Does displaying a mobile number for business hurt local SEO?
-
Perhaps a silly question but could someone please clarify if displaying a mobile number in the main site or Google places etc would hurt local SEO? Is having a regional landline/fixed telephone number a ranking factor?
EDIT: This is for a UK site, does anyone have experience of this is UK please?
-
My pleasure Clicksjim!
-
Hi Miriam, wow - thanks for going to all that trouble, appreciated!
-
Hi Clicksjim,
There's nothing silly about your question. I think it's a smart one. It took me a couple of days to get back to you on this because, like others on this thread, though I work in Local, I don't work in the UK. I wanted to speak with someone who does. We had a little chat.
Basically, I think there is agreement in the Local SEO community that a local area code is a ranking signal, but the strength of that signal, in relation to all of the many other signals, is unknown. It may be that Google uses that local area code signal to associate certain content with a geographic region, but how vital this is, in the whole scheme of things, is unclear.
The Local SEO I know (a very smart guy I trust) with UK clients says he ALWAYS advises clients to use a local area code landline because he feels it may give them a slight edge over competitors who don't, but he didn't state that he felt it gives them a really big advantage (but, most of us will try to take any opportunity we have to edge out the competition, right?). Another Local SEO I spoke with said he wondered if mobile numbers get less calls that landlines do, but he was just theorizing.
So, in your shoes, I would go with a local number for your UK clients, if you can, because it may give these clients a bit of an advantage, but if you absolutely can't do this for some of your clients, the effect will probably be slightly disadvantageous rather than majorly. so.
Hope this helps!
-
I would say that if your mobile phone has the same area code as your business then you should be golden. Having this local number attached to your business is definitely a good signal.
-
Unfortunately I do not have experience in the UK. I have done a smattering of work in New Zealand (for friends, since that's where I'm from originally) where the mobile number system doesn't have area codes (027 and 021 are the only two prefixes for mobile). For more competitive phrases, I've never seen a business using a mobile number rank. This is only for a very small amount of work, however, and it could well be that there are other factors in play (such as the fact that the people using mobile numbers don't have any optimization, either).
I have a hard time believing that the UK algo would be so massively different from the US one that it would ignore phone number area codes.
Because it's a fairly big factor in the US, if I were being asked to make the call, I'd go with a landline with a local area code, which forwards to your mobile.
-
Thanks for your resposnes - I forgot to mention that this is a UK based site so there are no regional mobile numbers whereas I think there is in the states and some other countries. Does anyone have experience of this in UK?
-
No. There's no difference between a mobile number and a landline number. So long as the mobile number has a local area code.
As Anita said, just remember to be consistent.
-
Just be consistent and list the number you use most often. For me that is my mobile number.
-
Yes Having a regional landline/fixed telephone number is Good signal for local SEO. And putting mobile number will not going to hurt your SEO. Here is the awesome post on Citation ( your problem
Hope this help 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
-
Any Legit Local Address Services Out There?
I have a client who lives in the UK but runs a US ecommerce site. I'd still like to get him some local trust signals but he has no options when it comes to getting an address here. Has anyone found a reputableplace where you can rent an address that isn't already being used by umpteen other companies?
Image & Video Optimization | | iAnalyst.com0 -
Thoughts on Google's New NAP Dispaly on Google+ Local
Hi, Do you think ACTION needs to happen based on Google's new NAP formatting change? They are changing Suite or STE to #. So for example 265 Racine Dr #100 Wilmington, NC 28403 Even if you enter in Suite they change it to pound. I am wondering the thoughts of the community of the following: 1. Do you think Google knows that STE, Suite, and # are all the same 2. Do you feel that we need to change ALL online local business listings and our website to match this change. 3. Here is the letter from Google on the matter FROM GOOGLE: Thanks for informing us about your address appearing differently on your local Google+ page than it does on your dashboard. After looking further, we've determined that 240 Stockton St #300 San Francisco, CA 94108 is an appropriate way for your listing to be displayed. Note that the address on your page might be different from what you've input into your dashboard. Our processes might alter user-input addresses to make them more standardized and easier for users to access. Thanks for understanding. Best, Nathan
Image & Video Optimization | | WebBizIdeas
The Google Team0 -
Local SEO, hard time ranking a keyword
Hello. Im working with beauty salon client, i do rank them for top services, but there a term that i can't rank for, my page it optimized for this keywords (url,h1,h2) i have this keyword in Google places, as a category, and in description. i have build many citations with this term, BUT still cant rank it. If anyone can help me on that, ill be really appreciated, as i'm still learning this. Thanks You!
Image & Video Optimization | | Davidmez0 -
What are you most concerned about or interested in for Local Search?
Hi All, I'm speaking to a local SEO meetup at the end of this month. If you were attending (hypothetically), what would you be most interested in hearing about for local search? The audience is a mix of SEO professionals, web developers, internet marketers, and business owners. I suspect that there will be a number of people who understand the foundations of SEO, though not all of them will be practiced at implementing it. I believe the number of people who get really indepth with Local is quite small. At the moment, I'm thinking about covering things such as: The local search universe in general--which data sources are doing what these days, where it's heading. Google Local+ recent changes Migration to Local+, data cleanup, merging (or not merging!), and other Local+ nuances Current ranking factors, and where I think they're going. I'd love to hear, and greatly appreciate, any ideas you might have. Cheers, Bede
Image & Video Optimization | | BedeFahey0 -
Is it Possible to submit multiple sites on google places with single phone number? If you then please tell me how?
Is it Possible to submit multiple sites on Google places with single phone number? If you then please tell me how? Because i have multiple site but i have one phone number and i want to add all of my sites in google places. But i don't know how it is possible. Please help me to sort it out this problem. Thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | KLLC0 -
YOUTUBE BEST PRACTICE for SEO
We have made a seriers of videos, shouled we link them together in the description or in the video itself on youtube for favorable results? What else cn we do to help other that writing a good quality description, use the customize options in youtube and then place the embed for the video on a content rich page about the subject. Ofcourse the keyword is in the first part of the title, and we use keywords as anchor text back to the video page. Also make sure it is in a good video sitemap? Other than that, what do you suggest? p-3VepAtpvk
Image & Video Optimization | | jdcline0 -
Page Extension for SEO Post Penguin
I am setting up pages for an SEO campaign. This campaign will focus suburb/area focused keywords to the home page and an inner page talking about the local area. My keyword I am targeting is "flower delivery brisbane" The keywords pointing back to both pages will be made up of brand and variances of the keywords so that is ok What I would like to know, am I know over optimizing the inner page extension "flowers delivery brisbane" as it is an exact match of the main keyword to rank since google penguin. I did this prior to google penguin and it worked well. the site address is
Image & Video Optimization | | VivaArturo
simpleflowers.com.au inner page is:
simpleflowers.com.au/flowers-delivery-brisbane Would love to hear your thoughts0 -
Local search optimization for national product?
Hi all, My company sells a direct-to-consumer product nationwide. We have competitors that sell through local distributors. Therefore, many customers think that this is a product that must be bought locally. Because so many people search for this product locally, we want to be able to rank for local searches. But, because we sell nationwide, we don't have localized content. We have a competitor that created a page for each state which lists every zip code and city name in the state, but that seems pretty labor intensive (and not all that effective). Any ideas on how to address this problem would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | responselink0