Business listing verification for multiple locations
-
Hi there
I have been asked to help with a business which has multiple locations (5 to be precise). I haven't really worked with a business on that scale before so I am a little bit out of my depth.
I had a look at their business listing in the moz local business listing checker and their profile seems very messy. I can see several of their branches listed, some verified, some not verified. When I look at the listing for each branch in detail they are all incomplete but at different levels (ranges from 17% to 46%). Some have a Facebook page and some haven't, same for google my business etc...
My understanding when it comes to multiple locations is that, in an ideal world, each branch should have its own google my business page, Facebook page, a Bing places for business page etc...
Can anyone confirm what the best approach is to deal with multilocations businesses and their business listing and/or point me to some online resource that could help me.
Would I also need to create multiple accounts for listing their business in directories such as Yelp, Yell etc...Thanks so much for all the help I can receive
-
Awesome
Thanks so much for your input miriam. Very useful
-
Hi Neil,
My pleasure! If you're a multi-location business, one solution to scaling would be to assign a social marketer at each location and give them access to that Facebook Place with a schedule you'd like them to follow for social sharing. How much time will need to be invested into this will be dictated by the competitiveness of your geo-industry.
If staff size limits this, I would suggest just getting basic details onto the Facebook Place listings, and then further researching Facebook's other types of pages (see:https://www.facebook.com/pages/create/) to determine whether you'd be able to also run a single company page for the whole business which you could focus your social efforts on. This, however, is outside of my area of knowledge, so it's something you'd want to research well.
-
Thanks Miriam, very useful as always. I thought multiple locations needed their own set of NAP but I wanted to know if there was a more efficient way of doing it. This triggers a new question around maintaining all the listings and the socializing for each account. How does a company manage this for each location unless they have an army of people?
-
Hi Jordan,
I totally get how confusing Facebook can be! So, Facebook has a product that is officially called a Facebook Place, and it is their version of a local business listing. This is different than their purely social options. A Facebook Place is Facebook's equivalent of a Google My Business listing, Bing Places listing or what have you. For each physical location a business operates, they should have a unique Facebook Place with complete NAP on it. They should categorize the FB Place as a Local Business and earn visits/checkins to it. They can/should socialize on these pages as well. As to whether the brand wants to have a purely social brand page as well, that would be a social decision rather than a local one.I have found Facebook's education and outreach about their product to be somewhat lacking, personally, but you can search for more info about this here: https://www.facebook.com/help
-
Miriam,
So ideally each location should have a unique Facebook account? Out of curiosity should each location have other separate social accounts or would that just pertain to Facebook?
-
Hi Neil!
Good questions! As Jordan has stated, yes, each physical location should have a unique citation set. So, that means a unique Google My Business Listing, Bing Listing, Yelp Listing, etc. *I respectfully disagree with Jordan's suggestion about Facebook. You should be creating a unique Facebook Place for each location.
Important: Be sure that none of the locations shares a phone number with any of the others, and that all are physical locations (not virtual offices) that are staffed during stated business hours.
Hope this helps!
-
Yes each location should have its on Google my business page, bing places for business etc. However I would probably just keep one Facebook page unless you have the time to manage multiple social media pages for each location. The addresses need to match up for each location as well. Moz's local search center has some good resources to help get you started.
Hope that helps some.
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
-
I am having an issue with multiple Google local listings.
We assigned separate numbers for each local listing (using Call Tracking Metrics). However, recently our listings were suspended and when I read through terms of service it says the number has to match on the location page. We use dynamic numbers - so of course that number doesn't show up. Would it work to also add the local number to the page in addition to the dynamic number? Or has anyone figured out a work around?
Local Listings | | vjappleyard0 -
Maps Listing Decrease End of Aug/Beginning of September
Hi there, I was wondering if I could get some assistance for my Maps Listings. Our property management company, Bay Management Group (https://www.baymgmtgroup.com) started in Baltimore, then added an additional location in Maryland in 2015. We’ve had great success getting both locations to rank organically and in Maps listings for most related terms (property management in Baltimore, Baltimore property management, Maryland property managers, etc.). We have recently expanded and have opened up a new office in Philadelphia. Organic rankings have been pretty good for this location, and Maps listings were gradually gaining in the rankings throughout the summer, however, around the last week in August/first week in September, we started noticing our Maps listings decreasing in the rankings (organic has remained about the same). At first, it was just the Philadelphia Maps listings that were affected, then that started to spread into the Baltimore and Maryland related rankings (again, just in Maps listings). While Baltimore and Maryland Map rankings have started to improve again, we’re struggling to get Philadelphia related rankings back on track. We have tried the following items, but still aren’t seeing much of a rebound. All Maps listings have been claimed in Google (Baltimore and Maryland were claimed ~2010 and 2015 respectively; Philadelphia was claimed in June 2017) Yext and Facebook have been updated to exactly match the phone number and address to how Google Maps has it listed The phone number and address on our website (https://www.baymgmtgroup.com/philadelphia/) exactly matches Google and Yext listings (note that the site has Call Tracking Metrics in it to change the appearance of the number when coming from Adwords or organic search) Updated all business information in Google Maps (NAP, hours, photos) and have used the new “posts” section to publish company updates Last week, we also updated our site speed to perform better in Google’s Pagespeed Insights. The site is responsive and has AMP on the blog posts as well. We've also been keeping an eye on Search Console and there aren't any manual actions against the site. Any thoughts on what we could be overlooking here that’s hindering our listing from rebounding (and improving) on Philadelphia-related Maps listings? Has anyone else noticed significant changes in their Maps listings since the end of August? Thanks in advance for your feedback!
