Higher Value: Google Local Listing or .edu link?

[Andrew_Mac]

A client of mine is putting together a partnership with a local university to offer a certain type of medical test through several of its clinics. They are writing up the contract now and asked me if there is anything they should ask for that would benefit us in our listings.

Since we do not have an actual local footprint, my first inclination was to ask for them to help us get verified as owners of "practitioner" local listings at their business addresses (as discussed here). We would provide local numbers that would ring our call center. My thinking is that these listings and backlinks would benefit on searches similar to "medical testing in San Antonio". I have a number of concerns with this track but would love to hear from the community on why or why not this might be the way to go.

Another potential option is to ask for a link from the university's website outlining the partnership. Something along the lines of "Our labs have partnered with BIZNAME to provide medical testing in San Antonio to our valued patients." I'd obviously love the EDU links, but I'm hesitant after Overstock's penalty a few years ago to try to set something like that up.

I'm not sure which (if either) to ask for in the contract. I'm leaning toward the latter since it seems more in line with a long term strategy, and Google seems to change their treatment of the local listings pretty frequently. However, getting that high visibility real estate in the local listings is really appealing to me.  What does everyone think?

[IncredibleSEO]

Agreed with Miriam and Ira.

In order to obtain multiple GMB listings (since the clinic you want to sell the STD tests to will already have its own) for the same location/practice/clinic, you would need to have separate business brands operating within the same office.

Google's My Business guidelines state: “If your business location combines two or more brands, do not combine the brand names into a single page. Instead, pick one brand’s name for the page. If the brands operate independently, you may use a separate page for each brand at this location****.”

In other words, the only way you can obtain multiple GMB pages is if you have two totally different brands working under one roof (and even then you risk Google conflating the listings). Or, of course, if you have multiple practitioners at one location.

Best practice for multiple brands in the same practice location:  assure each brand has its own verified suite number from the post office (if possible); each of the two brands within the practice should have their own website; each brand should have its own business category (preferably); and each brand would need to have its own business name and phone number of course.

Andrew: I actually wrote a behemoth or an article that was inspired by the Search Engine Land article you referenced in your original comment: http://www.incrediblemarketing.com/google-my-business-for-doctors

Hope this helped.

[irapasternack]

Sorry for the late response on this. First, I would make sure you consider Miriam's point below. If this really is simply one of many services offered at certain clinics, then it is not appropriate to have a separate listing. Instead, you'd be limited to mentioning the service in the description of the existing listing, and if relevant, adding a category to that listing.

But, if this is legitimately a separate office within a larger clinic, and has hours and/or staff that are different from the rest of the clinic, it could cross over into being its own entity.

If that is the case, or for future reference, it generally is possibly to use something like a "suite 1a". The key thing there is to make sure that the local post office will deliver to that address variation. Also, it is reasonable to use that technique for a very limited number of extra addresses, in situations where there is legitimately a different business at the same address...  but I would not abuse the technique by trying to simply use one address as a mailing address for dozens of businesses.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Andrew,

Good topic! I don't believe the scenario you are describing would actually fall under Google's guidelines for practitioners. Rather what you are describing sounds more like Google's rules for on-going classes at a location, if we view you performing a test at someone's facility as being like a class. So, this would not qualify for a listing, and to further compound this, Google does not want call centers listed as phone numbers. So, in a nutshell, I would not move forward with this idea.

The links from the .edu, however, could prove nice if done in a modest, user-friendly way.

Hope this helps!

[Andrew_Mac]

Makes complete sense. If there is already a suite number (like Suite 1), do you think setting up something like "Suite 1a" would work?

[irapasternack]

OK, so based on that situation, I don't think Provider listings are the way to go.

But, you might consider just getting a regular listing, if the situation at the clinics allow for you to get a unique mailing address. If there is a suite number, or other way to get a unique address not used for any other listing, and this suite is inside the office/clinic where patients  would go, then you could create a listing for the brand using that address.

As long as you pair that with a unique and local phone number, and as long as the patients are being sent to the correct spot, this approach should allow you to get the local listings. Of course, this would be dependent on the university or other organization being able to provide you (and allowing you to use) that unique mailing address.

Make sense?

[Andrew_Mac]

Ira,

Thanks so much for the great response. In answer to your request for an example, the website with whom I work sets up STD testing for patients at clinics nationwide. We're looking to work with some additional clinics run through universities. These clinics provide a number of services, but we would be their exclusive partner online sending them patients to get tested for STDs. So while the local listings for their clinic would still be viable, we would want the local listing for that address (when someone searches for localized std testing), to serve up our business name, local phone number, and website, alongside their address. I had hoped the practitioner opportunity (or alternatively having us viewed the same way a RedBox at a Walgreens) would provide us with the option of giving our business the appearance of a brick and mortar location. Does that answer the question?

Thanks,
Andrew

[irapasternack]

Hi Andrew,

As someone who works with many medical practices, we've found that even though Google allows for the practitioner listings, they can be more trouble than they are worth. We use them in some cases, but not by default. In your case, I'm a bit confused as to who the actual provider would be, and how that would relate to your service. Are there specific providers who only use your medical testing system? Or can you give an example of who these providers would be?

As for the linking strategy, this seems smart. Overstock's issue was that they were compensating people as part of large program for providing links. In your case, you are talking about placing a limited number of links that are accurate and relevant. As a legitimate partner, it seems perfectly reasonable that you'd have a mention and link attesting to your relationship.

Hope that helps. If you can provide more detail on your ideas for the provider pages, there may be a creative way to use those in addition to a link.

Ira

(Edited to clean up my typos.