1 Business 2 websites: NAP issue?
-
I'm taking on a client who has two websites, one for auto sales side and the other for auto repair. We're taking on the auto repair site. They both share the same business name, address and phone number. Do you foresee any NAP errors if we direct all the directories to the auto repair site?
-
Hi Nick,
If you can take the business owner through door number one, I agree that will be the very best choice. Good luck with the conversation with him.
-
Great suggestions, Jeff. This particular client, for once, already has a great deal of reviews, but I have a few other guys in mind that could really use some good PR.
-
Thanks, again, for the great recommendations! I think we'll take door number one. All other avenues seem too messy and I think it's just going to be a matter of getting the business owner to admit it's time to breakup with the sales site. I'll let you know how it goes.
-
Hi Nick,
Good question! Unfortunately, you are correct to suspect trouble. Imagine you are a Google bot. You go out to search the web for data about ABC Auto Pros and you find not one, but two, websites containing this identical business name, and also the identical address and phone number. You don't know which is the authoritative website (abcautosales.com or abcautorepairs.com), because the core NAP is identical. NAP may best actually be thought of as NAP+W (website) and this business' decision to have two websites means that they are creating confusion for Google. Also, because organic factors play so big a part in local rankings, this business is essentially splitting the authority they should have in half.
As I see it, there are three possible routes here.
1) The safest route: get the business to combine their two websites into one. Use appropriate 301 redirects so as to maintain as much authority as possible. This method fully remedies the situation and the business can then move forward with a totally clean and powerful approach. This is the approach I would most strongly recommend, despite the fact that it will involve a big change and lots of work. Fixing this now could save years of future headaches.
2) The patch-up: If the business wants to engage in Local Search Marketing and insists on maintaining two websites, only one should be optimized with the business NAP. The second website should contain no crawlable references to the businesses name, address or phone number - not in the masthead, footer, copy or tags. Essentially, this will make the second website something of a dead zone, but this is the only way I can think of to try to prevent Google from associating website #2 with the business. You would need to go through the website with a fine toothed-comb to remove any mention of any part of the NAP and also do a citation cleanup campaign to attempt to remove any references to that second website anywhere on the web. Even with this work , there is a chance that you won't be able to control all references to the complete or partial NAP out there on the web. Google just has to find one mention of ABC Auto Pros referencing website #2 to begin to become confused. So, while you could go this route, it's not sure to work and would involve constant vigilance of the SERPs to be sure that this association hasn't arisen.
3) The iffy idea: Note that I'm calling this iffy. There does exist a precedent in the Google Places Quality Guidelines for a business with multiple departments to be eligible for more than one Google+ Local Page. The language states:
Departments within businesses, universities, hospitals, and government buildings may be listed separately. These departments must be publicly distinct as entities or groups within their parent organization, and ideally will have separate phone numbers and/or customer entrances.
So, here, if the business had a separate phone number for the two departments and separate physical entrances for the sales department vs. the service department, they might be eligible for this approa_ch._ I say 'might' because this approach is most commonly associated with entities like hospitals and educational institutions. Google has long dealt with a history of heavy spamming in the auto sales vertical and, because of this, there is a chance that they would look with suspicion on this approach being taken by an auto-related business. I'm not sure. I would say that if the business does have separate public facing entrances for the two departments and can get a distinct phone number for the second department, then it would be worthwhile to go to the Google and Your Business Forum and ask the TCs there if they feel Google would be suspicious of an auto business taking advantage of this nuance in the guidelines. I would suggest you go by what they tell you there, because they see the problems and takedowns on a daily basis.
If you get an okay from them, then this would resolve your issue, as it would be okay for the business to maintain the two websites, optimize and promote both.
Long answer, whew! But this is one of those complex issues that requires careful thinking and good planning. Hope my thoughts are helpful!
-
Nick -
It's obviously not an ideal situation to have two different websites share the same business name, phone number and address. But I think you'll probably be fine.
The thing that is top of mind for me is that you're not going to be able to have two different Google+ pages for the businesses - auto repair and auto sales, as they have the same name, phone number and address. (At least without doing something like registering a DBA, or using a suite # or a different phone #).
I'd recommend adding as many images to the Google+ page as you can, and soliciting users for reviews.
One strategy I saw recently for auto repair places (via one of my photographer friends) was to print a 3x5 card with the business name, logo and ask people to review their experience on Google.
