Google Places - Different NAP on various directories...
-
My client's veterinary clinic uses a service called Localvets.com which is a division of Yext.com. This service updates listings and sponsors them across various directories. Since this is a referral service (they get paid for new clients) they use a custom phone number and custom website address for these listings.
Question: Is this hurting the SEO potential of the Google Places listing since the N.A.P. are not the same?
Thoughts?
-
PMC,
Absolutely! One of the biggest ranking factors for your Google places are your citations. Anytime your clients business is mentioned online it acts as a citation. If you are using different NAP you wont get the credit from these citations. The other issue is this can cause duplicate places page in Google. When this happens your clients best places page is pushed down and the new less optimized duplicate listing shows up. At this point you will need to claim this listing and TRY to delete the duplicate listing. This can take a lot of time. If you're going to use a different NAP for tracking purposes you'll want to do it as an image so Google bot can't read it.
I've also attached a link where you can read about duplicate listings in Google places
Hope this helps,
Bill
-
I would say yes this hurts. It confuses the signals that Google looks at for it's ranking factors. now with blended search becoming more prevalent, the data integrity should be consistent. See David Mihm's authoritative Local ranking factors.
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
-
Optimizing 2 identical sites for different States
We have 2 websites that are about 99% similar in content, the only difference being the references to the State (CO and IN) and location information. Any recommendations on meta information or other ways to make sure we are not penalized for duplicate content? Thanks in advance!
Image & Video Optimization | | MeghanS0 -
How do I improve positioning in Google Images?
Looking around in Webmaster tools today and I noticed we have hundreds of thousands of impressions in Google Images, but a very low CTR. I understand normal SEO, but what about increasing rank in Google Images? It is hard to get links straight to an image, and we already use proper alt tags. Any other ideas?
Image & Video Optimization | | EcommerceSite0 -
Google+ Local Listing - No Physical Address
Hi everyone, I have a client who won't be renewing his lease for where he conducts his business. Instead he will be working from home. That being said, he does not wish to have his personal address details showing within his local listing. Is there any other way to still show for Google Local without a personal or business address? Is a PO box possible, other there any other alternatives? Thanks in advance. Leo
Image & Video Optimization | | nimbleo0 -
Google + local Multiple Locations
My client has three offices and I have created three separate Google + local listings for them - I have listed the specific locations page as the website address for each - Google specifies to add the coding to the homepage to link Google + however what do we do with the three different codes - does each one go on the home page or at the bottom of the specific landing page for that particular office?
Image & Video Optimization | | AllieMc0 -
Google Product Feed Results
Hi all, I am pondering whether or not to try the new model of paying for the shopping results. I was just wondering what results people had seen and your ideas/thoughts on it.
Image & Video Optimization | | KarlBantleman0 -
NAP - Name on a local website
From a local perspective, if the legal name of the business is "Rising Realty, Inc", when you added in your footer should I loose the "Inc" part to be consistent with all the other mentions of the business across the web, which are without "Inc"? Thank you!
Image & Video Optimization | | echo10 -
Will Google Places put ranking weight on google reviews instead of 3rd party now?
WIth the visual update to Google Places over the past 2 days do you think that Google reviews will become a higher ranking factor as compared to 3rd party reviews. The research I have done shows that 3rd party reviews seem to correlate better with higher rankings..Any thoughts on what might be coming down the road?
Image & Video Optimization | | NiftyMarketing0 -
Anyone else had this problem - Google Places?
I have putting to use some great advice I have gotten on here for my Google Places page. I just noticed, however, that my page isn't showing almost all of the information that I have submitted directly in Google Places. http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1416&bih=744&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=pet+medical+center+of+las+vegas&fb=1&gl=us&hq=pet+medical+center+of&hnear=0x80beb782a4f57dd1:0x3accd5e6d5b379a3,Las+Vegas,+NV&cid=13431404354265657899&ei=uykmTpDtPIfGsAPD75jmCA&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=placepage-link&resnum=1&ved=0CB4Q4gkwAA Description not showing Reviews from 3rd party sites not updating Details are only from Dex Knows - NONE I have written within Google Places are showing up More About This Place section has not been updated since I took over the page 3 months ago (still showing old URL for our website as a citation and not our new one) What is going on? Any ideas? -Brant
Image & Video Optimization | | PMC-3120870