Consistant citations for Local SEO

[NaughtyChilli]

Hi Guys - Ive got a tricky question. I want to create correct and consistent citations for this business http://www.singlewellcarsales.co.uk/

However theres a twist, the website is called ‘Singlewell Car Sales Ltd’ but they also have a service centre called ‘Singlewell Service Centre Ltd’ so in theory two business names under one website. We want to treat them as two separate businesses when adding to local directories. We also want to create two local Google pages. Both divisions share the same website, and address but include a different telephone number and business name.

I want to use Schema mark up on the website to reference both business names so that Google can make a link between the name and various local citations NAP.

My main questions is, can you use Schema two mark up two business names under one website? or will Google get confused and regard it as duplicate or inconsistent citations?

Many Thanks

Jon Rayner

[LoganRay]

Hi Jon,

I've had a very similar situation before, where 2 businesses were operating under the same website, but located in 2 different places and under slightly different names. You can apply schema to multiple instances of NAP, but in your case, what you would need to do is create 2 different addresses.

For example, Business A would be located at 123-A Boulevard Street, and Business B would be located at 123-B Boulevard Street. That seems to be enough of a differentiation for Google being as office buildings commonly contain similar address formats. You're technically not changing anything from a geographical point of view, but this way you're able to provide Google with enough different information for them to identify. It will take some time to see the results, and you'll need to get as many good-quality citations for each company as possible.

[NaughtyChilli]

Hi Ioganr

Thank you so much for your quick response. I did ponder on the same concept but wasn't 100% sure. Do you think this would work?:

Singlewell Car Sales Ltd
Hever Court Road
Gravesend
Kent
DA12 5UQ

Singlewell Service Centre Ltd
Hever Ct Rd
Gravesend
Kent
DA12 5UQ

Many Thanks

Jon Rayner

[LoganRay]

Hmm...I didn't realize there weren't street numbers involved, that's usually my differentiator. Unfortunately, Google will see your proposed addresses as synonymous.

In a case of office buildings, where many different companies operate in one building, how would those addresses be formatted? (forgive my lack of knowledge on UK address formats)

[NaughtyChilli]

An office building would have numbers or the name of the room to differentiate.

This one is tricky as the car sales and service centre is the same building. My original proposal to overcome this issue was to get a separate website build for the 'service centre' and then include tabs at the top of both websites that link between each other. Obviously setting this up would have a cost implementation, hence why investigating an alternative solution.

Thanks again for your help

[LoganRay]

No problem, sorry I couldn't offer something more conclusive! Maybe someone else from your side of the pond will chime in with a similar experience.

Good luck!

[MiriamEllis]

Hey There!

First step here is to read Google's guidelines for Departments Within Other Business:

https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en

Be sure that you actually have 2 businesses that qualify as separate, in Google's eyes, before you make a decision about how to represent these to the public on your website, citations, etc. Hopefully a read-through will help with this.

[NaughtyChilli]

Hi Miriam

Thanks for the info

[NaughtyChilli]

Hi Miriam

Thanks for the info.

However, I did read the guidelines a few weeks ago. The two businesses do qualify for two Google places pages as they fall under two categories. (car dealer & car repairs)

My main concern, how do I represent two businesses within the html code on one website in hope that Google does not get confused. My aim is to create correct citations for both businesses (NAP)

I think I have a solution! (based on Ioganr's help)

However, if you have any further suggestions regarding NAP for two businesses on one website, please let me know. Your help would be much appreciated

Thanks

Jon

[MiriamEllis]

Hey Jon!

If you feel totally confident that Google will agree that these are 2 different forward-facing businesses at the same address, than the differentiating items will be the name, the phone number and the website landing page the Google My Business listing links to. Being sure that all 3 things are unique should help Google keep them separate, ideally. Hope this helps!