Local Listing - Service Business with Three Areas Served
-
A client of mine owns a business that is a service (i.e. they do not have a storefront). They service three major markets - Atlanta, GA; Charlotte, NC; Nashville, TN. When talking to the Google My Business team, they said we needed to set up only one listing based on where we were headquartered (which is Atlanta) and then list that we service the other markets so that it shows in the listing. So we have one business listing set up as a service but headquartered in Atlanta and show the service area as Atlanta, Nashville and Charlotte. Does this seem correct? There is a lot of competition for them so looking to boost local search as much as possible. Thanks!
-
Nice coincidence! Thanks for letting me know, DickensLawGroup. So glad it helped.
-
Had the same question, this answer was really helpful, thanks!
-
Hi There!
Here's a few tips to help you create a good strategy:
-
Know that Google's local product hinges on your physical location, not on any location in which you lack a physical location. So, even if you set a service area, do not expect to rank in the local packs for Charlotte or Nashville. When it comes to Google's local rankings, you'll be specifically focusing on what you can do to earn visibility for searches that either contain the word "Atlanta" or stem from Atlanta-based devices. You are allowed just one listing, for your physical location in Atlanta. Creating any additional listings would violate Google's guidelines
-
Your multi-state service area is too large to utilize Google's service radius setting in the GMB dashboard. That tool is appropriate to something like a plumber located in Atlanta who also serves Decatur and Sandy Springs - not to a business serving three different states. So, don't attempt to set a service radius like that in your GMB dashboard.
-
Because you can only expect to rank in the local results related to Atlanta language or devices, your options for publicizing the availability of your products/services in any other area are:
-
Creating organic content supporting these other service areas, in hopes of achieving organic (not local) rankings
-
Investing in PPC for these other areas
-
Utilizing social media to engage with audiences in these other communities
-
Offline marketing in these other communities
- Eventually, your brand may determine that opening additional staffed, physical offices in places like Nashville and Charlotte is essential, in order to compete for local rankings, but until then, Google's bias towards physical location will limit your local pack presence to Atlanta.
Hope this is helpful info!
-
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
-
Google Listing Doesn't Appeare on 3Pack anymore
Hi, One of my GMB listing suddenly stopped ranking in the 3Pack Results. It used to always rank in 1st or 2nd position in the 3Pack results, Suddenly since 24th May it completely Flatlined, I don't know why but It doesn't show up in the results, or when I click see more. It completely vanished for that term locally. My Listing is based in Brisbane, QLD, Australia and it doesn't show up for that term in The Brisbane area. But when the Location info is Australia and not Brisbane, Australia it shows up again. I don't know what is the problem in this case... Any Suggestions will be much appreciated.
Local Listings | | Moxoms10 -
Yahoo Local Business Listings Hijacked
We are a solar company with three locations. When claiming our business listings on Yahoo (Yext), we noticed that one of them had already been claimed. The name of our company and our phone number were changed to a lead generation company. Upon further inspection, this company has hijacked hundreds of listings throughout the state and the country. To see the extent of it, go here:
Local Listings | | SS.Digital
https://search.yahoo.com/local/s;_ylt=A0SO8odHUOZZdVUAYwBXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTByNWU4cGh1BGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--;_ylc=X1MDMTM1MTE5NTExOARfcgMyBGdwcmlkA3loNXdiQlJqVE9HMm9MdXlUSklLdEEEbl9zdWdnAzEEb3JpZ2luA3NlYXJjaC55YWhvby5jb20EcG9zAzAEcHFzdHIDBHBxc3RybAMEcXN0cmwDMjIEcXVlcnkDc29sYXIgY29ubmVjdG9yIGlydmluZQR0X3N0bXADMTUwODI4MTk4MA--?fr2=sb-top-search&p=solar+connector+irvine&fr=yfp-t- Or, just search in Yahoo's Local search section for "Solar Connector Irvine" or pretty much any city in California. On every hijacked listing, the company name is changed to "Solar Connector" and the phone number is changed to a unique local number, but all the other information is left the same. Now when people think they are calling our business, they get a shady lead gen company instead. I have submitted a request to Yext and have tried (and failed) to find a support phone number. This is a widespread, blatant fraud, and I would hope they would have interest in fixing it. Solar Connector (fake name) is associated with SolarAmerica.com, which is run by Clean Energy Experts, which was purchased by Sunrun (a publicly traded company). My specific question is, does anyone have any insight on the best method for getting help from Yahoo/Yext? Other than through their "help portal" on the website. I need to speak with a human being.1 -
Google my business : Multiple businesses operating from the same location.
