Google Places: Multiple company listings. How to rank the HQ page over a branch location.
-
Hi Moz experts! I have a client with Google Place listings for multiple branch locations and for some reason the fully SEO optimized Head Office listing is being beaten by an un-optimized branch listing.
The HQ listing gets a tonne of traffic where as the ranking and unoptimized branch location doesn't and is the main listing when searching through Google.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
-
Jon, I took a look at this(the screencast was helpful). I would go to this blog and read about the local directory ecosystem: https://getlisted.org/static/resources/local-search-data-providers.html One of my suspicions is that the other office has more local citations than your head office. The other things is that your site and many of the references on the site do not really differentiate between the locations. For example on Careers each address directs to the same page. You may want to consider modifying you map so that there is a mini site under the main site for each location. This would help signal multiple locations and a hierarchy to the different search engines. Ron
-
Thank you for the links, Freddy.
Looking now at your bit.ly URL, I see you have a large number of locations, making this problem more complex. I was under the impression that you only had two. I am a bit confused by what I am seeing in the examples vs. your notes.
Is this your HQ? In Bathurst?
https://plus.google.com/113521293483420343122/about?gl=au&hl=en
When I access the bit.ly URL for Google Maps, I am seeing a South Guilford in the A position and Bathurst in the B position, but your screencast is highlighting a Kewdale location as the one appearing for your branded search in the organic results. So, not sure what is up with this discrepancy. I am in the USA, so I may be seeing results in a different order in Maps, even with your link.
One thing that immediately jumps out at me is a violation of the Google Places Quality Guidelines. Many of your listings have 'City Branch' in the business title and this is not allowed. For example: Westrac - Bathurst Branch. This is not allowed, per these guidelines:
Do not attempt to manipulate search results by adding extraneous keywords or a description of your business in the business name field.
This needs to be cleaned up.
Because I am confused about which of your branches is HQ, I'm not sure which Google+ Local page to look at. Can you please provide a link to the HQ listing? The Bathurst one I looked at in G Maps Position B looks completely unoptimized.
Something else I've noted is that it appears you are linking all of your +Local pages to the homepage of your website. Have considered building a landing page for each branch and linking to that instead of the homepage?
Do any of these locations share a phone number? Have you gone through all of this listings to see if the phone number of one of them is ending up live on another one of the listings?
Here is a similar thread on the Google And Your Business Forum:
http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!searchin/business/branch/business/WPptzqIgcj8/OKWaMlCtxQsJ
Thought you might like to take a glance at that.
This is as far as I've been able to dig. I'll stop back by if you can provide further clarification, Freddy.
-
HI Everyone,
Thanks you for your responses everyone, sorry for my late reply.
Please see the search with the keyword 'westrac' via google.com.au. The results are in this screenshot http://screencast.com/t/rgUpDppIx15B. This is the smaller branch showing.
You can see the locations here: http://bit.ly/18J6eYa
HQ location is location B (hidden under C and D) and location A is the smaller branch.
We have tested the keyword 'westrac' from location B and also from another location near map marker F, approx 25 mins drive away.
We have suspended the google place listing for location A, the smaller branch some time ago and added a new listing for the same location without a website url to try and overcome the problem but I think the original listing for the branch is still showing as the url is present.
Hope this helps and thank you again for everyone's help!
Freddy
-
Jon,
I am willing to help as well but I need the data. One other thing that I thought about based on Miriam's comments is you may want to use open site explorer to look at the relative in bound links, specifically local directories on the HQ vs the branch. One thing that might have happened is whomever set up your directory listings gave a URL for HQ rather than the URL for the branch.
Ron
-
Hi Jon,
Unfortunately, what you are experiencing is one of the potential issues with having multiple listings, whether this is for multiple practitioners within a single location or multiple locations within a region. It is up to Google to decide which of your listings they consider to be most authoritative.
I will repeat a question asked by Ron. How far apart are your different locations? Are you searching from a single location or are you going to the devices at different offices and searching for the respective locations from them? Google will typically localize the results either to your device, or to keyword indicators you provide in the search term, such as a city name. Would you like to provide more specifics as to what you are searching for and from where you are searching for it?
I will be happy to stop back by this thread if you can provide some further details.
-
Not really sure about this but try to get more citations from different quality locations under the HQ address and keywords and add links that points to your HQ address listing, thin might help!
-
Jon,
Where are their relative locations? Where are you when you do the search relative to each location? How many inbound links on the HQ VS branch ? Have you looked at the localized content ?
