Call tracking and Local SEO

[mmaes]

I am the in house SEO/Web for a multi-branch/multi-state company and I am having a hard time tracking the amount of calls that are coming off of our site to the many branches.

I am wondering if there are any tips for use call tracking numbers without negatively impacting my local SEO results?

In one of the webinars they touched on image replacement and also that it some situations it might be out to just use the tracking numbers.

[bozzie311]

You could script in that all organic traffic is displayed one number and all ppc another. Theory is that organically it's a consistent number across the board. Only ppc, or other sources would see a different number.

[KeriMorgret]

There are solutions for call tracking available that shouldn't negatively impact your SEO. One solution is to use an image replacement, another is to use javascript and figure out what type of source is referring the traffic and show an appropriate number.

How granular are you wanting to track your data? Do you just want to know direct vs ppc vs organic, or are you wanting to know each PPC keyword that drove traffic and which of those keywords converted? That'll affect the number of phone numbers involved and the cost.

For your local SEO, you will want to submit your regular phone number, not any toll-free number or tracking number. To the best of my knowledge, there's no good way to track the calls from people calling directly from the local SERPs, but you need those phone numbers consistent with all of the other published information that contributes to your NAP (Name/Address/Phone). Having the yellow pages with one phone number, other links with other phone numbers, and your local listing with yet a different phone number is a Bad Thing. Sorry I can't quantify it for you, I just know you want everything the same for that listing.

I hope this has helped. In a previous job, I worked for a company that provided call tracking and ROI solutions which is where I got some of this knowledge. I myself haven't implemented call tracking on my website, but I'm aware of a lot of the factors involved.

[mmaes]

I am going to leave the SERP, Yellow pages etc the actual number.

The places I am wanting to track are on our main corporate site and on the branch specific websites.

As far as PPC vs Organic etc I want to track all traffic sources. Right now I am most interested in trying to get a better web vs non-web tracking at the branch level. This will help me show how much business the web is driving vs local paper phone books, word of mouth, etc.