Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • SEO Q&A
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • Case Studies
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      What is your Brand Authority?
      Moz

      What is your Brand Authority?

      Check yours now
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • SEO Q&A

        Insights & discussions from an SEO community of 500,000+.

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • Case Studies

        Explore how Moz drives ROI with a proven track record of success.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. Image & Video Optimization
    4. Practice Name vs. Dr. Name in Local Search

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    Practice Name vs. Dr. Name in Local Search

    Image & Video Optimization
    2
    5
    2392
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • BedeFahey
      BedeFahey last edited by

      I wanted to get some opinions on an interesting situation for local search.

      Many doctors and dentists are found in one of two ways online:

      1. Their name and title, e.g. Dr. James A. Smith, MD

      2. Their practice name, e.g Smith Plastic Surgery, P.C

      Often sites like Healthgrades are providing data on the doctor him or herself, and the information can be tough to switch out. At the same time, there's a tendancy on the Dr's part to want to be listed as their practice name. Their site is often set up that way.

      How are you handling this kind of setup? Have you found a way to reliably associate (and format) a practice and doctor's name in a listing, in such a way that doesn't violate Google's quality guidelines?

      I know the drill for handling a doctor within a hospital, but this is a slightly different situation...

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • BedeFahey
        BedeFahey @MiriamEllis last edited by

        That makes sense, Thanks Miriam!

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • MiriamEllis
          MiriamEllis Subject Expert @BedeFahey last edited by

          Hi Bede,

          Unfortunately, yes, there is some concern about odd, buggy merges whenever this multiple practitioner approach is taken, but, as Google allows it, you have good ground to stand upon if troubles arise. Mike Blumenthal says that Google is getting better about this, and I value his opinion highly.

          One thing to be sure of is that you are using totally different categories for the two different Google Places/+ Local listings. In other words, the categories of the doctor must be different than the categories of the practice.

          Hope this helps! Good luck, Bede.

          BedeFahey 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • BedeFahey
            BedeFahey @MiriamEllis last edited by

            Hi Miriam,

            Thanks for the response. You are making sense.

            Your suggestion about it being two different opportunities is a completely different way of looking at it that I had not thought of. I was approaching it from the mindset of "Split or duplicate listings bad. One listing good."

            What are your thoughts on how much crossover or confusion a double listing approach might create? I like the idea from a higher-level perspective. I do wonder if the fact that the business address and phone number are identical for each listing, while the names are somewhat similar (e.g. James A. Smith and Smith Plastic Surgery), might cause problems.

            Cheers,

            Bede

            MiriamEllis 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • MiriamEllis
              MiriamEllis Subject Expert last edited by

              Hi Bede,

              So, because of this from the Google Places Quality Guidelines:

              Individual practitioners may be listed individually as long as those practitioners are public-facing within their parent organization. Common examples of such practitioners are doctors, dentists, lawyers, and real estate agents. The practitioner should be directly contactable at the verified location during stated hours. A practitioner should not have multiple listings to cover all of his or her specializations.

              ...essentially, what you are dealing with is 2 listings: one of the doctor's name and one for the practice name. There isn't a way (that I know of) to combine them all into one, but as Google allows you to have the separate listings, then basically, a client like this has 2 ranking opportunities, 2 citation building opportunities, etc.

              Does this make sense, or am I not getting to the heart of your question? Please, let me know.

              BedeFahey 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • 1 / 1
              • First post
                Last post

              Got a burning SEO question?

              Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


              Start my free trial


              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.

              • See all categories

              Related Questions

              • jennafrye

                Would you recommend changing image file names retroactively?

                We'll be optimizing file names moving forward, but it hasn't been done in the past. I have probably 1,500 that would need to be changed, so want to make sure it's a valuable use of time/worth the effort. 🙂 Also, has anyone used Media File Renamer for wordpress? Seems this would be a good way to rename files without needing to reupload everything. Thanks!

