Question about tools for closing a location and erasing it from existence.

[jeremyskillings]

I have a client that is a bank that is closing a location. I have worked with moves, but not full closes.  Is there an easy tool or method in Moz Local to close a location everywhere?

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Jeremy!

You can use the .CSV method to report a business as closed on Moz Local but this will only report it as out of business on our 7 supported partners - not web-wide. See 'Out of Business' section here: https://moz.com/local/help/documentation

So, using Moz Local would be a good start, but this would need to be supplemented with manual activity to close things like the Google+ Local page, the Facebook Place, Yahoo, Bing, etc. I am unaware of any service that closes a business web-wide.

*Note - if it is just one location of this bank that is closing while the main business remains open, be sure to check this out:

http://www.localsearchforum.com/google-local-important/27109-can-closed-google-local-listings-kill-ranking-important-new-troubleshooting-tip-2.html

[jeremyskillings]

Thank you.  This is indeed a case where just the branch is closing and not the entire bank.  IT looks like this causes a problem but from the thread was just confusing.  Is it better to claim (if they haven't) and change the phone number on the listing before closing? Is it better to just leave it open if they still own the number even if the branch won't be there for people?

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Jeremy,

You might want to take this up with Joy Hawkins at Imprezzio Marketing as she has been doing a close study of the nuances of this scenario recently. What would you be changing the phone number to? Not quite sure I am following what you're describing.

[jeremyskillings]

Sorry. I was reading in the discussion and someone had suggested changing the phone number on the listing and then closing. I'm guessing this would remove the NAP match of the listing and take away some of the negative issues with closing the location?  That was what I was referring to. I appreciate your help on this.  I am definitely much more informed on this than before and I don't know that there is a clear answer. It may come down to what the business needs to do from a non-SEO perspective and then we just adapt.  I can only inform them of the difficulties and risks involved.  Thanks again.