Local SEO Plus Performance Based Pay Per Call Multiple Phone Numbers
-
In my learning about Local SEO recently, I keep reading the importance of NAP (name, address, phone number).
But what if you are only using different phone numbers because you are tracking pay per call.
How would set up my Local SEO strategy?
The newest phone numbers are NOT going to match all the websites, social media and previous listing in directories, etc.
Is this a bad move?
Should I suggest that we do one or the other going forward with other clients but not both?
Thanks a lot...
-
Hi GreenHornet,
Yes, the use of call tracking numbers in Local has long been a problem, because it can ruin the clarity of your all important NAP (name, address, phone number) signals. Here is one of David Mihm's early posts on this topic, from 2009:
http://searchengineland.com/be-wary-of-call-tracking-numbers-in-local-search-26895
A couple of years later, and also on Search Engine Land, Chris Silver Smith wrote this post regarding call tracking 'solutions' that could be categorized as cloaking:
http://searchengineland.com/for-local-seo-lack-of-call-tracking-solution-spawns-cloaking-70198
I'll excerpt from Chris' post here, regarding options:
" Avoid call tracking numbers for your website and for any online directories or online yellow pages which are being actively indexed by Google and other local search engines. Using them in banner ads, in PPC ads, and on landing pages which are set up to not be indexed is fine, so they can be used for paid search advertising with zero local SEO impact.
If you have used call tracking numbers in the past or are using them now, discontinue it. You’ll need to periodically audit local information sites to see if your listing info with the tracking number continues to appear on websites online, and carefully update/remove the tracking numbers from them.
If you think you’ve been penalized for using call tracking numbers from a provider who added cloaking software to your site, remove the offending code and submit a reinclusion request to Google explaining what happened.
As part of your standard phone script at your business, consider asking callers directly where they found your listing. Have employees who answer the phone write down responses for you to see later. This remains an excellent and free way of polling to see how effective different channels are performing.
If you are in some sort of unavoidable situation where you must get some phone tracking information, implement the tracking numbers for a brief period of time without using any sort of cloaking code. I would suggest only using tracking numbers for two or three months, maximum, and that should be sufficient to get a rough idea of how effective a particular channel is performing — then, return to using your regular phone number and audit to fix any places where the tracking number continues to appear."
Also in 2011, Greg Sterling covered Telmetrics' introduction of a call tracking solution that doesn't use call tracking numbers, but to be honest, I never saw this idea covered by anyone else and can't say how heavily it was adopted or how well it works:
http://searchengineland.com/telmetrics-introduces-call-tracking-without-tracking-numbers-93450
In 2012, the only thing I've really come across is part of an interview at SEOBook of Jake Puhl and Adam Zilko:
http://www.seobook.com/interview-local-marketing-experts-jake-puhl-adam-zilko
Here's the relevant text:
"Call Tracking Recommendations (Or Not?)
Back to Topics
Eric: Yeah, we do see that a lot, especially with people who are trying to do campaigns with different phone number tracking, where they put different phone numbers in yellow and all these different places. Do you have anything? Do you use a specific type of call tracking application?
Adam: No, we completely recommend against it, absolutely 100% against it. Any time you have any variations with your map, your name, your phone number, like Jake said, you're going to weigh down your citations, weigh down your listing, weigh down your trust with Google and that's been a big thing. We've seen, even without any other sort of off page efforts, just by cleaning up your citations across the web, we've seen a significant increase in rankings, many, many times because of that.
Every now and again, you come across, say, a seven pack with dentists, you see one that maybe doesn't have a website, in a very competitive market. Typically, it's because his citations are so dialed in, he's been in one place for 30 years and the only data out there is exactly the same, so there's a lot of trust with the map. The same kind of rules apply. We completely recommend that you never use a tracking number, and if you have to use one on your site, you put it in the form of an image file, and we'll even go as far as to make the all tag on it their actual phone number. There's just no room for any confusion at all."
I've not seen this discussed any more recently than this, and the consensus of opinion pretty much remains the same as it has for the past 3 years since this subject was first spotlighted. To wit: Call tracking numbers are bad for local campaigns, and if you absolutely have to use them, you need to make an effort to hide them, as discussed in some of the above articles.
