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.
Listing a physical address on an ecommerce website?
-
Hey Mozzers!
Got a question for you. I’ve been assigned my first ecommerce client. He doesn’t want to list his physical business location, as he fears that including his address will hurt him on a national level (he ships all over the world). He’s not particularly interested in ranking locally, although he wouldn’t mind it. He only wants to show a PO box address. Will this help or hurt him? I believe it’s the latter. Also, he has 16 shipping points across the U.S. Is it helpful to add these cities and states to the site?
Thanks in advance!
-Kanya
-
Thanks a bunch!!
-
Hi Kanya,
That's right - if the company is not local, having a P.O. box where they receive mail is totally fine. No worries about that.
-
Thanks for your response, Miriam! So, since local SEO isn't what he's aiming for, is it safe to say including a PO box on the site will not hurt him on a national scale? Thanks again!
-
Hi Ryan! He's not interested in having walk in traffic. His goal is to rank nationally and he feels adding a Google + listing and including his address on the site will hurt his national campaign.
-
Hi Kanya!
Local SEO and local rankings are meant for businesses that make in-person contact with their customers. This generally does not apply to e-commerce companies, most of which operate virtually. So, whether you use a P.O. box or not may be a bit of a moot point here. If the customer DOES make face-to-face contact and does want to rank locally, he cannot use a P.O. box on most citation platforms - it won't be accepted. He would need a real physical address.
Regarding adding cities and states to the site, of course, he should explain which places he ships to, but if like most businesses he ships to the 48 states or something like that, then this really isn't a reason to create unique content, as presumably the shipping process is the same for all customers. Don't just add a list of states or cities for the sake of SEO. Google frowns on such practices.
Likely, if the client makes no personal contact with his customers, organic SEO is going to be where you need to put focus - not Local SEO. Hope these thoughts are helpful!
-
Hi Kanya. This would hurt in terms of Local Rankings as Google doesn't want PO Boxes listed, "Use a precise, accurate address to describe your business location. PO Boxes or mailboxes located at remote locations are not acceptable." from: https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177. Is he interested in having walk in traffic to his business? Or is it even set up for that? If not, Local probably isn't the answer. Cheers!
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
-
Adding Schema to multi-location Wordpress Website using Schema Pro
All, we're building a new version of our existing website using Wordpress and have both Yoast SEO Premium and Schema Pro installed. Our site has 70, a medical practice, has 70 different locations. Each one of our locations has a page tile like the following: "Los Angeles | ABC Dental". The first part of the site title is the town we're located in followed by our site name. Using Schema Pro, we're not sure about what to place into the "Name" field. You can see the direction from Schema Pro for local businesses here, https://wpschema.com/docs/add-schema-markup-for-a-local-business-page/ By default Schema Pro has the name field set to Site Title. However, using this on all 70 or our landing pages wouldn't provide the local aspect we want. It would just say ABC Dental. We changed this to use a new custom field where we could enter a more descriptive name. Using our page title example of "Los Angeles | ABC Dental", would we simply enter this into the name field of Schema Pro? If not, would we format this another way such as "ABC Dental Los Angeles" We could use some help in a strategy for Schema markup for multi-location businesses, in particular, the name field. All other information such as address, phone number, etc seems rather straight forward. Thank you for the assistance
Local Listings | | morciuoli0 -
Google listing only appears when I move / zoom in or out of the map
Hi everyone, We are having an issue with this local business. The Google listing isn't immediately appearing on the map. You have to move the map or zoom in and out for the listing to appear. I find this really odd as our competitors - with no reviews and way further in proximity - are appearing with no issues. The listing is only about 4km where I'm doing the search, while competitors with no reviews are about 20km away. We are ranking in the top 5 organically for the search term I used (pool renovations brisbane), but nowhere in local unless the map is moved. When the listing appears, sometimes the pin also looks grey instead of red, while others are red (if that makes sense). On top of this, their organic rankings have also been on a downward trend since June. I'm currently doing a backlink audit to see if it's contributing to the issue. If anyone also has other ideas, could you please let me know? Thanks.
Local Listings | | nhhernandez1 -
Local Ranking with No Physical Address in New Service Area - How to Rank?
OK, SO, I am a wedding company in Maui, Hawaii and have an established business on one island with a physical address. http://simplemauiwedding.net We have started a new team in Oahu, Hawaii http://simpleoahuwedding.com and we provide service there and have a full team in place. How can I rank for Local Search on that Island with no physical address? I would love to hear some proven strategies. Thank you 🙂
Local Listings | | photoseo10 -
Using same business number on different websites
Hello, I have number of websites in different locations with different business name and address with verified listings. However, I am thinking to use the same phone number on all the websites as it is difficult for me to keep track of all the numbers. So, is it okay to use the same phone number on different websites with different business name and address? Waiting for your thoughts. Brian
Local Listings | | BrianBotts.0 -
Removing Unverified Listing From Google
We have an old unverified listing that has our information on it, but we can't get it off google. I told them months ago it was closed, and it is marked as closed in Google...but it still shows up. Moz Local is telling me this is an inconsistency that hurts our local rankings. I went to delete the page from our Google Business/Place, but if I did that, the warning said that I would just not have access to the page, and that the listing would still show up on google. How do I permanently get rid of those thing, so it's not longer an inconsistent listing? Ruben
Local Listings | | KempRugeLawGroup0 -
Does Google Penalize for Hiding Address?
I have a situation where a client is working out of their home. I know that Google does not like when you list a business with a home address so we have hidden the address on Google, but are wondering if Google penalizes businesses for hiding it? When listing them to other directories we do our best to find ones that we can hide the first line of the address. But does that matter? Should we just be listing to our normal directories with the address visible? Does a mix of hidden addresses and visible ones hurt your rankings? Thanks in advance for your help!
Local Listings | | JohnWeb120 -
What would Cause listing to fall off local search map spot?
Any reason a listing that was showing in Google between the 3 and 5 spot on local map search would suddenly disappear all together from the map position for a specific keyword?
Local Listings | | scott3150 -
Address Format for Local SEO
Hi, Ive been reading how important it is to get the address of a business consistent and written in the right format to help with Local Search Engine Rankings. Is this correct? If this is the case, are there any online generators to help create this html in the right format to put into a webpage. Thank you.
Local Listings | | Ampweb0