Local SEO - two businesses at same address - best course of action?

[McTaggart]

Hi Mozzers - I'm working with 2 businesses at the moment, at the same address - the only difference between the two is the phone number.

I could ask to split the business addresses apart, so that NAP(name, address, phone number) is different for each businesses (only the postcode will be the same).

Or simply carry on at the moment, with the N and Ps different, yet with the As the same - the same addresses for both businesses.

I've never experienced this issue before, so I'd value your input.

Many thanks, Luke

[McTaggart]

Thanks Miriam - that makes good sense - many thanks for your feedback Luke

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Luke!

Excellent additional details. This definitely should pass muster as two distinct businesses. And I do advise using the distinct addresses for each business as they genuinely do each have their own address. You want customers (and bots) to associate the right address with the right business. So you'll have a unique name, address, phone number and categories for these 2 businesses and should be a-okay!

[McTaggart]

Hi Miriam and I'm very grateful for your input, as ever.

Here's some clarification:

One business is a cookery school offering educational services - the other business is a restaurant open to the public, run by the students of the cookery school (both are owned by the same company).

The company in question has been using the same address for both - 24-27 Castle Mews - t**he business names and phone numbers are different. **

So all seems OK at the moment. I could keep their shared address as it is, which is accurate.

However, it is also clear that each business actually has a distinct address within Castle Mews, so if I wish to differentiate/split the addresses, so each business has a distinct address, I can:

The restaurant is at 24-26 Castle Mews - the cookery school is at 27 Castle Mews, so does it make sense to split the addresses along these lines, or doesn't it really matter?

Look forward to hearing from you, Luke

[MiriamEllis]

Hey Luke!

Good conversation going on here. I'm going to respectfully disagree with the advice of adding a fictitious suite element to the address, as using your real-world address only is one of the guidelines about which Google is very clear. Using suite addresses in this scenario has, indeed, been something people have experimented with in the past, prompted by Google's past fiasco with large numbers of listings merging due to shared partial details. However, Google seems to have gotten much better at not merging listings, and, in fact, seems quite capable of discerning one business from another despite a shared address. However, I will make these provisos:

1. Luke, I want to be sure I understand what you're saying about only the phone number being different? Aren't the names of the 2 businesses different? If not, and this is actually just one business, then they are only eligible for a single GMB listing - not two of them.

2. Yes, the phone numbers must be unique.

3. There can be trouble if the two businesses are in the same industry. In other words, if one business is Bill's Garage and the other business is Frank's Garage, you'll want to regularly monitor for any signs of merging.

4. It's a good idea not to share Google categories between the two businesses, if it can be helped.

5. Always make sure (as the Local SEO) that you really are marketing two separate businesses that adhere to Google's definition of that. For example, you may encounter clients who want to market their air conditioning repairs as a separate business from their heater repairs, when in fact this is actually just a single business. You'll do more harm than good by helping the client try to market themselves as though they were two. Point to the guidelines and explain the disaster that can come from getting on Google's bad side and you'll be doing the client a world of good

Hope this helps!

[MichaelGregory]

There are tons of businesses that share a street address with others (like at a shopping mall). I've never seen a problem where having 2 addresses the same affected anything. The suite A/B thing is fine though, even if it's only a placebo effect.

[McTaggart]

Ah, so varying all elements - the Name, Address and Phone number - that seems logical - thanks for your feedback.

[LoganRay]

Hi Luke,

I've had many clients in the same situation. The approach I typically take is to split up the street address between a Suite A and Suite B (or some similar variation of that). Google is still able to pinpoint the geographic location of the business, but also recognizes that they're not identical.