Ron
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
-
If a page ranks in the wrong country and is redirected, does that problem pass to the new page?
Hi guys, I'm having a weird problem: A new multilingual site was launched about 2 months ago. It has correct hreflang tags and Geo targetting in GSC for every language version. We redirected some relevant pages (with good PA) from another website of our client's. It turned out that the pages were not ranking in the correct country markets (for example, the en-gb page ranking in the USA). The pages from our site seem to have the same problem. Do you think they inherited it due to the redirects? Is it possible that Google will sort things out over some time, given the fact that the new pages have correct hreflangs? Is there stuff we could do to help ranking in the correct country markets?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | ParisChildress1 -
Page not ranking because of React.js ?
Hey guys, I'm struggling with this part of my website which uses react.js . My developers used this saying it's much better and much quicker (which I think so too) but we have really low traffic coming from google compared to the other parts of the website (not using react.js). Moz gives me a score of 85% for the page but we get less than 100 visits / day and we were targeting 10.000 visits/day giving the traffic of this section in our competitors website (our whole website has 60.000 visits / day). (Section is online since 3 months now) Can you help me see what is wrong there ? I'm in Belgium so we have the website in 3 languages (FR/NL/EN) but the most important ones are FR & NL. FR : https://gocar.be/fr/prix-voitures-neuves/Audi/A3/A3-Sportback/1-0-TFSI_39CER NL : https://gocar.be/nl/prijzen-nieuwe-wagens/Audi/A3/A3-Sportback/1-0-TFSI_39CER EN : https://gocar.be/en/price-new-cars/Audi/A3/A3-Sportback/1-0-TFSI_39CER Main competitors having a better ranking than us (exemple in FR) : https://www.moniteurautomobile.be/modele--audi--a3/prix.html https://www.vroom.be/fr/prix/audi-a3/citadine-2012/197 Cheers ! Jean-Philippe
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Gocar_be0 -
How can a website have multiple pages of duplicate content - still rank?
Can you have a website with multiple pages of the exact same copy, (being different locations of a franchise business), and still be able to rank for each individual franchise? Is that possible?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | OhYeahSteve0 -
Blog home page and ranking
My question is in regards to ranking a blog under our domain www.xxx.co.uk/blog If we are targeting pc blog should the home page have some content in the side bar or somewhere that stays there contantly.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BobAnderson0 -
Bing and Yahoo Ranks work, google ranks not happening
Bing and Yahoo Ranks work, google ranks not happening please help
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Djdealeyo0 -
Home page sudden drop in rank, but not others.
Over the weekend, I noticed "www.thematstore.com" drop out of the search results for "chair mats", where previously it was between 10-12 ranked. The other pages on the domain have remained the same in regards to rankings for their intended keywords. The only thing I changed (on Nov 29th) is the title tag from "Chair Mats - Commercial Quality Chair Mats, Custom Made", to "Chair Mats - Best Custom Chair Mats, Commercial Quality". I know there is a lot that needs to be done on the site, and the site architecture is a bit of a mess (I recommended building a new site)... but I was hoping to gradually fix these issues without gambling with a rank drop. Not sure why the home page all of the sudden dropped out, any suggestions?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Joes_Ideas0 -
Why does Google Claimed Local Listing Ranking Drop?
I have two local google places listinggs unlaimed. Both listings were ranking in the blended search in 7 pack. Once I claimed the local listings for the business both listings rankings have dropped. And one has totally vanished from the search rankings. Is this normal as it appears local places that are not claimed are ranking higher than local places claimed?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | VivaArturo0 -
Why does this page not show in google at all?
