Question on following schema for local
-
Hello I built out a blog for a client and used Yoast Local SEO plugin for WordPress. Here is one of the pages generated for a physical location for the business. http://water-notes.generalplumbingsupply.com/?wpseo_locations=sonora-ca
My client who manages a website for the same business built out a locations page and insists that their pages rank better for local search. I think the pages are spammy.
Individual location page for the website managed by my client: http://www.generalplumbingsupply.com/American-Canyon-CA-v1.HTML
Multiple locations page: http://www.generalplumbingsupply.com/Locations.HTML
What page should we be using? Thank you for your help.
-
So glad it helped, Edward. Thanks for letting me know that!
-
Miriam,
Thank you for your response. Your no nonsense tone reflects how I feel. Thank you for the links to the Google article and moz blog post.
-
Thank you all for your great insight. I will look into everything you have mentioned and suggested. More than worth the price of admission.
-
The bottom block of text is definitely spammy and needs to be removed, but other than that I would say that http://www.generalplumbingsupply.com/American-Canyon-CA-v1.HTML is a better landing page for SEO and for user experience. It has a better layout and provides more information. The only real issue is that the content should be customized for each location instead of using the same text for all 5 locations with swapped out location names at the end. You'll want to schema the addresses, phone numbers and hours on that page was well.
I'm not sure how long that page has been up but it's not indexed at all as far as I can tell and the top page that is indexed: www.generalplumbingsupply.com/locations-sonora.html is a 404. Also there are even more duplicate content issues because this page is indexed: http://www.generalplumbingsupply.com/Kitchen-And-Bathroom-Products-In-American-Canyon-CA-v1.HTML and has exactly the same content as http://www.generalplumbingsupply.com/American-Canyon-CA-v1.HTML. It would make sure that all pages with the same content are using one url, instead of having multiple urls with the exact same content.
This is one of those times where it's frustrating to be a local SEO, because the site is actually ranking in the cities that they have fake location pages for.
Good Luck!
-
Hi Edward,
You are totally right to be concerned. This is spammy, extremely so:
http://www.generalplumbingsupply.com/American-Canyon-CA-v1.HTML
That enormous block of links to low quality pages for cities in which the business isn't physically located would almost certainly raise eyebrows with Google. The block of city names is a violation of Google's guidelines referenced on this page:
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66358?hl=en
And the duplicate content from page to page is a major taboo. The presence of this duplicate content is definitely downgrading the overall quality of the website and is likely to fall afoul of Google.
From my look at the site, it appears to me that this is a brick-and-mortar plumbing store with 5 physical locations. By no stretch of the imagination is it okay to be featuring text like this:
"Kitchen And Bathroom Products In Fairfax, CA" when there is no physical location in Fairfax.
I got to this page http://www.generalplumbingsupply.com/Kitchen-And-Bathroom-Products-In-Fairfax-CA-v1.HTML from the American Canyon page. Google Maps says American Canyon and Fairfax are about 35 miles apart, so stating that the store's products are 'in' Fairfax is simply untrue. The customer is not going to appreciate what could very well come off as an attempt to mislead him, right?
I think you are absolutely right to be concerned. In your shoes, I'd be flipping out at this extremely blatant, spammy approach. I'm not quite understanding what the relationship is between you, your client and the store, but if this business came to me asking for a consultation, I'd tell them to read their SEO the riot act. The business owner needs to understand that his rankings and reputation are being put at risk by this practice. I would get rid of all of those scores of pages ASAP and take the following approach:
-
A single, unique, high quality page for each store
-
Use the blog to write about legitimate connections with any city where the business isn't physically located. For example, if the American Canyon business owner travels to Fairfax to hold a seminar on green plumbing practices, go ahead and write it up. The operative word here is 'legit'.
I think this article will really help everyone involved in the project to correctly identify what this business model is and how to promote it in a user-friendly, safe manner:
http://moz.com/blog/local-landing-pages-guide
If there's some nuance I've overlooked in this situation, please don't hesitate to provide further details, and I sincerely hope my no-nonsense reply on this one may save the business owner from a massive headache!
-
-
Thank you for your hello I will watch the videos. My question is also what my client has done at the bottom of his page with all the links to different pages to towns around a store location. Is this spammy. They claim it works well for them. I'm curious.
