Local SEO Plus Performance Based Pay Per Call Multiple Phone Numbers
-
In my learning about Local SEO recently, I keep reading the importance of NAP (name, address, phone number).
But what if you are only using different phone numbers because you are tracking pay per call.
How would set up my Local SEO strategy?
The newest phone numbers are NOT going to match all the websites, social media and previous listing in directories, etc.
Is this a bad move?
Should I suggest that we do one or the other going forward with other clients but not both?
Thanks a lot...
-
Hi GreenHornet,
Yes, the use of call tracking numbers in Local has long been a problem, because it can ruin the clarity of your all important NAP (name, address, phone number) signals. Here is one of David Mihm's early posts on this topic, from 2009:
http://searchengineland.com/be-wary-of-call-tracking-numbers-in-local-search-26895
A couple of years later, and also on Search Engine Land, Chris Silver Smith wrote this post regarding call tracking 'solutions' that could be categorized as cloaking:
http://searchengineland.com/for-local-seo-lack-of-call-tracking-solution-spawns-cloaking-70198
I'll excerpt from Chris' post here, regarding options:
" Avoid call tracking numbers for your website and for any online directories or online yellow pages which are being actively indexed by Google and other local search engines. Using them in banner ads, in PPC ads, and on landing pages which are set up to not be indexed is fine, so they can be used for paid search advertising with zero local SEO impact.
If you have used call tracking numbers in the past or are using them now, discontinue it. You’ll need to periodically audit local information sites to see if your listing info with the tracking number continues to appear on websites online, and carefully update/remove the tracking numbers from them.
If you think you’ve been penalized for using call tracking numbers from a provider who added cloaking software to your site, remove the offending code and submit a reinclusion request to Google explaining what happened.
As part of your standard phone script at your business, consider asking callers directly where they found your listing. Have employees who answer the phone write down responses for you to see later. This remains an excellent and free way of polling to see how effective different channels are performing.
If you are in some sort of unavoidable situation where you must get some phone tracking information, implement the tracking numbers for a brief period of time without using any sort of cloaking code. I would suggest only using tracking numbers for two or three months, maximum, and that should be sufficient to get a rough idea of how effective a particular channel is performing — then, return to using your regular phone number and audit to fix any places where the tracking number continues to appear."
Also in 2011, Greg Sterling covered Telmetrics' introduction of a call tracking solution that doesn't use call tracking numbers, but to be honest, I never saw this idea covered by anyone else and can't say how heavily it was adopted or how well it works:
http://searchengineland.com/telmetrics-introduces-call-tracking-without-tracking-numbers-93450
In 2012, the only thing I've really come across is part of an interview at SEOBook of Jake Puhl and Adam Zilko:
http://www.seobook.com/interview-local-marketing-experts-jake-puhl-adam-zilko
Here's the relevant text:
"Call Tracking Recommendations (Or Not?)
Back to Topics
Eric: Yeah, we do see that a lot, especially with people who are trying to do campaigns with different phone number tracking, where they put different phone numbers in yellow and all these different places. Do you have anything? Do you use a specific type of call tracking application?
Adam: No, we completely recommend against it, absolutely 100% against it. Any time you have any variations with your map, your name, your phone number, like Jake said, you're going to weigh down your citations, weigh down your listing, weigh down your trust with Google and that's been a big thing. We've seen, even without any other sort of off page efforts, just by cleaning up your citations across the web, we've seen a significant increase in rankings, many, many times because of that.
Every now and again, you come across, say, a seven pack with dentists, you see one that maybe doesn't have a website, in a very competitive market. Typically, it's because his citations are so dialed in, he's been in one place for 30 years and the only data out there is exactly the same, so there's a lot of trust with the map. The same kind of rules apply. We completely recommend that you never use a tracking number, and if you have to use one on your site, you put it in the form of an image file, and we'll even go as far as to make the all tag on it their actual phone number. There's just no room for any confusion at all."
I've not seen this discussed any more recently than this, and the consensus of opinion pretty much remains the same as it has for the past 3 years since this subject was first spotlighted. To wit: Call tracking numbers are bad for local campaigns, and if you absolutely have to use them, you need to make an effort to hide them, as discussed in some of the above articles.
I suggest that you read through everything I've linked to above so that you can make an informed decision about this. Hope these resources help!
-
I don't fully understand your situation, but I would ensure your main number is on your site, and use your main number anytime you are trying to build citations (local directories, yellow pages, business listings, etc.) You can use your tracking number in PPC ads, emails, banner ads, etc, as they won't function as citations anyway.
