Ranking Penalty in Google Places for Primary Cell Phone Number?
-
Say a business runs out of a home (so, technically, the address of the business has a land line). But the business owner works outdoors all day long and so really runs his business off his cell phone.
Is it OK in Google Places to list the mobile phone as the primary contant number, and list the home phone as a secondary number?
Or will Google penalize the business's ranking in local search results for using a cell number as the main number?
-
Hi Echo1, I suggest you open a new thread for this question. This system doesn't show new activity on old questions, so people are unlikely to notice it.
-
What about having a local an a 1800 number? Would that affect the local rankings too? About 2 -3 years ago, having a 1800 number listed meant that you are a trusted business not just a flight-by-night company with its cell phone as their main number.
-
Phone numbers either landlines or mobile phones should not have a difference for the search engines in local search. As I have stated in my first response it is the use of the number consistently accross all your profiles and citations. I also believe a 800 number will be much less effective than a local number . If you use this number to forward to your other numbers that should not be an issue as long as the end users are served well while accesing this number. The last thing you want is a review that says this number is no longer working
-
I agree about the 800#; many resources advise against it as a primary number.
Ultimately, I chickened out and used the land-based line, listing the cellphone under "other numbers." He can employ his wife or use call forwarding to get calls to his cell, and give his cell to prospects upon talking with them. My understanding that a key component in local search listings is consistency, and I didn't want and confusion with online phonebooks and what have you.
Although I'm not using it in this case, I think I also might advise cellphone-heavy small businesses to establish their business with a local "virtual office" provider (an office park). You get your own land-based phone number on their switchboard, a non-PO-Box mailing address, and even an administrative assistant to answer the phone as your business, in some cases. I'm not suggesting non-local-seeming-local trickery; just getting your business out of your house and cellphone and into a land-based business environment. It can also make your business seem bigger to have someone answer the phone; and if you have a thick overseas accent (as one of my clients does) it can help combat first-impression prejudice or comprehension difficulties to start out the business replationship with a "local voice" kicking it off. Some virtual office set-ups even let you use a conference room, when necessary, for a small hourly fee.
I'm guessing, like anything else, something good like this could be used for evil in the hands of some local search people – but life is too short for all that black-hat nonsense. I'm just saying that if a local roofer lived near an office park, he might want to run his businesses out of a local virtual office setup rather than out of his attic, or while on top of his roof...and maybe the whole approach would help some local search issues (e.g., primary phone, map showing home address) to boot.
-
Using an 800 number may have a negative impact on local rankings - especially if it's the only phone number. http://www.davidmihm.com/local-search-ranking-factors.shtml#62
Cell phone number shouldn't be a problem - especially if the area code matches the address. Per Google's own Places quality guidelines:
"Provide a phone number that connects to your individual business location as directly as possible, and provide one website that represents your individual business location.
Use a local phone number instead of a call center number whenever possible.
Do not provide phone numbers or URLs that redirect or “refer” users to landing pages or phone numbers other than those of the actual business."(http://www.google.com/support/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=107528)
A business cell phone should meet that criteria.
-
With all the porting of phone numbers, I'd think it would be mixed all over the place and not a great method to punish someone. Prehaps consider getting an 800 #
-
Google or the other engines should not care if you use a cellphone or land based unit. What would have an impact in your local search results is if you use this number consistently for your profile. The NAP(name,address,phone) should be consistent on all submissions,profiles,mentions,citations etc. Another factor that could affect local rankings is the area code that your mobile number has ex. if i was targeting los angeles i would want my area code to start with 323,213,310 etc . which is representative of the area. I hope this helps you out .
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.com country redirection
As we all know, Google redirected the user based on location automatically.
Image & Video Optimization | | Moojin
e.g., connect to www.google.com from Korea, google automatically redirected to www.google.co.kr
However, for sometimes I noticed that if I connect to www.google.com, it doesn't redirect to local google anymore. I tested by using VPN, and seems like Google no longer do location redirection. Does anyone have any idea about this?0 -
Multiple Store locations Google Local
Hey there, Is it best to create an individual page for each store location? Or is it best to create one page and plot different locations? Thanks, Dan
Image & Video Optimization | | Sparkstone0 -
Google Places "Pending" out of options
I used to enjoy the first place position for google places/local, and 30 reviews in the old pre-google local. I am a painting contractor in Seattle. Then in April 2012 I moved my shop six miles to a new location. My reviews were dropped and places moved to "pending" when I changed my address. I am now in my 8th month pending approval for my google places page: Seattle House painting local page I have drilled down and exhausted every resource; including verification, having all my citations exactly in a row. All my review sites like Yelp and angie's list are address/info accurate. I used Yext to check all my local citations. I am set to do not show my address as Google indicates is best practice. There is nothing I have missed...but I am still "pending". Do I need to hire a David Mihm? I am very frustrated seeing one competitor using multiple addresses and having two listings. Any help or insight greatly appreciated. shearer_painting_places_.png
Image & Video Optimization | | johnshearer0 -
Does anyone have experience with ecinity.com as a vehicle for populating local search directories? If yes, how would you rank it as a competitor to Localeze and UBL?
I've been approached by the company to use their tool. It has functionality beyond just populating local data sources which I'm not concerned with. I just want to know how it ranks in terms of local directory coverage. They claim 85% of the local directories will be populated.
Image & Video Optimization | | DonnaDuncan0 -
Issues claiming businesses via Google+ places?
Is anyone else dealing with issues claiming a business location on Google places? After already going through the process of claiming our business locations and verifying ownership. It seems that we have to do it again for google+ places. I don't want to create a duplicate of the business, and i'm not sure If I should delete it from my places account, before trying to claim it again on google places. Have you dealt with this issue, or is it new to you as well?
Image & Video Optimization | | Nola5040 -
Google Places / Map Results CTR vs Top Organic Result
I have a client who is currently ranking close to the top of the Google Places results for a handful of important local keywords. They have a competitor who is pretty consistantly ranking in number #1 and #2 organic positions, above the Places results. Does anyone know the average click through rates for results similar to these? Do the #1 and #2 organic positions still outperform the lower placed Google Places (with side map) results when the search intent is very local? I just wonder if they are possibly in a better position as-is if people are more likely to use the map or places listings on the SERPs page, rather than click through to another site. Thanks 🙂
Image & Video Optimization | | David_ODonnell2 -
Google Places weblink advice
In your Google Places listing on the website link option should this point to a specific location based page for your business? For example my company have several locations in different towns and cities, at present they all point back to the homepage, but should they point back to a specific location based page on the website as I am sure Google looks at the website link for location based text and it its pointing at the homepage which has generic title and h1 tags etc and does not cover location based text then the Google Places listing ranks lower as it displays the meta title in the places result? This is the only thing I can think of because the listings that appears top 2 have no additional info, no photos, no reviews etc while my listing has a description, images, video etc and the centroid location is nearer to the centre of the city than many of the others so I am at a loss again to work out why Google is ranking this so poorly in Local Search?
Image & Video Optimization | | idv0 -
Street name or Highway number- which is best ?
In Google places my address shows up in two different ways. I want to establish a consistent way of listing my business, but how do I determine what's best at this point? My listings now show up as the street name: "122 Maple Street" and in other listings as the Route number: "122 Route 44 " The locals all know this street as Maple Street, but we are a tourist business and tourists probably know the Rt. # better. Is there a systematic way I can determine which is going to be the best way to list this? I have the same question about variations like using Rt. or St. versus Route or Street. Thanks Tio
Image & Video Optimization | | stephenfishman0