• seohunters9

        See all notifications

        Skip to content
        Moz logo Menu open Menu close
        • Products
          • Moz Pro
          • Moz Pro Home
          • Moz Local
          • Moz Local Home
          • STAT
          • Moz API
          • Moz API Home
          • Compare SEO Products
          • Moz Data
        • Free SEO Tools
          • Domain Analysis
          • Keyword Explorer
          • Link Explorer
          • Competitive Research
          • MozBar
          • More Free SEO Tools
        • Learn SEO
          • Beginner's Guide to SEO
          • SEO Learning Center
          • Moz Academy
          • MozCon
          • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
        • Blog
        • Why Moz
          • Digital Marketers
          • Agency Solutions
          • Enterprise Solutions
          • Small Business Solutions
          • The Moz Story
          • New Releases
        • Log in
        • Log out
        • Products
          • Moz Pro

            Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

          • Moz Local

            Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

          • STAT

            SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

          • Moz API

            Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

          • Compare SEO Products

            See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

          • Moz Data

            Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

          Let your business shine with Listings AI
          Moz Local

          Let your business shine with Listings AI

          Learn more
        • Free SEO Tools
          • Domain Analysis

            Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

          • Keyword Explorer

            Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

          • Link Explorer

            Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

          • Competitive Research

            Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

          • MozBar

            See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

          • More Free SEO Tools

            Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

          NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
          Moz Pro

          NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

          Learn more
        • Learn SEO
          • Beginner's Guide to SEO

            The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

          • SEO Learning Center

            Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

          • On-Demand Webinars

            Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

          • How-To Guides

            Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

          • Moz Academy

            Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

          • MozCon

            Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

          Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
          Moz API

          Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

          Find your plan
        • Blog
        • Why Moz
          • Digital Marketers

            Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

          • Small Business Solutions

            Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

          • Agency Solutions

            Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

          • Enterprise Solutions

            Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

          • The Moz Story

            Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

          • New Releases

            Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

          Surface actionable competitive intel
          New Feature

          Surface actionable competitive intel

          Learn More
        • Log in
          • Moz Pro
          • Moz Local
          • Moz Local Dashboard
          • Moz API
          • Moz API Dashboard
          • Moz Academy
        • Avatar
          • Moz Home
          • Notifications
          • Account & Billing
          • Manage Users
          • Community Profile
          • My Q&A
          • My Videos
          • Log Out

        The Moz Q&A Forum

        • Forum
        • Questions
        • My Q&A
        • Users
        • Ask the Community

        Welcome to the Q&A Forum

        Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

        1. Home
        2. SEO Tactics
        3. Local SEO
        4. Local Listings
        5. How do I treat multiple buildings on the same college campus on Google for local SEO?

        Moz Q&A is closed.

        After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

        How do I treat multiple buildings on the same college campus on Google for local SEO?

        Local Listings
        4
        12
        1974
        Loading More Posts
        • Watching

          Notify me of new replies.
          Show question in unread.

        • Not Watching

          Do not notify me of new replies.
          Show question in unread if category is not ignored.

        • Ignoring

          Do not notify me of new replies.
          Do not show question in unread.

        • Oldest to Newest
        • Newest to Oldest
        • Most Votes
        Reply
        • Reply as question
        Locked
        This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
        • GabeGibitz
          GabeGibitz last edited by

          Should I delete them? Simply give them a different address like "City, State, Zip"?

          I see the benefit of having key buildings on campus in Google Maps, but I don't want those to affect my accuracy score and, thus, my local rankings for SEO.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • julie-getonthemap
            julie-getonthemap last edited by

            I hope you succeed with your quest to make it easier to get college businesses listed. I am helping with a music festival in February on Sacramento State's campus. Hundreds of people attending, many who will get lost because the building is not on the map. The campus road system is convoluted with random detours and dead ends to slow down the speeders who are late for class.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • MiriamEllis
              MiriamEllis Subject Expert @GabeGibitz last edited by

              Hi Gabe,

              1. If they don't have separate phone numbers, then I personally would not advise building citations for them. Google wants the number you list for a location to connect as directly as possible to the specific location. Lacking this, I wouldn't build citations, but you might find varying opinions on this.

