SEO best practices for store locator and local pages - 301 or not?
-
I have been struggling to answer this on my own and now throwing up for the Moz community for a life line.
Our company has several location across 6 states. We have local pages that we are working to improve with better content. We also have a store locator that will list the stores but the pages are not the same. See below example. I can't help but feel like I am splitting juice and traffic that should be combined to one page for each location.
Any ideas or advice on how we can best combine/funnel the traffic to one optimized page?
Here is an example:
State local page - http://www.jakesfireworks.com/michigan/
Locator page for state - http://www.jakesfireworks.com/locator/?state=MI
City local page - http://www.jakesfireworks.com/michigan/grand_rapids
City Locator page - http://www.jakesfireworks.com/locator/?id=183&state=MI
-
Redirecting via a 301 is always the preferred method of pointing one page to another Devon. Just from what I have seen, I can't see a reason why this should cause you any issue. Just have the location pages follow a preferred route and stick with that. Take all of the non-preferred pages and 301 these to the ones you wish to use.
You should be fine and avoid any issue of duplication.
-Andy
-
Andy- you are correct. They question is how to best merge these 2 pages. I am not sure if the store locator will allow a custom link to the state or store pages. I would like the traffic to go through the pages like /michigan and /michigan/grand-rapids versus the longer locator url. I was thinking of using 301 re-direct but unsure if that is the best method?
Our local search rankings are good now but have room to improve. We did have Google Local pages for each but they have been suspended by Google. They will not say exactly why but all the evidence suggests that it is due to our category of fireworks and Google's policy where fireworks are categorized with weapons and explosives.
This was frustrating since we spent 2 weeks back and forth with the Google Local team getting these locations set up and verified only to have them overruled a couple weeks later and the accounts suspended.
-
Hi Devon,
Looking at your site, this is what I see...
When you click on the store locator in the menu, you are taken here http://www.jakesfireworks.com/locator/
From there, you can click on one of the state links or search. If you click on a link, you are taken here, for example:
http://www.jakesfireworks.com/locator/?state=AR
But, if you choose the state from the drop down, you are are taken here http://www.jakesfireworks.com/arkansas/ Am I right in thinking that the pages like this are being done just for SEO purposes? You also seem to have different location landing pages, depending on the route you take. Is this what you want to combine?
How do you rank for local results right now? Does each location have its own Goole Local page?
I would be very tempted to 301 one page to another or at least set a canonical tag pointing to your preferred page, but I certainly wouldn't leave it in its current state.
-Andy
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 Listing Conundrum
Hello Mozzers, I have a client with a unique situation that I am hoping I can get some feedback on. One of our service industry clients has a location that is claimed on all major sites (Google, Bing, etc., etc.) - so all is good there. They are experiencing an issue, however, because their check-in building is actually located at their conference center across the street, which has a different address. The issue is mainly that it is confusing and a pain point for customers as they get to the destination without realizing they need to actually be at the building across the street first for check-in. The client is considering changing their primary address to the conference center address across the street, which was previously not a separate / claimed entity. They would still maintain the main business listing and just adjust the name. Their thought process is that Google would bring people to the conference center / check-in building first rather than to the main business building. I personally have major concerns about making the switch. I feel like this would be potentially confusing to both users and search engines. And, the main business listing has already acquired a ton of reviews that we would be starting from scratch with. My immediate recommendation would be to better communicate the check-in process to guests and not go through the change of address process, but I figured I would throw it out to the community for feedback. Thoughts?
Local Listings | | mbochic0 -
What is the best SEO practice for listing multiple locations from the same business online?
Hello! The church I work for is launching its third location and we are needing to figure out what the best SEO practice would be when it comes to to listing all three of our locations online. Currently, we are listing the two locations we have as "Church Name - South Campus" and "Church Name - West Campus." Going forward, would it be better to list our 3 location names as: James River Church - South Campus, James River Church - West Campus, James River Church - North Campus or James River Church South Campus, James River Church West Campus, James River Church North Campus or list all three locations as "James River Church" Thank you for any advice you can give me!
