Google Places Multiple Locations Strategy
-
Hi,
I have client who is a psychology college that has multiple locations across the United States. We currently have a Google places setup for their main location which is in Chicago. They also have multiple locations in California and Washington d.c.
My question is what is the best strategy for setting up Google places for each one of their locations? can it all be done from the Chicago Google places account or do I have to build out individual Google places accounts for each location.
Thanks!
-
You should def do it all from one google account. In your account you should have a places listing for each location you serve. Instead of having your main site listed with each places listing you serve, you should set up a sub domain for each location. ex: atlanta.businessname.com, newyork.businessname.com, etc...
Now create a page on your site for that location. ex: businessname.com/atlanta, businessname.com/newyork, etc...
Optimize the pages for the desired location keyword then 301 the sub domain to the corresponding location page you optimized. Then create a listing for each location like we said before and verify the listing with the location's sub domain.
Let us know how it works for you.
-Chase
-
Hi Jason, You can't force Google to alter their display of your business. All you can do is work on your Local SEO in hopes that you'll impress Google enough with your popularity that they will award you maximum visibility. As for altering your business name for different locations, I cannot recommend this technique unless your business has different legal names at different locations or a registered DBA with different names for different branches. Google does not want you to list anything but the legit business name. See: http://support.google.com/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=107528 Business Name: Represent your business exactly as it appears in the offline world. Do not include marketing taglines in your business name. Do not include phone numbers or URLs in the business name field, unless they are part of your business name. Do not attempt to manipulate search results by adding extraneous keywords or a description of your business in the business name field. Hope this helps!
-
I have a business with 2 location in the same city. When I type in the name of the business the main website shows up with 1 google places listing integrated into the listing. Not the places listing below but the pin and Zagat reviews just below the listing.
Is there a way to make both locations show up under the website? Or force the search engine to pull the places results as well?
It appears some business are accomplishing this by naming each location something slightly different. Such as Seattle Brewing Company Tap Room, Seattle Brewing Company Public House, Seattle Brewing Company Beer Room. Anyone seen this before? They all link back to the main site.
Thanks!!!!!
-
Hi Tony,
As Jason Fritton has stated, you can set up multiple listings from the same account. Heads up on this, though - due to the recent sea change in Google's local product (Place Pages changing to Google+ Local Pages) one of the most frequently asked questions right relates to multi-location businesses. According to Google's Joel Headly, there is currently no way for businesses with multiple Google+ Local Pages with a single Google+ Business Page, so this is causing some confusion. According to Google, they are aware of the issue and are working on it.
I recommend you read a couple of posts as you are moving forward:
http://marketing-blog.catalystemarketing.com/local-university-advanced.html
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/06/08/google-for-business-places-forums-wrapup/
Hope these resources help!
-
5 locations
-
How many locations are there in total, Tony?
-
One account is important. It's easier to manage. In order to rank on the maps, you should start submitting to local directories in each location. I used UBL.org to do the submissions for my locations. They were inexpensive and did a good job.
-
You can add multiple locations to a single Google Places account. I would strongly recommend registering all locations under just one account unless you intend for the listings to be managed by different people.
I'm currently struggling with trying to manage hundreds of locations spread across 16 different accounts and it's a giant mess.
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 Multiple Locations
My client has three offices and I have created three separate Google + local listings for them - I have listed the specific locations page as the website address for each - Google specifies to add the coding to the homepage to link Google + however what do we do with the three different codes - does each one go on the home page or at the bottom of the specific landing page for that particular office?
Image & Video Optimization | | AllieMc0 -
Use Google Places or Google +Local?
Hello everyone, My name is Zachary Russell, and I run a Philadelphia based WordPress Development and SEO firm, ProTech Internet Group. I have been doing work lately, and have been neglecting the fact that my own site needs work, I have now changed that. I have done a complete redesign and started repurposting content to have a well-rounded content strategy that can appeal the the widest possible audience. My issue I'm having now is this: I have both a Google Places page and a Google +Local page for my business , Obviously duplicate listings are a problem, but I don't know which one to get rid of. They both have 0 reviews and limited +1s, I just don't know which one I should delete, and which one I should push to get more reviews moving forward. Also, moving forward, would it make sense for me to have a Google +Business and a Google +Local page?I don't know if this would cause any conflicts either. Thanks for your help and have a happy new year! Zach Russell President, ProTech Internet Group
Image & Video Optimization | | Zachary_Russell0 -
Help - Google places,a service my competitor has used...
I was just doing a bit of detective work on a competitors website and noticed they had employed the services of an SEO company. Anyway, i went on this SEO companies website and discovered they offer a service called "Google places". Now I have an idea what google places is (my company is registered with it) but how are SEOs using Google places as a method for SEO? And how can I copy this service to do this for my own website?
Image & Video Optimization | | copywritingbuzz0 -
Structured Data and Location
I have heard it argued recently that the use of structured data such as schema.org to identify your business location on a website should help SERP in local search. Why is this important if the location is clear on the website and why should it make a difference if the site is already showing well in local search?
Image & Video Optimization | | casper4340 -
Geo sitemap & google webmaster tools
Uploaded a Geo-sitemap last week and made sitemap_index.xml that includes the geo & normal sitemap. Google Webmaster tools shows a warning for the geo sitemap, telling me that the geo tag isn't supported. This is how the xml looks like: <urlset<span class="webkit-html-attribute"> xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"</urlset<span> xmlns:geo="http://www.google.com/geo/schemas/sitemap/1.0">http://www.mysite.com/locations.kmlgeo:format</geo:format>kmlSomebody, anybody knows the fix?
Image & Video Optimization | | nvs.nim0 -
Google Places Account Suspended
Hi- I was recently forced to migrate my Google account. After going through the process my Google Places profiles associated with this email was suspended. I've read the quality guidelines and I'm pretty certain that my account was suspended because: --
Image & Video Optimization | | lhc67
Account Email Address: Use a shared business email account, if multiple users will be updating your business listing. If possible, use an email account under your business domain. For example, if your business website is www.google.com, a matching email address would be you@google.com. There seems to be no way to change the email address associated with a Places account. I've pretty much resolved to obtaining emails at the business domain and setting the profiles up again from scratch. Before I do this does anyone have any other ideas? I've posted the question at Google webmaster forums and have only found other similar unanswered questions. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you! LHC0 -
Will linking to my citation sources help google recognize them / credit my places account?
Or does google treat this behavior the same way as a reciprocal link and discount any credibility of the citation?
Image & Video Optimization | | adriandg0 -
Google Places & Maps
Hi I'm preparing a confernce in France to explain Google Places & Maps to an audience interested in promoting local businesses but mainly hotels and other tourism related. As you know, searches such as Hotel + City are giving a lot of visibility to Google Places results. Being in the top results is as important if not more important than organic ranking. I'm going to be looking into the new presentation of Google Places results in the SERPs and maybe underlining a difference in results between Places and Maps which I've just recently spotted. Can anyone recommend some good ressources online to explain the changes that came about with Google Places and ranking factors I should be talking about ? If you have a pet theory on what triggers the different presentation of Places results in the main SERPS or what factors make one local business rank better than another in Google Places then please discuss below too 😉 Ah ! Almost forgot, any feedback on Google Boost use also interesting for us ; although it isn't in France yet Thanks Neil
Image & Video Optimization | | NeilInFrance0