Citations or Links

[Rich_Coffman]

My I just verified 2 new locations via "Google My Business" (G+) for a client. - the purpose is to get visibility and rank in the google maps for those 2 new areas.

These locations are not storefronts but are verified in G+ as branches of the business. The G+ listings are set to display zip codes and not show the address to the public - this is akin to showing a service area radius.

Normally I'd just do citation building. But I dont want the address to show up to the public. Most listing websites need the address and don't really allow for service area radiuses.

Since they are not storefronts, I do not want to display their addresses online. My question is can I see traction to just get links other than business listing citations pointed to the G+ pages?

I think that since Google trusts it's own web pages above all else so pointing links to those G+ pages should work.

Who's got an expert opinion?

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Rich,

Here's what you'll want to do:

1. Build citations on only those directories which support hidden addresses. Phil Rozek has done the most work of anyone in the industry on surfacing lists of these, which you can see here:

http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/2012/08/13/can-you-rank-well-in-local-google-without-revealing-your-street-address-anywhere/

http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/2013/04/22/private-local-citations-where-can-you-list-your-business-but-hide-your-address/

*Please note, those posts are couple of years old, so you may want to do some of your own research to see if there is anything different or new, but in the main, those lists should be a great start for you.

2. Build links, yes, but do be advised that these may/may not have quite the same impact as citations. They should help, nevertheless. Interestingly, the quality/authority of inbound links to the domain were judged to have the 2nd greatest impact on organic rankings in the most recent Moz Local Search Ranking Factors but only the 12th greatest on local rankings. This is pretty typical, but I think it's important to note that many Local SEOs are advising increasing focus on link earning as a result of the universal rollout of the 3-pack, making local rankings harder to win and organic rankings more important to earn.

So, there's my expert opinion Hope it helps!

[MattAntonino]

I would do both ... the citations you can that don't require address (this is something you should definitely keep track of with your list of citations.) and then link build normally to the page.

The thing with citations is you may not always see a way to avoid the address but I've put "private" or "private listing" in the actual address field and for many it does work. So even when it says "address, required" I'm filling in with "Private Residence" or "Address Not Listed - Private" and it works on many more than you would think.

Then, do custom searches. "Green Bay small businesses" and such. Find "area" directories and resource pages that way. If you do the search your customer wants to show up on you can usually find a few more authoritative links to add just in the top 3-5 pages of Google for that search.