Multi-Location Listing Best Practices for Home Office, In-the-Field Positions, and Business Centers
-
Hi fellow Mozzers! Our marketing agency (based near SF) has partnered with 3 individuals in NYC, LA, and Seattle. I would like reflect our expansion on our site and local listings, but want to make sure we're on the up and up, since it's not a traditional brick-and-mortar expansion. Many people have used similar tactics in a black-hat way, so just want to make sure we don't get grouped in there. Is pursuing local listings in advisable in this case?
In the Field/Home Offices - What is the best practice for listing a location in the field with home office - but no official B&M office?
Business Centers - How does Google treat business centers where we have a part-time presence? (We legitimately use, can receive mail/phone calls, have an office share allocation, and host meetings in their boardroom.)
Local Numbers and Addresses - Will a local phone number forwarding to our main HQ work? We'd prefer to filter all of our calls through our HQ since we have the infrastructure there.
Other Considerations - Other than setting up our address and phone numbers on our site and major listings, is there anything else that should be top priority or concern?
Thanks for your help here! Andrew
-
Hi Andrew -
Great follow up questions from you!
There is zero risk in creating local landing pages on your website for your new branches. It's a very good idea, but should be undertaken with the understanding that the end goal of this practice is organic rankings, not local pack rankings. Without a Google+ Local page for each location, you will not rank locally. But, you could potentially earn some organic visibility. You might like to check out: http://moz.com/blog/local-landing-pages-guide
End of the day - whether you also create Google+ Local pages is, as you say, up to your judgment, based on your take on how closely the new locations align with Google's guidelines.
Wishing you good luck!
-
Thanks, Mariam. It's a legitimate expansion of our business that I'd like to take advantage of with local search - especially since the purpose of our satellite offices is to expand our range and put boots on the ground. But it does make me nervous.
A lot of businesses game the system when they don't have a legitimate presence and I want to make sure that I don't end up getting blackballed for mistaken appearances. It sounds like a lot of grey area, as you said, and I may just have to use my best judgement.
Do you think it would be less risky to create local landing pages and relevant local site content, but not pursue a google listing? I'm wondering if that would be effective, or if the google listing is really necessary to make it work the way that I want it to.
Thanks for your thoughts. Andrew
-
Hi Andrew,
Smart questions! Honestly, there is some grey area here. This is what I know from years of following Google's guidelines (https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en
-
Google wants any location you list to be staffed during stated business hours. If it's meeting-only, it may not qualify for a listing.
-
Google wants the phone number to connect as directly as possible with the physical location. Google is not a fan of redirecting phone numbers.
-
Whether you are a B&M or an SAB, Google expects any local business to make in-person contact with its customers. Recently, Google welcomed design and marketing firms back into the local packs, after many years of excluding them. Google has not made an official statement about the nuance of whether the business serves customers face-to-face or not determining their eligibility for inclusion, but I'm assuming you would need to make this kind of contact in order to qualify for a listing. If your services are virtual, then I can say with 99% certainty that you do not qualify.
I recommend that you read the guidelines very closely to see if you 'feel' like you legitimately qualify, or if listing these businesses could put your brand at risk.
The other thing I want to take a moment to mention is that if you are using an office belonging to another business, there is a risk of 2 things:
-
Merging with the main business at that location.
-
Possibly harming the rankings of whatever business is at that location.
In the end, you'll have to go with what seems right to you, and follow best practices for organic optimization of these branches (see: http://moz.com/blog/local-landing-pages-guide). Hope these thoughts are helpful!
-
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 My Business answers not appearing
We've been trying to use the GMB Q&A feature as a lot of customers seem to be engaging with the listing/asking relevant questions. However, sometimes we answer a question directly from the business listing account but it does not appear (no error message is shown when posting either). When we go to re-post the answer, the text is sometimes still visible in the answer box field. Any ideas what might be causing the issue?
Local Listings | | Wagada1 -
Seasonal Setting Options for Google My Business
Hi there, Not sure if anyone will have any insight but I have a seasonal business that I am closed for from September to March. I don't want to mark my business as "permanently closed" through Google My Business as I don't want my customers to think I've gone out of business. I've seen a few times through forums that you can change your business to temporarily closed, but I can't find the specifics on how to do this. Any insight, suggestion or resources would be great! Thanks!
Local Listings | | MainstreamMktg1 -
Does business name capitalisation count when making sure you have the same NAP across all directories ?
We've got a UK company with a company name like the following "ABC cars" (3 letter capitalised name followed by a word). With the Thompson local directory (one of the top 10 uk directories for local NAPs (and listed as a direct partner in Moz Local)) they dont allow you to have multiple capitalised letters in a company name. As far as i can see there are a few options to get around this : A B C Cars Abc Cars abc Cars (or abc cars) But none of them are ideal, as they dont match the actual name as listed on all of sites 100% in terms capitalisation. Which one of the above (or other) would be the best solution ? Does capitalisation count when people say your NAP must match ?
Local Listings | | mike8780 -
SEO Google local listings
Hello We've recently started a campaign for a local business, and now the domain authority and the number of links to the site are equal if not more to all local major competitors (bar one) and organic rankings for relevant terms are increasing well... However we still do not appear in the google local listings, despite having a verified location business account - fully set up and active and linked to the website. Does anyone have any advice for increasing local rankings? Thanks in advance kind mozzers
Local Listings | | wearehappymedia0 -
I am looking for some Local authoritative websites and aggregators of local business data
Does anyone know where I can obtain a list of aggregators of local business data for the UK? I am also looking to understand the best way to find local authoritative websites that I could build backlinks with. Hope you can help. Many thanks Nick
Local Listings | | SEM_at_Lees0 -
How long until an address changes after verification on Google My Business?
Started working with a company recently that had a Google My Business with an old address. I went ahead and claimed it and verified it with the postcard, but it still shows the old address if search. How long will that be?
Local Listings | | EcommerceSite0 -
Citation building for multiple locations
Hey everyone, I think i've got a good handle on citations, but had a question regarding multiple locations. I'm going to be doing citation building for a local lawyer, and he's got 4 locations. I'd like to build citations for each of his locations, but I was wondering if the business name needs to change? Ie. If I am building citations for Town 2 and Town 3, should the business name be listed as "Company Name Town 1" for the first location, and "Company Name Town 2" for the second? Or is it fine to use the company name throughout all citations, and just change the location/phone number to the location based info? I'm just worried about Google seeing differing info, but the same company name, and possibly penalizing me for it. Thanks in advance!
Local Listings | | RCDesign740 -
2 listings on Google Local....Need Help!
Hi All, One of our client have 2 business listings on Google Local for same business (same NAP but different website). Actually, their first website was under Google Penalty. They tried to remove the penalty but could not get rid of it so they bought a new domain and started working on it and listed the same business with new website URL. Now, their business is having 2 listings but with different URLs. How can we merge these two? Please advice. Thanks in Advance.
Local Listings | | sachin-sv0