Local Search - can I use a shortened company name

[paulfoz1609]

Can I use a shortened version of our company name for local search or does it need to match the name registered at companies house exactly?

[seanginnaw]

Hey there,

In an ideal world, I would recommend maintaining the NAP (Name, Address & Postcode) you use anywhere else on the internet. This allows search engines (and users for that matter) to have some degree of continuity between your business listings.

Moz local is a decent tool for analysing your business listing and checking that your NAP is the same across the internet. It'll even highlight sites where this isn't the case so you can manually update them.

All the best,

Sean

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Paul,

Good question. Google's guidelines make it clear that they want your business name on your GMB listings to identically match what consumers see in the real world. So, the name on your street level signage, your print marketing, your website logo and content, and your telephone greetings should be what you put on your GMB listing. And then, for the sake of consistency, as Sean mentions, you'll want all of your other local business listings to match this. So, short answer - no, don't shorten your name, unless you wish to formally change it and update all off and online marketing to reflect it.

I'm curious as to why you'd need to shorten the name. Is it super long?

[paulfoz1609]

Our full company name is Evowrap Films and Vinyls LTD.  We own the trademark Evowrap and our logo, print material etc is all Evowrap.  This is what we trade as altohugh our full legal name is the full version the full LTD version.  I heard something suggesting that NAP included companies house which is why I thought Id need to use the full version for the local citations.

[MiriamEllis]

Hey Paul,

So, if your street-level and website-level marketing is all Evowrap rather than your full legal business name, then its Evowrap Google would want. It's the real-world consumer experience that Google wants reflected in their product.

[paulfoz1609]

The fact that companies house has got the full name doesnt matter too much then?

On the website everything refers to us as Evowrap except at the bottom of the websites footer it says our registered office details.  This has the full LTD company name.  Will that cause a problem? Would I be better changing that to the none full name?

[MiriamEllis]

I always find it useful to look at real-world examples, Paul. For example, look at the footer of Whole Foods' website: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com. You'll see them identified there as Whole Foods Market IP, L.P., but if you look up Whole Foods San Diego Ca, what do you see on the GMB listing? Just Whole Foods Market.

So, for legal purposes, you may need to include your full designation in the footer of your website, but provided the things assets I've mentioned previously (street level signage, website logo, etc.) are all consistent with your Evowrap name, I don't envision you'd have a problem there. Whole Foods clearly doesn't seem to be.

[paulfoz1609]

Thanks, thats put my mind at ease