              2. Yes, if you decide to build citations for each building, you are talking about building a complete, unique citation set for each locations. So 20 buildings would equal 20 citation sets.

              3. In a correct scenario, properly created listings for multi-department businesses should not water anything down. However, your scenario may not qualify as 'correct', given lack of unique numbers.

              4. Here's an example. This is USF: https://www.google.com/maps/place/University+of+San+Francisco/@37.7766466,-122.4528717,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x8085874a311220bb:0x6a56ca6f837ff84e!8m2!3d37.7766466!4d-122.450683

              And here is a unique building on this campus (note separate phone number): https://www.google.com/maps/place/Phelan+Hall/@37.7762416,-122.4497874,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x68467e565121581b?sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEjOWA7YDQAhVkilQKHbXTA0YQ_BIIeDAK

              I haven't looked closely at how this university is doing things, but I was able to find that example in a couple of seconds. Hopefully, you can find others.

              Adhering to the letter of Google's guidelines, any citation set you build should have a real world guideline-compliant name, direct phone number and accurate street address. Any variation from this can lead to problems. Hope this helps!

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • GabeGibitz
                GabeGibitz last edited by

                This creates more questions than answers...ha. Feel free to direct me to a resource. I've done a hefty amount of research on SEO and local SEO, but still have lots of questions for the higher ed sector. Questions:

                1. If the university doesn't have separate phone numbers (and you can't list phone extensions on FB and Google), will a different "business name" and landing page suffice for each department?
                2. If I treat each department as distinct, am I creating a different property in Moz Local for them? If I had 20 departments, I'm paying 2,000 dollars a year then, right?
                3. If I do make every department distinct, does that "water down" the university brand or does it give me more opportunities to rank?
                4. What's standard protocol for universities? Looking for someone who has thought through this and is successful at it. Looks like people are doing things all across the board. I just want to do it right.

                Thanks!! Really appreciate this community.

                MiriamEllis 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • MiriamEllis
                  MiriamEllis Subject Expert last edited by

                  Hey Gabe,

                  Because Google continues to dominate Local, we normally take our queues from them. Google's guidelines allow a unique listing for major departments of campus-style entities like colleges and medical centers. Google states:

                  • Individual practitioners and departments within businesses, universities, hospitals, and government buildings may have separate pages. See specific guidelines about individual practitioners and departments for more information.

                  Publicly-facing departments that operate as distinct entities should have their own page. The exact name of each department must be different from that of the main business and that of other departments. Typically such departments have a separate customer entrance and should each have distinct categories. Their hours may sometimes differ from those of the main business.

                  • Acceptable (as distinct listings):
                    • "Walmart Vision Center"
                    • "Sears Auto Center"
                    • "Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Dermatology"
                  • Not acceptable (as distinct listings):
                    • The Apple products section of Best Buy
                    • The hot food bar inside Whole Foods Market

                  For each department, the category that is the most representative of that department must be different from that of the main business and that of other departments.

                  • The main business "Wells Fargo" has the category "Bank" whereas the department "Wells Fargo Advisors" has the category "Financial Consultant"
                  • The main business "South Bay Toyota" has the category "Toyota Dealer" whereas the "South Bay Toyota Service & Parts" has the category "Auto Repair Shop" (plus the category "Auto Parts Store")
                  • The main business "GetGo" has the category "Convenience Store" (plus the category "Sandwich Shop") whereas the department "GetGo Fuel" has the category "Gas Station", and the department "WetGo" has the category "Car Wash"

                  So, basically, for each set of citations you build for a major building on the campus, you need to have a unique name that adheres to the guidelines, and where possible, a unique category (can be hard with schools), I HIGHLY recommend also having:

                  • A unique phone number for any department you list

                  • A unique landing page on the college website for that department, linked to from the GMB listing and all other citations.

                  What you need to strive for is that if English Hall has its own citations, they are consistent across the web. Moz Local can really help you ascertain inconsistencies and duplicates. You want to have the NAP+W be as consistent as possible everywhere, shoring up Google's trust in the validity of the data they have about your business.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • JordanLowry
                    JordanLowry @GabeGibitz last edited by

                    It is a nightmare sometimes. I've done a few audits and found everything from important blocked resources to important landing pages that are only accessible in a pdf format.