After multiple phone calls with Google My Business help, I'm still completely stumped! I need to set up Google my business pages for 5 business', however, each of these companies work in the same office - so the location used on Google my business would be the same. I want to know if this is possible? Surely there's ways to do it, especially since the increase of hot-desking and shared offices! Thanks
Local Listings | | sophiecrosby970 -
Business Name Not Showing Up in Google's Maps
I have a client whose name in not currently showing up on Google maps. Their business location only shows once their name or related keywords are searched, but their business name does not show when you only look for it on the map regardless of how far zoomed in you are to the actual location. I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this, or knows of a way to fix this. I have already contacted Google multiple times, and they told me that “business’ names are just randomly pulled”. The client is an HVAC store front business with good rankings and a fully optimized Google profile, so these reasons did not answer the issue. Client’s GMB profile: https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome-psyapi2&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8&q=rothheating oak creeek&oq=rothheating oak creeek&rlz=1C1JPGB_enUS685US685&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.5919j0j4 DBZfF
Local Listings | | JohnWeb120 -
Good service for loactions for google maps
Hi guys, I have one client from the locksmith niche. His service is in almost all the us but he dos not have fiscal location. Because that all the locksmith niche are consider a bit gray, so we noticed that Google not all the time accept the address (Virtual offices). Do you know good service that can give me good solution for this ? something that will give me good reliable address... Thanks
Local Listings | | EdmondHong870 -
address on my websiteto help with local searches
If I put my address on my website, does it help that page to rank for local searches? especially if it's the same address that i am using for moz local and all my citations? I want my other pages to rank in different cities as well as i have a service that travels to all cities in my state. Will that address of my home town on my home page make google think that i don't service other cities? Thanks, Ron
Local Listings | | Ron100 -
For companies with multiple locations, does Google mind "Duplicate Content" in local (maps) business descriptions?
I have about 20 locations for my counseling company "Thriveworks" on google. I am getting ready to submit a spreadsheet and take advantage of the new "bulk upload" to manage these locations. Each of my locations has a description that is basically the same in terms of sentiment, but 100% original content (because Google has historically hated duplicate content). 1) Should I copy and paste each location's current unique description into the spreadsheet, or just write one very good description and copy it for all 20 locations?2) Does Google like/dislike "duplicate content" as it applies to business descriptions?3) Is changing a location's description likely to temporarily harm the "ranking" of my business location in search results?Will really appreciate any help...
Local Listings | | Thriveworks-Counseling0 -
Confusion and Issues With Google Places + Google Plus for Business
Hi all, I'm currently dealing with the frustration between our Google Places page and Google Plus for Business. I know, it's not an uncommon issue, so I'm hoping there's an easy fix to mine! I am currently dealing with 2 Google accounts and 2 businesses. Each business has 2 locations. Each account has 1 location of each business. Obviously this isn't ideal. 😕 A few questions: 1. Each account has already been setup with a personal Google Plus page. Will this interfere or cause any issue when I claim the existing Google Places businesses for a Google Plus for Business? 2. Once I have verified the Google Plus for Business page, I can then merge it with our standard Google Places page, correct? 3. Is the merging only for control/login and dashboard settings? Will there still be 2 separate pages/URLs? 4. If someone +1's our Google Places page, does this reflect on our Plus page, or vice/versa? 5. Is there a way to assign these listings to different accounts/logins without deleting the listing and creating them fresh again? I'm assuming no, but would love to hear of a solution! Thanks a lot!
Local Listings | | kirmeliux0