Ranking Penalty in Google Places for Primary Cell Phone Number?
-
Say a business runs out of a home (so, technically, the address of the business has a land line). But the business owner works outdoors all day long and so really runs his business off his cell phone.
Is it OK in Google Places to list the mobile phone as the primary contant number, and list the home phone as a secondary number?
Or will Google penalize the business's ranking in local search results for using a cell number as the main number?
-
Hi Echo1, I suggest you open a new thread for this question. This system doesn't show new activity on old questions, so people are unlikely to notice it.
-
What about having a local an a 1800 number? Would that affect the local rankings too? About 2 -3 years ago, having a 1800 number listed meant that you are a trusted business not just a flight-by-night company with its cell phone as their main number.
-
Phone numbers either landlines or mobile phones should not have a difference for the search engines in local search. As I have stated in my first response it is the use of the number consistently accross all your profiles and citations. I also believe a 800 number will be much less effective than a local number . If you use this number to forward to your other numbers that should not be an issue as long as the end users are served well while accesing this number. The last thing you want is a review that says this number is no longer working
-
I agree about the 800#; many resources advise against it as a primary number.
Ultimately, I chickened out and used the land-based line, listing the cellphone under "other numbers." He can employ his wife or use call forwarding to get calls to his cell, and give his cell to prospects upon talking with them. My understanding that a key component in local search listings is consistency, and I didn't want and confusion with online phonebooks and what have you.
Although I'm not using it in this case, I think I also might advise cellphone-heavy small businesses to establish their business with a local "virtual office" provider (an office park). You get your own land-based phone number on their switchboard, a non-PO-Box mailing address, and even an administrative assistant to answer the phone as your business, in some cases. I'm not suggesting non-local-seeming-local trickery; just getting your business out of your house and cellphone and into a land-based business environment. It can also make your business seem bigger to have someone answer the phone; and if you have a thick overseas accent (as one of my clients does) it can help combat first-impression prejudice or comprehension difficulties to start out the business replationship with a "local voice" kicking it off. Some virtual office set-ups even let you use a conference room, when necessary, for a small hourly fee.
I'm guessing, like anything else, something good like this could be used for evil in the hands of some local search people – but life is too short for all that black-hat nonsense. I'm just saying that if a local roofer lived near an office park, he might want to run his businesses out of a local virtual office setup rather than out of his attic, or while on top of his roof...and maybe the whole approach would help some local search issues (e.g., primary phone, map showing home address) to boot.
-
Using an 800 number may have a negative impact on local rankings - especially if it's the only phone number. http://www.davidmihm.com/local-search-ranking-factors.shtml#62
Cell phone number shouldn't be a problem - especially if the area code matches the address. Per Google's own Places quality guidelines:
"Provide a phone number that connects to your individual business location as directly as possible, and provide one website that represents your individual business location.
Use a local phone number instead of a call center number whenever possible.
Do not provide phone numbers or URLs that redirect or “refer” users to landing pages or phone numbers other than those of the actual business."(http://www.google.com/support/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=107528)
A business cell phone should meet that criteria.
-
With all the porting of phone numbers, I'd think it would be mixed all over the place and not a great method to punish someone. Prehaps consider getting an 800 #
-
Google or the other engines should not care if you use a cellphone or land based unit. What would have an impact in your local search results is if you use this number consistently for your profile. The NAP(name,address,phone) should be consistent on all submissions,profiles,mentions,citations etc. Another factor that could affect local rankings is the area code that your mobile number has ex. if i was targeting los angeles i would want my area code to start with 323,213,310 etc . which is representative of the area. I hope this helps you out .
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.com country redirection
As we all know, Google redirected the user based on location automatically.
Image & Video Optimization | | Moojin
e.g., connect to www.google.com from Korea, google automatically redirected to www.google.co.kr
However, for sometimes I noticed that if I connect to www.google.com, it doesn't redirect to local google anymore. I tested by using VPN, and seems like Google no longer do location redirection. Does anyone have any idea about this?0 -
My wistia videos are not being index by Google. Does anyone know what can be happening?
I have the wistia site map on my robots.txt file and I also manually submit the site map to google. It shows that my videos were submitted successfully but they are not being indexed. Thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | bedbugsupply0 -
How can I get around creating multiple Gmail accounts with the same phone number?
You know how, when you setup a Gmail account, Google asks you for a phone number to verify the account? I've run into a problem where Google is not letting me create anymore accounts with the same phone number. I set up an account for every new client we take on so that we have complete control of the inbox for verification purposes. Is there a way to get around this verification issue? We tried an app called Burner Phone but found out Google won't call the number because it's not supported by any major providers (e.g. Verizon, AT&T, etc.). Any suggestions? Thanks for your help!
Image & Video Optimization | | copyjack0 -
Best Tool For Local Rank Tracking
Hello Everyone, I have taken a few clients recently that i'm doing local SEO for; I'm curious of what the best tool is for keyword tracking with local intent? I have heard things about WhiteSpark and MicrositeMasters, but I have no idea what is the best, is SEOmoz's tracking good for local? Thanks Zach
Image & Video Optimization | | Zachary_Russell0 -
Google Places Listing
Hi, I have the following issue. I'm doing marketing for a restaurant. There used to be 2 restaurants under the same owner, but they ended up splitting. Now these two locations are completely different owners. The issue is that the google places listing is currently pointing to the same website. How can I change the website address of this listing without having access to the email that was used to create it? Thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | vlad_mezoz0 -
Google Places Multiple Locations Strategy
Hi, I have client who is a psychology college that has multiple locations across the United States. We currently have a Google places setup for their main location which is in Chicago. They also have multiple locations in California and Washington d.c. My question is what is the best strategy for setting up Google places for each one of their locations? can it all be done from the Chicago Google places account or do I have to build out individual Google places accounts for each location. Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | MasonInteractive0 -
Google Local Result - wrong decription
A client's description in their Google Places result is incorrect. It looks as though it may have been cached several months ago with incorrect data. Note: By description I am referring to the text that appears directly under the URL and directly above the "places page" link on a results page, not the local listing "description". Any suggestions as to how this can be fixed? All the information on their local page is correct. The website's meta-description is correct. The organic results listing has the correct description. Any tips would be awesome. Thanks,
Image & Video Optimization | | OptioPublishing
Jason0 -
Can different phone numbers affect your google places listing?
If you use a non-landline number e.g 0330 or 0845 etc does this affect your position within google places? Is it better to use a local number e.g 0208 (uk) And if you use a local number for your google places account but have a different number on your website will this have a negative effect?
Image & Video Optimization | | challen0