                Image & Video Optimization | | jennafrye
                0
              • vmialik

                Amazon RTMP S3 vs Vimeo PRO vs Wistia? (Download Protection)

                Context: A membership site, focused on a Russian market which is known to culturally pirate everything they see. Granted: ultimately you cannot hide video as a person can take a screen-capture/video camera method ultimately. Having said that. Is it still worth going the RTMP S3 route? Vs say Vimeo and Wistia. Will it help a bit or its a technology that is dying? Also with Vimeo PRO vs Wistia generally Vimeo is better value, but how is their analytics compared to Wistia (per user stats) if possible? Vimeo is a very popular, therefore downloaded 3rd party apps exist plentifully, is Wistia's platform unique to Vimeo in terms of its embed format if its same format this means that the commonly available tools as for Vimeo will work for Wistia, how ever if its different, and less popular as RTMP S3 is in this case less tools are available for it. Is that the case for Wistia?

                Image & Video Optimization | | vmialik
                0
              • Carla_Dawson

                .png vs .jpg - Which ranks better or does it matter?

                Hi Moz community, I am working on a SEO project (ecommerce) and most of the images on the website are .png and I notice they do not rank but yet the .jpg do. Do you recommend I change all the .png to .jpg? They all have alt text and keyword filenames (no spam 🙂 Here is the website www.moldear.com.ar. Notice the swimming pool coping tiles are .png and the swimming pool images are .jpg. I cannot get the coping images to rank for some reason Thanks Carla

                Image & Video Optimization | | Carla_Dawson
                0
              • BobGW

                Local SEO: Ste vs. Suite vs. #

                Hi, I used the spelled out "Suite" in my local NAP, but sometimes it's been shortened to Ste by citation websites. I'm trying to remain consistent here Should I use Ste H, Suite H, or #H? This is a good article on it: http://localsearchforum.catalystemarketing.com/google-local-citations/1605-suite-vs-ste-vs-your-citation-addresses-2.html but I'd still like your opinion.

                Image & Video Optimization | | BobGW
                0
              • unitedairlines

                Metadata stored in images read by search engines?

                Does anyone know if metadata stored in images is read by search engines?My company stores images in digital asset management systems and metadata keyword tags are added to the images, so they can easily be found within the system. Since these keywords are stored in the image file, I was wondering if search engines can read them once the image is placed on the website, but I'm not finding any evidence of this in my research.

                Image & Video Optimization | | unitedairlines
                0
              • casper434

                Local Citation Sites

                After searching through many local citation site I find that most only apply to the US. Are there any really good ones in Canada?

                Image & Video Optimization | | casper434
                0
              • David_ODonnell

                Google Places / Map Results CTR vs Top Organic Result

                I have a client who is currently ranking close to the top of the Google Places results for a handful of important local keywords. They have a competitor who is pretty consistantly ranking in number #1 and #2 organic positions, above the Places results. Does anyone know the average click through rates for results similar to these? Do the #1 and #2 organic positions still outperform the lower placed Google Places (with side map) results when the search intent is very local? I just wonder if they are possibly in a better position as-is if people are more likely to use the map or places listings on the SERPs page, rather than click through to another site. Thanks 🙂

                Image & Video Optimization | | David_ODonnell
                2
              • LukeyJamo

                Australian Service that Allows you to Control all your Local Listings

                Hey, After a few stumbles upon a variety of services that allows you to manage all your local listings from the one profile (the latest one was Yext.com). It got me thinking - is there an Australian equivalent? My research revealed nothing. Thanks.

                Image & Video Optimization | | LukeyJamo
                1

              Get started with Moz Pro!

              Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

              Start my free trial
              Products
              • Moz Pro
              • Moz Local
              • Moz API
              • Moz Data
              • STAT
              • Product Updates
              Moz Solutions
              • SMB Solutions
              • Agency Solutions
              • Enterprise Solutions
              Free SEO Tools
              • Domain Authority Checker
              • Link Explorer
              • Keyword Explorer
              • Competitive Research
              • Brand Authority Checker
              • MozBar Extension
              • MozCast
              Resources
              • Blog
              • SEO Learning Center
              • Help Hub
              • Beginner's Guide to SEO
              • How-to Guides
              • Moz Academy
              • API Docs
              About Moz
              • About
              • Team
              • Careers
              • Contact
              Why Moz
              • Case Studies
              • Testimonials
              Get Involved
              • Become an Affiliate
              • MozCon
              • Webinars
              • Practical Marketer Series
              • MozPod
              Connect with us

              Contact the Help team

              Join our newsletter
              Moz logo
              © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
              • Accessibility
              • Terms of Use
              • Privacy

              Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.