Would two telephone numbers on a website affect NAP consistency? One is the "actual" business number with Schema, the other is a call tracking number.
-
Hello!
I have two telephone numbers listed on a website - one is the "actual" business number and is utilizing proper schema, while the other is a call tracking number featured more prominently on the site (both in the header and above the "actual" business number in the footer).
The code looks like this:
New Patients:
999-555-5555
Current Patients:
555-555-5555
Does Google prioritize the "actual" business number because it has the proper schema on it? Or would the call tracking number still be counted and affect NAP consistency for Local SEO?
Thanks!
-
Recommended reading on call tracking: http://blumenthals.com/blog/2014/11/25/guide-to-using-call-tracking-for-local-search/
-
Thanks for your question.
There are few formal rules related to what Google will and won't do related to indexation. If Google finds any piece of information worth indexing and displaying, it will do so. Schema is a great way to tell Google what information you want displayed in search results, but it's not an explicit rule that they always follow and, in many instances, they ignore it completely.
Having said that, lots of businesses have more than one phone number in the way you're suggesting, like a chain store with a central 800 number.
I think you're probably going to be ok based on what you're describing. However, if you want to be absolutely sure the tracking number isn't indexed, I would recommend hiding the tracking number using either a JavaScript swap for search traffic or by making the tracking number an image. I would also be sure that the actual contact page for the location (if you have one) is using the local phone number you want indexed.
Hope that helps!
-
Hi George!
Thanks for the response! To answer your question: Yes, both numbers are presented to the user at the same time. Here's the breakdown:
-
Header: Tracking number (no schema, prominent font within sticky header so it's always visible)
-
Footer:
-
Practice Name (w/ schema)
-
Address (w/ schema)
-
Tracking number (no schema, has text beforehand saying "New Patients:")
-
"Actual" office number (w/ schema, has text beforehand saying "Current Patients")
Because of the way it's laid out, users would normally see the tracking number first within the header - so although I agree it does create a bit of an UX issue, I think the setup keeps it from being egregious.
I guess a better way to ask the question is: If there are two numbers on the site, would Google prioritize (in regards to local NAP consistency) the one that shows up first (and twice on every page), or the one that shows up last but has the proper schema tags? I.E. does the schema tag override any differing indicators on the site? Or does an indicator's priority placement on a page and/or multiple instances over-power the schema tag?
Thanks!
-
-
I agree with George, above. Typically a tracked phone line uses some kind of JavaScrpit code to "swap" phone numbers, while keeping the hard coded phone number within the source-code of the page.
The JavaScript allows crawlers to read the phone number as one number, while displaying another number to users and appropriately tracking and attributing their call to the correct Source / Medium.
You can check out the images below to see what George and I are talking about!
-
Hi Now Media,
Just to clarify, are both telephone numbers displayed to users at the same time? If so that seems more of a user experience and CRO concern, since I don't see how you'd get accurate data from having 2 numbers on the site.
Typically, the solution for tracking numbers is to use some JavaScript to toggle out the tracking number depending on how a visitor gets to your site.
Thanks for your question!
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
-
Which one of these URL's will rank the best?
Hello! Curious on the community's thoughts on linking best practices for the following hypothetical scenario: I own a site called landscaping.com and want to rank for the term "landscapers houston". I have a link on the top title bar linking to landscaping.com/landscapers-near-me with an interactive map with clickable links leading to different metro areas. What should be my link from that page to the Houston page? 1. landscaping.com/landscapers-near-me/landscapers-houston 2. landscaping.com/landscapers-near-me/houston 3. landscaping.com/landscapers-houston 4. landscaping.com/houston The main question is whether to include the parent page or not. i have 2 conflicting thoughts. 1. short URL's are better so dont include it 2. include it because that is the page that links out to it and it helps Google understand the site flow. Thanks, Ryan
Local Listings | | RyanMeighan0 -
Google My Business - two locations but same name and phone
Hello, I manage SEO for an orthopaedic practice and I'm wondering what to do about their GMB listings. They have two locations, but I'm starting to think we shouldn't have separate GMB pages for the two locations because of the advice about other GMB questions I've been reading on this forum. I read a helpful response that said you must ensure the following if you want to create separate GMB listings: Unique name Unique address (even if only a suite / office number) Unique phone number Clearly different categories on Google My Business I can only ensure one of those - unique address. The business has the same name, phone number, and categories at both addresses. What should I do about this? I would think it's important to list both addresses so that patients can be guided to the appropriate location, but is there a way to do that with just one GMB listing? Thank you, Susannah
Local Listings | | SusannahK.Noel0 -
Individual practitioner NAP - unique "N", repeated "AP" Help!
