Sponsored Listings Hurting Local SEO?
-
We use a service which sponsors listings on various popular directories. In turn, it changes our phone number so that I can qualify if the call is a lead or not and then charge us. Unfortunately, while this service helps exposure on those directories, the phone number as well as the website are different.
How much of a problem is this for our local SEO?
Other directories include Suerpages and Citysearch.
-Brant
-
No problem if the listing is free or paid but when it comes to local SEO your NAP (Name, Address and Phone Number) should be consistent across the website and if any service is changing the phone number that means you will face the issues with regards to local SEO.
My idea is to use the service that submit your business to these yellow pages and data aggregator website once, and then manually shift the listing to featured (I you like) usually not all local citation websites produce leads but websites like Yelp, YP.com, super pages are good names when it comes to conversions through citation websites.
Hope this helps!
-
Hi BCB1121,
Google probably doesn't care if a listing is sponsored or not (paid for or not) but the issue you have pointed out regarding call tracking numbers does matter very much. Unfortunately, what this service is doing is creating 'NAP inconsistency'. You want your business name, address and phone number to be identical across the web, and call tracking numbers are taboo because of the fact that they harm consistency.
I recommend that you read these articles to become fully acquainted with this longstanding issue, and to see what you should and should not do with call tracking:
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2013/05/14/a-guide-to-call-tracking-and-local/
After reading these, I believe you'll want to reconsider this area of marketing. Hope this helps!
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 do I rank for a different business categories on google local?
Hello, How do I appear on the local listings for google in different categories or services that I offer? For instance, we're a physical therapy clinic by trade but we specialize in orthopedics, sports medicine, and lower back pain. Thus, how do I rank on google local for these types of services? Currently, we rank for physical therapy but we also miss out on a big part of our business by not ranking for these listings on local. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Scott
Local Listings | | scottgray06200 -
Local SEO Tasks When Closing One Branch of Multilocation Business
I would appreciate the opinions of my fellow SEOs on this one. I haven’t seen any other threads on this exact subject and others that touch on it are somewhat older so I am hoping this also proves to be a good resource for others going forward. I have an existing client that I did local SEO for about a year ago. They are a propane service provider and they had multiple locations. So we did local SEO for the company primarily by updating NAPs and creating more individual content for each of the branches such as specific landing page for each branch on their website and individual listings in citations for each branch. Now they have sold one of the branches to a competitor and they need to remove all listings for it. I am trying to develop a comprehensive list of actions to take and I would appreciate any feedback on the best way to go about accomplishing this task. Here is what I have so far: Remove all mention of sold branch on client website, including specific landing page Delete any branch-specific social media accounts Some specific areas I have questions about are: What do I do with Google My Business listings for the sold branch? Do I try to delete/unregister/close them? Or should I just leave them be with an updated link to our website homepage? Should I even bother contacting the main NAP listing sites to remove the old listing or just leave it to fall off on its own? Thank you again for all your help!
Local Listings | | Ayres-SEO0 -
Local SEO
Hi I'm interested in renting a live work loft in a location where I would like to also do business out of. And I do understand that I would list the business as a service type business. But I wanted to know if I would be doing things correctly by doing that? And yes I'm in the kind of business that can be listed as a service type business.
Local Listings | | LittleDog0 -
How can I rank for keywords Locally?
For this test I am using google's "Ad Preview and Diagnostics" tool in adwords. And I took some screen shots to show you my problem. My company name is PhillyDoors, Inc. and the website is phillydoors.com Keyword: garage door repair.
Local Listings | | phillydoors
Location: 19116, Philadelphia, PA (Location Of Office)
Ranking: 1 Locally, 1 Organically
Picture: 1 2) Keyword: garage door repair philadelphia
Location: 19116, Philadelphia, PA (Location Of Office)
Ranking: 30 Locally, 1 Organically
Picture: 2 Keyword: garage door repair.
Location: Philadelphia, PA (Location Of Office)
Ranking: 1 Locally, 1 Organically
Picture: 3 4) Keyword: garage door repair philadelphia
Location: Philadelphia, PA (Location Of Office)
Ranking: 30 Locally, 1 Organically
Picture: 4 I have done some link building in the past that is helping me rank number 1 organically. I am also using moz local and my score is 86%. (pic 5) I simply do not understand why I am ranking so well organically but my local rankings are pretty terrible. While the listing "Garage Door Repair Service" is ranking at the top of the list. I understand that it is against Google's policy to name the listing something like this when your company name and website name is completely different. What can I do to rank better locally for more keywords and more cities rather than just a single zip code? hrsZZfF TTFr1rQ aDJSwWV BnyZP BnyZP0 -
Local business with many locations
Hi guys So ive been helping a local business out with their Google my business pages, they have them set up over several different accounts, which I dont think is a problem, however am sure its more helpful having them under one login, does this matter so much ? They are one company, however the titles for their business listings are all different, they have stuck some keywords into the business titles and the area, I am guessing the title for the different businesses in different citys should all be the same just the company name ? is this correct as they need to be consistent dont they ? As i am sure WH smiths for example all their business listings in different citys are just WH smiths and not with some keywords after each different branch ? I just wanted to check this up, and make sure I wasnt messing up someones listings lol !! J
Local Listings | | MrWoc0 -
Can We Outrank The Google Places Local Listing 7 pack in 2015?
Hello everyone, I would like to know if it's possible and if any of you had success outranking / ranking above the Google Local Listing 7 pack? I am in Canada and every time I search for something like (city+dentist) (toronto dentist) I do not see any organic result above the 7 pack. I searched for like 10 city and every searches the local listing are the first to show up and the organic result under it. So I did not see any organic result outranking the Google Places and I look at like 10 different city if not more. So I would like to know If i can rank above them for organic results with no Google places, with no physical address, local phone number and/or citations even if there is currently no organic result showing up above them ? What do you guys think ? Thank You
Local Listings | | majesticlub1 -
For companies with multiple locations, does Google mind "Duplicate Content" in local (maps) business descriptions?
I have about 20 locations for my counseling company "Thriveworks" on google. I am getting ready to submit a spreadsheet and take advantage of the new "bulk upload" to manage these locations. Each of my locations has a description that is basically the same in terms of sentiment, but 100% original content (because Google has historically hated duplicate content). 1) Should I copy and paste each location's current unique description into the spreadsheet, or just write one very good description and copy it for all 20 locations?2) Does Google like/dislike "duplicate content" as it applies to business descriptions?3) Is changing a location's description likely to temporarily harm the "ranking" of my business location in search results?Will really appreciate any help...
Local Listings | | Thriveworks-Counseling0 -
Best Practices For Local SEO For A Nation Wide Property Company?
Hi There, I've recently acquired a client that sells property all over the country (South Africa). It's in their best interests to rank well for localised keywords relating to the areas they have listed properties in. eg. Property for sale in example suburb/town/province. The project has a number of challenges which I'd appreciate any suggestions for The site acts as an aggregator for numerous partner property agents and, as s such, has a lot of duplicate content on it The company only has offices in one city. It handles online bookings which it then passes to its partner agencies - this presents me with a problem of creating listings in the areas I need to rank for I cannot list the actual addresses of properties Your thoughts and advice would be seriously appreciated.
Local Listings | | KJDMedia1