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As said above you need different targets and objectives for the site. You also need to write new content with whatever your new positioning is.  To avoid duplicate content penalties you should also use different pictures and descriptions as well.

Michael,

A technique we have used with success is to do a follow up call to see how things went for the customer. what is great about this is that you also find out about anyone who is unhappy so you can deal with any issues they may have. If you run into happy customers validate them and ask them if they would mind writing a quick review.  Find out what review sites they are comfortable with and send over the link. People are usually happy to do this if they are happy. overall customers feel lie your company cares and this enhances their overall experience.

If you are on word press there are several review and testimonial plug ins to keep this easier. optimally you would put in a review plug in that would link to external review sites as well as a testimonial plug in so that people who are not comfortable with external review sites.  The plug in should preferably do automatic schema mark up on testimonials so that these are properly indexed.

Ron

Dean, I sen you a private message. I would want to know more about your challenges as well as what has already been done to try and get you search results. I would also want to know more about your goals as well as what your conversion rate is. If I can help I will let you know. If I cannot I will try to refer you to someone who can. All the best! Ron

This is an interesting problem.  I would take your Yelp idea a few steps further by creating a full set of local directory listings for both entities either through Moz local or manually.  If one of the entities is wholesale and the other retail I would definitely consider highlighting this when you write up the descriptions for these directory listings. If they are addressing different markets I would highlight this as well.

Another thing you may consider is signing up both businesses with one of the USPS business services as these require you to put in a unique FEIN number for each entity.  The fact that these are different entities will be highlighted in the USPS database as a result. The USPS database is key reference point the search engines utilize. So making it clear that these are separate entities in the USPS database should be helpful as well.

I have been trying also to verify a business. I have had the give me a PIN 3 times to no avail. Each time I recieve a "The verification code you submitted was incorrect. Please enter the correct verification code." message. I have tried to copy and paste the pin as well as manually enter it. I have also tried logging out and back in. Nothing works and I'm getting frustrated as heck with their obvious glitches. To make things worse I read that yahoo won't provide support to their free listing service. What a scam.

thank you Sam. I'll look more closely at the alternates. I thought I had covered the bases there but I see, like anything, there's going to be a learning curve to get the most out of the service. Thanks again for the response.

Ok, I don't know what happened the first time I responded but I have a feeling it was because it doesn't want me to post the screenshots. That's rather frustrating. So, anyway, my issue is this: when I do a search for my clients listing through the MOZ/Local check listing tab, I see 6 listings to "choose the closest one". when I go to the dashboard (having signed them up for the moz/local service) and check the duplicates tab i only see one "possible duplicate" and even that duplicate it says I have to delete manually. So, my questions are:[1] why don't I see the other 5 duplicates in order to delete them and [2] I'm wondering at this point what I'm actually paying for with moz's service if I have to go out and manually delete/update the various listings myself. That's what I was doing before signing up. This client is a test of the Moz service to see if it is value added service that we want to recommend to our clients. If you'd like to see the screenshots, I could email them to you.

Second attempt to respond. The first had an error that said "unable to bank" Whatever that means.                                 If this goes through, then I'll retype the rather lengthy response I just tried

When I do a MOZ/Local search on the search listings tab I see all the listings with different information but they don't show up on the moz dashboard for the subscribed listing.

MOZ links to your Google Analytics so there is no snippet to install.

Like everything it depends...If the domain has good quality links, has generally performed well and is relevant to your category it might make sense.  If you are considering this you should evaluate the links closely to make sure that there is not a predominance of spammy ones.

If this is a locally relevant domain Local directory links are OK as long as they are relevant. Links from blogging or other attractive content are more valuable.  I would value the domain based on how much time it would take to get your domain to the same place versus what you think your time is worth.  A directory takes about 22 minutes and a higher value link(attractive content)  takes at least one hour on average.  I would add up the time and multiply this by your least expensive hourly rate and see if it makes sense.

I know this is a somewhat general response but the situation is somewhat fluid and requires some judgement calls.

All the best!

Ron

I was speaking with someone today who was spreading out their link building because they were afraid that getting too many too quickly would incur penalties from Google and Bing.  Is this a real thing?  I have always been under the impression that if they are high quality links and directories that there was no limit to how many you could add other than the limited availability of the high quality links and directories themselves. I would appreciate some input on this.

I have a site I am building that has information that shifts based on weather conditions and location.  Is there a way to have information sort based on a users geographic location? I am trying to figure out the best way to do this.

I appreciate your taking the time to answer this.  If it is helpful I found out that the Google carousel is most often populated from pictures on relevant Google + pages.

Thanks again for your input!

I appreciate everyone's input. This was very very helpful ;)!

If this link is relevant to what you do and is useful to your target customer base do it.  A baseline rule I have is that anything that helps users get the information they need or makes their internet experience better it is worth doing.  I can't see how this would hurt as it looks like a credible link.

On a side note pay attention to the description you put in.  If it makes sense include references to your area or the areas that you like to provide services.  This will help this listing show up where you want it to:).

John,

Yes! In search marketing today everything is about an edge. Anything you can do to make it easier for search engines to quantify that giving your company as a result is better increases the possibility that you get a higher ranking.  Well over 50% of search is on mobile devices today so serving this traffic well is a priority.  You should also take some time to look at your menu on mobile devices to see if they are organized in a way that would be convenient for a mobile user.  I would highly recommend getting a smart phone with a smaller screen to make sure the buttons are convenient to use.  Although these UI adjustments don't directly affect your rankings they do effect your user engagement which in turn decreases your bounce rate and improves your conversion rate.  This in turn is factored into your rankings.

Going back to my first argument I would recommend that If you have video or audio that you submit site maps for these as well.

Hope this helps,

Ron

I set up a web site to raise funds for my nephew(www.helpmatt.org) and social media randomly picks a picture on the share.  Unfortunately this picture is from happier times and sends a different message than we would like to prospective contributors.  Is there a way to set the picture that is used when this web site link is shared on social media?

www.helpmatt.org

Google is now showing menus on select searches.  Any idea how they are getting this information? I would like to make sure my clients get visibility this way.

Branden,

My company has spent a lot of time evaluating different hosting companies.  We finally settled on these guys: http://pressable.com/

Here are the reasons we selected them:

1. Really easy to use interface for the developers as well as good backup/restoration tools

2. automatic patch updates and testing

3. Quick support response

4. Extensive f5 load balancing network through Rackmount  to improve performance

5. Rackmount is physical back end so there is easy integration with any of Rackmount's higher end hosted database services etc,, if needed.

We are still in progress but we are moving all of our clients sites to this platform. We have been with them as our primary provider for about a year.

Ron