). I have always been concerned about how it would work with two offices in the city, but I felt being able to use an exact NAP for each office individually was important. After reading Dana's response, I'm now inclined to use the non-localized names for all offices.

Which way did you go, and how is that working out for you? Any other advice or lessons learned along the way?

Cheers,
Logan

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Brian,

If you are seeing Hamilton Staffing - Chicago as the business name on the Google+ Local page of this business, I have to guess that someone made a mistake in setting up the listing. Google's Places Quality Guidelines read:

Do not attempt to manipulate search results by adding extraneous keywords or a description of your business in the business name field.

So, McDonald's is always McDonald's, not McDonald's-Chicago, in other words. So, what I'm saying is that what you're seeing in the SERPs is likely a violation of the guidelines (not good news). Business title fields should contain only the business name with no additions and should rely on the address part of the listing to differentiate one locale from another. And all citations and company website optimization should follow this rule, too.

[brianspatterson]

Thanks Dana!  That is very helpful and good food for thought.  Due to the nature of this business, there wouldn't ever be more than one location within a major metropolitan area, but I understand where you are going there.

It is a good point to look at other major brands that have likely thought about this same thing.

[danatanseo]

Hi Brian,

I would say it depends totally on your business plans and how much you want to/expect to grow. My point being, that going through all the trouble to add the city name to the business name, may end up being a problem when, for example, you end up with 6 different locations in Chicago.

If you know, due to the nature of your business, that there will only ever be one franchise located in each major metropolitan area, then perhaps adding the city name would be okay. However, think about the future long term. If it's possible that you are going to end up with even two locations in one city, then you're going to have a lot of follow up work to do after the fact (sorting out citations in the same city).

I would follow the lead of major franchises like The Olive Garden and stick to your brand name, but carefully optimize each city listing with specific and accurate information.

I hope that helps! (just my two cents)

Dana