Does each listing in Google plcaes need a seperate URL?
-
Hi
We have a client who has several car dealership fracnhises located located across two suburbs - so we are creating a places listing for each (with a separate address and phone number). My questions is should each location also have a separate URL (the dealership only has one website covering all locations). The Google guidelines state that you must;
Website & Phone: Provide a phone number that connects to your individual business location as directly as possible, and provide one website that represents your individual business location.
- Use a local phone number instead of a call centre number whenever possible.
- Do not provide phone numbers or URLs that redirect or “refer” users to landing pages or phone numbers other than those of the actual business.
Really appreciate any feedback!
-
Greetings!
Thanks for coming to Q&A to ask your important question. This interview with Eric Enge is over a year old now, but his advice holds true, in my opinion:
http://www.stonetemple.com/articles/interview-carter-maslan-032710.shtml
The part of the interview relating to your scenario is this:
Eric Enge: Let’s say you have more than one location, 100 for example. In your view, is it helpful to have individual pages on the website for all of the locations? Also, is it helpful to have the Google local business center linked to each of those individual pages rather than having 100 locations that point to a single web address?
Carter Maslan: I can tell you what I think the ideal end state is, and there are various levels of getting there. Ultimately, we would like to have the store-specific page known so that people can just click through and see today's specials and any kind of adjustments for that particular day. We would love to have all of that information on a direct click to the most specific page for that location.
That’s what we encourage, but there are still a lot of chains and things that just link to their top-level domain. I guess it's a split answer. We want to get to a store specific page, but we are not uniformly there across all of the businesses.
Eric Enge: Could that potentially be encouraged by making it a ranking factor, for example?
Carter Maslan: Yes. I guess there are two sides to it. If you create a store-specific page that really just has an address, it wouldn't be as helpful as having some genuinely good content on the page that the user would really appreciate having as the first click-through experience. That’s what I think we need to work through.
We don't want to arbitrarily tell people that they must create a store-specific page, because we are really just trying to find the most useful page for that business. That’s why I am not so definitive on the store-specific page or not. I really just want what’s best for the retailer, store or businesses, first and foremost giving the user what he would want to see when he clicks on that business.
Eric Enge: Say you have a store-specific page that lists specific and individual things about just one store location. Depending on the kind of business that could be an inventory list that shows you've got extra stock?
Carter Maslan: There is a chain of stores that carries yoga equipment that my wife really likes. They have special yoga instruction, carry special brands, and host lectures on some special days. There are all kinds of things that the retailer does that relate to that specific store location, and there is also a general corporate catalogue page. So this is not black and white, and even though we want to encourage it, it's not that there is a definitive guidance saying companies need to have that page.
Eric Enge: Obviously it’s good if there is a quality page with information unique and specific to each location.
Carter Maslan: Yes, that's great. If we know that there’s good information about that page, then that helps on search and the snippets that we can show on the search results, because we know that the page is referencing that place. It does help even if it ends up not being the page that you list as your primary homepage. If there is good content that we know is content about that place, then it helps us do a better job with query results.
If a company has a page that's store-specific and talks about its class schedule, and there is one that says its holding Tai Chi class tonight and someone is searching for places to do Tai Chi, then that helps us to score it. If a lot of people have found that page helpful about the Tai Chi class, then when people search for Tai Chi we would know that that location has something to do with Tai Chi.
Now, bear in mind that Eric was stating this as an opinion of best practices rather than an official statement from Google, but barring having a distinct website for each of the franchise's locations, yes, having a unique page for each business will be a good idea. And, of course, each location must have its own local area code phone number and street address. This will qualify each branch to have a unique Place Page which can then link to its respective landing page on the website.
Parting advice - do make an effort to make the landing pages unique. Don't just cut and paste copy, changing the address and phone number. Write unique copy about each business!
Hope this helps!
Miriam
-
There is a definate advantage of haveing two places pages and it seems legitimate to have two seeing that you have two locations. I think the idea above about a unique page within your existing site , would be useful.
-
I would definitely recommend each one having their own especially if the URL's are different!
good luck!
-
You can have one listing per business address. There have been cases where Google will merge listings, in one case 2 lawyers in the same building had their listings merged into one even thought there were not connected.
http://www.google.com/support/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=107528 -
I haven't encountered any problems with using the same address accross different cities / places listings
You may like to consider setting up separate "branch" pages with some details specific to each dealership - it would enhance usability and you could point the website field to the different pages:
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
-
How much can our page title, URL and alt-tag differ without negatively affecting SEO?
