2 businesses same phone number
-
I was wondering how I should approach a scenario where I am optimizing two different companies websites that have the same phone number but different addresses. This sounds like a weird scenario, however it is out of my control. Is treating them as two separate companies fine, or do I have to take special precautions when submitting business directories and what not? Thanks for everyone's help!
As a side note, is their a way to use Moz Local with both companies, right now it is getting confused as to what business belongs to what listing.
-
I agree with Miriam and give a thumbs up to her thorough response. I would only add that not having an additional number for the separate business is pretty inexcusable. With Skype, Anveo, or any other myriad of VOIP and cell options, getting another number is a dirt cheap cost for someone running a legitimate business. Plus the value it adds for the business should more than cover the $50 or so they'd spend yearly. If they still want the number to ring to the same line, the could just set up call forwarding on the new number... Again, all that should cost less than $100 a year and probably be even cheaper than that. Best of luck!
-
Hi There!
I would really urge you to explain to the business owner that sharing a phone number is liable to create problems for them in marketing the business. Their Google+ Local listings could merge, mixing up their data and adversely affecting each business' ability to rank. Moreover, if the two businesses are sharing a phone number, I'm guessing that they have some sort of call center that's trying to divvy up calls for one business or the other and Google expects each individual business to be directly contactable at its local number.
This might be a good thread on Linda Buquet's forum to show the business owner http://www.localsearchforum.com/local-seo-ranking/10508-business-2-offices-but-one-phone-number.html with an explanation of why no one would want to risk this kind of headache when a separate phone number should be an affordable and quick acquisition for any business.
If the business owner will not listen to this advice, then I would only suggest undertaking working with them if they remove all references to the phone number from the Internet for one of the business and solely promote contact information for the second business. This suggestions is not likely to be well received, because doubtless the owner wants to market both businesses, but it would be really frustrating to me personally to undertake marketing in this scenario knowing it could just create a mess instead of the good results I'd hope to be creating for the business.
On the Moz Local side, what you're seeing in the results is a pretty good illustration of the confusion a shared number can cause. While I believe you can list two businesses with the same phone number, I'm not 100% certain about this, and would recommend you contact the Help Team for further information on this. So sorry you're in a tough situation with this client - sounds like it needs some careful thought and a good chat with the business owner.
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
-
Does a lot of Google Business Account create website SEO keyword spam?
Hi, I have an SEO client from Abu Dhabi and when I handover the project - they got only one Google My business page. One month after SEO keyword rankings found to be great. However, from last week onwards, I have noted keywords ranking is dropping.When I checked with their map - one of the keyword map rankings also lost.When I cross-checked their listing - it has been showing -they listed 8 Google my business verification.Using the same website and same phone number - just to make their presence all over Abu Dhabi.My question is -does this affect SEO keyword ranking?
Local Listings | | Navya12340 -
Children's club Google My Business conundrum
Hi there I have been contacted by a small business to help them with their <acronym title="Search Engine Optimization">SEO</acronym> effort.
Local Listings | | coolhandluc
The business is a children's club offering drama classes, music classes etc... Looking at their online visibility shows they don't even have a Google my business profile which is where i was going to start however, they operate from a local school after hours. The local school already has a GMB profile, obviously with the same address and postcode. Is it possible to set up a GMB for the children's club anyway? Many thanks0 -
(Australian Business) Ranks 7th Brisbane, but ranks 3rd in Sydney and Melbourne. Why is Brisbane ranking worse, how to fix?
Years ago the rank would be the same across Australia. If we ranked 3rd in one city, it would be the same in every other city. Right now, we are ranking 3rd in Sydney and Melbourne, however we ranking a low 7th in Brisbane for keyword "Trampolines". Why is this? How can we fix it in Brisbane. Interestingly, we are a Brisbane based business. The keyword is "Trampolines" and the website is http://www.vulyplay.com
Local Listings | | Vuly0 -
How will changing the phone number on my website affect SEO?
We are considering changing the phone number to our website to one of those 1-800-eat-cows. How will changing a phone number we've had 10 years affect our SEO. Do we need to change all citations, Google maps, etc etc? What if we don't? Thanks!
Local Listings | | RoxBrock0 -
Business Name Not Showing Up in Google's Maps
I have a client whose name in not currently showing up on Google maps. Their business location only shows once their name or related keywords are searched, but their business name does not show when you only look for it on the map regardless of how far zoomed in you are to the actual location. I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this, or knows of a way to fix this. I have already contacted Google multiple times, and they told me that “business’ names are just randomly pulled”. The client is an HVAC store front business with good rankings and a fully optimized Google profile, so these reasons did not answer the issue. Client’s GMB profile: https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome-psyapi2&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8&q=rothheating oak creeek&oq=rothheating oak creeek&rlz=1C1JPGB_enUS685US685&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.5919j0j4 DBZfF
Local Listings | | JohnWeb120 -
Multiple listing directory pages pointing back to the same local business profile
I've been tuning my SEO pages to cover cities, states, and metro areas for local businesses we have. I'm wondering if the same business showing up on multiple pages, because they can actually go out and service that area, has a negative impact on rankings. Does multiple pages on your site, pointing to the same content, hurt or help the ranking of either page?
Local Listings | | All-About-Labor0 -
One Location - Multiple Businesses
We have a client that has multiple businesses running out of the same address with no difference in suite number - what's the best way to work with this considering NAP? The owner runs several different service businesses and a few online businesses (all legit) out of the same large office space and we want to try to figure out how to get him listed locally with the obvious NAP issue. We can get new phone numbers, but not sure of the best way to handle the duplicate address issue. Thoughs?
Local Listings | | DougHoltOnline0 -
Question about domains with 2 or 3 hyphens
I have a client who has 3 domains in the following format: keywordkeywordkeywordkeyword.co.uk keyword-keyword-keyword.co.uk keyword-keyword-keyword-london.co.uk And needs advice on the best one to use. The client is leaning towards the one with 3 hyphens because it has more keywords but I am a bit worried about using it at the risk of it looking too spammy because of the hyphens. So my question is will 3 hyphens as in the above example cause anything negative in terms of SEO? We will not be doing any black-hat seo tactics but even so will 3 hyphens cause any problems or is it safer to go with just two hyphens? And secondly the client asked if Google can understand different words or is it better to have hyphens so Google can understand that there are different words?
Local Listings | | impliweb0