Good for you, Silhouette! You've advised the client well. It will be important as you move forward to make sure that the original site no longer references the second location, and then there will be citation cleanup, etc. And be sure you are not duplicating text on the two sites. These need to be two totally distinct websites. Glad to hear the client was willing to see the light of day on this. Way to go!

Hi Silhouette,

If this was my client and they wouldn't bring their branding into cohesion, nor build a second website, I honestly wouldn't know how to advise them. Their desire to promote two differently branded businesses on the same local website is a recipe for all kinds of trouble, as we've discussed, so there wouldn't be some 'right' way to do what you're asking about. I would tell the client that they will likely end up with a mess on their hands in their citations and ranking failures and that I couldn't work with them if they weren't going to take my advice about this. Remember, this client has hired you because of your ability to advise them. If they won't take the advice, your hands are tied. I'd have a last conversation with them and then, if they couldn't respect the fact that they've hired me for my expertise in this matter, I would drop them. Clients who can't take advice are not good clients.

If there is some kind of problem with funding that is preventing them from immediately building a new website, you could offer to give them 3 months or whatever to accrue this funding, during which time you will do nothing. Don't build any citations for either business or do anything social. Then, when they've got the necessary funding, you could build out the second website, do a thorough citation cleanup campaign and then begin building new citations as needed.

I understand, it can be so frustrating to encounter businesses like this who, because of their thinking, are on the road to potential disaster. But you can't force them to let you help them. If they won't listen, they are kind of setting themselves up to learn from experience. If you drop them now, explaining the reasons why you are doing so, you may very well hear back from them in six months when they realize their results are all messed up.

Hope this helps!

Good to know, Jess! I'll mark your question as 'answered'. Thanks to everyone on this thread for contributing such helpful answers.

Hi Again, Jess,

Do you feel you've received a helpful answer here, or do you have other questions about this? I want to be sure you've been helped!

Hi Jess,

Good question! You should only need to actually submit a local business listing to a directory or index once. You do not need to resubmit it. That being said, some platforms offer the ability to update your listing on a regular basis with little posts (like a fully merged G+ Local page), giving the listings a social aspect somewhat like a blog or Twitter account. Additionally, some Local SEOs are fans of 'poking' the Google+ Local listing, which basically means logging in, not changing any of the information in the dashboard and hitting submit. There has been some evidence that this can help clear up certain buggy issues.

While I have no idea what the meaning is of the Network Solutions offer you received. I'd be tempted to call them to see what it is that they are actually offering. If it's automated resubmission of all your listings, this doesn't sound very valuable to me. It's not something I would recommend.

My pleasure, Omid! And I'd love to see a post like that come through our YouMoz queue. I get to take the first look at all our submissions and would be happy to take a look at what you come up with if you do end up doing a study.

Hi Omid,

I'd love to see some in-depth testing of this topic done, but to my knowledge, I've never seen anyone delve into this deeply. Nevertheless, I've seen lots of people ask about this. Here's the basic premise:

We know Google doesn't like duplicate content, yet, when we publish a business description on a local business listing, there is a high likelihood of that description getting replicated across the web due to the way data is shared within the Local Search Ecosystem. Does Google care about this type of duplication? Can it harm rankings? Can having varied descriptions help?

My personal opinion is that duplication is baked into the local search ecosystem and is largely unavoidable. After all, your business NAP (name, address, phone) is duplicate content when it is published across multiple platforms and logic dictates that Google has no problem with this.

However, as I've said, I don't know of any real studies of this but your question prompted me to have a brief chat with Darren Shaw and Andrew Shotland  and we were in pretty solid agreement about this.

Darren says: I have heard many people suggest that there are benefits to mixing up your description on your citations, but, it's unrealstic to imagine doing this on EVERY citation ... Maybe making 15 different versions and spreading those around.
I have not seen any evidence to support that there are benefits in doing this though ... just speculation

Andrew says: If anything, it's the IYPs that need to worry about it, not the businesses ... basically the same as a bunch of ecommerce sites having the same SKU description

I think Andrew raises an especially valid point! If there were to be ANY penalty associated with duplicate descriptions (which I highly doubt) it would be something for the IYP/directory who is publishing the content to worry about...not the local business owner.