                    Your welcome. Let me know if there are any additional questions you may have. Feel free to shoot me a message.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • GabeGibitz
                      GabeGibitz @JordanLowry last edited by

                      Good insight. Yeah, I'm in higher ed trying to fix our issues and finding that most higher ed institutions have similar problems. Thanks!

                      JordanLowry 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • JordanLowry
                        JordanLowry @GabeGibitz last edited by

                        Well, there are a lot of SEO issues in the higher ed space I've seen. Since that would not be considered a "publicly facing department" I would imagine that would be overkill. My rule of thumb generally is if it provides good user experience go for it.

                        GabeGibitz 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • GabeGibitz
                          GabeGibitz last edited by

                          Ugh. I'll have to start a new thread addressing that specific issue. When I'm signed in to Moz Local, it doesn't say that's even an issue in the duplicates section. Our departments don't act as distinct entities (own phone numbers, billing, etc.) since we're a small university. University of Kentucky, for instance has a different location for ever dorm and does this:

                          Yadayada Dorm
                          University of Kentucky (instead of the UK address)
                          Lexington, KY 40390

                          Good user experience, but, again, good practice?

                          JordanLowry 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • JordanLowry
                            JordanLowry last edited by

                            When I run the local search I see two verified listing for 'Ashbury University' with different addresses I would consolidate those first. Also, according to Google's guidelines 'Publicly-facing departments that operate as distinct entities should have their own page.' As long as the name is different from that of the main campus you will be fine. Keep the other buildings listings open.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • GabeGibitz
                              GabeGibitz last edited by

                              Thanks for your insights.

                              Yep. I'm using Moz Local to help me with this. They don't have different addresses. Just different locations (as I'm sure you can imagine).

                              Doesn't really help me figure out if I should close all the buildings (which is unhelpful to the user) for the sake of local SEO. Pros/cons? Risks/benefits? What kind of things am I weighing?

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • JordanLowry
                                JordanLowry last edited by

                                I think this is a unique issue I think there might be a few different ways of handling it. I am assuming those buildings have different addresses and specific functions. The first option you can claim those local listing etc in local directories and properly fill out the local information accordingly. Or the second option would be to just maintain one listing for the school overall.

                                I would use Moz's local search tool and see how you already appear in the listings. Personally, I would lean towards having one local listing for the campus and if you have separate sister campuses I would claim those as well.

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • 1 / 1
                                • First post
                                  Last post

                                Browse Questions

                                Explore more categories

                                • Moz Tools

                                  Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

                                • SEO Tactics

                                  Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

                                • Community

                                  Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

                                • Digital Marketing

                                  Chat about tactics outside of SEO

                                • Research & Trends

                                  Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

                                • Support

                                  Connect on product support and feature requests.

                                • See all categories

                                Related Questions

                                • MeritInsuranceGroup

                                  Bingplaces.com wanting access to google account

                                  local listings

                                  Hello, we have a google my business account. On bingplaces.com it is saying they would like access to our google account. Is that normal for bing to share access with the google my business account? Thanks.

                                  Local Listings | | MeritInsuranceGroup
                                  0
                                • TheKatzMeow

                                  Google My Business for Municipalities?

                                  I'm working with the City of Lakewood, WA, on an image campaign that overlaps a bit with some SEO goals. If you Google "Lakewood, WA", in the knowledge panel to the right of the search results is an image of building on fire. I'm not sure where this image comes from or why it has been selected as the image to represent the City of Lakewood but its been there for a while. If this was a small business, I would simply claim their Google My Business page and feed some good images into it. Problem solved. But Google doesn't offer an option to "Claim this City". LOL. Can you create a GMB page for a municipality? Does anyone know the right thing to do here to make this picture go away and give the city more control over its own image?

                                  Local Listings | | TheKatzMeow
                                  2
                                • MPlata

                                  Facebook Locations - Good or Bad for Local Rankings?

