9 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
9 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Citations, Google when they don't want to put out address?

by Freebiequeen1999
6 replies
Hi....

I have 3 similar problems.....

3 woman owned biz (home) that do NOT want to put their home address on webpage

1) Photographer - divorced, works from home, has good photog website, with limited contact info, I am increasing that but she does not want address there or on any social media

2) Small dog home boarder - also divorced woman, no kids but her small dog at home...she pet sits small dogs , often purebreds, she has been involved in local dog shows , bred champions, knows a lot of these people (tho her current love is a mutt LOL)....she is afraid to put her address cause 1) no walk ins 2) basic woman alone fears and also a fear of a dognapper....she does a meet/greet with potential clients


3) Girls spa parties - married with little girls at home, she has a mobile spa party biz for girls bday parties, or just parties and also can do this at several salons - but she does not own them.....her hub does not want address as afraid of walk ins, or people just ? who knows....targeting her and kids at home as he travels a lot



suggestions for all 3 appreciated re - nap on sites, citations, etc....I want to set it up right

the spa one was using a salon address where she worked part time - but too many calls, walk in about the parties and too much confusion cause she does not book the parties there exclusive - so that is out


ideas - a ups mailbox store address?

......?? I know a PO box won't work

other ideas? I know I can choose - "travel to locations" in google biz but? not right for the dog sitter as she does not sit in other peeps homes....she has a large home where little dogs run around and get pampered

(and no you are right....I never have normal, here is all my info, here are all the passwords and graphics and such clients - only the gurus get them, "rushing to pay you big bucks just cause of one email" LOL)
#address #citations #google #put
  • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
    Originally Posted by Freebiequeen1999 View Post

    (and no you are right....I never have normal, here is all my info, here are all the passwords and graphics and such clients - only the gurus get them, "rushing to pay you big bucks just cause of one email" LOL)
    Seriously, it happens. It's not a matter of emails, it's a matter of very large marketing spend and strategy.

    Personally, I wouldn't accept clients like that, can't imagine they're going to be very high value at all and with the problems you listed, it's obvious it's not a simple setup, optimize, outsource citations type of thing.

    No UPS store, those are getting deleted everyday. No PO box unless they live in a very rural area where there is no mail delivery, or rural enough to where you can claim there is no mail delivery. You can call Google directly and go through a manual verification process.

    Virtual offices are used too often, not a good idea anymore.

    The spa parties wouldn't be a fit for local... I guess you could try but I doubt they would benefit much from it.

    The home boarder and photographer have the most to gain.

    For all of these, you simply should choose to not display the address. For citations, don't display the address if you don't want, however, if they are registered with the state, their address is already displayed on the secretary of state website, unless they used a Registered Agent.

    Personally... I think you're focusing too much on citations. They haven't been as prominent of a signal in local (no matter what anyone else says) since 2012.

    In order of importance:
    1.) Business Name in Google My Business Listing
    2.) URL/domain
    3.) On site optimization - your focus is 2 things... industry relevance and location relevance..addresses help but it's not necessary to be location relevant
    4.) Summary and completion of profile in GMB
    5.) Citations - these can even be partial citations just including the business name and phone number. Essentially "unstructured" citations
    6.) NAP consistency... seriously not as much of an issue as people make it out to be.

    Backlinking would be in between summary and citations, possibly between citations and NAP consistency unless you had location specific backlinks (press releases help for that even though it's a no follow, it's the context and co-occurrence along with the location specific co-citations that help)
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10139385].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author savidge4
      Partial NAP information is fine. Business name, City, state, and phone. I would go a step further and include the exact match detail on the site itself with schema tags so that the data out in the world matches the data on the site.