We have a business where we have a number of doctor's offices, and at each office there are a few individual doctors. Customers often search for either the overarching brand or the specific doctors. Our hope is to optimize our listings so that we can rank in local SEO for both the brand name and doctor names. We have set up our local listings in Google My Business for all of the offices (common brand name, unique address, unique phone, unique landing page), but would like to explore adding individual doctor names in the listings too. The challenge is that each doctor within an office shares the address and phone number. They do have unique names (obviously) and landing pages, although the doctor landing pages don't have any specific contact information on them. My understanding is that we should have unique phone numbers for each listing. Unfortunately, this is a management and IT maintenance challenge. My question is - if we didn't use a unique phone number and instead used both the same address and phone number across multiple listings (office and doctors practicing there), are we violating Google's guidelines / damaging our overall rankings for all the listings? Does anyone have a sense of how bad this might be, so we can understand the risk/benefit? And secondly, would we make things worse by adding the non-unique address/phone to the individual doctor pages? Would this just reinforce inconsistent NAP, right on our site? Thanks!
Local Listings | | OneMedical0 -
Ranking for "personal trainer agency london"
Hi all, I have a client who wants to rank for "personal trainer agency london" They are a .com site with offices worldwide and they have 1 contact page per location. I've been registering their UK address across Yell, Yelp, G+ etc but I wondered if that would be enough to get their rankings moving for the "london" related terms or should I be creating a landing page related to "personal trainer agency london" specifically? I don't feel comfortable doing it this way as it goes against what I believe is good SEO. They have other services they offer so I don't want to end up having to build a "london" related page for every service and then every location. Surely I can make their Personal Trainers page rank for location terms? Any thoughts HUGELY appreciated!
Local Listings | | Marketing_Today0 -
Google My Business - More than 1 business under same roof?
Good morning Mozzers from London, England, I have been having some issues around local SERPs and getting our businesses to rank. The issue I have is we run GYMS, however within our gyms certain locations we run additional businesses like CHILDREN'S NURSERIES or PHYSIOTHERAPY CLINICS etc. Now these are run affectively as different businesses, and you don't need to be a gym member to use these services. However Google only lets you have 1 primary category per business address. And all of our locations are rightly registered as GYMS. So I can't then produce a secondary business listing at the same address.....can I? Has anyone else experienced this problem, or know of a solution? Kindest regards Ben
Local Listings | | Bendall0 -
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 -
Listing a physical address on an ecommerce website?
Hey Mozzers! Got a question for you. I’ve been assigned my first ecommerce client. He doesn’t want to list his physical business location, as he fears that including his address will hurt him on a national level (he ships all over the world). He’s not particularly interested in ranking locally, although he wouldn’t mind it. He only wants to show a PO box address. Will this help or hurt him? I believe it’s the latter. Also, he has 16 shipping points across the U.S. Is it helpful to add these cities and states to the site? Thanks in advance! -Kanya
Local Listings | | RainmanCreative0 -
Right page to place the Schema code for global business
I have two questions: 1. Schema code for Global business: As a company which works with clients across the globe, we like to create a well defined schema that doesn't limit and appear as a Local Business to Google. I assume "http://schema.org/LocalBusiness" means a local business to Google. If we use it, will be be affecting the ranking in global searches? 2. Page and location to keep the code What could be the best place to keep the schema code in a web page? - Homepage/ About us page / contact us page and Footer links are the options. I hope applying CSS on it too wouldn't be an issue. Looking forward to learning your thoughts.
Local Listings | | macronimous0