I can add hours and additional information from the Yoast plugin. But you are also saying the Yoast page need more overall content like:
WWith friendly, knowledgeable product experts, and the latest selection of kitchen and bath products, General Plumbing Supply will help make your dream home a reality. All our store locations include kitchen and bath showrooms open to the public as well as complete contractor sales. Our Walnut Creek store also features a destination showroom. At General Plumbing Supply, you'll find a large selection of kitchen and bath products and one of the largest inventories in the SF Bay Area. Visit us today and let our dedicated professionals help guide you to products that fit the scope of your job and budget. When you are looking for quality kitchen & bath products and personal service, General Plumbing Supply is the place to shop in and around American Canyon, CA.
Thank you for your help
-
Well if I understand who did what in your example, your page is missing quite a bit of information that the other client did place on site. Yoast's local plugin is designed to fill in the schema gaps between what your client did and what you have started to do. I think that may be where the difference in opinion is coming in.
Here's some videos on the basics that should go on the location pages that you're trying to setup: http://moz.com/academy/local-content
I would also recommend that you visit Mike's blog: http://blumenthals.com/blog/
Essentially you need to apply schema to what your client set up there. Perhaps also a bit more original content on each page, but you get the idea. Don't forget to place hours of operation, address info, etc. on each location page. It might also be a good idea to put the location info in the footer with the proper schema markup in place. Yoasts plugin just helps you do this a little easier than with coding it yourself.
I would think working on the page that ranks currently would be better than starting over, but I suppose that all depends on budget, competition, etc.
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
-
Yahoo! Local
Is anyone else experiencing issues with Yahoo! Local listings when trying to make edits? It seems SUPER buggy right now. Just curious is anyone else is having the same setbacks. Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | AmberRobinson0 -
Local Listings
I use getlisted.org as my local listing guideline. For some of the local listings you can "upgrade" the listing for a price instead of doing just the basic free listing. I was wondering do people pay for the listing and is it worth it? Are some of them better than others to get an upgraded listing? Thanks for the help!
Image & Video Optimization | | ClickIt0 -
Proximity for local intent searches
Based in the UK, I can see clear differences in search results for terms that Google considers have local intent, based on location. I'm interested in the community's experience of how far in distance local intent reaches. Does it depend on the search?, e.g. If I search for restaurant will it have a different local intent radius to a coffee shop etc.
Image & Video Optimization | | bjalc20110 -
Multiple Store locations Google Local
Hey there, Is it best to create an individual page for each store location? Or is it best to create one page and plot different locations? Thanks, Dan
Image & Video Optimization | | Sparkstone0 -
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 -
Local SEO, identifying citations
Hello, How do I identify free local citations to target for bobweikel(dot)com I want to rank first for several local results such as nlp boise life coach boise personal coach boise and related terms. Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | BobGW0 -
Local seo, business in multiple cities?
Hello Everyone, What is the best strategy when it comes to optimizing a website that services more than one city. So, say I'm in computer fixing business and I have offices in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Miami & Dallas. (took me a while to come up with some US cities) - how should I structure my website so that I look relevant for every city? Is it possible to display specific information for users coming from specific cities, say someone browsing from San Francisco will see my main page optimized for San Francisco (containing a real address, phone number all the necessary stuff). I'd really appreciate your thoughts on this. Thank you in advance, Alex
Image & Video Optimization | | pwpaneuro0 -
Maximising Local Search
Hi, I work for a weather company. I have recently begun to define a keyword strategy to target specific keyphrase segments with the objective to maximise webpage visibility and increase CTR. One growing keyphrase segment is "location weather" based searches (e.g. "London Weather", "Manchester Weather"). I am keen to understand how I can maximise our presence for location weather searches within the SERPs. This seems to be a common trends seeing as Google announced that over 20% of all searches contain a relevance to locality. I have been trying to understand if there is a way to maximise our location based weather pages, perhaps using the Google Local search tactic and if there are any recommendations you could suggest? ISSUE: In order to maximise your presence through local search you need a fixed address, something our site does not offer, however it does offer bespoke landing pages for a specific weather forecast based on locality (city, town etc) Essentially, are there any recommendations you can provide a website that offers specific location based pages (without a fixed address) to maximise our location weather based search rankings within the SERPs? Many thanks Simon
Image & Video Optimization | | simonsw1