Google My Business URL Choice
-
Hi guys, we have a national chain hardware store hardware store as a client. We built them a new website, and now they want us to do local SEO to help them rank better. We are debating for GMB whether to promote our new website URL or use the location page on the national hardware site. Most similar stores seem to promote the location page on the national site, but the client just spent money on having us build them a new website. What gives our client the best chance of ranking better?
-
Good topic, and I believe what John is describing is a franchise in which there is a national website for the brand, but that individual locations of that franchise are owned by individual owners. Is that right, John?
If so, the problem with franchises is that they frequently don't give location owners much or any control over what is on their landing page of the corporate site, so in some cases, the franchise owner might want his own website so that he can work toward building the brand locally more than the franchise is going to do on his behalf. Is this the right decision? It really depends. Honestly, if it's something like a pizza franchise where menus, sales and everything else is the same across the board, I don't see a compelling reason to operate a unique local website. But, if there is a high degree of differentiation between what's being sold or done at different locations, and the business owner doesn't have any control over what appears on the corporate site, then there could be a case for the separate site. How is it with the hardware store? Is everything the same in its Chicago location as in its Denver location, or is something really different happening at the two locations .... different products, different specials, different classes, something else? That's what needs to be determined.
-
We have a location finder which drills down into a page per location which then has cross links to the products lines which that location provide.
The page title for each location is something like<name of="" company=""><city town=""><geographical area=""></geographical></city></name>
<main service="" product="">if not too long!
If in your database you could have a description section for a unique piece of content per branch better still, perhaps location information or specialties for the location.
I would however echo the message about one website for the company and only split off into a second site for specialist products or brands. Even then I would use one website if I could get away with it as content is king and lots of good content will get noticed more.
</main>
-
Sorry if I am not understanding correctly, but are you saying that you have built a separate website for one store even though it has a location page on the national website? Is there any specific reason to having a separate website? Usually I would advise against having a separate website for just one store as your issue is the most common reason why.
I assume the national website will have much more authority so there are a few things you could do here. My first bit of advice would be to keep it consistent. If they want to rank in local, your best bet is to update all citations to use the new micro site. I would also use the link of the micro site on the GMB page. I would also advise you get a link on the national site to the micro site and use the national site more as a citation. I hope this makes sense.
-
This really comes down to a question of page and domain strength. Just like regular organic results, their placement in the local pack is going to depend on a number of relevancy/geo signals in conjunction with the usual trust factors.
If the new website is going to have a full campaign attached to it and specifically targeting that store's location then I'd suggest using this one. If the national site is going to be the stronger one, perhaps the SEO time is better spent focussing on that site rather than splitting it across two.
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
-
Google Local Listing Visibility for Regional Queries
I manage a variety of small local programs that are located in areas that are more known by the region than they are by the town (the Adirondacks and the Catskills to be specific). In the past, the local algorithm understood that when the query was related to the region, it would show a variety of results from that region. It seems that for the Catskills they have changed the algorithm to pinpoint the center of the region and only show results that are in the near vacinity of that pinpoint, rather than a variety of results from the region. The Adirondacks however is still showing a variety of results. For those of you not familiar, the Adirondack are 9,375 square miles and the Catskills are 5,892 square miles and are both very rural mountain regions and popular travel destinations. Google clearly understands that these regions are geographically oriented and shows a local pack for relevant results such as "Catskills Resorts" or "Catskills Restaurants", but over the past few weeks, they have started only showing 2 results for the query Catskills resorts, both located near Shandaken, NY becasue that is where Google has deemed the marker for the Catskills is (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Catskill+Mountains/@42.009289,-74.3996212,14z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x89dc665668f82f31:0x3b012376423b8efa!8m2!3d42.0092908!4d-74.3821116) In reality, there are hundreds of resorts within the Catskills. (Note there is a Catskill, NY within the Catskills, however Google is not even confusing this town with the region). Does anyone have ideas on how to get Google to understand that the Catskills are more than Shandaken, NY? I feel like we suddenly have no hope of ranking locally and most of the businesses I manage are located in very small towns that people are not specifically searching for.
