undefined
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
    • Agency Solutions
    • Enterprise Solutions
    • Small Business Solutions
    • Case Studies
    • 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
    • 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.

    • Case Studies

      Explore how Moz drives ROI with a proven track record of success.

    • 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. Local SEO
  4. Local Listings
  5. Concerned about cannibalization for local SEO results. Should we move some of our location pages to a subdomain?

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.

Concerned about cannibalization for local SEO results. Should we move some of our location pages to a subdomain?

Local Listings
3
7
2.0k
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.
  • RosemaryB
    RosemaryB last edited by Sep 8, 2015, 9:12 PM

    Currently we are providing local SEO recommendations for a well known pharmacy chain.  Like most major brands they enjoy multiple organic (not just 3 pack results) listings when people search for local phrases such as "Dallas pharmacy clinics'".

    The issue is that all these listings are coming from the same domain page.  We are seeing multiple listings both branded and non-branded search queries.

    Our concern is that Google will someday decide to choose one listing as the most authoritative and nix the rest of the local listings which will reduce their first page search engine saturation.  To maintain first page saturation we are considering recommending to the client that they move some of their location listings
    to a subdomain (different IP address) to avoid a Google "clean up".  Please note that our client is certainly not using any "doorway" pages but some of these are very scarce on content.  They do not have an issue with duplicate content either.

    By using subdomains could we help maintain our client's first page saturation?  Any links to articles would be much appreciated.

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
    • MiriamEllis
      MiriamEllis Subject Expert last edited by Sep 10, 2015, 1:05 PM Sep 9, 2015, 9:51 PM

      Hi Rosemary,

      Thanks for the clarification. For a pharmacy chain (or any other franchise) here is what would typically be appropriate:

      1. You have a single website.This website has some basic pages like home, about, specials, contact and what have you.

      2. In addition to this, you build a unique page of high quality for each of your locations. I don't recommend subdomains. I recommend subfolders. So, this would look like: thepharmacy.com/sugar-land for your store in Sugar Land Texas, and thepharmacy.com/dallas, for your store in Dallas. If you have more than one location in a city like Dallas, your URLs might look like thepharmacy.com/dallas-deep-ellum and thepharmacy.com/dallas-highland-park. Put the complete contact info (NAP) at the top of each page and then create strong content to make the pages interesting, helpful and unique.

      3. From your Sugar Land citations, across the web, be sure you are linking to the landing page you've created on the site for Sugar Land, ditto for Dallas citations, etc.

      This would be considered a standard methodology for any multi-location business.

      How you then showcase these pages on the website needs to be dictated by the number of locations you have. You want them to be easy to find. You might check out a chain like REI.com. Look at how they are surfacing locations for their users and how they are making their pages unique. They do a good job!

      Hope this helps!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
      • RosemaryB
        RosemaryB last edited by Sep 9, 2015, 7:48 PM Sep 9, 2015, 7:48 PM

        Thanks for the detailed response and questions Miriam.  Just to be clear I am not referring to "listings" but organic search results for individual store locations.  Would have just one additional subdomain with store listings (and different content of course) be appropriate for our client?    Our client does have local Google, Bing and Yahoo! business listings for each store location.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • MiriamEllis
          MiriamEllis Subject Expert last edited by Sep 9, 2015, 5:34 PM Sep 9, 2015, 5:34 PM

          Hey Rosemary,

          Sometimes, local lingo can be a bit of an obstacle in having a clear conversation. I want to be sure I understand what you are saying here when you are talking about 'listings'. To me, a listing is a citation - such as your Google+ Local listing, your Yelp listing, your Bing Places listing, etc. I believe you may be talking about city landing pages on your website, instead. Is this what you are describing:

          1. You have a multi-location business with physical offices in various locales?

          2. You do not have a strong page on the website for each of these offices? Instead, all of your search engine results, including local pack rankings and organic rankings, are pointing to your home page?

          3. You have a unique set of citations for each physical office? You have a Google+ Local page for each, a Bing listing for each, a Best of the Web listing for each, a Yelp listing for each, etc?

          Is this all correct? Please, provide as much detail as would be helpful.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • DmitriiK
            DmitriiK @RosemaryB last edited by Sep 9, 2015, 3:59 PM Sep 9, 2015, 3:59 PM

            Since you are talking about specific location-related results, my guess is that there is no much use in trying to have many local pages for the purpose of "flooding" Google results. If somebody searches for "Hyperlinks Media Houston", then Google will serve the results for Houston only and won't serve other locations pages. Therefore the placement of those pages doesn't really matter.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • RosemaryB
              RosemaryB @DmitriiK last edited by Sep 9, 2015, 3:46 PM Sep 9, 2015, 3:46 PM

              These are unique pages showing up in the subfolders.  However all of these listings are still from the same domain (same IP address).  Some of these extra listings are not that important, however they are nice to have for first page saturation reasons.  We were thinking of moving these lesser important pages to a subdomain since they are on a different IP address.

