Local Listings SEO: Which multi-location retailers are doing a super job with local listings? I'm also interested in finding retailers who are using schema.org microdata format to structure their store-level data.
-
Do you know of any enterprise level restaurant or retail chains that are doing a great job with their local listings content? Just looking for some links/examples of best practice executions. Also, I'm very interested in finding retailers or other multi-location businesses that are using schema.org microdata format to structure their local store location data.
-
Good for you for finding at least two, Sonia!
-
I am surprised you found 2/10.
-
FYI - in case anyone is interested...
- Costco.com store finder uses Schema.org/store and /postaladdress on individual warehouse locator pages
- Walgreens.com uses Schema.org/pharmacy, /postaladdress and /local business on individual store finder pages
I also looked at JCPenny, WalMart, Target, WaWa, Macys and several others and was unable to confirm that they use Schema.org or other formats to structure their store finder location data for the semantic web. I'm still looking for examples in case you happen to know of any especially good ones.
Thanks!
Sonia
-
Let me see...
Getting a group of franchisees to agree on marketing could be replaced with herding cats, pulling teeth, root canal, flat tire on freeway, all at the same time and you would avoid a lot more headaches.
Best
-
Thanks, Robert. I really appreciate the tip. I do think that it is an issue that is probably hard to gather a lot of franchisee support around.
-
Sonia
I do not disagree. I was a large equity holder in a national franchisor and my experience was that the franchisees still had say in what happened on the local level. Similarly, we have a client who has franchisees and even though the franchisor controls the portion of the fees that are allocated contractually to the "local" spend, the franchisee's have a committee that rules on a lot of that.
With something like McDonald's where they seem to have and exert a lot more control, it would make sense that they handle it (as you said, they achieve economies that way).I would suggest at least an email to Jon Schepke at SIM and you are free to let him know I suggested you contact him. If anyone would be able to give an expert answer to your query, it would be Jon.
Great question Sonia,
Robert
-
That's true in some cases where franchisees run a lot of locations, but largely the national company is responsible for national media buys and investments - which should include local search presence at scale.
-
I was pondering this and I think on the large restaurant chains they run into a problem we used to run into when I was involved with a franchise group. You have all these locations that are owned by individuals and not one person/group owning everyone in a larger city. It is very difficult to convince each one to spend money, etc.
Just a thought,
-
Hi Robert,
Thanks so much for weighing in on this. I really appreciate the wider input on this topic, as my own view could be slanted by the fact that I tend to try to shop small local brands whenever I can. Even my favorite grocery store is an independent one - hard to find these days in the USA. Interestingly, Sonia started two threads on a similar topic, and on her other one, David Mihm was able to point out one larger retailer that is doing a good job...REI.com. Check out their location pages. I was impressed!
But when it comes to restaurants, I just have not seen anything like this in looking at the biggies like fast food chains. I find this interesting, because with their enormous incomes, they would certainly have the money to do this, but as things currently are, there's not much incentive to do so. It's easy to find McDonald's or Burger King in any town, regardless of a lack of Local SEO.
Appreciate your feedback. Maybe someone can dig around and find the food franchise that breaks the mold on this
-
Miriam,
You are so correct on this. It always amazes me how many large companies rely on their brand, people know them, etc. and are just unwilling to even look at the improvements they could make with SEO.
One of the first people I ever heard the term SEO from was Jon Schepke who with his cousin Steve were co-founders of Meandur Internet (Proceed Interactive). Jon is CEO of SIM Partners and I know they do local on an enterprise level. Out of curiosity, I looked at their clients page and did not see any retailers that I recognized. What stood out is that companies involved with destinations are all over local.
I do not see larger retailers who are making an attempt at really making local work for them (and you and I know it would), no microdata, etc. But, when things start going a bit South, I am guessing we will see it then.
Best
-
Hi Sonia,
This may be a toughie because, in my experience at least, most enterprise level chains have pages like this to help you find a local location:
http://www.bk.com/en/us/restaurant-locator/index.html
You type your location into a search box and are typically only shown a map and address. There isn't really content here. Maybe someone in the community knows of someone who is doing this better, but it seems to me that big franchises can lean on the strength of the branding and expect Google to 'figure it out' rather than having to make the efforts smaller businesses do. Does the community agree with me on my take on this? I'd like to know!
Regarding the Burger King results page, I can't even find the address I've searched for on the page source code, so I can't tell if they are using schema.
You've asked a good question and I'll be interested to see if anyone can provide an example of what you're looking for.
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
-
Former tenant Google Map listing still displays
Our tenant closed their business and we now occupy the address, their Google map still displays, albeit "Permanently Closed" along with ours at the same address. I can't seem to get it removed, it's been 2 years. Help 🙂
Local Listings | | KevnJr0 -
Anyone know how to filter by location-neutral results?
