SEO Local is involved with helping a number of clients develop their Local search standings, and one of the benefits of getting involved with a number of clients is that we get to see a number of things clients are doing right, and also a number of things they’re doing wrong. That’s why we thought it’d be a great idea to have a recurring feature documenting some of the things we’re seeing ‘out in the field’, so to speak, so that everyone can learn together about what to do and what not to do in Local SEO.
First up is a big DON’T: Do not have multiple addresses on your website’s contact page.
Doing this can easily confuse search engines trying to figure just where your company is located. Search engines know that most companies will have a contact page (you do have a contact page, right?) and then compares it to that business’s listings on the web. So why is it so bad? Any obstacle you put up for the search engines to understand where you are actually located is something keeping you from getting where you want to be in the rankings.
So what should you do? A business with more than one physical location should create an individual landing page for each location on their own website. That way the search engines understand that it is two distinct locations. Then, when the business is adding itself to directories and Google Places listings it should provide a link to those individual pages on its website. This should help mitigate any confusion for the search engines as they try to figure out where the business is located. It’s not a perfect solution, and constant monitoring and proper configuration for each listing is recommended.
That does it for this edition of “Local Dos and Don’ts”. Check back soon for more helpful tips.
