Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • SEO Q&A
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • MozCon

        Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers

        Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. Image & Video Optimization
    4. Local SEO: Ste vs. Suite vs. #

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    Local SEO: Ste vs. Suite vs. #

    Image & Video Optimization
    3
    5
    8099
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • BobGW
      BobGW last edited by

      Hi,

      I used the spelled out "Suite" in my local NAP, but sometimes it's been shortened to Ste by citation websites. I'm trying to remain consistent here

      Should I use Ste H, Suite H, or #H?

      This is a good article on it:

      http://localsearchforum.catalystemarketing.com/google-local-citations/1605-suite-vs-ste-vs-your-citation-addresses-2.html

      but I'd still like your opinion.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • JimLivesay
        JimLivesay last edited by

        @Tim Berry:

        Thank you for your answer above, it's very interesting. My business address is listed all on one line, but using Ste instead of # (3975 University Dr, Ste 325) on our website, and that is how we've been submitting the address for citations. But, of course, I noticed that Google Places converts the address to one line using # instead of Ste: 3975 University Dr #325, and that's how the address appears in Google Maps.

        What you write about using just one line, and # instead of Ste, makes a lot of sense.

        But just to be clear, in my situation you would recommend using 3975 University Dr #325 on both our website, and in all our citations? In a sense, that would be starting with the way Google Places lists the address, and then "working backwards" and matching that exactly on our site and in our citations. Do I understand that right?

        Also, I notice that Google Places/Maps uses "Drive" in some places for our address, and then "Dr" in the display.Most of our citations use Dr. When I go into the About tab on our Google Places (we merged our Places and Google Plus listing for this address), it displays Dr-- but when I click to edit it opens an edit screen in Google Places, where "Drive" is shown.

        Do you have a recommendation as to Dr or Drive in that case? It seems that Google might be using Drive but converting it to Dr, so I'm wondering if I should be using Dr or Drive in citations. I believe I originally had gone with the shorter Dr partially based on a factor you discuss-- fitting the entire address onto one line in various places online where that's required.

        Thank you again for this!

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • RepLoc_Tim
          RepLoc_Tim @BobGW last edited by

          Yes.  I know it seems strange to put a # in front of H, but it works.

          Incidentally, I have found that Google listings will maintain the space between '#' and the letter (H), just like ExpressUpdate, whereas we are seeing them remove the space when the # is a number.  Either way, this 'space' issue has not caused us problems so we made it part of our method of operation to just not use it in new clients that have not had work done.

          The key comes down to search engine recognition that the citation is the same.  In the past, I found it necessary to be anal retentive about the precision.  But now it seems like the SEs are better at correlating the citation despite extra spaces, commas, etc.  I have a feeling that being so specific with citations may not be as necessary in the near future, but it seems to still have impact so we all have to choose our method of operation.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • BobGW
            BobGW @RepLoc_Tim last edited by

            Thanks for the thoughtful reply. It sounds like you're really tested this thoroughly.

            So my suite is actually "H", so is #H going to work?

            I'd also be interested in hearing Mariam's comments on this.

            RepLoc_Tim 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • RepLoc_Tim
              RepLoc_Tim last edited by

              I have been testing this thoroughly for the last two years.  I am aware of that article, but it has a lot of the blind leading the blind in my opinion.

              The first thing you have to decide is whether you are going to use both address lines or a single one.  Google tells you to use the second address line for your unit # or suite.  Everyone else tends to lean that way because Google does.  Unfortunately, this does not play out in the real world.  There are lots of sites that scrape and pull data, and many of them ignore Line 2.  If you doubt this, then test it and you will start to see all the sites that don't have your suite or unit.  So you get a lot of broken citations that don't have the # or suite on them.  I can't stand this inconsistency, therefore I have chosen to not use the second line - ever - and I think it has paid off.

              So now to address your question.  You should choose either Ste or #.  The only caveat you might consider is if your client has had tons of citation work in the past with Suite spelled out, and even then it still might be worth it to clean it all up.

              'Ste' is the USPS version and a lot of sites still scrub their data and convert it to USPS, so even if you use '#' it might get converted to USPS.  On the other hand, if you use 'Ste', InfoGroup (ExpressUpdate) will convert it to '#' no matter what, and every site that pulls its data from them will have the # in it.  So how do you decide?

              We have tested it both ways.  Up until about 4-5 months ago, we found the 'Ste' method to be our preferred method.  Then we started noticing in Google+ Local that they started converting the 'Ste' to '#'.  [SCREAM]

              So here is my recommendation (for what it's worth)...

              On all new campaigns that haven't had anything done, use the Line 1 address only and use '#' instead of 'Ste'.  Also, we have found it best to have the # next to the number without a space - for example, use '#400' instead of '# 400'.

              If you have an existing campaign running where you have used Ste or Suite, you will need to decide if there is any reason to change it at this point.  If all is going well, don't mess with it.  If you have not been getting your desired results, then consider changing to my recommendation above - just make sure you cover all of the major data aggregators, search portals, review sites, IYPs, and biz directories with your new change as quickly as you can.

              I know this might be controversial (since it includes ignoring Google's recommendation about using line 2), but just sharing our opinions based on a lot experience testing this specific issue over the past couple years.

              BobGW 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
              • 1 / 1
              • First post
                Last post

              Got a burning SEO question?

              Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


              Start my free trial


              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.

              • See all categories

              Related Questions

              • 5TW

                Does Autoplay video effect SEO?

