Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Hi Katie -

You are one of several people I've seen raise this very question about analytics. The answer is - we don't know yet how this will affect data. It's a really good question! Stay tuned and I am sure there will be an avalanche of posts about this all over the web over the next couple of months.

Right now, what seems clear to me is:

• having a really good photo is critical in the carousel; some businesses are coming up with a Google Map instead of a photo and that certainly looks generic.

• having your citations in good shape are really important, because once someone clicks on the image, everything below the carousel looks like some form of a citation to me

• you still need to do everything you've already been doing in terms of having a strong website, a clean Google+ Local listing, reviews and citations.

Beyond this, the next few weeks will point out strategy changes, if any, for local business owners to be aware of. This is going to be quite a ride!

Hi Gary!

In addition to the Moz Recommended Companies list Erica has linked to, you might also check out the Contributors box on the annual Moz Local Search Ranking Factors survey we publish, as all participants are recognized Local SEO experts.

Hello Alec,

Kane Jamison is right - if you were to do the 40x40 project, you'd have to write 1600 pages of content! Though not totally impossible, it's pretty much the next closest thing to impossible.

Kane is on the right track. What you are in need of is a plan for organization. Such a plan might looks something like this:

-Have a landing page for each of your dance schools.

-The page must be well optimized for the schools' locations.

-Write good, unique content for each of these landing pages (at least we're only talking about 40 pages here).

-List the main classes that are available at each school on its respective landing page.

-Build an onsite blog.

-Every week, write several posts about special classes, new classes, events, etc. going on at different schools.

-Have an area on each dance studio page from which you link to some of the blog posts that are specifically about something at that studio.

In this way, you can build content in a gradual way about different things that happen in each of the schools, without undertaking the crazy work of trying to write copy for 1600 pages.

Chances are, you won't rank #1 for every single thing you offer, but if you out-write and out-link most competitors, you should end up getting lots of good rankings.

What' I've suggested is just a strategy brainstormed in a couple of minutes. You can work out the fine details. You definitely need to decide on the architecture of the site first.

Good luck!

Miriam

That's great to hear, Leo, and we are so glad to have you here!

Hi Rich,

Here's what you'll want to do:

1. Build citations on only those directories which support hidden addresses. Phil Rozek has done the most work of anyone in the industry on surfacing lists of these, which you can see here:

http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/2012/08/13/can-you-rank-well-in-local-google-without-revealing-your-street-address-anywhere/

http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/2013/04/22/private-local-citations-where-can-you-list-your-business-but-hide-your-address/

*Please note, those posts are couple of years old, so you may want to do some of your own research to see if there is anything different or new, but in the main, those lists should be a great start for you.

2. Build links, yes, but do be advised that these may/may not have quite the same impact as citations. They should help, nevertheless. Interestingly, the quality/authority of inbound links to the domain were judged to have the 2nd greatest impact on organic rankings in the most recent Moz Local Search Ranking Factors but only the 12th greatest on local rankings. This is pretty typical, but I think it's important to note that many Local SEOs are advising increasing focus on link earning as a result of the universal rollout of the 3-pack, making local rankings harder to win and organic rankings more important to earn.

So, there's my expert opinion Hope it helps!

Hi Arthur,

As others have mentioned, if you're talking about 2 locations for the same business, there's no problem with using the same email address for Places. Go right ahead.

Hi David,

This is an odd one, I agree. Obviously, proximity of the searcher to the business in question contributes to what ranks where, but what you are experiencing with office A showing when you are in town B and and office B showing when you're in town A is new to me. If only one of the offices was showing when you were searching from both towns, I would suggest that that location is being judged by Google to be of premium importance, regardless of location. I've seen that happen before. But I don't have an answer for the phenomenon you have described. It's like Google has it backwards!

My suggestion: start a thread about this in either the Google and Your Business Forum or the Google MapMaker forum and see if you can get either a Google Top Contributor or MapMaker RER to escalate the issue to a Google staffer. *You'll have to cross your fingers on this. I can't guarantee you'll receive a response, but the issue is problematic enough for your customers to deserve an explanation, in my opinion.

I would title your post something like: Results Sending Customers To 2 Opposite Locations, Despite Proximity Of Searcher.

Then, show exactly what you are experiencing and be prepared to share the full account details. If you do get an answer from a Google staffer, I would certainly be interested in hearing what they say. Most problems in Local SEO come up over and over again, but this is a new one for me and I'd like to know if you learn anything.

Hi Ryan,

I'll be happy to take a look at this with you. Would you be able to answer a couple of questions please?

• What keyword phrase are you wondering about? Is it 'pool cleaning', 'pool service'?

• Are you asking about local pack rankings or organic rankings?

• Are you adding a geomodifier (like Peoria) to your search term? If so, what is it?

• Or, are you not adding a geomodifier, but are simply searching from your device based in Peoria (or some other city)?

These details will help clarify this for the community. Thanks!

