Unique Local Citation Descriptions?
-
Hello!
As SEO’s we have always understood that it’s best practice to craft a number of unique descriptions when submitting to local directories, rather than using one generic description across all directories.
However, if we look at this logically;
An average business owner (even if Google didn't exist) wouldn't bother to vary descriptions. They would have a generic brand template and simply submit the same description to each directory.
What do you think? Is having unique descriptions a MUST for Local Business Citations, or is it ok to use one generic one?
I look forward to hearing your thoughts, Lee.
-
Many thanks for the feedback, Miriam. hope all's well.
You make a lot of sense.. my train of thought though is that if you do have varied unique, optimised descriptions you have more chance of a number of different directory profiles ranking in Google for related searches, therefore increasing your 'third-party' search visibility.
Wouldn't Google only rank one of your directory profiles if the content (description) is duplicated?
Thanks again, Lee.
-
Hi Lee!
I agree with you that it makes good horse sense to craft unique citation descriptions, but to be pragmatic about this, the past 5 years have seen the development of citation building services (Moz Local, Whitespark, Yext) etc. and, normally, these services are going to push out a single description for you, and that description is then going to make its way further down the stream to platforms higher level platforms push to. In other words, duplication of descriptions isn't only an outcome of using most citation building services, but is pretty much baked into the situation in which data upstream moves downstream.
So - if there is a specific platform on which you feel having an extra unique description might help (like, maybe a Yelp profile), go ahead and write one, but, at this point in the game, I'm honestly no longer worried about duplicate citation descriptions, given that they are pretty much unavoidable.
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
-
Using PO Box/Virtual Address for local citations, but not GMB?
Hello. So, I am aware that it is in violation of Google My Bussiness's terms of service to use register a PO box/virtual address with GMB, but is it problematic to use such addresses for general link building with local citations, such as local directories and resource pages? Would the cons outweigh the pros (more backlinks)? And what about using one of these kinds of addresses on my website, but not GMB? Is it all so interrelated nowadays that I should steer clear of publishing a virtual address anywhere? That just seems hard to wrap my head around as PO Boxes have served a valuable function for small businesses for some 150 years. Thank you, Jon
Local Listings | | custardextract0 -
How do I rank for a different business categories on google local?
Hello, How do I appear on the local listings for google in different categories or services that I offer? For instance, we're a physical therapy clinic by trade but we specialize in orthopedics, sports medicine, and lower back pain. Thus, how do I rank on google local for these types of services? Currently, we rank for physical therapy but we also miss out on a big part of our business by not ranking for these listings on local. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Scott
Local Listings | | scottgray06200 -
Home Page not Ranking on Local Community Sites
I am helping out with a couple of community sites and am seeing the same problem on both. They are small non-commercial local websites. One has 5 or 6 relevant links to the home page, and the title tag and content have been optimised for the name of the group and the location (and in any case the phrase is completely non-competitive). The other one has few links and isn't optimised. Both sites are fairly new. Both sites have the same problem in that when you search for the name of the group, it is not the home page that comes up but another page. My experience is mainly in the more competitive commercial arena, so I thought that these community sites would be simple! Can anyone point me in the right direction as to why this might be? No spammy links on either. These are community sites that are not particularly well maintained, but the phrases I am searching for are non-competitive. I have checked that the home pages are not no-indexed. Any tips much appreciated!
Local Listings | | Wagada0 -
What's the 20/80 rule in local SEO as it relates to health care organizations
Hello all, I'm in charge of local SEO for a health care system that covers the entire state of Nebraska, with dozens of clinics all over the state, but mainly Omaha and Lincoln. I'm trying to build a cohesive local strategy for our organization, and a big part of that is figuring out what are the 20% of the actions I could take that will get me 80% of the benefit. Based on your experience as a local SEO specialist or ideally someone who does local SEO in a health care setting, what are the key things I should focus on? I'm not new to local SEO (just new to health care). My guess would be to focus in on getting a good local page on our website for every clinic/location etc., and getting a good Google Page listing for each one as well. But I figured I'd seek out advice on this before I plunge ahead.
Local Listings | | Patrick_at_Nebraska_Medicine1 -
Why are my citations not showing up?
We're managing a website for a client and decided to use Yext to build citations. We've gone through and manually verified that they are live. Moz Local cannot find this website or the citations, nor could Ahrefs, or Majestic. Google has indexed 154 pages of the website, Bing has indexed 10. This dealer has two websites (I know that's a faux pas, it's by client request), so that they can "test" our website before giving up their old one. They're tied to the same NAP, but have different web addresses. We got permission to claim the listings for the website we sent live and put them up about two months ago. I can't figure out for the life of me why none of my tools will verify the existence of this website and the citations. I checked for a no index and no follow command in the HTML (which shouldn't be a problem because Google has indexed the site) and it was clean. The only thing I can think of is that the old site is getting credit for the citations even though we've listed a different website address. Can anyone verify this?
Local Listings | | jtaylormoon0 -
Are Category Names Allowed for Local Results?
I was under the impression naming your business something like "Miami Plumber Joe Smith" was a violation of google's guidelines...but I see these pop up all the time. Unlike backlinks from thin content sites or whatever, this seems like a pretty easy fix for google to change if they wanted to. Am I missing something or has google just not dropped the hammer yet? Ruben P.S. All those businesses I've seen, have no reviews and poor citation scores. i can only assume, they rank in the maps because of the keyword in the name.
Local Listings | | KempRugeLawGroup0 -
How to get a verification tick next to the URL in a Google Plus Local page?
Google Plus Local: https://plus.google.com/+PrestedHallFeering Website: www.prested.co.uk So how do I get the verification tick next to the URL on this businesses Google page? Also, even though the website is much strong then those in the map listings for Wedding Venues In Essex, whats preventing this website from appearing in there? My local optimisation knowledge is poor!
Local Listings | | jasondexter0 -
Why there is sometimes A-1 in Local result title?
Here is an exemple: https://plus.google.com/local/Montréal, QC/s/a-1?hl=fr Is this a legacy from Yellow Pages? A way to be first in the paper edition or it's something else?
Local Listings | | TVFreak0