What (Local SEO) NAP to use when your country doesn't use Suite #s?

[BruceMcG]

New Zealand does some good things, for example we grow hairy fruit called Kiwifruit, put other fruit into bottles and call it Sauvignon Blanc, but we can also be a bit, well...fruity.

My problem is that when we Kiwis list out NAPs we do it like this: ABC Company, Level 1, 123 Example St. Now the fruity bit is we don't have Suite #s, there is never: ABC Company, Suite #400 Level 1, 123 Example St. We just expect you to go up to level 1 and bl@ody well find the office thanks very much (yea there are signs).

It seems like a Local SEO shared office situation but it's the whole floor! I'm worried if I get an office in an office building then I will have my results merged with Extremely-Boring-Accountant and Angry-Lawyer who happen to be on the same level.

What's a Local SEO aware guy to do?

[BruceMcG]

Thanks, will do

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Bruce,

Thanks for your patience. I did get a chance to speak with my colleague - Nyagoslav Zhekov of NGSMarketing.com, and he feels that Google will be sophisticated enough to handle this issue, especially given that this is par for the course in your country. Likely Google handles this the way they do shopping malls here in the U.S. Just be sure your business name and phone number are unique to you, and cross your fingers that no problems arise.

[BruceMcG]

Thanks Miriam

[BruceMcG]

If I log out of normal moz, and then click the login button at the bottom of this thread and login, then I am Q&A logged in. Weird.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Bruce,

This is quite interesting, what you've described regarding New Zealand addresses. I'm going to ask a colleague who has done quite a bit of local work in NZ if he has any info about Google's ability to handle this. I will hop back in if he is kind enough to respond to me. One would presume that Google gets this about your country (love those little kiwi birds, btw) but I'll see what I can find out!

[BruceMcG]

Yeah I thought Miriam Ellis was the subject matter expert and I've copied her advice below (there is no solution) from 13 months ago. I'm kinda hoping that there is updated advice and even perhaps a solution?

"It's important to understand that no matter how many citations you get, you are at risk of their 'power' being split between you and any other business sharing the address, and simply confusing the bots further. It might be helpful to visualize being a bot here. If you see 50 references around the web to Jane's Hair Salon, 23 for Jenny's Yoga and 72 for Bill's Martial arts all stating that they are located at 123 Main street, who do you believe? Therein lies the problem and it's not going to be a winning situation for any of the businesses mixed up in this. Google has never handled the concept of shared addresses well. Unfortunately, in the real world, people do share addresses, but Google's system is not designed to cope with that, so either one abstains from participation in Google's local products, or finds a way to comply with them." - Miriam Ellis Oct 13 http://moz.com/community/q/local-seo-how-to-handle-multiple-business-at-same-address

[BruceMcG]

Thanks Moosa. We use PO Box numbers.

[BruceMcG]

Thanks for your quick response Federico. The issue is New Zealand does not use Suite #s at all.

[BruceMcG]

My apologies for not responding to the responses earlier, I got caught in some sort of odd logged out bug for just the Q&A section

[MickEdwards]

I'm going through the same issue with a client with 2 offices - both are shared.

I'm taking heed of the advice given at http://moz.com/community/q/local-seo-how-to-handle-multiple-business-at-same-address and http://moz.com/community/q/multiple-businesses-at-the-same-address-avoiding-google-places-trouble

[MoosaHemani]

When you don’t have it, you don’t have it… just use it with what you have and this won’t really be a problem for Google I guess…

But if you get some letter to your address how do you get it without the suite no.? #just wondering!!

[FedeEinhorn]

Doesn't the building provide you with a suite number? (ask there)

They usually do for correspondence delivery. Try to see if you can get one, but if you can't then you should use what you have, without the suite # as there's none.

There are several businesses that run in a same "office" with just separate "areas" and use the same address, that shouldn't be a problem. In fact, the lack of a suite number isn't your problem, but the building's.

Hope that helps!