Best Practice When Selling One Location of Company with Multiple Branches - Local Search
-
I have a client with a small business with 4 different branches. Currently, we have a main landing page for the company, plus distinct landing pages for each branch with maps, territories, distinct phone numbers, etc., for each branch.
The company recently sold one of the branches to a competitor as they do not want to service that area anymore. They have asked me what they should do now. Obviously, we are going to remove the location page for that branch, but we also need to transfer the phone number to the other company for use as part of the sale.
What tasks should I look into for separating the branch from the rest of the company while still maintaining best practice for the rest of the site/company?
Thank you for your help and suggestions.
-
Just updating the URL of the post Miriam mentioned. It's been moved and is returning a 404 error. Try https://www.imprezziomarketing.com/is-permanently-closed-killing-your-ranking-4-case-studies/ instead.
-
Hey Dominick,
You know - honestly what I'd do here is comment on Joy's post with your question! I bet she'll reply and because it appears she has dealt with your exact situation before, she might be able to offer some additional suggestions like that. Why not go right to the source?
-
Miriam,
Thanks for the awesome resource. It really shed some light on the process that I have never had to confront. I think the example of "relocating" the list of the sold branch would be the best way to do it. If they want to register the their address as they new branch at that location they can do that on their own time (who knows if they even have an SEO team...I doubt it). So it looks like the way forward is to ask Google to mark it as relocated to the closest other branch.
Can you think of anything else we should do? On our page we can make a note of it on the branch specific landing page for the sold location or just redirect that to the main page with all the locations on it.
What do you think?
-
Thanks, Dominick,
This scenario is actually more complex than it may seem at first glance because of a couple of things. It would seem like the obvious step would simply be to report your sold branch as closed and move on, letting the new owner open a new GMB listing for their new purchase. However, before you jump into doing this, do read this: http://imprezziomarketing.com/seo-blog/google-maps/is-permanently-closed-killing-your-ranking-4-case-studies/
I would not want you reporting the branch as closed to impact your other open branches, so please do read that case study to see if this helps shine some light on your strategy for this.
-
I am pretty sure they are renaming it, as my client is retaining their company name for their other branches. I do not know what the SEO/marketing plans are of the new owners. My client wants to continue to promote their other branches and the company overall.
-
Hi Dominick,
So, is the new owner going to rename this old branch of yours to be something different? Have you discussed with the owner what their plans are, in terms of website and Local SEO efforts for the newly acquired branch?
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
-
Not Showing Up in Local Pack - Possible Possum Filter?
We have a medical practice client who isn't showing up at all on local category searches for their zip code. Wondering whether it's a Possum algorithm filter, and if so, how we can resolve this. The client is named Wall Street Dermatology, and is located in the same building as two other medical practices in the same dermatologist specialty. They share the same address (65 Broadway, New York, NY), but have different unit numbers. My client is Suite 904. To be clear, these are entirely separate businesses that are not affiliated with each other. They happen to be located in the same building. When running local searches (for example, in US zip code 10004) for the category term "dermatologist", my client is not appearing at all. The two other practices are appearing just fine. In fact, one of the competing practices has not only their practice listed, but one of their doctors individually and even one of the physician assistants. My client, Wall Street Dermatology, isn't showing up. IMO, the GMB profile is robust, with more reviews than competitors, and more content overall. While there's SEO work to be done, the citations and link profile exceeds some of the other practices who are showing up in "dermatologist" (use zip code 10004) searches. Google is showing profiles of dermatologists who haven't even claimed their profiles or have websites.One more thing: For a two-week span, the business was showing up in the 3-pack for "dermatologist" after making upgrades to the GMB profile. This was a first. So they've been there before. However, they made some changes to NAP. 1) added the providers name to the business name: "Business Name: Provider Name". 2) Updated "Suite" to "Ste" in order to match USPS. After that change, the business fell off entirely again.Note: We do appear on searches for the business name. And we do appear for some secondary keywords (for example, "Cosmetic Dermatology"), but not for the main keyword. Is this related to Possum (https://moz.com/learn/seo/google-possum)? Is Google confused that my client is related to the other practices in the same building? Any suggestions?
Local Listings | | sponnu01230 -
Google my business : Multiple businesses operating from the same location.
After multiple phone calls with Google My Business help, I'm still completely stumped! I need to set up Google my business pages for 5 business', however, each of these companies work in the same office - so the location used on Google my business would be the same. I want to know if this is possible? Surely there's ways to do it, especially since the increase of hot-desking and shared offices! Thanks
Local Listings | | sophiecrosby970 -
???? "Google My Business", Search Console, Google Webmaster Tools
I added a Google+ Page for my business several years ago. Now when I click on "Search Console" within Webmaster Tools it is asking me to provide business information that I entered several years ago for Google+. Is this normal? Should I fill it out? It seems that this info is redundant with what I filled out for Google+. When I enter the name of my business (Metro Manhattan Office Space, Inc. ) in Google, a listing appears to the right, so it seems that Google already has my details. Thanks,
Local Listings | | Kingalan1
Alan vkpDA XgCcQ0 -
Average Percentage of Clicks on Google (Adwords vs Local 3 Pack vs Organic)
Does anyone know the allocation, percentage-wise, of clicks that go to Adwords vs Local 3 Pack vs Organic on Google Search (average)?
Local Listings | | OhYeahSteve0 -
Local Seo Service Url Best practices.
Hey Guys and Gals, What's the best format for service urls for local seo? http://www.example.com/basement-remodeling or http://www.example.com/basement-remodeling-ashburn-leesburg-sterling-va/
Local Listings | | hde0 -
Service for multiple loccations
Hi, OK so I have a page on my website which is 24 hour emergency electrician. Please take a look here https://www.otexelectrical.co.uk/windsor-24-hour-emergency-electrician Now I am ranking OK for Windsor emergency electrician however I would like to do the same for the multiple different locations I've I could create multiple URLs with different title and description meta information and submit using site map and web master tools however I'm aware that doing this I would be creating duplicate content. Would a canonical link for each location pointing to the same page be OK to go with and if so how do I go about doing this? Do I do this by linking each area listed to the same page using rel=canonical? Or if I'm thinking this all wrong how would you suggest I did this. I'm very new to local SEO so you will probably notice in google I did origonally create multiple pages of the same content with location changes in content, meta tags etc. I realise now this was the wrong way to go about doing this hence why I've deleted these and edited my .htaccess to 301 to the same page. The location links have dropped in the rankings. Any help would be very much appreciated. Cheers
Local Listings | | Peo19870 -
Adding new business location. Google My Businesses vs. Google Map Maker
Hi everybody, Adding new business location. Is it better for local visibility to add it via Google My Businesses dashboard directly or via Google Map Maker first (and then claim it in My Businesses dashboard)? Thanks
Local Listings | | Ryan_V0 -
Multi city locations and webmaster tools
I recently read this article: https://moz.com/ugc/get-your-multilocation-business-ranking-in-multiple-cities-with-one-domain-21815 In it Brian talks about setting up webmaster tools for city locations and directories. So my client has a site: www.example.com/city1 and www.example.com/city2 How do I configure webmaster tools for these city locations. Is it possible?Is it worth it?
Local Listings | | AL123al0