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 Question
I work for a large organization with a number of locations. There is a Google My Business listing for us, under our umbrella name, that lists an old address (building we no longer occupy) and says that we are "permanently closed". I believe this is an unverified listing because there is an "own this listing?" link in it. In order to take control of the listing, Google gives us three options: call, text or snail mail. The number is an automated line so calling and texting aren't going to work and snail mail wouldn't work b/c we're no longer in the building. Anyone know how we can take control of this listing so that it doesn't look like we're "permanently closed?"
Local Listings | | yaelslater0 -
What is the detail process of google listing?
Could anybody share how google listing will be ? the step by step process for Google business listing
Local Listings | | Tabassum0 -
Executive Office
Hello, I've been reading about all the chatter about how using a virtual office or even an executive office would hurt local search because it is a shared address. I just want to make sure that virtual office or executive offices are not allowed by google. The guidelines do not mention virtual or executive offices as being prohibited. They say don't use a location where you don't meet clients. There are different grades or ways of using virtual offices. 1. List a bunch of virtual office even though you can't man those many offices. You are a one man shop but have 20 listings. Obviously, you don't have a physical location at each of the 20 offices. This is a clear violation. 2. Mailbox rentals such as at a UPS store. This is a clear violation. 3. PO Boxes. This is a clear violation. 4. You have an executive office or a virtual office. You see customers there. The virtual office has a receptionist receive clients and take calls. Every SEO says that this is a violation and an instance waiting for a penalty. Does anyone have an example of example number 4 being penalized? Or, is everyone just rehashing what someone else has said. Examples of penalties would be great so that we can see what does and doesn't work. I've seen examples online for situations 1-3 but not 4.
Local Listings | | jamesjd80 -
Not all business locations showing for a brand search
I've got a client with multiple business locations however when I type the company name into Google it's only displaying 2/3 of the branches in the local pack for that SERP. The client's picked up on this and would like the third location to appear in the local pack when people search for their company name. I have a suspicion that it's because the third location (the one that isn't displaying) has an address that's exactly the same as several other businesses that are located in offices directly above or to the side of them. My (very flakey) theory is that Google is perhaps uncertain about the exact location of this business given that there are several others with the same address but different business names, so the NAP consistency is being diluted and Google is simply leaving them out of the local pack due to the uncertainty over which business is in fact located at 2 West Street. So my question is, has anyone else had any issues of not all business locations showing in the local pack for a brand name query and if so how did you solve it?
Local Listings | | PeteW0 -
How do you go about updating / correcting bad business listings when you cannot contact the website directly?
There is a business listing I wish to correct / update on 411dir.biz There is no way to contact the website online, and in cases like this, I try to do a whois lookup, and reach out via the email / phone number there. This site seems impossible to connect with, has anybody else come up against situations like this in the past, if so what do you tell your client / what other approaches do people have? Thanks!
Local Listings | | ParadigmPCB0 -
How valuable are citaitons/consistency (Moz Local) for a NON-local business?
Hi All! I'm doing some research for non-local SEO clients and finding that many of them have messy and extremely inconsistent listing profiles (via Moz Local checker). It seems to me that this would be a good thing to take care of, even for a non local site. Anyone have insights on whether or not this is something we should take care of? If so, any details on how or why it would or would not be a good idea? Thanks! Ricky
Local Listings | | SUCCESSagency0 -
How to submit a new business in Factual
I am trying to create citation for my client sites in Factual.com. As, I am not a hardcore developer, I wont be able to use the API as mentioned in the Factual website. It also provides a lit of Trusted Data Contributors, which are paid third party service providers. I would like to know, whether it is possible to create a business listing in Factual, by using any other means than these two options.
Local Listings | | ArthurRadtke1 -
Help with Google Places, local listings & Google+ please!
Hi all, I work for enterprise app development & mobile consultancy, Mubaloo. I recently asked a question around getting better rankings for London-based search results. One answer was to set up a local listing for Mubaloo's London office. I thought I had done by setting up our London office up on Places for Business - is this the same as a local listing? In addition to this, I can't connect our existing Google+ page to our local Mubaloo Bristol & London listings as Google has created separate pages for each! Is anyone else having this issue? Can it be resolved?
Local Listings | | donaldsze0