We are a bridal store selling wedding dresses and bridesmaids dresses. We are wanting to know how much our URL and page title can differ, whilst still optimising SEO. For example, for the category Wedding Dresses, the URL contains wedding dresses, so can we use " the best wedding dresses in Sydney" in the page title? For the bridesmaid dresses (URL is /bridesmaiddresses/) can we use " buy best bridesmaid dresses online in Australia"? Can we use terms such as "buy best black dress in sydney", "buy online in australia" or "shop online in sydney" in the alt-tag, additional from the page title .i.e. adding extra keywords in the alt-tag that do not appear in the title? Would this be classified as keyword stuffing? In our main categories .e.g. Wedding Dresses, can we add "best wedding dress store", "buy wedding dresses from best wedding store in sydney" in the alt-tag? Thank you.
Image & Video Optimization | | CostumeD0 -
Local SEO: Google Places and Google+
Hello, I'm a little confused by Google+ for business. I set up a Google Places page in 2010 and recently changed my address to incorporate my suite number and to spell out "Street" instead of abbreviating. I'm planning on carefully changing all citations to match. Next I started a Google+ page for my business. But I couldn't fill out the address and ended up requesting a postcard for verification to continue. The postcard was sent to the right address but no suite number. I'll still get the postcard, but I can't finish my page yet. Also, I don't know if I have to re-verify my Places page with the slight changes. Am I on the right track?
Image & Video Optimization | | BobGW0 -
Our site is showing up #1 for most terms with a blended local listing, but no longer in the organic listings
...after some SEO updates were made. While I am ecstatic about a #1 local listing, I am concerned that we aren't getting that second organic listing on even the top 50 results! Besides improving the content and SEO on the inner pages with the hopes to get them to rank, does anyone have any suggestions for what we are doing wrong? We (dm-remodel.com) are ranking well for things like "ann arbor kitchen remodeling" and "ann arbor bathroom remodeling" Thank you very much for any help!!
Image & Video Optimization | | MeganCough0 -
Google Maps Reviews Disappearing - So Where is the best place to host them now?
I think a lot of people are having this problem. You spend years receiving great reviews on Google Places only to have the wiped out for no reason. That being the case what 3rd party sites do you all suggest that client reviews be hosted besides your website? Thoughts?
Image & Video Optimization | | webestate0 -
How do you get links from a photo pointing to a third party site in Google Places?
How do you get links from a photo pointing to a third party site. I’ve seen a number on other Places accounts but I can't figure out how to do it. They had a picture/logo and the url underneath it (instead of it saying 'from the owner' underneath it), when you clicked the photo it took you to the website instead of just a page with only that photo on it. Please see image as an example. I've highlighted the image links below. Thanks in advance for your help 🙂 i0HxK.jpg
Image & Video Optimization | | HICRM0 -
Google Places - Local Search - Not ranking when 100% complete?
Hi I have followed the examples set by David Mihm and fully completed a Google Places listing - with the geographical area covering the area that it serves along with lots of local citations but when searching on google for 'accountants swansea' it is way down on page 4 of the places results. Does it take time for Google to recognise these changes to Places listings or is my listing incorrect to attract a high listing for the search phrase. Looking at the competition many of them have not optimised or done anything with their listings pages so I am at a loss to explain why the listing is doing so badly. The places listing is at http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/place?hl=en&prmd=imvns&biw=1280&bih=829&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=accountants+swansea&fb=1&gl=uk&hq=accountants&hnear=0x486e45555a4e97b1:0x3d77128e2fe7cb74,Swansea,+Neath+Port+Talbot&cid=9815784575213492240&ei=UN6WTt7UJ8rasga-ocTrAw&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=placepage-link&resnum=7&ved=0CFcQ4gkwBjge
Image & Video Optimization | | idv0 -
Local Keyword vs Business Name in URL
I am working with a local business owner who has purchased multiple domains. One includes the geographic area she serves and the type of business she runs. The other includes her business name and the type of business she runs. She is unsure of which domain she would like to use as the main URL for her business website. When choosing a domain for a small, local business, would you consider it advantageous to have the main geographic area that the business serves in the URL rather than the actual name of the business? What would be the best use of domain name which isn't selected from a SEO standpoint?
Image & Video Optimization | | Neustop0 -
Google Places - Co Working Spaces
Hello, Hope this hasn't been answered but no combination of searches could turn it up. What is the impact for those using a co working space such as http://www.thenetworkhub.ca/ in regards to Google Places and local searches? Assumedly there will be multiple 'businesses' using the same address including suite number. Does this cause issue with Google understanding that these are truly legit 'offices' and work address for honest to goodness businesses? Suppose part of the challenge may be those using this address for just mail and answering... Guess my point is, will 20-40 people using the same address for their places profile be a problem? What alternatives exist for these folks? Thanks y'all!
Image & Video Optimization | | kyegrace0