www.lavenderblue-flowers.co.uk Sorry for formatting, below is the source. There are alot of blocks from robots.txt but is there anything easily rectified to get this site SOME visibility? Duplicate content maybe PANDA had it? No backlink profile too which isnt helping but even still, surprising to see a domain auth of 1. Thanks in advance for any responses. DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html><head><meta content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"><meta http-equiv="expires" content="Fri, 17 Jun 2011 12:06:27 GMT"><title>Bridport Interflora Florist, Lavender Blue, Dorset, DT16 3XDtitle><meta name="description" content="Lavender Blue in Bridport, Dorset, DT16 3XD delivers to Interflora florist based in Bridport is a well established family run business with a dedicated team of florists. We specialise in beautiful wedding flowers and take great pride in our funeral tributes, floral arrangements designed for any occasion for local, national and worldwide delivery."><meta name="keywords" content="Bridport,Interflora Florist,Lavender Blue,Dorset,DT16 3XD"><meta name="abstract" content="Interflora florist based in Bridport is a well established family run business with a dedicated team of florists. We specialise in beautiful wedding flowers and take great pride in our funeral tributes, floral arrangements designed for any occasion for local, national and worldwide delivery."><meta name="robots" content="index,nofollow"><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/kernel/styles/print.css?new=new" media="print"><link rel="stylesheet" href="/kernel/styles/d4.css?designtype=d4;theme=blue;" type="text/css"><style type="text/css">style><script language="JavaScript1.2" src="/kernel/utils.js?new" type="text/javascript">script><script language="JavaScript1.2" type="text/javascript" src="/kernel/interflora.js?head=1;si=1000343;">script><script language="JavaScript1.2" type="text/javascript">script><script language="javascript"> var b_site_url = getcookie('b_site_url');if (b_site_url != "" && !getcookie('referral_id') && location.protocol == 'http:' && b_site_url != location.host && location.pathname.indexOf('catalog2') == -1) location.href = location.protocol + "//" + b_site_url + location.pathname + location.search;script>head><body><img border="0" src="/kernel/images/speck.gif" width="1" height="1" alt class="nospace"><div id="page-body"><table class="page-topbanner" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td background="/kernel/images/d4/border-blue_03.gif" align="left" valign="top"><img src="/kernel/images/d4/border-blue_01.gif" alt>td><td colspan="2" style="background-image: url(/kernel/images/d4/border-blue_03.gif); background-position: top; background-repeat: repeat-x;"><img src="/kernel/images/speck.gif" width="300" height="50" alt>td><td align="right" valign="top" background="/kernel/images/d4/border-blue_03.gif"><img src="/kernel/images/d4/border-blue_04.gif" alt>td>tr><tr><td style="background-image: url(/kernel/images/d4/border-blue_05.gif); background-repeat: repeat-y;" align="left" valign="top"><img src="/kernel/images/d4/border-blue_01b.gif" alt>td><td valign="top" class="sd-image_only" id="sd-logo_store" colspan="1" rowspan="1"><img src="/kernel/imageload?ttl2=15;table=content_images;key1=fd_img_2606422_1" alt="" title="">td><td class="logo-if" align="right"><img src="/kernel/images/logo-if.png" alt="interflora.co.uk the flower experts™">td><td style="background-image: url(/kernel/images/d4/border-blue_07.gif); background-position: right; background-repeat: repeat-y;"> td>tr><tr><td style="background-image: url(/kernel/images/d4/border-blue_05.gif); background-position: left; background-repeat: repeat-y;" colspan="3" align="center"><table id="website" cellspacing="0" border="0" align="center"><tr><td colspan="3" id="fol_address">1 Lilliput Lane, Bridport, Dorset, DT16 3XDtd>tr><tr><td id="email" colspan="3"><b>Email:b> lavenderblueflowers@hotmail.co.uktd>tr><tr><td style="padding-right:10px;"><b>Phone:b> 01308 459145td><td style="padding-right:10px;"><b>Fax:b> 01308 458417td>tr>table>td><td style="background-image: url(/kernel/images/d4/border-blue_07.gif); background-position: right; background-repeat: repeat-y;"> td>tr><tr><td style="background-image: url(/kernel/images/d4/border-blue_05.gif); background-position: left; background-repeat: repeat-y;" colspan="3" align="center"><div class="page-topmenu"><table class="page-topmenu" cellspacing="0"><tr><td id="account"><a href="/myaccount/"><img src="/kernel/images/d4/icon-account.gif" style="margin: 3px 3px 4px 3px; vertical-align: middle;" width="15" height="13" alt="My Account">My Accounta>td><td id="menu"><a href="/">Homea><img class="bullet" src="/kernel/images/speck.gif" width="2" height="2" alt style="margin: 