HELP my client wants to run two yoga companies from the same address
-
My client has been very successful in local for yoga hertford. Now she wants to do an additional site with five other yogies. The name of the company is obviously different and as with her original company hertsyoga - the actual venues for the sessions are all over the place but principally at a local venue called the Castle which hires out a studio.
My question is what do I do to keep her Nap consistent. She apparently has friendly neighbours who are happy for her to use their address (one door up), and apparently they wont move! But I really don't think they will be happy for me to put their address on the site and in citations locally.
What should I do?
-
You are very welcome, Catherine.
-
Thank you again:)
-
Thanks, Chris!
-
Hi Catherine,
In my opinion, the very best thing you can do for this client is to tell her, "No way, don't do that!". If the client chooses to build a second yoga business at the same location with a new name/new website, she will be creating a citation consistency nightmare that will almost certainly lead to lost rankings for her original business. She may find herself dealing with merged listings or suspension of her account. If she chose to use a neighbor's address, that would be an obvious violation of the guidelines, so that's not an option either.
I've run into situations like this with incoming clients I'm consulting with. My job in such cases is to warn them that a plan like this is not in line with Google's vision of Local. Of course, a business owner should be able to make any moves she wants to with her company, but if what she does is going to create problems with Google, then she needs to realize that Google will not be a viable option for promoting her business. The hard fact is that, these days, few people can do business without Google's help, so creating business models that fall outside of their guidelines will seldom be a plan for success.
You will be doing this business owner a major favor by steering her away from this idea, I believe. If she wants to close her original business and start a new one with a new name with the 5 other Yogis, that's fine. Your job will be a major citation cleanup campaign. This is the only option I see open to her that will not result in a huge headache for this business owner. Hope this helps!
-
Catherine,
Moz's local expert, Miriam Ellis, gave the following answer to a similar question a while ago and it goes straight to the point. If the client can't sincerely answer yes to the following questions then they would be putting their existing local listing in jeopardy of being penalized or merged with another listing.
1) Does the business have a unique, dedicated physical address (not a virtual address, P.O. Box or shared address)?
2) Does the business have a unique, dedicated local phone number in the city of location (not an 800 number, not a call tracking number, not a shared number)
3) Does the business have in-person transactions with its customers, either at its own location (like a restaurant) or at the customers' locations (like a plumber)?
If the business does not meet any one of these 3 criteria, it does not qualify for local inclusion. I don't know where your client is at on points 2 and 3, but if they can't say yes to point one, Local SEO will be nothing but problematic for them. Here's why:
If 2 or more businesses share an address, suite address or phone number (or even if their names are too similar), Google will frequently merge the business details of the listings. This means that Joe the Barber can end up with Jim the Plumber's business name, phone number or reviews showing up on his listing. Merging is one of the most difficult issues to deal with in Local, and one to be avoided at all costs.
Here is a Google help file on this issue: http://support.google.com/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=175290
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
-
Two Distinct Businesses, same address?
I have a client who shares a location with another business. That is, they are both distinct businesses with unique names and phone numbers but they both share space in their suite – i.e. half the desks in the space go to the one business, the other half belong to my client. Can I set them up with Google My Business with this shared address and suite number? Thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | EdmundMansfield0 -
How do I best optimize a video for a client's name?
Hello everyone, I have a client who is obsessed with his videos being indexed directly under his site. We've already labeled his videos with his names, enhanced the meta data to the video to include his name, have added his website to his YouTube Channel, and also have synced his Google Plus Business Page with his YouTube Channel. Any other tips to further optimize his videos with his name? This is a new channel, with an age of only 2 weeks- but this client is being quite loud, and thought I would see if any Moz'ers have any other tips/ suggestions? Thanks Everyone! -Kristin
Image & Video Optimization | | Red_Spot_Interactive1 -
Who can help me market a viral video ?
I have been contacted by TV stations, break.com, junkinmedia.com, rumble,com and many more groups taht want to market my video but I don't want to give away exlusive rights. I still want to be able to market it myself as well. Any consultants out there please email me a proposal or any suggestions on what I should do? I have already been referred to wisteria. com Boo
Image & Video Optimization | | Boodreaux0 -
Updating address in Google Places
My client has moved address to a location in the same city. Will updating his Google Places page lead to a drop in rankings? If so, what is the best way to resolve it?
Image & Video Optimization | | neooptic0 -
Doing SEO for multiple clients, who should make the content?
I realize that since content marketing is (or can be) a part of SEO, then it would logically follow that it's up to whoever is doing the SEO to create the content*. And when it's 1 person or a small group of people that work for 1 company, doing its SEO, that makes perfect sense. But I'm having a little trouble wrapping my mind around how that's supposed to scale up for an outside agency responsible for the SEO of 5 or 10 or 50 other companies. One of the biggest factors in my misunderstanding of the system is the reasoning for creating content in the first place. I absolutely understand how a professional in some field (let's say dentistry for example) could write up some insightful, accurate blog post about why flossing is great. After all, a dentist does (or should, hopefully) have a level of expertise on the subject that most people don't have. That blog post is a tangible addition of value to the website for anyone curious about the subject. But why would anyone want to read a blog post about wisdom teeth written by just some random person at a marketing company? If that person has the time to do a lot of research and BECOME something of an authority on the subject of dental care, then that's fine. But what if they also need to create content for clients that do plumbing, car repairs, and cooking? I don't really see how someone can become enough of an expert on enough subjects and still have any time to do the other parts of their job. Maybe I'm just expecting too much, but I sort of feel that the internet is already full enough of advice and information from people that have no idea what they're talking about, so content from someone that's not an expert (but is a marketing person that the expert hired) seems... frivolous to me. So to get back to the actual question, should/can an SEO ask their clients to create at least some of their own content, or is it the SEO's responsibility to generate all the content, even if it's not always stellar? Or is it just one of those "Could God make a rock so big that he couldn't lift it? Yes, he could, and then he would lift it" (or however that saying went) sorts of deals? Thanks for the feedback, this can all be kind of overwhelming for me at times. *"Creating content" in this specific case meaning writing blog posts, making videos, etc.
Image & Video Optimization | | BrianAlpert781 -
Local SEO - Confirming an Address that Does Not Receive Mail
Hi guys, I have a question that might have been asked previously but warrants asking again. What is the best workaround for Google Local verification for a business that is located at a physical address that does not receive mail. I have a friend who lives in an area that does not receive mail. This particular person tried using a local PO box to verify, but as it turns out that is a poor option a) because it is not allowed within the guidelines of Google Local, and b) because the listing was not accepted as a unique address and is listed without an address in Local because of this. Is there anyone with recent experience in terms of getting around this and verifying perfectly legitimate businesses in no-mail areas? I would have thought Google would have provided a workaround for those types of businesses. Any thoughts / experience would be appreciated!
Image & Video Optimization | | toddmumford0 -
Is there a free/cheap self hosting video site? Can't afford wistia, but want to do it for the seo benefits
Is there a free/cheap self hosting video site? Can't afford wistia, but want to do it for the seo benefits
Image & Video Optimization | | anchorwave0 -
Image SEO - Does having multiple sites using same image help?
I'd assume that if many websites reference the same image on a server that this image would rank higher in image results than a similar image that is only used on 1 website.I have yet to do any testing with this to be certain, but how important does this factor seem to be in regards to image SEO?
Image & Video Optimization | | art-boy0