Local SEO business name issue due to aggregator

[TomBinga1125]

So I work for a college and we have multiple locations. My tactic has been always to keep the name the same for all of them (no city name), and then change the address and phone number for each.

But there is 1000s of college listings websites out there that aggregate college and school data from the same source: the US government. Now the way that they have most, if not all, multi-location colleges listed is: "college name-city name". I can see the value in that, but I guess I'm just wondering what to do since it obviously can't be changed.

Should I revert all of our listings as "college name-city name" to match the 1000s of listings that have it that way?

I've been under the impression that I should leave the city/town name out of the name, but I'm just wondering what you think best practices would be?

Thanks
Tom

[gowebsol]

Your issue is an interesting one. WAY back in the day I used to add the city name even to my own google listings. Today, however I don't think it does squat. In your case, however I think there is a case for using the city name in the title if its in use in other places, and if individual campus' are referred to as "XYZ College - Seattle Campus". When I look at University Of Phoenix here in Tucson, for instance, they use the city name, which is how they refer to it everywhere. That seems to be the deciding factor on whether its acceptable. Here is that Google says: https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en&rd=1

Hopefully you are referring to it with the city or location name. If not, you may want to. I think it's a stretch if you don't.

[MiriamEllis]

Hey Tom,

I see how this could be problematic. In general, Local SEOs will cite the guidelines Joey has, in which Google states they don't want this:

Location information, such as neighborhood, city, or street name, unless it is part of the real-world representation of the business.

So, short answer here is that you need to leave your name exactly as it appears in the real world on your websites and the citations that you can control (and, of course, your Google My Business listing). I wonder if it would be possible for you to reach out to the top 20 aggregators appearing for your core search and ask them to edit your listing name. If not, then the consolation here is that the playing field is level if competing colleges area all suffering the same fate with the aggregators. In other words, their percentage of NAP inconsistency would be the same as yours.

Anecdotally, what you're experiencing is also experienced by all multi-location businesses that list their locations on Facebook. Facebook won't let you have more than 1 FB Place with an identical name, so you have to be Joe's Diner Boston, Joe's Diner Chicago, Joe's Diner St. Paul, etc. Again, because their competitors are all in the same boat, it's something they don't really have to sweat.

100% NAP consistency isn't normally achievable. You want to be as consistent as you can, but don't stress about attaining absolute perfection, and my bet is that the inclusion of your city names on these aggregators is not hurting you very much, if at all. So, this would be a see-what-you-can-do-and-then-leave-it-at-that situation. Hope this helps! Interesting thread.