Does displaying a mobile number for business hurt local SEO?
-
Perhaps a silly question but could someone please clarify if displaying a mobile number in the main site or Google places etc would hurt local SEO? Is having a regional landline/fixed telephone number a ranking factor?
EDIT: This is for a UK site, does anyone have experience of this is UK please?
-
My pleasure Clicksjim!
-
Hi Miriam, wow - thanks for going to all that trouble, appreciated!
-
Hi Clicksjim,
There's nothing silly about your question. I think it's a smart one. It took me a couple of days to get back to you on this because, like others on this thread, though I work in Local, I don't work in the UK. I wanted to speak with someone who does. We had a little chat.
Basically, I think there is agreement in the Local SEO community that a local area code is a ranking signal, but the strength of that signal, in relation to all of the many other signals, is unknown. It may be that Google uses that local area code signal to associate certain content with a geographic region, but how vital this is, in the whole scheme of things, is unclear.
The Local SEO I know (a very smart guy I trust) with UK clients says he ALWAYS advises clients to use a local area code landline because he feels it may give them a slight edge over competitors who don't, but he didn't state that he felt it gives them a really big advantage (but, most of us will try to take any opportunity we have to edge out the competition, right?). Another Local SEO I spoke with said he wondered if mobile numbers get less calls that landlines do, but he was just theorizing.
So, in your shoes, I would go with a local number for your UK clients, if you can, because it may give these clients a bit of an advantage, but if you absolutely can't do this for some of your clients, the effect will probably be slightly disadvantageous rather than majorly. so.
Hope this helps!
-
I would say that if your mobile phone has the same area code as your business then you should be golden. Having this local number attached to your business is definitely a good signal.
-
Unfortunately I do not have experience in the UK. I have done a smattering of work in New Zealand (for friends, since that's where I'm from originally) where the mobile number system doesn't have area codes (027 and 021 are the only two prefixes for mobile). For more competitive phrases, I've never seen a business using a mobile number rank. This is only for a very small amount of work, however, and it could well be that there are other factors in play (such as the fact that the people using mobile numbers don't have any optimization, either).
I have a hard time believing that the UK algo would be so massively different from the US one that it would ignore phone number area codes.
Because it's a fairly big factor in the US, if I were being asked to make the call, I'd go with a landline with a local area code, which forwards to your mobile.
-
Thanks for your resposnes - I forgot to mention that this is a UK based site so there are no regional mobile numbers whereas I think there is in the states and some other countries. Does anyone have experience of this in UK?
-
No. There's no difference between a mobile number and a landline number. So long as the mobile number has a local area code.
As Anita said, just remember to be consistent.
-
Just be consistent and list the number you use most often. For me that is my mobile number.
-
Yes Having a regional landline/fixed telephone number is Good signal for local SEO. And putting mobile number will not going to hurt your SEO. Here is the awesome post on Citation ( your problem
Hope this help you out...
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
-
SEO for Videos and Infographics
Hi Mozers, When optimizing videos and infographics does it helps to put the word "video" or "infographic" in the browser title and H1? Any guidance is much appreciated! Yael
Image & Video Optimization | | yaelslater0 -
Product Videos and SEO
We sell high end products and we try to educate the consumer as much as possible. Since the attention span is short, we try and break up the features/functions into 5-6 videos. We post everything to Youtube and we have been adding it to our blog as well. I am currently tasked with rebuilding our blog from the ground up. This means getting rid of all the thin content, updating content, etc. We have many videos up there and Just trying to figure out what the best practice should be. The blog is wordpress based and I have the videos now set up in a category structure. Should I just add each video as a video custom post type? Should I have each video posted with a transcript? Or should I post each video with sub background text of the video? We have about 120 videos in all and adding more, but making them longer to reduce the amount of videos per product going forward. Thank you.
Image & Video Optimization | | RevCom0 -
Multiple Vacation Rentals Local Listings
A client of ours is a vacation rental company with over 50 properties (each property is only marketed through this company). They recently asked if they could add each rental property as a listing in Google Places, Bing, Yahoo, etc. I've been doing research on whether this is advisable or can hurt them in some way. If anyone has had a similar situation, any advice would be highly appreciated. Thanks.
Image & Video Optimization | | naymark.biz0 -
Can SEO companies be listed on Google Local, Bing Local, and Yahoo Local?
Can anyone confirm if SEO companies can be listed in the local results for Google, Yahoo, and Bing? I'm asking because when you search for most local terms, it will return their local listings. However, that doesn't appear to be the case when searching for SEO or marketing services - or at least none show up when searching from Houston and I'm pretty sure we have quite a few SEO companies here 😉
Image & Video Optimization | | ChaseCameron0 -
Multiple businesses under the same physical address
If I am running one business at one address and I start a new business what should I do to avoid triggering spam filters for having 2 businesses using the same address. I've been told by an seo that I trust the best way to do this is create a suite #. If I do this then I have to change all the addresses on the existing campaigns for the Primary business because if I create suite #'s it changes the primary's address by doing this.
Image & Video Optimization | | NormanNewsome0 -
What is the SEO benefit of embedding YouTube videos on a page?
Is there SEO benefit to embedding YouTube videos made my other people or companies on pages? The indirect benefit would be a better user experience and increased perceived value and usefulness of the page which could lead to more links. Are there any other benefits?
Image & Video Optimization | | ProjectLabs0 -
Local SEO - Confirming an Address that Does Not Receive Mail
Hi guys, I have a question that might have been asked previously but warrants asking again. What is the best workaround for Google Local verification for a business that is located at a physical address that does not receive mail. I have a friend who lives in an area that does not receive mail. This particular person tried using a local PO box to verify, but as it turns out that is a poor option a) because it is not allowed within the guidelines of Google Local, and b) because the listing was not accepted as a unique address and is listed without an address in Local because of this. Is there anyone with recent experience in terms of getting around this and verifying perfectly legitimate businesses in no-mail areas? I would have thought Google would have provided a workaround for those types of businesses. Any thoughts / experience would be appreciated!
Image & Video Optimization | | toddmumford0