Another company is coming up in search results when I type in my phone number

[mfrgolfgti]

If I search for my client's phone number on Google, without gaps, ie 02036315541,  another company comes up at the top of the list. This company has a similar name to ours, but it is in a different town and it does different things. My company name is Energy Contract Renewals https://www.energycontractrenewals.co.uk/ and their company is https://energyrenewals.co.uk. As far as I can see, the other company does not mention our phone number anywhere on their site or on their GMB page so I don't know why they are coming up.  We do not come up at all for this search.

However,  if I put our phone number in like this: 020 3631 5541, our company does come up and the other company does not.

Anyone know how I can correct this or if it is even possible to do something about it?

[shannerss]

A few ideas/questions for you:

1. Have you tried adding a phone number on your home page without the spaces? The front page on your website only includes the phone number WITH the spaces. It might look odd, but you could try putting the phone without spaces into your footer, perhaps near your copyright or the address.

2. Have you tried updating your business on Google? Updating your own GMB profile can help you appear in results and make sure Google isn't confusing you with this other similarly-named company.  https://www.google.com/business/

3. Also I took a peek at your search results and when I checked your business on Google Maps, your phone shows up with spaces but also with a +44 code in the beginning. I wonder if that could be part of the issue as well.

Hope one of these ideas help!

[mfrgolfgti]

Thanks Shannon,  those are all great suggestions, I will try them out. Many thanks

[mfrgolfgti]

Although the part I don't understand is how does Google get confused between 2 companies on the basis of a phone number which does not appear on the other company's website anyway?

[Colemckeon]

Maureen,

Shannon gave some great suggestions, but I would also recommend using a directory service to make sure that your number is in the same format through all the business directories you are listed with.

In addition to that, I would recommend submitting your number to a service like white pages reverse number look up or true caller.

It is best to have as many people referencing your phone number as possible so the people searching for you can verify that its you.

Funny side note...  If you Google "Call google my business" googles phone number doesn't even show up, but an irrelevant third party companies number does!

[mfrgolfgti]

Hi Colemckeon, thanks very much for your suggestions. I will look for a directory service in the UK as I think those you mentioned might just be for the USA.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Maureen,
Thank you for bringing your question to the forum. I have a few  of thoughts on this:

1. First of all, folks are very unlikely to be seeking your business or your services by entering a phone number. So, I would call this concern a very low priority.

2. However, here's what I think may be going on, as I was unable to immediately  find anything connecting your phone number with your competitor (something may exist somewhere, but you'd need to hunt to find it if it does): I suspect Google is confused. The similarity in business names and domain names is leading Google to be uncertain about the identity of the business connected with that phone number. Because your competitor has earned more links and has a higher Domain Authority than your business, Google (in their uncertainty) is bringing their SERP entry up above yours. It's certainly weird behavior on their part (if, indeed, there is no asset connecting your number with their business hiding somewhere). But, that's my best guess. Somewhere in Google's system, they are confused about the identities of the two businesses and are conflating them with the same phone number in your phone number search.

3. What to do about this? According to Moz, your numbers stack up against your competitor's like this:

Them:

Page Authority: 25 ; Domain Authority: 19 ; Links: 911

You:

Page Authority: 5 ; Domain Authority: 3 ; Links: 2

As these numbers indicate, your brand is behind in building overall authority, and this is why I strongly suspect that Google is allowing this business to get into the mix of your search engine results because they aren't quite sure whether the competitor's stronger presence is actually a better version of your own business. This is my theory, anyway, and if correct, what you need to do is build up the authority of your domain so that it is firmly associated in Google's mind with your phone number.

You need more links, in short, and, as others have mentioned here, you may well need to start building out your citation set. Moz Local would be our home-grown solution for a UK business like yours needing to ensure that its local platform and directory listings are accurate and complete . You can learn more about it here: https://moz.com/products/local

4. Back to the beginning of this: it's unlikely that your brand is being harmed much (if at all) by what you've noticed regarding the phone number. People just don't typically search for brands or services by phone number. But, there is a good chance that your low authority is causing you to be outranked for the keywords that people DO search for in trying to access services like yours. And, what you've noticed is actually a good indicator that Google currently lacks confidence in the information they have about your business. That definitely matters, and so, the best way to build up Google's confidence is to grow your authority. I recommend that you put priority focus on both links and local business listings and that should be a smart start to making Google more confident about who your business is (and who it isn't!).

Hope this helps!

[mfrgolfgti]

Hi Miriam

Thank you for your very full reply, I appreciate your help. I agree with you it is a low priority and I have pointed this out to the client! The suggestion that Shannon made has already started to produce results and I agree with you that the website needs to have more links and a higher domain authority. We have recently taken over the website and are busy adding content to it as it was quite meagre in its content. Earning backlinks is our next objective.

Question: does Moz Local now work for UK businesses? A couple of years ago I used it for a client and when it came up for renewal I was told by Moz that it no longer supported UK businesses. So Moz gave me a refund as it had accepted online payment for the renewal. I had assumed it still didn't support UK businesses, but if you're saying it does, that's a whole other ball game! Please could you advise on this as I have several clients that would benefit from Moz Local.

Thanks again for all your help.

best regards, Maureen

[MiriamEllis]

My pleasure, Maureen!

I'm so glad you asked about Moz Local. We have a whole new-and-improved Moz Local now, and yes, we are definitely supporting the UK. See more here: https://moz.com/help/moz-local

Please write to help@moz.com if you have any questions about what we can do for your clients in the UK, and I'm so glad you found help in the forum.