Local Listings | | pdrwebsolutions0 -
When I search my business, how can I make all my locations to a multi-location business appear in the map pack?
I have a question about local SEO. I do the marketing for a multi-location medical facility. When I search the facility on Google, the website appears on the left and the Google My Business information for the nearest facility to me appears on the right. However, I would like to see a map-pack of all facilities appear under the website information as well. How can I make all locations appear in the map-pack form below my basic website information?
Local Listings | | FlynnZaiger0 -
Does Google Analytics automatically desseminate Maps/Places traffic from Organic traffic? Do webmasters still have to apply UTM parameter tracking to URLS in their GMB profile listings?
It was recommended a few years to apply UTM parameters to local URLs to get more accurate referral/source tracking in Google Analytics. Here is an old Moz post about this process https://moz.com/blog/tracking-traffic-from-google-places-in-google-analytics However does GA automatically separate this traffic out nowadays? Is there a method to identify the traffic coming from Maps/Places without UTM parameters? Is UTM tagging still necessary if we want to see these traffic reports?
Local Listings | | RosemaryB0 -
Help with Google+ business name rules
I'm marketing a franchise gym business that has multiple locations within the same city. For the business name, I used to have it set as "Business Name" + City + Tagline. For example: "Ultimate Workout South Calgary Gym and Bootcamps". and "Ultimate Workout North Calgary Gym and Bootcamps". To comply with the google business naming rules I've updated all the listing to just business name. The problem is, now the local search results for my gym locations are confusing. Half the address is cut off in the results, the city is not displayed at all. And sometimes results from a neighbouring city are shown. Anyone have an idea on how to implement a strategy where people at a quick glance understand which location is best for them?
Local Listings | | John-Ray0 -
How to add a branch location to Google+ Page
I have a verified local Google+ Page all set up for my local business and linked to my website.. it shows up nicely in local results for my city. Being ambitious I am expanding my presence into another city and would like my website to start showing up in local search for that area as well. What is the protocol for best results ? Start a new Google+ page or somehow add the branch onto the existing page (although there does not seem to be anywhere for this as the page is a local business and seems to lock it in with only a single address)..
Local Listings | | wicko1 -
Multiple Sites, Different Names, Same Business. Gray Hat?!
Hey there, Mozzers! I need your help. I have a new client whose new site just went live. Today, I started the process of cleaning up their business listings throughout the web. To my surprise, I noticed that a lot of the directories already had a website domain included. I called my client to find out what was going on. Turns out they already have a site with another company, targeting the same keywords. I came across this site before during competitive analysis, but never put two and two together since it has a different name, phone number and branding (logo, color scheme, etc.). I asked if he was willing to change the link to his new site (the one we're doing SEO for), and he flat out said no. He knows the site is doing well in the SERPs and doesn't want to harm its rankings. sigh His advice? Create new listings for his 2nd location. This location has a different physical address and phone number (no toll free/shared). But I feel like this is wrong. It's the same business, but we're trying to pass as another company just to get 2 sites to the top of the SERPs. This might also confuse users. What do I do? Plus, does that mean we should only include the 2nd location on the site we created and not the 1st? I already have a disadvantage since all the quality link juice is going to the other site. smh I need y'alls advice, please! -Kanya
Local Listings | | RainmanCreative1 -
No access for UK Get listed and now Moz Local Alternatives to Moz?
Ive had a pro subscription now for quite sometime and it was a shame when Get Listed UK was removed, now Moz has released its Moz Local and thats also just for US customers. I presume UK and other countries are a low priority, so don't expect anything for us for the foreseeable future! Ive taken out a subscription for Whitespark, but is there an alternative to Moz that people know of that does support us poor UK people?
Local Listings | | Ant710