Sponsored Listings Hurting Local SEO?
-
We use a service which sponsors listings on various popular directories. In turn, it changes our phone number so that I can qualify if the call is a lead or not and then charge us. Unfortunately, while this service helps exposure on those directories, the phone number as well as the website are different.
How much of a problem is this for our local SEO?
Other directories include Suerpages and Citysearch.
-Brant
-
No problem if the listing is free or paid but when it comes to local SEO your NAP (Name, Address and Phone Number) should be consistent across the website and if any service is changing the phone number that means you will face the issues with regards to local SEO.
My idea is to use the service that submit your business to these yellow pages and data aggregator website once, and then manually shift the listing to featured (I you like) usually not all local citation websites produce leads but websites like Yelp, YP.com, super pages are good names when it comes to conversions through citation websites.
Hope this helps!
-
Hi BCB1121,
Google probably doesn't care if a listing is sponsored or not (paid for or not) but the issue you have pointed out regarding call tracking numbers does matter very much. Unfortunately, what this service is doing is creating 'NAP inconsistency'. You want your business name, address and phone number to be identical across the web, and call tracking numbers are taboo because of the fact that they harm consistency.
I recommend that you read these articles to become fully acquainted with this longstanding issue, and to see what you should and should not do with call tracking:
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2013/05/14/a-guide-to-call-tracking-and-local/
After reading these, I believe you'll want to reconsider this area of marketing. Hope this helps!
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
-
How best to delete a duplicate Google My Business listing
Hi Mozzers, I am in need of help please. What is the best way to remove a duplicate GMB listing? Is best practice to a) Mark as permanently closed and wait for Google to update b) Call GMB in India and ask them to delete the redundant listing (do they even do this for you?) c) Delete the page from within my dashboard settings I am worried my NAP data is being diluted by inaccurate historical listings (most of which I have been able to claim ownership of) Any help appreciated. Ben
Local Listings | | Bendall0 -
Google map listing #2
My website ranks well locally and nationally, but shortly I will be adding a second site to my business. We will be ranking it for different key words but the same location. My question is, is it possible to verify another google + & google maps listing for this site? And, what does google think about having two sites for the same business? Huge thanks in advance for any answers 🙂
Local Listings | | MissThumann0 -
Google maps listings
Hi all, I just wondered what determines the company listings that are displayed in maps. From what I can see any businesses highlighted in these lists have optimised Google Places pages and it doesn't seem to be based on general ranking as these lists seem different to the general SERPS. Any thoughts at all appreciated. Pls see attached image. Also, is there anything other than optimise your Places listing that might help ensure you are seen in these results? IUK871m.jpg
Local Listings | | davidmaxwell0 -
Local Citation Building Services Similar to Yext
I have several clients looking for local submission services similar to Yext (since they are already subsribers). Can anyone suggest a service similar to Yext for an SBO. Likewise, do any of you know any local citation services that are similar to Yext, but specifically for the hotel/hospitality industry? I was considering localeze.com, but I'm skeptical because I believe the citations I will be getting there will be similar to the ones I'm getting on Yext. Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Local Listings | | maxcarnage1 -
Local search result not showing
Hi Mozzers, I'm not a huge expert on local SEO.. the thing is when searching for our brand + city. or brand name specific or anything we do not get the map on the right with our contact info and such.
Local Listings | | kayintveen_MD
To be sure this is what we've done. We have a google+ page + verified content (for more than 4 months now) We have images, opening times, email, url's and such filled in (for 4 months now) We are on several local sites with our address, and such We do have some old listings here and there where we have old addresses but its just a few and we are on it to update / deleting them We have Microdata on our site with our address, lat lang and such. All address data on social, and few other pages are super in sync with each other. We are located in the Netherlands so a lot of info on this site we cannot use, becuase they don't accept us for example. Very curious on some interesting info how to optimize and why we are not showing.0 -
Google Local Search
I have a customer who is frustrated that Google local search seems to favor businesses that are closer to the center of the city. He wants to be on the local results area on the SERP with his (keyword + city, state). His website is optimized, Google+ is using the keywords, more reviews than his competition and his MOZ local rating is 88.. It seems the only problem is his business is on the edge of town(same zip code). Google fills the local search area with businesses that are "downtown". Is there a way to overcome this?
Local Listings | | seomn0 -
Is a Competitor Claiming My Clients Yahoo Local Profiles?
I am working with an Insurance agent and he has Google Alerts setup on his company name. He has received two alerts where his name only appears in the URL. If you click the links they bring you to a competitor's Yahoo Local profile page with their name and info. If you look at the URL it has his company's name and city in the URL. Could a competitor be claiming his listings and then changing the business name, phone, address and URL to their own? Does the URL on Yahoo Local listings stay the same after a business changes their name? This has happened with two of his listings in two different cities, he has two offices in one state. But not with the same competitor, it has happened with two different companies. Any idea what could be happening? I would be happy to PM the URLS, I just don't want to post them publicly here. Thanks!
Local Listings | | MainelySEO0 -
Local Subdomain vs. Local Subfolder
I know this is an issue that's been discussed here ad nauseum but I have, possibly, an interesting case. A third party company created our local search pages, and they perform very highly in SERPs, but are subdomains (local.website.com). But my problem comes down to two things, one of which isn't necessarily a subdomain vs. subfolder issue. 1.a. With the subdomain local.website.com we rank much higher for local search than we do for regular search on our main domain and it's respective keywords, would changing these subdomains to subfolders keep the link juice that the subdomain currently possesses and actually help our website rankings? b. And what strikes me as the most puzzling is that on local.website.com ALL of the content is identical (I can thank Copyscape for that) to the other local search pages on our own site and various other sites in our industry. I know the duplicate content is hurting our domain, which makes it even more confusing that our subdomain is ranking so highly for things like "diamonds by the yard florida". 2. We're an online only company, and I feel as though gaming the local search function isn't exactly something we should be doing, both from an ethical and an SEO standpoint. Is there any evidence that abusing the local search functions can have a negative affect on a domain's rankings? Hopefully this makes sense, if anyone needs clarification please let me know and I'll endlessly clarify. Thanks,
Local Listings | | allurez0