I suggest that you read through everything I've linked to above so that you can make an informed decision about this. Hope these resources help!
-
I don't fully understand your situation, but I would ensure your main number is on your site, and use your main number anytime you are trying to build citations (local directories, yellow pages, business listings, etc.) You can use your tracking number in PPC ads, emails, banner ads, etc, as they won't function as citations anyway.
-
Thanks for your answer Adam.
Well we will have the main number but then we are also running a performance based model with a new number.
Which number should I promote?
-
If you think about it, a lot of yellow pages essentially get the data from same sources, some even scraping other yellow-pages as well as licensing data scenarios. It's okay to use your paypercall kind of tracking on your websites, PPC campaigns, radio ads etc. It's not going to affect your local search rank-ability.
I hope this helps.
-
Oftentimes with call tracking you place your real phone number on your site, then use a JavaScript to dynamically display the tracking number.
You should probably be using your real phone number on all your offsite listings.
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.
Related Questions
-
How to handle multiple domains?
Hello, We are working on migrating a website to a new web server. In addition to the primary website domain, there are several other variations that are owned. Is okay if we point all of our domains to the same IP address as our primary domain, and then setup 301 redirects to the primary domain? Are there any risks in doing this? There may be about 100 domains. Many of them are different country TLD for same primary .com domain, others including misspellings of primary .com, and some that are not so related to primary domain. Thank you in advance for your response!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | srbello1 -
Changing categorisation effect on SEO
Hi I work on an ecommerce shop & we've discussed changing some of out categories. We have one named cupboards & lockers, but want to split this out, so we have Cupboards then Lockers so customers can browse through our main navigation like this. For SEO I know initially our rankings will be affected, but long term moving categories up a level will be an improvement & will be more relevant - has anyone does this before and could provide any advice? Becky
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BeckyKey0 -
Not sure what its called - a jump page?
One of my competitors has something implemented on his website where if you click a link thats internal, it tries to load the page and then directs you to the affiliate website. I think its to help his bounce rate because it loads a secondary page, waits a few seconds, then redirects. Is this allowed? If it is, I think I should implement it. Any information would be helpful. He is running wordpress
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | PrivatePartners0 -
Frames and SEO
In the old days frames were a problem because they could end up being orphaned pages that get indexed and appear in the SERPS but had to navigation so they were useless. Are frames still a problem with Google and if so what are the suggested solutions?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | siteoptimized0 -
Region specific SEO
I am doing SEO for a client in Canada. A few of his keywords are: palliative care
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | KS__
home health care
home care
respite care
senior care He wants to attract vistors only from Calgary specifically, not Canada wide. What should I do to optimize his website only for Calgary region? Should I add the word 'Calgary' to all his keywords?0 -
Local Offices Optimization
One of my client has offices in 11 different cities and we have a page on the website for each office. I have optimized each page as well as I could for each city. Every on-page aspect I nailed and I even added a unique 100-150 words text and 3 pictures of the offices to each page to make sure Google wouldn't penalize me for having nearly identical pages. Here's one of the page (the Montreal office): http://pierreroy.com/en/offices/bankruptcy-trustee-montreal/ However, even after doing all that, I can't seem to get as many #1 rankings as I think I should. I get outranked by websites not optimizing their page properly... Is it because of inbound links metrics? How do you build links to each office page without spamming? Any advice? Thanks!!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | optimumweb0 -
Multiple city network
Im currently setting up a large network and my original thought was to target keywords via the city and then setting up a website with the domain name being that keyword. Now im thinking that in the long run thats going to be a massive pain in my ass. Im thinking what i should do is something along these lines... "www.companyname.com/cityorkeywordhere" any thoughts? Thanks for the help
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | dcstover10 -
How to Implement Massive SEO Modifications
Hi everyone, I'm implementing some fairly significant changes on a clients website and wanted to know if it was better to implement all the changes at once or if I should implement the changes gradually. The changes are: 1. Amended information architecture 2. Completely new URL's 3. New meta data and some new on page content 4. Meta robots 'no index, follow' approximately 90% of the site Can I make all these changes in one go (that would be my preference), or should I gradually implement? What are the risks? Many thanks James
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | jamesjackson1