Does this tactic fall into the Local SEO best practice?
-
Hi Mozzers,
I have a client who serves the entire San Francisco bay area but has only one physical location.
He asked me if he should get different addresses by renting out offices in different cities so he could use that for a better localization of his business.
Thanks for letting me know!
-
Thank you Guys for all of your responses!
-
You have answers from two different people saying very much the same thing; I'll add my name to the list: ---> your instincts were right on this one, just do what is recommended from the two responders above, and your client will thank you later
*As for your client, Just because some of the 'others' are doing it, doesn't mean it's the right, or practical thing to do. Your patience and good practices will pay off with Local Search, in time
Andy
-
Unfortunately, Taysir, it's not best practice but it works and a lot are doing it much to the chagrin of business owners who play by the rules and the SEOs who support them. As others stated here, organic SEO on local pages is what's needed. Perhaps if you post what kind of business it is, others here may give suggestions on how to optimize those.
-
You are likely right, Tony. Just need to be sure!
-
Good point Miriam, I'd assumed the offices were "post code only" and non-staffed. I guess the potential huge cost of renting out multiple offices to achieve his aim made me veer towards the scenario I'd assumed
-
Hi Taysir,
If they are staffed, physical offices, yes. If they are not, then, no. You'll need to focus on Local SEO for his physical location and organic SEO for his service cities where he isn't physically located.
-
Hi Taysir,
Simple answer - no. Google's T&C's stipulate that locations must be "physical" and not non-populated rented offices..
Strong local search indicators to Google include proof of physical locations, via NAP (name, address, postcode) citations.
There's nothing stopping them "owning" the SF bay area with a single site, district-focus pages and a single G+ Business Account with dozens of positive reviews and back-ed up citations.
Be very careful with clients who are greedy and want to game the system. if you're not careful, they'll do it anyway behind your back and cause you no-end of grief when their activities come back and bite them (and you) in the backside!
My advice is to be very firm and direct about what Google class as contravening their guidelines.
-
The money spent on rent can be applied to build a killer site that has content catered to the areas he really focuses on. So create pages for specific cities and have some job details specific to that city. The business details aren't in the question so its hard to say but I'm guessing if there isn't a need to open a new office your client is just trying to get local 'seven pack" rankings which require a physical place and a local number.
Hope that helps.
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
-
"We" or "I" for a small local healthcare enterprise?
Hi all, SEO newb here (or possibly rookie!). I'm a health professional and run a small, new specialised healthcare business targeting a local area (15 miles max). My product as such is the service I provide. There is a grand total of one employee, that of course being me! My SEO goal is phonecalls made and subsequent bookings as opposed to sales. Prior to joining here, I just looked at websites that provide a similar service and blindly assumed that a "We" approach to writing content was the accepted norm for presumed professional appearance. On reflection however, not only are most of these employing a team, most are in areas much more metropolitan than I operate in (I operate in a medium sized town where almost everyone knows everyone else by about 1 degree). In addition, I have run into a few difficulties with this however when writing content/incorporating keywords. Now I am about to re-write my "About Me" section I'm having a real challenge using the aforementioned context while sounding personable and like-able. Does anyone have any advice or experience re the correct context to use, in regards to the difference in CTR's and bounce rates etc in a small one-man enterprise that offers specialised services to the local area? Many thanks!
Local SEO | | UkPod1 -
How can I make a compelling financial forecast on how SEO will bring tangible value?
Hi all, I am currently doing keywords research and matching it to our sales data. With an input of resources, do you know if there is a good way to create a growth forecast as a result of SEO investment? How do I work out a strategy and align it to a compelling financial forecast? Your experience on this will be super helpful! Many thanks, Eric
Local SEO | | Eric_S1 -
Local SEO & Google Maps Question - 1 Company with Multiple Google Pages
Hey Mozzers! I'm working with a client who has 2 websites (different URLs completely), which one is for all parts and the other is for accessories only. They have multiple brick and mortar locations throughout the US and have done a nice job creating Google My Business pages for each and all verified. Their question is will it benefit them to create and verify another GMB page with same address, but place in "Suite B", a new phone number and apply the other URLs for the accessories site. The business name would also be different, but similar meaning Business 1 = ABC where as Business 2 = ABC Accessories. Their goal would be to try to have both rank or display to improve their local SEO. In theory it sounds like it will work given NAP would be satisfied within the GMB, but wanted to get the Moz community thoughts on this first before moving forward. Look forward to the replies. Patrick
Local SEO | | WhiteboardCreations0 -
Local store (B2B) that produces high quality prints for photographers: are we adopting the right strategy?
Hi, I'd like to know your opinion on the following case and gather new ideas on how to optimise our strategy: Starting situation: local store (B2B) in a bigger city in Europe that produces high quality prints mainly for photographers on paper (or other materials like canvas, aluminium, etc. ). They really take care of your images (e.g. Color Management) and produce printouts that look how they really should look like. Target audience: photographers (pros), museum, exhibitions and hotel people that would like to produce high quality prints of their images. Almost never the ambitioned private photographers (until now). **Actual situation: **its really a local business (people around 30 km). competition: big online stores where you can upload your pictures and get your prints sent home (quality: not bad, but not exceptional, no special requests; more for private customers) Already done (with relatively little results): _AdWords: _very "tight" keyword combinations, not broad at all, targeting area around business location. results: small traffic, small costs: not a lot of conversions. _SEO: _for organic search we now achieve very good positions for tight" keyword combinations, not broad ones. results: little traffic: not a lot of conversions LinkedIn-Ads targeting the above target group: results: little traffic: not a lot of conversions Facebook Remarketing (targeting his newsletter mail-list: results: little traffic: not a lot of conversions Optimized the landingpage (in my opinion far more to the point than before) PROBLEM: Basically we now get to the right people but traffic is really (too) small. At least we don't waste money at all but we don't gain a lot either... If we broaden the "keywords" the private customers will come in and waste our advertising money. Do you ever had a similar situation? What did you do? Any suggestions? Other target groups? Alternative channels? Thanks for your input. Cheers, Cesare
Local SEO | | Cesare.Marchetti0 -
Local SEO?
Hello everyone, I've just been through the Moz Local learning area, which is pretty informative. However, a lot of it seems like good practice for general online marketing (mobile friendly websites, goals per page...). I'm new to all this - am I missing the point? William
Local SEO | | Seabrook0 -
What is The Best Way to Rank in Multiple Countries?
Hi, I have a client that would like to rank in google.ie as well as .co.uk and in the middle east and possibly other parts of Europe. What is the best way to go about this? Would a new domain for each country be best and hosted in that specific country or is there a way to do this with one site? Bearing in mind that SEO will need to be done to rank in each country. Many Thanks.
Local SEO | | WSIDW0 -
SEO / PPC Middle East Recommendations
Hello - We are an online store and do a lot of business in the middle east, but are looking to expand there further and looking for a reputable company that specializes in SEO, PPC and social marketing in the region. Specifically a company that can help in region specific content (works in Arabic) and can target properly. Does anybody have any recommendations or company's they have worked with in the past? Thanks for any info!
Local SEO | | BabyBeauBelle0