So, my take on this is that it would be very interesting to experiment with whether varying the business descriptions as much as you can had any observable positive effect on rankings, but that I highly doubt duplicate descriptions have any negative effect - certainly not on the business owner.

That being said - you Local SEO researchers out there - if you're looking for a study to do, this would be a fun one! Hope this helps, Omid!

Hi Patrick,

I am unaware of an exact equivalent to UBL or Localeze that is specific to Canada. Check out David Mihm's awesome Local Search Ecosystem infographic for Canada. It is densely packed with information:

http://www.davidmihm.com/blog/local-seo/local-search-ecosystem-canada/

Hi Shay,

Content creation is always a major creative challenge. Writers and marketers all have different ways of brainstorming good ideas. If you are doing the writing, your task will be to research your industry and geography and see if there is something you can create that doesn't already exist or hasn't already been done well. Your industry might be thought of as a 'boring' industry because it doesn't automatically lend itself to exciting content. This means you have to work a little harder to discover what you can created that will generate notice. We had an excellent article here last year about this. I recommend you read this:

http://a-moz.groupbuyseo.org/blog/the-guide-to-developing-a-content-strategy-for-boring-industries

If you do not feel you can accomplish the job of content development and writing on your own, I recommend you hire help. Here on Moz, you'll find our recommended companies list that can help you connect with a pro. See: http://a-moz.groupbuyseo.org/community/recommended

Regarding your Google+ Local listing, I'm not sure if you're asking me if there is something you should add to it. Your listing should be fully filled out in all fields and should adhere to the Google Places Quality Guidelines.

Citations are mentions anyplace on the web of your business name, address and phone number (NAP). These can include listings on directories like Yelp, Yahoo! Local and SuperPages, and they can also include things like third party blog posts or social media mentions. It sounds like you've already built a listing on Yelp. There are lots more places you can build citations, too. If this is a new concept for you, I recommend you go to GetListed.org and use their free tool to help you start building important citations. Once you have built the basic citations via GetListed.org, you can decide to continue building other citations with the help of a paid tool like Whitespark's Citation Finder Tool (see: https://www.whitespark.ca/local-citation-finder/).

Regarding your point #5, it is not a recommended best practice to acquire links by posting in forums. In fact, this would typically be seen as a spammy practice and should be avoided. I recommend you read chapter 7 of our Beginners' Guide to SEO. Chapter 7 will teach you about good methods for earning links: http://a-moz.groupbuyseo.org/beginners-guide-to-seo/growing-popularity-and-links

Hope this helps!

Hi Imedia,

So glad to help. A multi-location business model's most unique power is that it can have multiple, legitimate local listings in Google (unlike a service area business with only one location but many service cities). The multi-location business can have one listing per public-facing physical office and these listings can be tied to landing pages on the website. For instance, the Chicago office listing can link to acmeplumbing.com/chicago-plumbing-company (just an example).

As for subdomains, Google reps have stated that Google has no preference for these over subfolders. In other words:

acmeplumbing.com/chicago-plumbing-company

is not a better or worse alternative to:

chicago.acmeplumbing.com

So long as Google can crawl the architecture of the website, they don't care. I find subfolders to be easier to manage than subdomains, personally, so I tend to go that way with my own clients. And, I would consider either subfolders or subdomains to be preferable to microsites, even for a multi-location business.

Exceptions to this? Possibly for large franchises with multiple franchise owners, it could be good for each branch to have its own, fully-fleshed-out website. For example, Ace Hardware is a large hardware franchise where I live. If each Ace location in California wanted to have its own website, in addition to the Ace Corporate website, this might be doable, but I wouldn't think of these as microsites. They'd need to be full-fledged websites. And, I would only suggest such a thing under the rare circumstance that the parent company had very clear guidelines about content policy, management of Google+ Local pages and citations and a whole host of other things. It could be a big huge mess, but in some circumstances, with tech savvy franchise owners, it might work.

Hope this helps!

