Multiple Locations with Branded Name/Keyword in URL
-
I have a client, let's call him "Bob". Bob has 2 stores where he sells "Widgets", Bob's Widgets and Bob's Widgets South. These locations are roughly 40 miles from each other and serve two different marketplaces. Each location has their own website "www.bobswidgets.com & www.bobswidgetssouth.com". Each location is run by different individuals. The Store Manager at Bob's Widgets is complaining that when you type "Bob's Widgets" into the search engines "Bob's Widgets South" website is indexing in the 2nd and/or 3rd position. The Store Manager at Bob's Widgets feels that Bob's Widgets South could be stealing business from him because of the way Google is indexing the sites.
I have explained to him that the keyword the user is typing in is in both names of the locations and in each URL and this is prompting the search engine to index both sites. Am I missing something else???
-
Of all the stores? If you have access to the overall owner of this have them deal with the store manager.
-
We work with all parties that are involved, from Store Owner to Store Manager.
-
Yes, I can see how merging the two websites would not be advisable in this scenario. I still think your best bet is to focus on local search optimization, especially if your client is just the manager of one location. As Ryan said, it would be better to work directly with the store owner.
-
Oh! That makes WAY more sense (as to why he'd be mad). The way you phrased your question earlier made it sound like the store owner was your client and that you had interactions with all of the parties involved.
It sounds like the store manager is asking you to try and do things that could run contrary to what the store owner wants. The best situation for you would be to work directly with the owner, not this manager. If that's not possible, you might have to just let this client go.
-
the guy who manages the store.
-
Who is your client? Bob? Or the guy who manages just one of Bob's stores? If it's Bob getting mad about this I'd be pretty stumped as well.
-
Thanks for the response. Yes Bob's falls into the car dealership category. The second location is taking the #2 & #3 spot in the SERPs while the other website takes the number #1 position with sitelinks. Client is beyond furious, I am having a difficult time explaining this to the client. Any thoughts?
-
There are several businesses for which this isn't the best course of action though, for example something like car dealerships, or even car brands that differentiate their sites by country. Typically the common denominator for making that choice though is that the location plays nearly--or as large--a role as brand. "Bob" might fall under the same category, which makes it hard to say if having him consolidate sites is ideal.
-
Thanks Ryan. My thoughts exactly.
-
What's the rationale for having two separate websites if both locations are owned by the same person, under the same brand, and sell the same products? These two websites will naturally compete head-to-head for a lot of different queries, not just branded ones. The ideal scenario would be to merge the two websites under one domain and set up individual landing pages for each location. Then, focus on optimizing for local search. If you do this, Google should display the location that is closest to the searcher for branded searches.
I realize that it may be a tough sell to the owner to consolidate the two sites, but I would certainly try to get them to sign off on it.
-
Ha! I think you might be missing a psychology degree in order to solve this problem. Actually, it's probably something simpler, Store Manager of Bob's Widget's isn't performing as well as Store Manager of Bob's Widget's South and he's looking for outside reasons as to why. Bob on the other hand should be ecstatic that both his stores are ranking so well in the engines for a branded search.
I'd go beyond the keyword explanation though and say, "We're going to get ALL of Bob's Widget Stores to rank as highly as possible, so Bob can sell more widgets to more people. More people going to either or both stores is the opposite of a problem." Something along those lines. Good luck!
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
-
SEO Best Practice for Managing a Businesses NAP with Multiple Addresses
I have a client with multiple business addresses - 3 across 3 states, from an SEO perspective what would be the best approach for displaying a NAP on the website? So far I've read that its best: to get 3 GMB account to point to 3 location pages & use a local phone number as opposed to a 1300 number. Display all 3 locations in the footer, run of site
Local Website Optimization | | jasongmcmahon1 -
How does Google read multiple Geo Shape Schema Mark Up?
Hi Guys, I posted a question recently about "Can I have multiple areaServed mark up on one domain?" and the responses I got was no. My client work predominantly in the South East of England in specific towns, so I wanted to be able to list all the areas they service. However, after being told no, I went ahead anyway and put in multiple areaServed markup on the page to see if this generates any errors and it isn't when I run it through the Structured Data Testing Tool. I don't get any errors by doing this, so hurray! But... What I want to understand (which I can't find the answer anywhere), is if this is okay, and how will Google read my markup? Will Google see that we are in multiple areas across the SE of England and push my content up before other sites, or is this just going to confused Google? By putting in all these areas into the website as multiple locations, will Google identify that person X in area Y fits the areaServed mark up I've added and push my content to them? Overall... has anyone else used multiple areaServed markup and can validate that this works? hHpEyQf
Local Website Optimization | | Virginia-Girtz1 -
Company with different branches: Generic Keywords & Localized Keywords: Best practise?
