“Service Location” in Lieu of Separate NAP to Avoid Merge on Google+Local?

[rayvensoft]

A client has two businesses out of the same address, same phone: an eat-in restaurant and a catering service. He has a separate website for each.

He’s dying to optimize the catering, although long-term wants to optimize both.

For the moment, Google only knows this restaurant and his only social media presence is set up as the restaurant as well -- thus the links to his social media even off of the catering site link to his restaurant accounts.

I think he has two options:

1. Really do separate them. Get a different address (suite # or use his home address?) and phone. Set up new, separate social media. Register both, separately, at all the directories, etc.

2. Merge them both into the restaurant site and have the restaurant offer both eat-in and catering. Have some pages on the site optimized for lunch and others for catering, with the home page saying both.

Register the one domain with all the directories, social media under the restaurant, but with a description that includes both lunch and catering as services offered.

Variation on #2: Continue to have Google show the address, since it’s a restaurant, but add the “service location” area to show as well, for the catering part.

My questions are:

1. If he kept the two websites separate, would hiding the address and just using a “service location” area for the catering one keep Google happy?

I mean, could he keep the same address -- although I suppose he’d still have to get a new phone -- and set up the catering entry to show only the service area? And if he did that, would Google not merge them then?

In directories, though, he’d still be listing both the restaurant and the catering separately but under the same address, so maybe this is a silly scenario anyway. What do you think?

2. Which option would you choose?

3. Are there any other better options?

4. In the #2 scenario, if a directory allows registry under one category, would you choose “restaurant” or “catering” -- or sometimes one and sometimes the other?

Thank you for your insight!

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Raymond,

Great question. Here is what I would advise this client if he were mine.

First, I would determine how distinct the 2 businesses are. If, for example, one is a pizza parlor named Joe's Pizza and the other does high end catering for weddings and is called Weddings by Josef, then these really are distinct businesses. In this case, the owner should be utilizing a completely distinct:

1. Name

2. Phone

3. Street Address

4. Website

5. Google+ Local Page

I do not recommend that Joe's Pizza and Weddings by Josef go the suite number route at the same address because I think their is a chance the businesses could be merged. Instead, I think your suggestion of the catering business being run out of the home of the owner makes sense. And, yes, he should definitely be hiding his address on the Google+ Local page for the catering company, though not, obviously, on the listing for the restaurant.

There are other business models in which catering is just a service offered under the same brand. For example, there is the big franchise, Subway. You can go eat sandwiches at their restaurant, or you can hire them to cater an event. In this case, Subway should simply be building out their own brand to reflect that they offer both in-house food and catering services. They are entitled to only one Google+ Local page, and can select catering as one of their categories. They can build up content on their corporate website to reflect that they do catering.

So, I think the answer to which of these 2 routes is right for your client is to totally clarify his business model. Is catering part of his restaurant's brand, or is he really operating 2 different businesses? Hope this helps!

[rayvensoft]

Yea!! I was hoping you'd answer, Miriam.

I tend to think the catering is really part of the restaurant's brand in his case, but of course ultimately this is up to him.

What do you think about the role of his social media accounts? Could he still keep everything under the restaurant or do you you recommend splitting that too?

(Does Google care that links from his catering site link to the social media accounts of his restaurant?)

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Raymond,

That's nice of you to say!

So, here's the thing: if he's going to go with just 1 brand for both the restaurant and the catering service, it is VITAL that he not publish any kind of NAP in indexable text on the catering site or anywhere else. You don't want anything (the website, social media profiles, citations, etc.) to be saying that this second website/second business is competing with the restaurant website in terms of name, address, phone number or website. Honestly, if the catering is just part of his business, I would way rather he only had one website, but if he wants to maintain 2, he should not publish the NAP of the catering business anywhere that can be indexed because it will confuse Google about which business is located at 211 Main St in Happy City, MI at (663) 311-3333 at www.joespizza.com.

Does this make sense?

[rayvensoft]

You're welcome

So you mean that if he keeps the catering site separate, he should not only hide the (non-restaurant) address from Google and show only the service area, but also he should NOT publish that address -- even if it's different from the restaurant -- anywhere?

How would he ever locally optimize the catering one, then? Or wouldn't he?

Or did I not understand correctly?

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Raymond,

If the restaurant and the catering business share either a physical address or phone number, only one of them should be locally optimized and locally promoted. If you were to try to promote both this this way, Google would be confused. The listings might be penalized, merged, etc.

So, back to my earlier point, if he wants to gain a local presence on the web for 2 different companies, then he needs to get a distinct physical address and phone number for the catering company.  With that, he can promote both businesses locally, as 2 distinct entities. Without that, he has to pick only one to promote.

I hope this is totally clear. It is a little complicated!

[rayvensoft]

Got it! And gosh, thanks so much for the time to write out all the detail!

A related question:  What about the social media aspect? Can he keep the two together, at least from an SEO perspective?

Or will Google not like it if his catering business site links to his restaurant social media accounts? (Or is it simply a question of his not getting the "juice" from Facebook, say, for his catering site if his FB account references the restaurant only?)

Again, so appreciative of the guidance!

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Raymond,

The guiding rule for this client is:

• If he's a single business, he should promote himself as one, via every format, including Social Media.

• If he's running two businesses then every aspect of them, including Social Media, should be completely separate with no crossover of any kind.

He needs to pick one direction and adhere to in all actions he takes, including on and offline promotion, and stick with that plan.

[rayvensoft]

Perfect. Thank you!!!