On the front side of the card, it reads:
Tell us About Your Visit Today
with Google ReviewsWe value your opinion and want to make sure we make your experience the best possible. Your feedback ensures that our team provides ou with the best in customer service.
(auto repair logo)
See reverse side for instructions on how to leave a review.
Other side of the card reads:
Google Review Process:
1. Go to www.Google.com
2. Search for [business name]
3. Click on Google Reviews (right of yellow stars)
4. Write a review
5. Sign in using your google account or click sign up for account in right corner.
6. Create Account.
7. Thank You!
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
-
How would I increase the domain authority of my website?
Hi, I am Kyle. I have a affiliate related website where I update articles that is related to Dental Tools. I want to improve my Website . Any one can guide me that how can I increase it.
Link Building | | rankvizguru1 -
If someone were to link to our site on now on an old article (dating back 1-2 years) is that still beneficial if all other variables are good?
I'm trying to build up our external links and am finding lots of opportunities, some of which are on older articles dating back to 2014, 2013 etc. These pieces are relevant to our site and have high DA, I'm wondering if the post date of these articles matter? Thanks!
Link Building | | Postable0 -
What happens if 20 links become 1?
Dear great Moz community, I have a question regarding links. Currently my website is listed on a site that requires that I pay money every year to get my products listed there.
Link Building | | gorhansan
However, I will not be paying this year. I will still be listed on the page (1 link towards my site) but my products will no longer be displayed. (around 20 products with links). Will this affect my rankings? or is one link from the page enough. Hence: all the links from that site were pointing towards the same place, my homepage. Summary: 20 links become 1 link towards my website, will it affect the ranking of my page? Thanks for all the help I really appreciate it!! Highest Regards, Gorhansan0 -
Moving content archive from a new blog to a mature content website?
I'm working with a publisher who has a young blog that is 6 mos old and is considering folding it and moving it's archive of content into a relavent, more mature website. This blog already has numerous links directing readers to this more mature website. My question is would it make more sense to leave the blog in place and continue to publish new posts and benefit from the link relationship with the mature website? Considering the blog is relatively new, would it matter much if we folded and moved it's archive?
Link Building | | accessintel0 -
Potential Keyword Cannibalization Issue
I'm going to give an example of the potential website I'm going to build. Lets say it's about the individual graduating classes of a certain high school. I want my targeted niche keyword phrase to bey "graduating classes of example high school". Graduating Class would be the broader keyword. I would have a home page, which is a blog of recent news covering all of the students who've attended example high school. From my home page, you're able to access individual pages: 2012 Graduating Class 2011 Graduating Class 2010 Graduating Class etc.... If I'm internally linking to all of these pages, won't I encounter keyword cannibalization? or is the link "2012 Graduating Class" unique enough?
Link Building | | AndySolo0 -
Website not appearing in top 100
A few months ago, we launched the website www.gunnersdirect.com. The main keyword target for this website was "arsenal shirts", which you can see is at the very start of the page title. In fairness, limited work has been done to the link building, etc due to time constaints so I would not expect it to rank at the top. However, it does not appear to rank even in the top 100. This gives me major cause for concern, as surely Google should at least recognise the website, albeit in a lowly position? Does this point to some underlying coding issue or penalty? What would you recommend we do to turn round it's fortunes?
Link Building | | ukss19840 -
Creating a separate blog off our website
A while ago we purchased some domains that are related to our industry. I'm fairly sceptical about using them, but I am interested what peoples thoughts are. We are currently producing quite alot of engaging content and although it's industry related, it is sometimes quite broad and not always appropriate for our company blog. I have been debating whether or not it will be a good idea to use one of the domain names that we have purchased to create more of an industry blog that is off our website. I'm not sure if this is considered a "black hat" technique by using domains registered to us? And also whether or not Google will punish because we are blogging from the same IP address and linking back to our site ? I look forward to hearing what people think. Thanks,
Link Building | | esendex0 -
Submitting to directories all at once? i.e. within the same week or 2?
I have found a bunch of around maybe 20-30 directories that we seem not to be in, and that seem like they might be worth it from what I am reading… My question is - is it a problem to submit to this number of directories all at once – i.e. within the same week or 2? Or should I think about spreading the submissions around a month or 2? Just worried that Google etc might through a flag with a bunch of submissions all at once… Thanks
Link Building | | inhouseninja0