-
Thanks for your answer Adam.
Well we will have the main number but then we are also running a performance based model with a new number.
Which number should I promote?
-
If you think about it, a lot of yellow pages essentially get the data from same sources, some even scraping other yellow-pages as well as licensing data scenarios. It's okay to use your paypercall kind of tracking on your websites, PPC campaigns, radio ads etc. It's not going to affect your local search rank-ability.
I hope this helps.
-
Oftentimes with call tracking you place your real phone number on your site, then use a JavaScript to dynamically display the tracking number.
You should probably be using your real phone number on all your offsite listings.
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
-
Job Board SEO
Hello community, Should I be using canonical tags on every job posted on my job board and also every job category page? I currently use no canonicals on my job board but I still rank well organically.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | SO_UK1 -
Pagination & SEO
Hi In one of my other Q&A's someone mentioned I may need to look at pagination. For instance, are these pages counted as 'new' pages in Google's eyes when clicking on pagination? http://www.key.co.uk/en/key/plastic-storage-boxes http://www.key.co.uk/en/key/plastic-storage-boxes#productBeginIndex:30&orderBy:5&pageView:list& Does anyone have any advice on what I could do? It's not something I have had much experience with. Thank you Becky
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BeckyKey0 -
SEO question
Hi there! I'm the SEO manager for 5 Star Loans. I have 2 city pages running. We are running our business in 2 locations: Berkeley, CA & San Jose, CA. For those offices we've created 2 google listings with separate gmail accounts. Berkeley (http://5starloans.com/berkeley/) ranks well in Berkeley in Gmaps and it shows on first page in organic results. However the second city page San Jose (http://5starloans.com/san-jose/) doesn't show in the Gmaps local pack results and also doesn't rank well in organic results. Both of them have authentic backlinks and reviews. It has been a year already and it's high time we knew the problem 🙂 any comment would be helpful. thanks a lot
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | moonalev0 -
Are these URL hashtags an SEO issue?
Hi guys - I'm looking at a website which uses hashtags to reveal the relevant content So there's page intro text which stays the same... then you can click a button and the text below that changes So this is www.blablabla.com/packages is the main page - and www.blablabla.com/packages#firstpackage reveals first package text on this page - www.blablabla.com/packages#secondpackage reveals second package text on this same page - and so on. What's the best way to deal with this? My understanding is the URLs after # will not be indexed very easily/atall by Google - what is best practice in this situation?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | McTaggart0 -
SEO Behind a paywall.
Good Morning! Does anybody have any experience with SEO behind a paywall. If we have a portion of a website that is going to be locked, will google still be able to access all of that regardless of paying? If not is there any way to circumvent that? Any thoughts are greatly appreciated! MOZel Tov!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | HashtagHustler0 -
Where Does Blogging Fit Into SEO
I read an article yesterday that said blogging comes under the heading of social media, which is at the top of the so called SEO pyramid. I have taken this to mean less time should be spent in social media compared to other areas of SEO. Yet content creation was at the bottom of the pyramid (more time allocation here). Isn't blogging part of content creation? I would have thought there is a limit to what can be done for service/product & landing pages. Whereas blogs are a great way to produce more unique content for a website. Any clarification would be appreciated. Thanks - Christina
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | ChristinaRadisic0 -
Retail Store Detail Page and Local SEO Best Practices
We are working with a large retailer that has specific pages for each store they run. We are interested in leveraging the best practices that are out their specifically for local search. Our current issue is around URL design for the stores pages themselves. Currently, we have store URL's such as: /store/12584 The number is a GUID like character that means nothing to search engines or, frankly, humans. Is there a better way we could model this URL for increased relevancy for local retail search? For example: adding store name:
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | mongillo
www.domain.com/store/1st-and-denny-new-york-city/23421
(example http://www.apple.com/retail/universityvillage/) fully explicit URI www.domain.com/store/us/new-york/new-york-city/10027/bronx/23421
(example http://www.patagonia.com/us/patagonia-san-diego-2185-san-elijo-avenue-cardiff-by-the-sea-california-92007?assetid=5172) the idea with this second version is that we'd make the URL structure more rich and detailed which might help for local search. Would there be a best practice or recommendation as to how we should model this URL? We are also working to create an on-page optimization but we're specifically interested in local seo strategy and URL design.0 -
SEO Reco?
We're looking for a recommendation for a very good SEO agency that has experience with link building (white hat only). Any suggestions?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BruceMillard0