Local Business Registered at not a real Address
-
Hi,
I am working on local SEO for a client of mine and was interested to hear what will be recommended in this case:
My client registered his business in a NYC address, for his own business needs. Can I use this address as a second location for the business? There is a secretary taking care of ALL the businesses listed there, but is not a location that services customers. We don't service customers on site at any location because it's a pickup business to begin with, but we do have a fully functional office in NJ
Please don't dismiss this right away, it was registered in NYC and not in NJ and all our information on the web cites this address over our NJ one (obviously i'm working on promoting our NJ one, but that's nowhere to be found on the web).
-
Hi Miriam,
Thanks for all your help! You gave awesome and clear advice.
Good luck to you,
Rachel
-
Hi Rachel,
When a business is a service area business (like a plumber, locksmith, electrician, housekeeping service, etc.) it's totally fine to build content on the website about the cities they serve, even if they aren't physically located there. It's a best practice for these types of business models to have a page on their site for each major service city. Requirements are that each page be totally unique and of high quality. The thing you want to research here is landing page content. Here's an article of mine from 2014 on this. Some of the terms are outdated due to Google changes, but the basic ideas are the same:
https://www.google.com/search?q=moz+local+landing+pages+guide&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
This is a start, but it would be a great idea to research this topic further for other ideas about the types of content you might create. However, unless the business has postal queries, including the mailing addresses on the pages will not help and might just be confusing. Hope this helps!
-
Hi Miriam,
Thanks so much for your detailed advice!
What about the website itself, should I not be mentioning the NYC location at all? For example, right now it's on the contact page with a large Google map.
Thanks,
Rachel
-
Hi Rachel,
Yes, that's pretty much what I was concerned about. Unless that's an office that's staffed during normal business hours, then having a GMB page for it would be a violation of Google's guidelines. It would be important to show those guidelines to the client and explain to them that Google not only has the ability to read signs on the fronts of buildings, but will likely remove the listing should they realize its just a postal address. Not only this, but the takedown of the NY listing could also negatively impact the NJ listing.
So, the very best thing you can do for this client is likely to be totally honest with him, show him the guidelines and explain that he is risking the good name of his company (in Google's eyes) by attempting to appear to be physically located in a place that he isn't. Most business owners care way too much about the future of their companies to do something like this, once they have the proper education. That's where we come in, to help clients make sound decisions based on our own education.
There are appropriate ways to market a business in locations where you don't have a physical office - ways that have no risk attached to them and that have been endorsed by Google - but having a GMB page for a mailing address isn't one them. Hope this helps and good luck to you in helping get your client a better, safer path!
-
Hi Miriam,
I'm not even sure myself, but when I search for that address, it shows a UPS store and a few other businesses registered on that address (different room numbers). I'm assuming its a mail location. My client did mention to me some sort of secretarial services, but I would have to clarify how in depth those services really are.
Thanks!
-
Hi Rachel,
Thank you so much for sharing more details about this. So, if there is no one at the NYC office, what is there at that address? Anything?
-
Hi Miriam,
Thanks so much for your comprehensive response. The NYC location is the one that my client describes as his headquarters, but in reality there is no one there to service his customers. Even though he has a physical location in NJ there are no customers that ever come down to that fully staffed NJ office. All customers are serviced by phone and because it's a pick up service - their location anyhow, so it's definitely not misleading customers.
That being said, it sounds like I've got the answer. But really my question is more that his business has already been registered and promoted as a NYC location. I think my client feels it sounds more prominent and official to have a business office in Manhattan (pretty understandable). So far, Google has been acknowledging that location too. I only signed up on Moz Local for one location but would expand it to this NYC office if you feel it would be best.
To summarize my question:
Do you feel it is important to remove this location from our website and Google My Business and all web documentation and replace with just our physical NJ address? Or should we just keep it as two locations because so much is set up for this NYC location and build more citations for it?
Thanks for your help,
Rachel
-
Hi Rachel,
The best authority on confusing situations like this is always Google's own guidelines (https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en) and then the business owner's best judgment as to where his/her business falls within the guidelines. It sounds to me like you are describing either a real office in NYC, or may possibly be describing something like a Regus office or some sort of shared phone answering service (in which an operator is answering calls for various businesses). I'm not 100% clear on which of these things describes the NYC location. Google doesn't care if a business doesn't see customers at an office (think of plumbers, electricians, etc.) but they do care if a business misrepresents a location as being dedicated to a business when, in fact, it's something like a shared/virtual space not actually dedicated to the business.
Would you be able to provide more detail on this, or do the guidelines answer your question as-is? I'm glad you've started this thread. It's an important topic.
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
-
Best address to use on Google business listing for youth sports program
Hello, Moz Community! I'm helping a friend with some local marketing for his youth sports program. He trains his kids at a community center and a public park where court times are managed by the city. His address in his Google business listing is currently the community center, but that is shared with multiple businesses including the community center itself. I know he needs an address that is unique to his business, but he lives outside of the city in which his program is located. Our goal is to boost exposure in the city in which his program is located. Since 1) his business address is located outside of the city in which he conducts business and 2) the addresses at which he conducts his business is utilized by multiple businesses including the actual property owner, what options do I we have for an address that Google will recognize as valid and won't cause ranking issues? If there is nothing we can do in the current situation, what are steps we can take to address this issue for his business? Thanks a lot!
Local Listings | | Tony_GP0 -
[Local Search] Do you get penalized by using a Google Voice number for each seperate business location?
My client is expanding and opening up separate locations and I will be getting all their online business listings up and running. The client wants to use a single 1-888 number for all locations, however, it was my assumption that they would need a local number for each location to improve their ranking. Could I suggest using free Google voice numbers that get forwarded to their 1-888 number or will Google discredit us for this?
Local Listings | | aedesignco0 -
Disadvantages to Hiding Business Address on Google Places?
From a Local SEO standpoint, wouldn't hiding a business address on Google Places for Business create an SEO disadvantage in that I would expect in the local portion of the search results, there would be a bias to showing businesses that have not hidden their address as then you can place a pin on the map at the location? Or from a Local SEO standpoint does it not matter if you hide your address or not?
Local Listings | | Jazee1 -
Local Seo Service Url Best practices.
Hey Guys and Gals, What's the best format for service urls for local seo? http://www.example.com/basement-remodeling or http://www.example.com/basement-remodeling-ashburn-leesburg-sterling-va/
Local Listings | | hde0 -
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 -
Different phone numbers in local listings
We are setting up Google My Business for a client who has multiple locations around the country. They use different phone numbers to track enquiries from different sources - Yell, Google+, Direct Web Traffic, PPC etc. Therefore the phone numbers can be different between Google My Business and local listings. How much does/would this affect the Local listing? It may appear that Google is penalising for businesses try to understand their customers and where they come from!
Local Listings | | Astute-Media0 -
Unable to verify my google local listing page by phone verification.
Hi, I have created the Google local listing page for my business site. I want to verify it using the phone verification but there is only a option - "verify by postcard". Is there no option to verify it using a phone number? Help needed.
Local Listings | | SangeetaC0 -
How can I manually build local citations for a client?
Note: I am not interested in paying for services to build citations for me. I am managing building a client's citations. On many sites I am asked to create an account and verify my information. I have tried to create accounts using my client's email address and specified password so that they can manage their citations down the road should their NAP change. However, many sites require further verification such as security questions or a phone code. It isn't practical or effective to ask a client to confirm and verify all of these accounts. What is the most effective way to manually build local citations for a client? How can I get around the issue of email and phone verification?
Local Listings | | BlairKuhnen0