Phone Numbers in Local Campaigns
-
Hi Mozzers,
I have a both an 800 number and a local number for a local business client, with both featured on the site. Which number should I feature on the Google places, Google+ and local citations — the local number, the 800 number, or both?
Any help appreciated.
-
Hi Wayne,
Your local area code phone number is the 'P' in your core business NAP (name, address, phone). Listing it consistently as your primary phone number is crucial to you sending a clear signal. Glad you asked, as this is very important!
-
I always list the local area code number for my clients in all their directory listings. An 800 number sounds too fishy for the local listings, but would be "ok" on the website.
With long distance being so cheap - virtually free - these days, I'm finding fewer and fewer positives to using a 1-800 number - except for my national clients. But even then, it's amazing how many people prefer to call the local number.
Good question.
-
Definitely use the local number on your main number in Google+ Local/ Places - Google guidelines. You should also use this in your NAP schema on your page. You can list the 800 as the alternative number if you choose, but not sure it adds value to local searchers especially in the maps.
-
Using a local number on the places profile will help improve its local rankings.
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
-
Local SEO, hard time ranking a keyword
Hello. Im working with beauty salon client, i do rank them for top services, but there a term that i can't rank for, my page it optimized for this keywords (url,h1,h2) i have this keyword in Google places, as a category, and in description. i have build many citations with this term, BUT still cant rank it. If anyone can help me on that, ill be really appreciated, as i'm still learning this. Thanks You!
Image & Video Optimization | | Davidmez0 -
Local SEO company
How important it is to choose a local SEO company based on their location? How can you check their reliability?
Image & Video Optimization | | echo10 -
Local Targeting without the city’s name
Here’s an interesting one for you guys: We show up on page 1 for “Edmonton web design,” (our website is http:web3.ca), however when you search for just “web design” in our city, we don’t seem to show up at all. I know Google is now placing a higher percentage or local companies in a search. So my question is: how can we show up better for a local search that is just “web design”? Does this just come down to domain authority & content or are there other key local factors at play?
Image & Video Optimization | | Web3Marketing870 -
Google Local pulling incorrect business name
A client mistakenly put her business name in one of the directories with "In" after the name for" incorporated". She wants to remove the "In" because it just looks weird, but we cannot figure out how, its showing up in google local too now. She did update her infousa listing but that didn't help.
Image & Video Optimization | | handsun0 -
Yahoo! local UK
Apologies if this is a dumb question, i'm struggling to find an answer. I was wondering how to list a business on Yahoo! local UK? Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance.
Image & Video Optimization | | CWseo0 -
Local listing | Virtual office
Hi Miriam (and all Local SEO mozers), I read a couple of your answers where you advice people in different situations not to consider a virtual office when creating their Google Places listing and I would like to know if you would apply the same advice in my case. This is the scenario: I have a client who's in the limousine service in Orlando, he just bought the URL and registered the business with the City using a "virtual office" in Orlando. This virtual office provides him a physical address, local area phone number, 411 listing, a listing for the businesses in that building and an office to have his meetings. This is the part where it gets confusing when I read your answers and I will give you an example. You said here:
Image & Video Optimization | | echo1
_The requirements in order to qualify for a Google Place Page are that you have: __1. A legal business name__2. A local area code phone number__3. A physical street address (not a P.O. box or virtual office) to which customers either come to do business with you or from which your employees depart in order to serve customers at their locations (think chimney sweep, landscaper, etc.)_Number 3 says "A physical street address (not a P.O. box or virtual office) to which customers either come to do business with you".
My client is going to rent one of those virtual offices, which does have a physical address, on as-needed basis. This office actually does exist. Why would Google have anything against it?
One of the reasons why he chose that location is because he is running the business from home and he does not want the clients to see it.
Another reason is the image he wants to create for his company by having a different address where he can hold meetings and such. The phone number will be either a local land-line or a local cell phone number, in any case, it will be a _local area code phone number. _
So this is where we stand: he dispatches the cars from home (he does not have a garage, the cars stay with the drivers 24 hours) but he meets his clients and business partners at the other address. There is nothing fake about it, he does have a legal business name, a local area code number and a real place where customers come to do business with. Which address should I use for his Google Places listing?0 -
Targeting Local Search Terms
I normally advise clients never to optimise around keywords with very low or even zero recorded Google search volumes. However, if the core keyword has decent volumes but the organisation is serviing specific towns/cities/locations would you consider it valid to optimise for : core keyword + focused location (even if this has zero search volumes). The Google Places results are obviously highly relevant but depending on the core keyword you sometimes get the 3-box places at the top but sometimes in the middle of the natural results.
Image & Video Optimization | | bjalc20110 -
Do search enginges prefer pages with mobile websites on the mobile phone?
Let me explain what I want to know: Somebody searches e.g. for a hotel on his mobile phone. Do the search engines rank websites with special mobile pages better than others? I am not considering the local factor here (let's say there are hotels nearby with or without mobile websites). If not, is there a trend for that? Does anyone have some datas / examples / experience about that?
Image & Video Optimization | | petrakraft1