Local Listings | | Your_Workshop0 -
Incorrect Google Places Listing Outranks Other
We have 2 Google Places listings (due to 2 Google Accounts). One listing (the one with the wrong address) outranks the correct listing. Am working on updating citations and have updated the website with the correct address. I do note that Google has not picked up that the contact page has changed and has not seen the changes to many of the citations. Do we: Update the incorrect listing with the correct address for the time being to resolve issues with clients. Remove the old (incorrect) listing. Or is there a better way to sort this out am concerned that removing the listing will lose us our Google Places rank.
Local Listings | | GrouchyKids0 -
Issue in "Suggest an Edit" feature of Google My Business
"Suggest an Edit" feature of Google My Business is allowing the competitors to change your business details, that too without your prior permission! I have put together a piece on the issue we faced and you can review the same here: https://www.kvrwebtech.com/blog/issue-in-suggest-an-edit-in-google-my-business-is-it-a-bug-or-a-major-pitfall/ What are your thoughts on the same and what should be the right solution?
Local Listings | | varun18001 -
Local Business Audit Help.....
Hello Every one, I recently got a big project for cleaning up some old listings (around 120 locations), witch means to claim and delete them, as you guys know most of the directory's don't give the option to delete the listing after you claim that. I am trying to figure out the approach for something like that.......considering time consuming and efficiency! any help will be appreciated!! Cheers
Local Listings | | steve2150 -
Can I add multiple listings for my business for the different services I provide?
Hi there everyone. I'm a Moz Local user and I have a quick question. I'm a music teacher. Can I add multiple listings for my business for the different services I provide? For example - Saxophone lessons, Piano lessons etc...? That way I would have different listing profiles for each instrument - all pointing to a different landing page on my website? Or is this considered to be bad practice? Many thanks for your help in advance.
Local Listings | | JackMSVaughan1 -
Google Plus showing on maps but now showing up google.com search organic.
Hello All, How are you doing? Please try to help me again. I have big trouble with my google plus business and never back ranking for 2 years. Before 2 years my google plus business #1 page google with any keywords: nail salon pigeon forge tn nail salon sevierville tn pedicure pigeon forge nail salon, nail shop pigeon forge,.... My google plus business: http://plus.google.com/+Sassy-nails/ website:http://sassy-nails.com http://sassy-nails.com after i claimed another page to the same account. I lost all review, stars and scores 2 days ago It was been back again but All ranking losting all. and not Whe I seach google.com organic" My listing " http://plus.google.com/+Sassy-nails/about It is not showing up on google.com oganic ranking but I will showing on my. Please big help for me please. the link i attach here" Sassy nails salon " Under " Hair Expo" and top " Spazzi nails" i am looking farward to here you soon. @35.8475624,-83.5896836,12z
Local Listings | | sassynailsalon0 -
My Google business show up on map but does not show up on list and local search on Google.com
Hello all, how are you doing ? When I merged two pages = one page " Sassy Nails" It was lost all ranking and traffic on my google plus My Google business show up on map but does not show up on list and local search on Google.com main keyword: nail salon in Sevierville tn nail salon in Sevierville Tn pedicure in Sevierville Tn nail salon in pigeo forge Tn my website : www.sassy-nails.com http://plus.google.com/+Sassy-nails please help me that search?num=100&safe=active&site=&source=hp&q=nail+salon+in+sevierville+tn&oq=nail+salon+in+sevierville+tn&gs_l=hp.3..0j0i22i30l8j38.1387.8317.0.8645.37.30.4.3.3.0.283.3120.4j18j2.24.0.msedr...0...1c.1.61.hp..8.29.2798.0.V2EADE1ATMU
Local Listings | | sassynailservice0 -
Google Map Disappeared
We had a client call and report that the information in the right-hand map of the SERp for their company name was presenting inaccurate information. I immediately reported the issue through Google and two days later it was fixed and the information was appearing correctly! The following week, we created a Google My Business page for the same client to help boost their presence. Now, when typing in the same general query as we did for the previous-mentioned work, the map is not showing up at all! The map does appear when I type the company name with city and state, but not only the company name as before. The listing has been verified with the Google postcard code, etc. Any insight or work arounds on this would be immensely appreciated!!
Local Listings | | BehrDesign0