Google dropped the ability to filter your search results by location, and it's now using your precise location to give results. Here's an article from Search Engine Land that covers the removal of location setting: http://searchengineland.com/google-drops-change-location-search-filter-from-search-results-237247 Anyone know a work around for getting location-neutral results? Before I was using "Location: United States" to find unbiased results, but that's not an option any more.
Local Listings | | Gorilla760 -
Local Search and Schema.org - Do I need to tag up the "same as" Property to all my citations to help with local rankings?
Hi All, We have implemented Schema.og on our website and this also includes the local business schema for all of our branches.However I've read an article (see below ) which says we should also be doing "same as " property and linking this to ALL of our citations such as google plus page , yelp , bing places, city search etc etc as this will help with citations. I am wondering if anyone has done this ? - And if so , has this helped with local rankings etc - I don't really want to invest the extra costs to get this done if I can't find anywhere that says its made a difference - The article from whitespark - says - "when you create new citations for your business (or for your client’s), it’s a waiting game hoping that Google and the other search engines will find your new citations quickly and make the connection between those listings, the business, and the website. The “sameAs” property can help make that process much quicker _and _easier. Schema.org explains that the “sameAs” property is used along with the “URL of a reference Web page that unambiguously indicates the item's [or business’] identity.” By using the “sameAs” property in your NAP schema markup, you can tell search engines that the business you’ve marked up is the same one found at a certain citation URL Of course, Google+ isn’t the only important citation source. There’s also Bing Places, Facebook, Yelp, Citysearch and a few others. The nice thing about many schema.org properties is that you can use them multiple times in your markup." I am wondering what peoples thoughts were and whether they has implemented this and if so , did it help ? thanks Pete | [sameAs](http://schema.org/sameAs) | URL | URL of a reference Web page that unambiguously indicates the item's identity. E.g. the URL of the item's Wikipedia page, Freebase page, or official website. |
Local Listings | | PeteC121 -
Is the new local 3-pack the death of Google+ as factor?
So now we have the new 3-pack local results, which obviously cut the listings Google+ link from the results. What I find strange is that is now even when searching the business name alone, there is no sign of the associated Google+ page in the results. I still get other local third party listings like Facebook, Yellowpages, and Yelp – but no link anywhere for the Google+ page. I noticed this today when I wanted to verify something on a client’s page. There was nothing I could do search wise to bring up this business Google+ page. I finally got it by clicking the link through Moz local. After exploring this with some other clients, when I do get a Google+ page in the search results some have produced a 500 error when clicked on. If Google wasn’t killing off Google+, why would they completely omit the pages from their own search results? Another extremely strange thing, the majority of my clients are independent local businesses inside a large national company. Their Google+ listings have always been managed corporately using a bulk listing feed. We could never gain access to these pages and would always manage our listings to match that of the corp. controlled page. Well the last week of July they announced they were giving us the option to take control of the page. This happened with two different companies, MAJOR national competitors in the same industry, within a couple days of each other. They now treat it just like another version of social media, instead of a major factor within search. I find it hard to believe that something isn’t going on…
Local Listings | | masonrj0 -
Google Plus Pages for Doctors, SUPER confusing..help!
Hi Moz community, I carefully reviewed all info I could find and still cannot figure how to make this work. I am working for a medical practice that has 4 different office locations in my county. There are also 5-6 doctors and all of the doctors MOVE throughout the week from location to location. I know (from reading Google's exact guidelines) that they suggest creating a page for the doctor using only their name in addition to creating a page for each location. How do I set those doctor pages up? What location do I use? What contact info is okay to use etc? Super lost. Thanks all! Ricky
Local Listings | | RickyShockley0 -
Google Local Business SEO
Under "http://moz.com/blog/everybody-needs-local-seo" Q) There is a paragraph saying "If your business has multiple locations, you should have a unique location landing page for each Google Plus Local listing." Does it mean that for each of my shop (location), i have to create an brand new google plus page for it? Q) There is a paragraph saying "you're dealing with a single location, then we're talking about your home page - but these elements should also be locally optimized on product and services pages. City and state in the title tag. City and state in H1 heading" For example, if my country is australia, i have to create a page within my website and the it is optimised to the keywords "Gold Coast | Australia" in my 'product and services page'?
Local Listings | | kevinbp0 -
Branding Accuracy for Local Search
Hello Mozzers! We have a hotel client who's brand is, say "The Moz". However, they appear online with a few different variations, e.g. "The Moz", "Moz Hotel", _"The Moz Hotel". _In the past, we have tried to include the word "hotel" in client names on local listings, for search purposes. However, does branding accuracy trump what may end up being a small gain in search? Thanks for your thoughts! Frank
Local Listings | | FrankSweeney0 -
Unable to verify my google local listing page by phone verification.
Hi, I have created the Google local listing page for my business site. I want to verify it using the phone verification but there is only a option - "verify by postcard". Is there no option to verify it using a phone number? Help needed.
Local Listings | | SangeetaC0