INITIAL SITUATION: We offer a branded product/service in different cities. We have different contact pages for every city (—> basically just a form and a map, i.e. 100% SHALLOW). GOAL:
Local Website Optimization | | Cesare.Marchetti
We would like to rank for the branded keyword only (—> more generic search intent) but as well as for branded keyword + cities (—> more transactional search intent) combinations. REMARK: It would make little sense in my opinion to develop the individual contact pages (for every city) to „full“ pages with real content as there isn’t really specific content for the differenct cities to add. OPTIONS:
1) HOME page: target for the branded keyword CONTACT pages (one for each city): target for the branded keyword + city name HOME page: target for the branded keyword + all the city names CONTACT pages (one for each city): : NO keyword targeting at all HOME page: target for the branded keyword + different city names CONTACT pages (one for each city): target for the branded keyword + city name Add CANONICAL tag to main page ???!!!??? What is best practise? What would you recommend? Is there another solution? I really would like to know your opinion. Thanks a lot for your hints in advance.
Cheers,
CesareBearbeiten0 -
Is it possible to rank for street name searches?
I am working with a real estate agency who serves a very small geographical area in Dallas, TX. Many areas with Dallas addresses have proper names (e.g. Uptown, Highland Park, Lake Highlands, etc.), but the area my client wants to target is nameless, so we had the idea of trying to target searches for particular street names instead (e.g. homes for sale on easy street). I have looked around quite a bit, but have not found a website that takes that approach. Any thoughts on whether it's possible?
Local Website Optimization | | cbizzle0 -
Problem ranking page with a double name and an "&"
I have a client with a double name and a & like: Jones & Jones. I and using all in one SEO on a Wordpress site. Their home page is not ranking even though I have Jones, Jones & Jones and Jones and Jones listed in the keywords. Interestingly enough other pages where I did not list the home page rank when you do a serach for "Jones & Jones" I have not had this issue with other sites but have never had a name repeated and and & in between... any advice woild be appreciate.. I just signed up for a trial of MOZ...
Local Website Optimization | | ajgar0 -
Local seo landing pages and proper keywords to optimize and showing up for generic keyword localized results
looking for advice. I have my site built into landing pages for each city I service. Would it effect my seo in a negative way if I built other landing pages with "keyword + zip code" as well as the city ones I already have or do you think it would make my city rankings worst? Also how do you get a seo city landing page to show up for the "keyword" or "keyword near me" in the city of interest? Is making landing pages with "keyword + city" sufficient way to accomplish this or is there a trick I am unaware of?
Local Website Optimization | | Spartan220 -
Drastic changes in keyword rankings on a daily basis
Anybody ever seen keyword rankings for a site change drastically from day to day? I've got a client, a local furniture store, whose local keywords (furniture + city) rank consistently well without much change, but when it comes to broader keyword rankings (like "furniture" or "furniture store") in their zip code, they'll go from ranking at the top of Google one day to not being ranked at all the next (at least according to Raven Tools). My best guess is that it's just a reflection of personalized results from Google, but such a dramatic change day in and day out makes me wonder.
Local Website Optimization | | ChaseMG0 -
Looking for resources (or personal tips/suggestions) on developing higher client conversion rates
I work for a local Canadian digital marketing company and we are seeking to expand our client base but are having difficulty with converting potential clients. We do excellent work and get good results across the board for our current customers. That being said, we can't seem to convert new ones at the rate we hope to. I am wondering what we are missing and would really like to see what has worked for others to see if we can augment our approach to be more successful. Any ideas are greatly appreciated! We are currently beating the competition on local SERPs, and rank very well nationally.
Local Website Optimization | | Toddfoster
We have run AdWords campaigns, attempted cold-calling, worked with website audits, worked with different sales funnel ideas, social media and done our share of outreach in both online and local communities, among other marketing moves. Tips on these topics are also welcome, because it is possible we just went about it the wrong way.0