Hi Bob,

I agree with the advice others are giving you. Definitely, break these topics up into individual pages. While not every page may not be a highly searched for term, I've done copywriting and Local SEO for dental practice clients and I know that many terms related to dentistry are real winners.

You'll want to start with a session or keyword research for each page, and create an article of 400-600 words in length, fully describing the benefits of each service. FAQs the dentist has noticed his patients have asked are a help in this. For example, if the dentist offers Sleep Dentistry, what has he noticed his patients most frequently ask about it? What are their concerns? Do they need someone to drive them home after the appointment? Are there any medications they shouldn't be taking if they go with this option? Can they eat the day of their appointment? And focus on the positive...how will this service allay their fears?

Be creative and you may well end up with articles that exceed 600 words...I often find that. And don't forget the dentist's geo keywords, too. Those are important!

If the dentist is willing to invest in really good copywriting, he will be greatly strengthening his ranking potentials for many terms, as well as offering very helpful information to his current and prospective clients.

Miriam

Hi AllieMc,

This issue is common and complicated. I'm going to link you to a couple of Google And Your Business Forum Threads to see if you see your exact scenario resolved in them. Read these:

http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!searchin/business/lost$20account|sort:date/business/seRAeWevjq8/jCxrMZ2J8LsJ

http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!searchin/business/lost$20account|sort:date/business/1QxO_JoFttE/XbhaTJ9SFm4J

If these don't help, please return with further details.

Hi Ryan,

Thanks for the clarification. While the site is very appealing visually and I can see the work that has gone into it, I believe you have a duplicate content issue going on. For example, I cut and pasted this text from your Carefree Systems page, "An ionized pool is one of the greatest pleasures you will experience. Once" and it is coming up on multiple websites. Check this out:

https://www.google.com/search?q=An+ionized+pool+is+one+of+the+greatest+pleasures+you+will+experience.+Once&oq=An+ionized+pool+is+one+of+the+greatest+pleasures+you+will+experience.+Once&aqs=chrome..69i57.1106j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

Let's try another. From your Ionization page text, "pool vacuums first came out. Today you probably won’t"

https://www.google.com/search?q=pool+vacuums+first+came+out.+Today+you+probably+won’t&oq=pool+vacuums+first+came+out.+Today+you+probably+won’t&aqs=chrome..69i57.1272j0j1&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

So, this would be my first top priority with the site. Discover all duplicate content and write fresh, unique content for the pages. I also noticed that some pages have very little text on them. It's worth it to take the time to really write out the very best, most complete and engaging content you can for every single page you publish on the website.

I cannot say what percentage of lower rankings than competitors may be being caused by duplicate content, but it certainly is a red flag. Hope this insight is helpful as a place to start.

Hi Inhouseseo,

Yes, I have made similar things happen for clients. Most typically, this type of results stemmed from overhauling a bad website. In one case, the client's sales (the real test, right?) shot up 125% in one year. I've had similar results with other clients.

My take on all SEO is this: the strength of your efforts must be based on the competitiveness of your target industry. If my client is a quilt shop competing against 2 other quilt shops in a 50 mile radius, chances are, I just need to put up a really good website for them to beat out the other two, who probably aren't going to have hired someone like me because the industry isn't very tech-oriented. If I put a blog in the site and client uses it once a week, she will probably be going way beyond the efforts of her competitors. I'll get her Local SEM firmly in place and she will dominate the whole local scene on the web. No way am I going to have to do linkbuilding. It's just not necessary.

However, if my client is a personal injury lawyer in San Francisco, that's a very different story. I can write content for him all day, and it will help, but if his competitors are all spending $3000+ a month on linkbuilding with hotshot linkbuilders, he's going to have to match and exceed their efforts if he wants to outrank them. There could be exceptions to this, but I would call this pretty typical.

So, my experience with this is that the efforts one has to make for each client are unique. It all depends upon what efforts their competitors are making. In some cases, all you need is good on-page SEO. In others, it will be a combination on on-page plus Local SEM. And, in others, you will have to bring out every weapon in the arsenal, from linkbuilding, to SM, to video marketing in order to gain the visibility the client seeks.

Hi Ryan,

This is a topic that has many people confused, so you are not alone. Have you followed the steps outlined in Mike Blumenthal's guide to merging? See:

http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/08/03/step-by-step-guide-to-the-google-businesslocal-merge-verification-process/

*I have to wonder, however, about Google's take on your business model. In visiting your pages, it appears to me that your business model is virtual rather than local. Do you agree/disagree with this?

Hi Andrew,

Good topic! I don't believe the scenario you are describing would actually fall under Google's guidelines for practitioners. Rather what you are describing sounds more like Google's rules for on-going classes at a location, if we view you performing a test at someone's facility as being like a class. So, this would not qualify for a listing, and to further compound this, Google does not want call centers listed as phone numbers. So, in a nutshell, I would not move forward with this idea.

The links from the .edu, however, could prove nice if done in a modest, user-friendly way.

Hope this helps!

Hi Umar,

You've gotten some helpful replies here. I'm a professional copywriter, and will share my own guidelines with you here.