      So the most basic name and URL schema tag would be as follows with the added citation pointer. I include g+ as an example here, but you can add Bing, Facebook, Yelp City Search, Etc. you can throw in hours of operations, all kinds of stuff
      HTML Code:
      <div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/LocalBusiness">

<span itemprop="name">Savidge4 Demo Business Agency</span>

<link itemprop="url" href="http://www.savidge4demobusiness.com/">

<link itemprop="sameAs" href="https://plus.google.com/+yourgoogle+usernamehere">

</div>
      And below here is the same tag, just adding the phone number address and some more useful fields like description, and logo etc

      HTML Code:
      <div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/LocalBusiness">

<h1><span itemprop="name">Savidge4 Demo Business</span></h1>

 <span itemprop="description">Get all your business demo needs here</span>

<link itemprop="url" href="http://www.savidge4demobusiness.com/">

<img itemprop="logo" src="http://www.savidge4demobusiness.com/images/logo.png" />

<link itemprop="sameAs" href="https://plus.google.com/+yourgoogle+usernamehere">

<a itemprop="telephone" href="tel:+3045555555">(504) 875-2225</a>

 <div itemprop="address" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/PostalAddress">

<span itemprop="addressLocality">Bridgeport</span>

<span itemprop="addressRegion">WV</span>

<span itemprop="postalCode">26301</span>
Hours:
 <meta itemprop="openingHours" content="Mo-Sa 11:00-14:30">Mon-Sat 11am - 2:30pm

<meta itemprop="openingHours" content="Mo-Th 17:00-21:30">Mon-Thu 5pm - 9:30pm

<meta itemprop="openingHours" content="Fr-Sa 17:00-22:00">Fri-Sat 5pm - 10:00pm

</div>

      the overall idea is to get the site information to match the outside information and places such as Google will see it not as an error, but as intended.
      Signature
      Success is an ACT not an idea
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10139441].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author DABK
        I agree with Savidge, partial NAP is good enough. However, if you really, truly want a full one, you can get them to rent a desk in someone else's office, put in a phone line, forward it to their cell / home phone... Preferably in a business park or office building that looks like an office building that could house more than 1 business.

        Yes, I know, extra expenses. But isn't peace of mind worth that?
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10139449].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
          Originally Posted by DABK View Post


          Yes, I know, extra expenses. But isn't peace of mind worth that?
          Not really, it would cause problems with consistency at best. If they are a state registered business or any sort of registered entity, the NAP is already out there whether they want it to be or not.

          Either way, totally unnecessary, since citations really don't make much of a difference anymore.

          Helped out a vape shop the other day, they weren't ranking anywhere and all the local competitors had 80+ citations. They had 6. They're now ranking #1 with 7 citations LOL.

          Totally an overrated aspect of local SEO.
          Signature
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10139574].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author DABK
            No, I'm suggesting they change everything to the address of the rented desk.

            And, yes, I agree, citations not as great as people say... maybe before my time they were. And I say this because I am in charge of my brother's internet marketing... Citations were a mess and I chose to let them be and that has not hindered anything.

            I know a marketing guy, rents a desk in someone's office and that's he's address, though he mostly works from home... Occasionally, he meets clients at his rented desk... (He has an arrangement that the receptionist for the business also takes care of the rate person that stops by.)

            One of my brothers rents a room in his office to an attorney. My brother's people act as the attorney's assistants/secretaries when it comes to phone calls... The attorney comes in now and again for an hour or two...

            My point was, if you really want to list an address in Google, there's an honest way of doing it: get one. And, if you don't care about a lot of expensive, get it the way I suggested. Whether you work from that rented desk all the time or only occasionally, it's up to you. (I tend to be more productive away from home; I would work at the rented desk.)

            Originally Posted by iAmNameLess View Post

            Not really, it would cause problems with consistency at best. If they are a state registered business or any sort of registered entity, the NAP is already out there whether they want it to be or not.

            Either way, totally unnecessary, since citations really don't make much of a difference anymore.

            Helped out a vape shop the other day, they weren't ranking anywhere and all the local competitors had 80+ citations. They had 6. They're now ranking #1 with 7 citations LOL.

            Totally an overrated aspect of local SEO.
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10139597].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Freebiequeen1999
    Thanks for this info.....the doggie biz is a friend of mine...and the spa biz is a referral (I was/am a cosmetologist LOL)....

    I think I will go with the most simple option for starts and just make sure it is all the same, try the "schema", name all the pictures correctly, hit the on page stuff

    thanks for your help, more suggestions appreciated
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10139582].message }}

Trending Topics