              DmitriiK 1 Reply Last reply Sep 9, 2015, 3:59 PM Reply Quote 0
              • DmitriiK
                DmitriiK last edited by Sep 9, 2015, 10:16 AM Sep 9, 2015, 10:16 AM

                Hello, there.

                _"The issue is that all these listings are coming from the same domain page" _- It is an issue, indeed. My recommendation would be to create unique pages (I wouldn't go with subdomains, I think that's just too much 🙂 for each location. At the same time make sure that you have all locations in local directories. This will help Google not to "nix" the results.

                I'd say look how big companies do it - let's say Apple and do the same way.

                About links - https://moz.com/learn/local - good guide.

                Hope this helps.

                RosemaryB 1 Reply Last reply Sep 9, 2015, 3:46 PM Reply Quote 1
                • 1 / 1
                1 out of 7
                • First post
                  1/7
                  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

                • TaylorRHawkins

                  How do you do Local SEO in a small town?

                  Good afternoon everyone! I wanted to start a discourse on a subject that I think might benefit a few select readers. What would be your best plan-of-action to successfully propose and execute a Local-SEO campaign for a small, local business in a rural town? The type of town that has next to zero local directories, the type of business that has hardly any (if any at all) "fresh mentions" on the internet, etc. I'm interested to see how other SEOs would handle tackling this kind of campaign. Can't wait to hear what people have to say! 
                  Thanks! 
                  Taylor

                  Local Listings | Mar 16, 2017, 10:49 AM | TaylorRHawkins
                  1
                • JCCMoz

                  Which Rank Trackers Include Local 3-pack Rankings?

                  Granted the Local 3-pack is heavily influenced by the distance between the user and the business, when you actually include the city name in the search, the local 3 pack result doesn't center the map at the city in the search and not the user's location so it is much more consistent despite the searcher's location.  So my personal opinion is that it is worth tracking local 3-pack when you use a keyword such as "Home Inspection Seattle Wa" With that said, which rank tracking services includes the local 3-pack in their tracking results, other than of course Bright Local?

                  Local Listings | Jan 17, 2017, 8:34 PM | JCCMoz
                  0
                • bpurdue

                  "Duplicate" on Google Local - Attorney and Business Listing

                  For our law firm, we have a Google Local listing for the firm (Riddell Law LLC).  Google also created a local listing for one of the attorneys (Riddell) (we didn't create it, but are in the process of verifying it).  Both listings are at the same address.  Moz Local says these are "duplicates" - is that true?  Would Google penalize us for this?  I am not sure how to fix it - both the individual attorney and the business are in fact at the same address. If anyone has any advice I would greatly appreciate it!  Thank you!!

                  Local Listings | Aug 26, 2016, 6:55 PM | bpurdue
                  0
                • OhYeahSteve

                  Average Percentage of Clicks on Google (Adwords vs Local 3 Pack vs Organic)

                  Does anyone know the allocation, percentage-wise, of clicks that go to Adwords vs Local 3 Pack vs Organic on Google Search (average)?

                  Local Listings | Jun 18, 2016, 4:15 PM | OhYeahSteve
                  0
                • Ampweb

                  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 | Jul 2, 2018, 1:30 PM | Ampweb
                  0
                • KempRugeLawGroup

                  Wrong Category Displaying Google Business Page?

                  Our firm keeps displaying "bankruptcy attorney" on google business page. Granted, we do that, as well as a variety of other services, but our primary category is "Personal Injury Attorney". I was told the categories are randomly selected, but I don't think that's true. Every time I've looked (or had other people look for us) on local, it displays as "bankruptcy attorney." What should I do? Is there a way to lock in the "Personal Injury Attorney" category, so it's the one that displays? Should I get rid of all the other categories except for "personal injury attorney?" Any other suggestion? Thanks, Ruben

                  Local Listings | Jun 9, 2014, 5:10 PM | KempRugeLawGroup
                  0
                • GaryVictory

                  Bright Local - Citation Burst. Winner or Loser?

                  Bright Local have a package called "Citation Burst." This looks great but, we all know directory submissions can have an extremely negative impact. Has anyone used Bright Local for Citation Burst, please let me know? Thanks Gary

                  Local Listings | Jan 20, 2024, 4:36 PM | GaryVictory
                  1
                • BlairKuhnen

                  How to remove a former business location from Google Places?

                  I've received a strange response from Google Places on local listings for a home builder.  Google's rep suggested that we not list the new home sales center (a model home) since at some point it will change from being a business listing to a residential listing.  That is just wrong.  It will be a place of business for the next 3 years and then will flip to being a private residence. These days it is uncommon, but not that rare to turn over ownership from public to private or vice versa (A residence becoming a law or other commercial establishment.  Or a whole office building becoming condos.) The issue is, when it does happen, how do we get Google and others to recognize that a business is no longer a business location? I've had trouble bringing down the address of former former model home sales centers on Google Places much to the chagrin of the residents.

                  Local Listings | Apr 9, 2014, 2:54 PM | BlairKuhnen
                  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.