1. Discover a topic you want to write about.

2. Do keyword research to determine how people are searching for information about your chosen topic

3. Cover your chosen topic as thoroughly as you can. You may only end up with 600 words on a given page, or you may end up writing a 2000-3000 word piece if a certain topic merits it. Don't focus on word count - focus on the thoroughness of your coverage of the topic.

4. As you write, keep your keywords in mind. Don't focus on including them a certain number of times. Use them where they make sense from a human perspective. This means your keywords will be sprinkled throughout the page, rather than crammed together in any one place. This is natural.

5. Make the copy a pleasure for humans to read. Yes...those keywords are in there, but they have been highlighted in a natural, non-robotic manner.

6. Once you've written the copy, read it through and craft a compelling title/headline for it, again, taking your keywords into proper consideration.

7. Run spellcheck and read the piece through at least twice before hitting publish. Weed out any typos, errors and awkward language before you go live.

8. Where appropriate, enhance the text copy with images, videos and other relevant tie-ins.

Hope this helps!

Hi Erick,

Good question. There are services like ActivSpace.com which will rent a small, legitimate office with a front door and phone hookup for a modest fee. This would normally be utilized by local business owners who do not have an established professional office, do not want to publish their home address as their office, and who are hoping to make headway in the local search engine rankings with a modest but legitimate local address that will be staffed during normal business hours so that customer can come to conduct face-to-face business.

In my opinion, this would not be an appropriate option for your client for two reasons:

1) You do not mention that your client plans to staff an office. Without staff in place to accept face-to-face business and phone calls during normal business hours, the location does not qualify as truly local.

2) E-commerce businesses are not deemed to be truly local, and therefore must pursue organic rather than local visibility.

Here are the sections of the Google Places Quality Guidelines which refer to this:

"Only businesses that make in-person contact with customers qualify for a Google Places listing."

"Do not create a listing or place your pin marker at a location where the business does not physically exist. P.O. Boxes are not considered accurate physical locations.Your business location should be staffed during its stated hours."

While it may make sense for your client to set a goal of establishing a physical presence one day in USA as his company grows, it would not be honest for him to fake a presence in the meantime. I would explain to the client that honesty in business trumps all other concerns as there is no more important factor that earning client trust. In order to earn real trust, he must present his business as it genuinely is.

Hope this helps!

Hi Jess,

Can you provide further detail regarding what your relationship is to Carr Workplace? What is your business? Did you set up a listing via Google My Business for it? How does your business operate? The more detail you can provide, the better answers you should receive from the community.

Hi James,

The way this was done is not good, but the idea is right. If the client has 14 different offices, it is a standard best practice to create a unique page for each of them, and, yes, that means unique content. too. Rather than dealing with re-directs and rels, my advice is to reconsider your stance on creating meaningful content for each page. You just need to find a unique story to tell for each page. If the client is a service business, then doubtless, he's got a unique story from each service area to share. Put a minimum of 400 engaging words together, put the complete NAP(name, address, phone), a map of the service area, 5-10 local testimonials, maybe a video of the client at work in the local area and, bingo, you've now got a strong page that's been locally optimized for the community it serves.

Are you sure this isn't an option? It will take some effort/funding, but the business needs to understand the importance of taking a high quality approach to presenting themselves on the web, or they are going to be overrun by competitors who are willing to make these efforts.

Hi Laurie,

Your concerns are on target. The Google Places Quality Guidelines are very clear on this:

Rental or for-sale properties, such as vacation homes or vacant apartments, are not eligible to be listed on Google Maps and should not be verified. Instead, verify the listing for your sales or leasing office or offices. If you have a property with an on-site office, you may verify that office location.

If you list a business in Google Places for Business, it means that it is a staffed location to which customers come to have a transaction during listed business hours. A rental property does not meet this definition. The exception to this would be an SAB (service area business like a plumber) that goes to clients to serve during listed business hours, but this is also not your client's business model.

Unfortunately, what your client (and her competitors) are doing is a violation of the guidelines. I know it can be really tempting to break rules when you see so many competitors getting away with it, but it's very risky to consider this a justification for violation. If Google wakes up to what's going on (and they probably eventually will) they may not only suspend all her rental listings, but her legit listing, too, leaving her with no local presence. Getting back into Google's good graces after something like this can be next-to-impossible.

So my advice - and I'm positive that this is what a Google staffer would tell you, too - would be to get rid of those ineligible listings before they cause a breakdown in trust between the business and Google. If she takes the high road when Google cracks down, she will likely thrive while less rule-abiding competitors fall by the wayside.

My pleasure, and I hope it was helpful. Regarding developing separate landing pages, that's a decision you'll need to make, of course, but as you've raised a concern about Google not properly showing both locations, what I'm explaining to you is something that could possibly help with this. It's totally fine that the cities are close to one another. That's common for many businesses. But if you want each office you have to be treated as separate and equal, unique landing pages and unique citation sets will be the common best practice advice you'll see for this scenario.