Local Listings | | chris.oursbourn0 -
My country is wrong in the Moz tool: Shows Canada, when the store is in Georgia (US)
I am working with a client who has stores in Missouri and Georgia (US). When I was looking at the site using the Moz tool, it shows that the site is in Canada! The site is hosted by HubSpot Questions: Should I be worried (I suspect yes, that's why I'm posting this) How do I fix? JaOHZkX
Local Listings | | aj6130 -
Moz Local is saying a 800 is not okay...does it really negatively impact citations/rankings?
So I was considering using Moz Local to help improve the visibility of one of my clients who is trying to improve their local SEO (they only have one business location). When I submitted my existing client's listing there was an automated popup that read: Sorry, we're unable to update this listing right now Toll-free number detected Many of the partners to which Moz Local submits your data do not accept toll-free lines as primary phone numbers. Choosing a local phone number may also be better for rankings and increase the number of calls you get from local search customers. Is is true that having a "local phone number" can result in better rankings? Is there any articles/studies/evidence to support this? Also are there any discounts out there for first time Moz Local users?
Local Listings | | RosemaryB0 -
Why does Google only display a 3 pack of local business results for some terms?
We have seen a pattern in the Google UK SERPS where only three local listings are triggered for a query although they have a more local results to show but chose to only show three: Anyone else seen this? Anyone know why? Is there a magic number for them to trigger a six pack, does the data set they pull from need to be larger for them to trigger more local listings. "Solicitors Cambridge" = 3 listings https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=solicitors+cambridge&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=_vCwVc2mHMiAUZ-luZAE "solicitors kent" = 3 listings https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=solicitors+cambridge&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=_vCwVc2mHMiAUZ-luZAE#q=solicitors+kent "Solicitors Oxford" = 6 listings https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=solicitors+cambridge&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=_vCwVc2mHMiAUZ-luZAE Any thoughts?
Local Listings | | highwayfive1 -
Will changing my business location affect my ranking for localised searches in my original area?
I run a mobile outdoor personal training service in London, UK (i.e. no bricks and mortar gym). Or, rather, my business is in London (all my clients and the freelance trainers that work for me) but I'm personally due to move out to the county of Suffolk. As I work from a home office and my company's registered address is my home, that means I have to inform Companies House and various government agencies that the company has moved. Does this mean: a) I also must tell Google the company has moved, and; b) if I do will Google start to see my website as being for a Suffolk-based company? I really don't want this to happen: my clientele are mostly in London., I still want to market to Londoners. And if I want to expand the areas covered by my company, Suffolk is not high on my list. You'll excuse me if this is a simple question! Thanks for any help you could give
Local Listings | | fionadoggett0 -
Ethics questions / discussion on SEO
Please forgive me if I'm asking too many questions. I'm new to MOZ and have a little bit of experience with SEO, but not that much at all. The question of the day pertains to using keywords that refer to another brand in order to bring search traffic to your site as well as compete on searches against your competitor. I'm certain this is not a unique case, however; it's early in the morning and my brain isn't working well enough to come up with a comparable example, so I will use my own situation. "Pop Warner" is a youth football brand. It's been around since 1929 and it's synonymous with youth football now. If someone is looking for a place to enroll their children, they will typically search for "%Town_Name%" + "Pop Warner" Pop Warner however; is not the only national governing body for youth football. The association (company) that I'm doing work for is an American Youth Football Program. Now, is it considered bad form, evil or whatever to optimize using a term such as "Pop Warner" on my site if I'm NOT affiliated with pop warner whatsoever? If the answer is yes, can you provide me with direction as to how this should be handled? If no...than I know how to handle it.
Local Listings | | UpperCapeSpartans0 -
What are your experiences using the new Google Local Descriptor feature?
I'm looking for any insight from those who have used the Descriptor feature on your Places listings. Has it helped in any way? Caused issues? My issues with this feature are described in this question I posted the other day. But I haven't tried using the feature yet, and I'm hoping to learn from some of you who have.
Local Listings | | irapasternack0