                                  Our company has multiple (3) offices, including our headquarters, and each has its own Facebook page. Other than the primary company page, the other two locations have only been claimed and do not have posts, reviews, check-ins, etc. Now, Facebook recently granted us access to Facebook Locations, which, if I understand correctly, would remove 2-out-of-3 office pages and add a "Locations" tab to our primary company page where people can see the other offices. _See Starbucks Example: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Starbucks/locations/?ref=page_internal _ I've read mixed reviews regarding using the Locations feature, but nothing definitively answers whether or not this would negatively affect local rankings. Does anyone have firsthand experience going from individual business pages to a single parent business page with Locations? Is there any trustworthy documentation out there about this?

                                  Local Listings | | MPlata
                                  1
                                • TaylorRHawkins

                                  How do you do Local SEO in a small town?

                                  Good afternoon everyone! I wanted to start a discourse on a subject that I think might benefit a few select readers. What would be your best plan-of-action to successfully propose and execute a Local-SEO campaign for a small, local business in a rural town? The type of town that has next to zero local directories, the type of business that has hardly any (if any at all) "fresh mentions" on the internet, etc. I'm interested to see how other SEOs would handle tackling this kind of campaign. Can't wait to hear what people have to say! 
                                  Thanks! 
                                  Taylor

                                  Local Listings | | TaylorRHawkins
                                  1
                                • Smart_Start

                                  Using Hashtag for Google My Business

                                  I was told by a Google My Business representative to include #{keywords} in my description. I was told this would boost my rankings. Has anyone else heard of this?

                                  Local Listings | | Smart_Start
                                  0
                                • Ayres-SEO

                                  Best Practice When Selling One Location of Company with Multiple Branches - Local Search

                                  I have a client with a small business with 4 different branches. Currently, we have a main landing page for the company, plus distinct landing pages for each branch with maps, territories, distinct phone numbers, etc., for each branch. The company recently sold one of the branches to a competitor  as they do not want to service that area anymore. They have asked me what they should do now. Obviously, we are going to remove the location page for that branch, but we also need to transfer the phone number to the other company for use as part of the sale. What tasks should I look into for separating the branch from the rest of the company while still maintaining best practice for the rest of the site/company? Thank you for your help and suggestions.

                                  Local Listings | | Ayres-SEO
                                  0
                                • EcommerceSite

                                  How long until an address changes after verification on Google My Business?

                                  Started working with a company recently that had a Google My Business with an old address. I went ahead and claimed it and verified it with the postcard, but it still shows the old address if search. How long will that be?

                                  Local Listings | | EcommerceSite
                                  0
                                • surfsup

                                  Description on Google+ & ALL Citations the same or?

                                  Does it matter if the description is different on Google local and all the citation websites? Some websites allow a lot of description, some don't. So my question is it only the company name+address that needs to be the same across the board or the description has to be the same too?

                                  Local Listings | | surfsup
                                  0

                                Get started with Moz Pro!

                                Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                                Start my free trial
                                Products
                                • Moz Pro
                                • Moz Local
                                • Moz API
                                • Moz Data
                                • STAT
                                • Product Updates
                                Moz Solutions
                                • SMB Solutions
                                • Agency Solutions
                                • Enterprise Solutions
                                • Digital Marketers
                                Free SEO Tools
                                • Domain Authority Checker
                                • Link Explorer
                                • Keyword Explorer
                                • Competitive Research
                                • Brand Authority Checker
                                • Local Citation Checker
                                • MozBar Extension
                                • MozCast
                                Resources
                                • Blog
                                • SEO Learning Center
                                • Help Hub
                                • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                                • How-to Guides
                                • Moz Academy
                                • API Docs
                                About Moz
                                • About
                                • Team
                                • Careers
                                • Contact
                                Why Moz
                                • Case Studies
                                • Testimonials
                                Get Involved
                                • Become an Affiliate
                                • MozCon
                                • Webinars
                                • Practical Marketer Series
                                • MozPod
                                Connect with us

                                Contact the Help team

                                Join our newsletter
                                Moz logo
                                © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                                • Accessibility
                                • Terms of Use
                                • Privacy

                                Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.