Can you set up a SAB for a virtual service?
-
Google's guidelines for creating a GMB profile states that the business must make "in-person contact with customers during stated hours." Does this mean that an online-only business such as a virtual urgent care clinic is allowable as a SAB? This is where customers use an app or website to have a video visit with a doctor - which is person-to-person, real contact, nut not in-person. It doesn't feel like the right kind of business to be listed locally, especially if the service area is an entire region or state. Does anyone have a source of truth on this? Thanks for the assistance!
-
Just seconding Ira's excellent response here. Without in-person contact, the business is ineligible for a GMB listing. Very good topic!
-
Ya, no new listings just for the virtual service... but you should make sure you are taking full advantage of all listings for current locations. I looked at the Multicare site at your urgent care location pages, and those could definitely be optimized better. I also did a few test searches, and from what I've seen you rank very well in cities where you are located. So based on this quick checkup, there is nothing urgent, but still some room for improvement. I don't want to hijack this thread too much, but let me know if you'd like to discuss how your local listings could be better tied into your website, along with other SEO ideas for those locations.
-
Thanks so much, Ira. Your answer does help. The business consists of out-of-state doctors, doing video-only visits with patients in our state. We contract with that business to provide a service to our local customers, which we of course want to make visible in local search. They are licensed in our state, but that's their only tie to our community. Sounds to me like a SAB is inappropriate in this case.
-
Hi Jeremy,
Interesting question. My company has been working with urgent care clinics going all the way back to 1999, and over the last 5 years or so we have developed a fair amount of experience with telemedicine. In many cases, we have an individual clinic that already has business listings, and we are just adding on a new service. But I've also worked with a national telemed company that had ties to some local practices who had listings, but they themselves did not as they didn't have a base of operations in each state/city.
In addition , I've worked with some smaller practices that are in between these extremes. These are primarily virtual clinics, but not 100%. They may see some patients in person (more of a concierge model mixed in with the urgent care), or they may just have a home base from which they network, and get a big chunk of their clients from one community where they live. In these cases, there is enough of a local tie to justify a local listing. Also, these are generally newer startups.
So in general, if you are dealing with a business that has a system with docs who are licensed in multiple states, and don't have some real presence in the localities, then listings are not appropriate. But if the doctor has a legitimate tie to and base in a particular community, then a local listing makes sense.
If you have more details about your specific situation, I may be able to give you some additional ideas.
Ira
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
-
Can having a google business listing harm a company selling services globally?
Hi, We are a SAAS platform offering cloud based solution for educators. We had a google business listing in India and recently added one for US as well. Our keywords rank significantly better in India than in US. Is it a good idea to remove these business listing? Also, what could be other factors that impact GEO SEO rankings for a online company like ours?
Local Listings | | WizIQMarketing0 -
How can I change my Google Business to be a non local business?
Hey guys, Do you know how to change my Google business account to be a non local business? I want my Google Knowledge Graph to be clean and neat like this. Does it mean that this company doesn't claim the business? Will removing the address from the Google My Business solve it (which I don't know whether we can take down the address)? Thanks
Local Listings | | attic0 -
Can't get past the 15th page of Google SERPs
I've been doing Local SEO for 9 years and have never had an issue that frustrated me as much as this one. I have a client who I can't get past the 15th page of Google's SERPS for their #1 KW. Here are the details: The domain is 4 months old In that 4 month span the site has gone from a DA 1 to a DA 24 Spam score is a 0. I know this doesn't mean a ton but I can tell you from closely reviewing their AHrefs report, there's no influx of spammy links or anything like that. The design is a custom wordpress design The content is 100% unique and professionally written content The backlink profile (in my opinion) is full of high DA and PA sites from authority sites with high trust flow ... in my opinion their backlinks are superior to all but maybe a handful of competitors. I was not expecting 1st page results by now but I would have expected top 50 results a the very least. But to not crack the top 15 tells me there's some major issue here. I really need some insight as to what could be holding me back here ... I don't want to share the domain publicly but but I will PM you it if you're interested in taking a crack at it. I will seriously pay someone a small fortune if they can help me figure this out.
Local Listings | | BrianJGomez0 -
Are there any services like Moz Local for Canada?
Was wondering if there would be a way to simplify getting NAP data out there and consistent for a business in Canada like we have here in the US with Moz Local? If not, are there specific sites besides Yellow Pages Group and the government site (ic.gc.ca) to submit their information? I'm sure Yelp, Facebook, Google, Bing, Yahoo, and all the usuals...but where else?
Local Listings | | JaxMediaTeam0 -
Google My Business- Will a large service area dilute local search results?
I am considering adding our actual service area to our Google My Business profile, but I don't want this to dilute our local search results. As it is, we come up in the top 3 or so when searched in our HQ's city and several nearby cities when you search for us in Google Maps (although when I look at the top 10 organic for Google for some reason when you search for these cities + our keywords Google doesn't show any local results). Our actual service area is fairly large, comprising the states of CA & Hawaii & parts of CO, AZ, and UT. I would be adding the service area by zip code rather than radius, as a radius wouldn't make any sense in this case (particularly considering the distance between HI and CA). Is it better to keep our relatively high ranking in local results? Will adding the service area not affect local results negatively? Also, do you know why Google isn't showing me local results when I look for our keywords + our nearby cities? When I look for these keywords in larger cities like LA or San Diego, Google always shows me local results.
Local Listings | | BohmKalish1230 -
Transferring SEO services from one agency to another - troubles, concerns, etc.?
Hey Moz Community, I have a friend I'm asking for who has an agency and will be taking over SEO from another agency. One thing that worries me is that the agency has confirmed dozens of locations in Google Places (about 60-100) for this business. How would you transfer Google Places ownership (assuming they cooperate)? Could the previous agency delete these listings? If so, how would that affect Local SEO? For example, the location and phone number is already on the website. Isn't that good enough for all of these locations (about 100)? I hope this is clear; please let me know if not. I would be interested in hearing any other feedback about moving agencies. Thanks, Cole
Local Listings | | ColeLusby0 -
Google Services for our Multiple Entities with Multiple Locations
I need to know what is the better practice for us. We have long had one Google account for our four businesses. It was easy to manage GA, Adwords, WMT and until recently - Places. My places account is not transferred to the new My Business Locations, but I am having trouble with a few items and I am wondering if it would be better to have each of our business take on their own unique Google accounts. If I did that, would I be able to transfer GA and other ownership or would I lose all my existing data? Should I just wait to see what my listings are when i get transferred and then worry?
Local Listings | | KJ-Rodgers0 -
How can I add another Google Places listing to my existing business?
Hey there, Does anyone know how I can add another Google Places listing to the following account? The company now has two stores so I'd like to get both listed. https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/107389046695957843430/+FinsahomeCoUk/posts I've tried using https://www.google.com/local/manage but that only appears to let you add a minimum of 10 locations?
Local Listings | | Webrevolve0