10px 4px 10px 4px;"><a href="/page.xml?page_name=about">About Usa><img class="bullet" src="/kernel/images/speck.gif" width="2" height="2" alt style="margin: 10px 4px 10px 4px;"><a href="/page.xml?page_name=delivery">Delivery Infoa><img class="bullet" src="/kernel/images/speck.gif" width="2" height="2" alt style="margin: 10px 4px 10px 4px;"><a href="/page.xml?page_name=contactus">Contact Usa>td><td id="cart"><a href="/shopcart/"><img src="/kernel/images/d4/icon-shopcart.gif" style="margin: 3px; vertical-align: middle;" width="14" hieght="14" alt="Shopping Basket">Shopping Basketa>td>tr>table>div>td><td style="background-image: url(/kernel/images/d4/border-blue_07.gif); background-position: right; background-repeat: repeat-y;"> td>tr>table><p id="browser-warning" style="display: block; padding: 2px; border: 2px solid #FC9F85; margin: 0px; background-color: #FDFFC4;"><b>For your information:b> This message has appeared because we've noticed your browser doesn't fully support all functions of this site. For further information please <a href="/page.xml?page_name=faq">click herea>.p><script language="JavaScript1.2" type="text/javascript">var theBrowser = navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase();if(is_nav7up || (parseInt(is_moz_ver) >= 1) || is_ie5_5up || theBrowser.indexOf("safari") != -1) {hideElement('browser-warning',0);}script><table class="body" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td align="left" valign="bottom" style="background-image: url(/kernel/images/d4/border-blue_05.gif); background-position: left; background-repeat: repeat-y;"><img src="/kernel/images/d4/border-blue_05.gif" alt>td><td class="menu" valign="top"><img src="/kernel/images/speck.gif" width="150" height="1" border="0" alt><br><form method="get" action="/search/index.xml" id="leftnav_search"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" class="global-search"><tr><th colspan="2">SEARCHth>tr><tr><td width="50%"><input class="text" type="text" name="keywords1" id="search" value maxlength="50" size="15">td><td align="left"><input type="submit" class="button" name="search" id="search" value="GO">td>tr><tr><td colspan="2" align="left"><a href="/search/advanced_search.xml">Advanced Searcha>td>tr>table>form><div class="menusection"><a class="menuParent_off" id="parentcat_2003443" href="/catalog/category.xml?category_id=2003443"><div class="spacer">div><span class="menu-bullet"><img src="/kernel/images/arrow.gif" class="menu-bullet">Anniversaryspan><div class="spacer">div>a><div class="menuChildren" id="menuChildrencat_2003443">div><a class="menuParent_off" id="parentcat_2003453" href="/catalog/category.xml?category_id=2003453"><div class="spacer">div><span class="menu-bullet"><img src="/kernel/images/arrow.gif" class="menu-bullet">Congratulationsspan><div class="spacer">div>a><div class="menuChildren" id="menuChildrencat_2003453">div><a class="menuParent_off" id="parentcat_4" href="/category/flower-arrangements/"><div class="spacer">div><span class="menu-bullet"><img src="/kernel/images/arrow.gif" class="menu-bullet">All Flower Bouquetsspan><div class="spacer">div>a><div class="menuChildren" id="menuChildrencat_4">div><a class="menuParent_off" id="parentcat_2003493" href="/catalog/category.xml?category_id=2003493"><div class="spacer">div><span class="menu-bullet"><img src="/kernel/images/arrow.gif" class="menu-bullet">Sympathy & Funeralspan><div class="spacer">div>a><div class="menuChildren" id="menuChildrencat_2003493">div><a class="menuParent_off" id="parentcat_2003463" href="/catalog/category.xml?category_id=2003463"><div class="spacer">div><span class="menu-bullet"><img src="/kernel/images/arrow.gif" class="menu-bullet">Thank Youspan><div class="spacer">div>a><div class="menuChildren" id="menuChildrencat_2003463">div><a class="menuParent_off" id="parentcat_2001478" href="/category/same-day-flowers/"><div class="spacer">div><span class="menu-bullet"><img src="/kernel/images/arrow.gif" class="menu-bullet">Same Day Flower Deliveryspan><div class="spacer">div>a><div class="menuChildren" id="menuChildrencat_2001478">div><a class="menuParent_off" id="parentcat_2124203" href="/category/summer_flowers/"><div class="spacer">div><span class="menu-bullet"><img src="/kernel/images/arrow.gif" class="menu-bullet">Summer Flowersspan><div class="spacer">div>a><div class="menuChildren" id="menuChildrencat_2124203">div><a class="menuParent_off" id="parentcat_2003403" href="/category/luxury-flowers/"><div class="spacer">div><span class="menu-bullet"><img src="/kernel/images/arrow.gif" class="menu-bullet">Luxury Flowersspan><div class="spacer">div>a><div class="menuChildren" id="menuChildrencat_2003403">div><a class="menuParent_off" id="parentcat_1000343" href="/catalo
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | ewanstevenson0