Local SEO NAP - Two Different Cities....Same Zip Code
-
I've come across this recently and wanted to get your thoughts.
I personally live in a city called Greenacres (yes, it's the place to be) but my zip code is also for Lake Worth. I'm a local SEO company so doing Local SEO stuff is pretty pointless (Google changed that in 2010) but I am sure other people have this issue for their business.
Question,
What do you do when your zip code is for two different cities. Do you try to make all NAPs (Name Address Phone Numbers) the same city. What if you cant'? Does having the NAP show up different cities hurt your efforts? etc. Obviously I think you'd try to keep the NAP as consistent as possible but what do you do if the citation source changes it or only uses the major of the two cities?
There isn't a right or wrong answer (or maybe there is) but I wanted to get some thoughts on it.
Darin.
-
Hi Vz,
Yes, I do think this could cause problems. It seems you are not actually having to solve an issue like this, but are just curious about it. In my opinion, this is the type of issue one would either need to take up with the RERs at the Google Map Maker Forum (http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/map-maker), or try to get direct help with from Google staff at the Google Data Issues phone number (http://support.google.com/places/bin/static.py?hl=en&ts=1386120&page=ts.cs). Additionally, it might be necessary to talk to whichever directories are automatically changing the city name to see if something can be done about this. Inconsistent NAP is a major issue, so resolution, if possible, would be very important.
-
Yes, you have my question correct. I am an SEO so I don't do local citations but I was just thinking that a person who is in my city would have the same problem. So my question is how to handle this. As another example I worked with a plumber in Coconut Creek before and their listing was changed to Pompano Beach on YP.com. Coconut Creek used to be part of Pompano but became it's own city not to long ago. Do you think that would be a problem with the NAP since the city won't be the same?
-
Hi vzPro,
I want to be sure I understand your question. Are you saying that in trying to create citations for Greenacres businesses, indexes/directories are automatically changing the city name to Lake Worth? If so, it could be that Greenacres is not a recognized city name, in the eyes of these indexes/directories. This was my first thought, as I believe I've seen a similar situation reported in the Google and Your Business Forum.
However, I did a simple Google search for 'shoe store greenacres fl' and Google is showing me some local Greenacres results, but they are mixed with Lake Worth results and one West Palm Beach result, interestingly. So, Greenacres appears to exist in Google's index of cities. This begs the question: if not on Google's local product, then on which product are you experiencing this issue of the city being automatically changed, if I have correctly described what you are experiencing?
When oddities like this arise, typically the best thing to do is to get in touch with a Google Mapmaker RER to see if they can help clarify Google's view of the geography. Please, feel free to provide further details.
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
-
Does Coverage impact on SEO
Does the coverage issues on google search console ( Google Webmaster) has an impact on SEO ( CTR or impressions). How much of a difference or impact will fixing these have on Search results and average
Algorithm Updates | | Rishardg0 -
Are SEO Friendly URLS Less Important Now That Google Is Indexing Breadcrumb Markup?
Hi Moz Community and staffers, Would appreciate your thoughts on the following question: **Are SEO friendly URLS less important now that Google is indexing breadcrumb markup in both desktop and mobile search? ** Background that inspired the question: Our ecommerce platform's out of the box functionality has very limited "friendly url" settings and would need some development work to setup an alias for more friendly URLS. Meanwhile, the breadcrumb markup is implemented correctly and indexed so it seems there's no longer an argument for improved CTR with SEO friendly URLS . With that said I'm having a hard time justifying the URL investment, as well as the 301 redirect mapping we would need to setup, and am wondering if more friendly URLs would lead to a significant increase in rankings for level of effort? Sidenote: We already rank well for non-brand and branded searches since we are brand manufacturer with an ecommerce presence. Our breadcrumbs are much cleaner & concise than our URL structure. Here are a couple examples. Category URL: http://www.mysite.com/browse/category1/subcat2/subcat3/_/N-7th
Algorithm Updates | | jessekanman
Breadcrumb: www.mysite.com > category1 > subcat2 > subcat3 Product URL: http://www.mysite.com/product/product-name/_/R-133456E112
Breadcrumb: www.mysite.com > category1 > subcat2 > subcat3 > product name The "categories" contain actual keywords just hiding them here in the example. According to my devs they can't get rid of the "_" but could possible replace it with a letter. Also they said it's an easier fix to make the URLs always lower case. Lastly some of our product URLS contain non-standard characters in the product name like "." and "," which is also a simpler fix according to my developers. Looking forward to your thoughts on the topic! Jesse0 -
Keyword Targeting - How to Properly Target Two Similar Terms?
Hi all, So I have a question about "best practices" when you have two unique, but highly similar keywords you are targeting. Let's use the examples of "raincoats for women," which gets 9,900 searches a month, and "rain jackets for women," which gets 4,400. I am in the process of selecting keywords for my client's "keyword portfolio" and need to come up with a strategy when faced with two similar keywords that use different terminology. I'm well aware that there should only be one page for "women's raincoats" but there is no doubt in my mind that Google will give preferential treatment to whichever version of the keyword (raincoats/rain jackets) I include in my title tag, meta description, content, etc. I know that the modern philosophy is that Google is sophisticated enough to understand that the two words are essentially synonymous. That said, would you A) only pick "raincoats for women" for your client's keyword portfolio and focus exclusively on that term in your optimizations? b) pick both terms and try to strike an even balance between both in your optimizations? c) pick both terms and only optimize for "raincoats for women" and hope that "rain jackets for women" gets some peripheral benefit from your optimizations via Google's understanding of synonyms? Thanks!
Algorithm Updates | | FPD_NYC0 -
New feature in seo results with icon?
I have never seen it before in the search: an icon in the title. Do you guys know how to get this icon in the title? See here: http://snag.gy/e7BiI.jpg e7BiI.jpg
Algorithm Updates | | Emilija1 -
SEO for mobile sites?
Let's say I have an ecommerce site and it has a separate theme via device detection. So I may even have different content on the pages. So for example, on desktop, on mysite.com/flowers I have a video about flowers. But on mobile, I have 10 000 words of text. Will this page rank better for people searching via mobile? Will google give different search rankings, based on desktop vs. mobile? Or how is Google calculating this? Are there any good mobile SEO tips or a knowhow base?
Algorithm Updates | | JaanMSonberg0 -
How can a site with two questionable inbound links outperform sites with 500-1000 links good PR?
Our site for years was performing at #1 for but in the last 6 months been pushed down to about the #5 spot. Some of the domains above us have a handful of links and they aren't from good sources. We don't have a Google penalty. We try to only have links from quality domains but have been pushed down the SERP's? Any suggestions?
Algorithm Updates | | northerncs0 -
Getting listed in the Google local result - help!
Good day, I'm really struggling to get a client to appear in the Google Local map snapshot (on the right of the SERPs), even when their company name is Googled. I've tried everything including getting the main Google Local account verified, had some reviews put up, all the required and relevant info has been completed, yet their location and the map never appear. Any help out there as to how I can remedy this? Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | Martin_S1 -
What are the most trusted SEO sites?
Other then SEOmoz what sites can you trust for SEO? Is there some type of formula I can use to find out if any site is trustworthy?
Algorithm Updates | | uofmiamiguy0