Hi Ricky,

I may not be understanding your question correctly. If a business is local and wants local traffic/business, then optimizing the website will include use of the relevant geographic terms. Regarding keyword research, while the new Google Keyword Planner tool does a better job than the old keyword research tool at indicating volume of searches based on geography, it may still not be totally accurate. You can bet that people are searching for common services in any city, whether they are simply searching from a device based in that city or are actually including the city name in their search term. Thus, inclusion of the city name is key to optimizing the site to help Google understand it is a relevant answer to these queries. Does this make sense, or did I not correctly understand your question? Please, let me know!

Hi Imedia,

You've asked a smart question, and I'm hoping you get a variety of responses from the community. I'm going to weigh in here on why I am not a fan of microsites, specifically for local businesses. I'll break this into numbered points for easiest reading:

1. It's a core goal of every local business to be sure it is sending an absolutely clear NAP+W signal to Google. That's name, address, phone number + website. If Google connects the dots in any way between your microsites, you are posing the question to them, "What is the 'W' in 'NAP=W' here?" You don't want Google to have to ask this. You want them utterly convinced that acmeplumbing.com is your authoritative website. Not sacramentoacmeplumbing.com or sanjoseacmeplumbing.com or what have you.

2. The scenario you describe in which your competitors phone number/s are all ringing back to the same office is really concerning. If they are using the same phone number on multiple sites, this could seriously compound the issue described in point #1. Now Google is asking, "Does this phone number belong to Acme Plumbing or Sacramento Acme Plumbing?" The results of Google's confusing about this could lead to duplicate listings being created with erroneous details on them and ranking failures. Never cloud NAP if you can help it.

3. If the competitors are making the further mistake of putting any part of their physical address on the microsites, then they are really playing with fire. Google finding the same business name, phone number or address on more than one company website can be a recipe for disaster. Mis-matched NAP takes up three spots in the most negative ranking factors identified in the recent Local Search Ranking Factors 2013 survey (see: http://a-moz.groupbuyseo.org/local-search-ranking-factors).

4. For a Service Area Business (SAB) model like a plumber, Google does understand that you have a single physical location and multiple service cities where you are not physically located, but restricts you to having a single listing reflective of physical locale. It makes sense to build out content for your service cities, but there is no reason this can't be on your authoritative website. Google is still a bit weak in carrying out EMD penalties in the Local sphere vs. the organic sphere, but the writing is on the wall that they are not a fan of the EMD strategy. It's still working for many businesses in Local, but who knows when that could end? Maybe tomorrow, right? I think it's simply safer to build out the content of your authoritative domain than to attempt to 'appear larger' with a host of geographically optimized EMDs.

5. For the local business owner, microsites can become a major headache. I've spoken with many business owners over the years who had these built by a previous firm, either because they thought it was a good idea or the marketer they'd hired thought it was a good idea. Then the relationship ended and the client may be confused about management of the sites or unable to access them, etc. Point being, why create a complex set of websites when a single one will do the job and everything you do on that authoritative site will enhance the company's true brand and visibility?

I hope my thoughts on this are helpful to you in your decision making process on this. You've asked an extremely good question!

Pete, you crack me up:)

My pleasure, Brittany!

My pleasure, Vadim. Nyagoslav has written several interesting articles about Yext over the past couple of years. No one should feel like they have to go through Yext. It's just an option, and most of the Local SEOs I know still consider manual claiming to be the superior route because it gives you the most control.

Hi Kurt,

Yext is an option - not an essential. And Yext, while good for some things, is not without problems of its own (see:http://www.ngsmarketing.com/what-happens-when-canceling-yext/).

I am not quite following your statement that you can't register businesses manually anymore. For example, here is the signup page for HotFrog.com: http://www.hotfrog.com/AddYourBusinessSingle.aspx. Most of the important local business directories are still completely accessible with no Yext account necessary. Perhaps you can provide an example of where/how you are experiencing problems with manual claiming, Kurt.

I recommend you take a look at David Mihm's recent post: http://a-moz.groupbuyseo.org/blog/2013-local-search-ecosystems

This will show you how data is shared and should help you feel reassured that Yext is just one of a ton of different players.

I also recommend that you check out GetListed.org to assist you with your manual claiming, for free!