                I'm trying to find out if autoplay videos (muted) on the homepage effect seo in anyway? Currently our site ranks around position four on the first page, but we have noticed one competitor we monitor have long auto playing videos on their sites and were wondering if they are a good or bad factor? Any info you would like to share would be great. Thanks

                Image & Video Optimization | | 5TW
                0
              • Ytellsocial

                How long should the Image Alt Text be for SEO?

                When it comes to creating the alternate text for images, what is the character length that I need stay under to rank well?

                Image & Video Optimization | | Ytellsocial
                0
              • echo1

                Google categories for local limousine service

                I manage the Google places page for a SAB (local limousine company). The question is, should I add "taxi" and "airport shuttle service" as categories? I have listed only "limousine" and "car service' for now and I want to play it safe although those 2 are related to limo service. Sometimes people refer to limo service as "taxi service" or they are inquiring about prices for shuttle service to the airport and they end up booking the service quite often. Does Google look to our website to find these words in the content? Google Analytics show lots of people are finding us through those two keywords as well although you cannot find the word “taxi" on our website. The interesting thing is that when searching for "taxi + my zip code" the company shows up 4th on maps results and when searching for "shuttle service + my zip code”, the company shows up 2nd on local results and also 2nd in organic results. Is this enough to make me add these 2 categories? Second question is about the area served, does it make a difference (in rankings) if I choose “Distance from one location"over"List of areas served"? What happens is the red pin would be in a different location. If I choose "Distance from one location" the pin would be right in the center of the city (which I think it shouldn't matter anymore that much since the proximity to the centroid is not a ranking factor anymore). If “list of area” served is selected, (the city name will be chosen) then the pin would be about 5 miles West of the city center. Any thoughts will be appreciated. Thank you!

                Image & Video Optimization | | echo1
                0
              • jayestovall

                Local SEO: How to optimize for multiple cities on website

                Hi, I couldn't find any reference to this, so if the answer is already here, I would appreciate a link to the answer. That said, my question is this:  When a local business services a large geographic area, I wanted to know how to optimize for the multiple towns?  I already have the main city in my title tags, but there are at least 40 areas that surround this town. Should I have a "Services Area" page, and place all the towns there, or should they all be in the footer? I saw this one guy - in the same niche who put all the towns in his meta keyword section - but I think that's incorrect, especially since Google doesn't look at that particular meta tag. Any help would be appreciated.

                Image & Video Optimization | | jayestovall
                1
              • nicole.healthline

                Yext vs Localeze vs UBL for Local SEO

                Which of these services is the best? Does anyone have experience with all three?

                Image & Video Optimization | | nicole.healthline
                2
              • David_ODonnell

                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_ODonnell
                2
              • MozMan2

                Local SEO address question - adding a suite number for shared address for office building

                Hi, I have a client that has an address that is shared for a few different businesses in the holistic health field. My client is a chiropractor. There is an eye doctor, massage therapist and acupuncturist aslo sharing the same address. It's a subburban setting with two buildings all sharing one address. In the interest of preventing any merged listings down the road, I recently added un unofficial suite number to his website and Google places business listing. I also did this for all of his online directory listings, and for Bing and Yahoo as well. Did I do the right thing here? It seems to be having a positive impact on his local SEO as far as I can tell. Or at least there has not been any negative impact in the last 6 months Your thoughts?

                Image & Video Optimization | | MozMan2
                0
              • ozgeekmum

                Dynamic image serving SEO

                We often use images from a dynamic image server, to cater for image asset management, multiple sizes etc.  Similar to Adobe's Scene7, although that came out after we chose our product. So widgets.com may have all its images with a URL like  myimageserver.com?src=widgets/catalogue/productname.jpg;width=100;height=100;angle=90,  instead of widgets.com/images/productname.jpg. A potential client wants to capitalise on traffic from Google image search. We could build an image sitemap, listing the images on each page. What should we place in the image:loc field? The code: myimageserver.com?src=widgets/catalogue/productname.jpg;width=100;height=100;angle=90 Apparently we have to verify the hosting site in Webmaster Tools, but I can't see where. I have a single Webmaster Tools account, where most of our sites are defined. Would I have to verify it for each site using the dynamic imaging program? Love to hear from anyone with solutions for getting images indexed when they are hosted at third-party dynamic imaging programs.

                Image & Video Optimization | | ozgeekmum
                0

              Get started with Moz Pro!

              Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

              Start my free trial
              Products
              • Moz Pro
              • Moz Local
              • Moz API
              • Moz Data
              • STAT
              • Product Updates
              Moz Solutions
              • SMB Solutions
              • Agency Solutions
              • Enterprise Solutions
              Free SEO Tools
              • Domain Authority Checker
              • Link Explorer
              • Keyword Explorer
              • Competitive Research
              • Brand Authority Checker
              • Local Citation Checker
              • MozBar Extension
              • MozCast
              Resources
              • Blog
              • SEO Learning Center
              • Help Hub
              • Beginner's Guide to SEO
              • How-to Guides
              • Moz Academy
              • API Docs
              About Moz
              • About
              • Team
              • Careers
              • Contact
              Why Moz
              • Case Studies
              • Testimonials
              Get Involved
              • Become an Affiliate
              • MozCon
              • Webinars
              • Practical Marketer Series
              • MozPod
              Connect with us

              Contact the Help team

              Join our newsletter
              Moz logo
              © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
              • Accessibility
              • Terms of Use
              • Privacy

              Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.