Hi Brittany,

Organic results are the old, traditional results in Google. Local results are those in Google's local pack of results, specifically containing local businesses. Because Google considers a local business to be most relevant to its city of location, such a business is most likely to achieve visibility in the Local pack of results for the city it is physically located in. If the business wants to publicize its activities/services in cities outside its city of location (like a plumber who travels to 6 cities to render services) then the plumber can build unique landing pages on his website for each service city. However, because of Google's bias toward putting city of location businesses in the local pack, these landing pages will typically show up in the organic results - not the local pack of results - because they are about where the plumber serves and not where he is physically located.

Does this help answer your question? Please, let me know.

Hi Shay,

Locksmiths like yourself are up against a harder field then many other types of businesses. This is because the locksmith category has historically been one of the hardest hit by spam. This means that it is especially difficult for honest businesses to move up in the local search engine results because there is just so much spam there.

That being said, the strategy for you is similar to that of any other local business, namely:

1. Publishing the highest quality possible website with excellent text content

2. Having a verified Google+ Local page for the business that is free of violations

3. Building citations for the business on as many relevant local business directories as possible

4. Earning reviews on a variety of profiles

5. Traditional SEO metrics, such as the acquisition of high quality links

6. Participation in Social Media, if possible

Google's Local algorithm is made up of hundreds of different factors. The recent Local Search Ranking Factors 2013 does the best possible job of identifying which factors are deemed to be of most importance. I recommend that you study this survey and begin to identify areas in which you can improve. Discovering where you have already done things right and where you have room to grow is what will help you create a marketing strategy.

All this being said, you will have to be extra patient because of the situation I've described above (spam in the locksmith vertical). Sometimes, the spam is so deep that even the best efforts can result in only very small gains for the business and this is certainly frustrating. It may be that legitimate locksmiths will have to brainstorm ideas beyond the typical Local Search Marketing strategy to get their names in front of consumers. Some type of social, video or offline outreach may be necessary in addition to the above kinds of work.

Hi Again,

No - if they want to promote 2 brands, then the best thing would be for them to run two totally separate websites, in my opinion. Promoting two business names on the same website may have negative consequences in terms of Google's ability to parse the information and clients' ability to identify a location with a business name. Hope this helps!

Hi Silhouette,

In that case, then either route would be appropriate (i.e., bring their branding into cohesion on a single website or build out a completely separate website).

Hi Silhouette,

If I'm understanding this correctly, your client has

1. Two business names (for example, Red Rock Dental Clinic and Green Tree Dental Center)

2. These two locations are in the same city, but have COMPLETELY different addresses AND phone numbers (let me know if the phone numbers are the same)

3. Completely different dentists and staff at the two offices (if not, let me know)

4. A single website representing both businesses.

If the above is correct, the dentist has two options.

1. Bring their branding into a state of cohesion so that their dental practice has just one name. Then, you would simply create 2 landing pages on the website - one for each of the location, and include the complete NAP of both in the footer and on the contact page. If they go this route, your job will be to do a citation cleanup campaign to edit all mentions of their business on the web so that the single, chosen business name is properly associated with both locations.

2. If they have to keep both names for some reason, then I would recommend that they develop a completely separate website for one of the locations. Here's why: the core signal a local business sends to the search engines is comprised of its name+address+phone number+website. If the client maintains 2 names, they are sending a very confusing signal to the bots that both Red Rock Dental Clinic and Green Tree Dental Center are the business' name. Imagine the bots hitting the website and say, "Wait, what is the name of this business???".  This could lead to a number of problems including citation inconsistency, merged listings, duplicate listings and ranking failures. So, if they must keep the 2 names, I suggest they separate them completely with two different websites. Note, in this case the NAP must be completely separate (the phone number cannot be the same for the two different addresses). And, the content would need to be completely different on the two different websites.

Either route would be fine, but their current scenario is not, in my opinion, okay. Having two different businesses share the same website just isn't something I would ever recommend to any local business owner, even if he owns the two businesses. Upshot: they need to solidify their branding or expand their marketing with the development of a second, unique website.

Hope this helps!