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Is it possible to change business phone number without affecting Google places ranking?

by DaveC2
6 replies
Hello,

Is there a way to introduce a new call tracking number on to a client's website without negatively affecting their google local/places position?

The motivation for considering the new phone number is to help measure the client's website conversions by phone.

I believe that introducing a new phone number may cause a mis-match between the
website phone number details and the phone number element of existing citations, in the eyes of Google.

Regards,
Dave
#call #citations #question #tracking
  • Profile picture of the author DaveC2
    In summary, I want to recommend the use of a new tracked number to my client but warn them that it could have an effect on their Google places ranking, if indeed that is true.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sander Zaydman
    Yeah this is a bit tricky, because if you change the phone number it takes Google about 2 or 3 weeks to send you that little postcard and it could affect the rankings. What you could do is reroute the phone number using ifbyphone.com
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    • Profile picture of the author ShadyRay
      I've been wondering about this as well. Maybe use images in the header and contact page (and anywhere else) for the tracking phone number and keep the main business phone in hcard format?

      Then use some CSS tricks to hide the old number, or just make it less prominent than the tracking number... Just a thought, I'll be following this thread to see answers from people that have handled this successfully before.
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      • Profile picture of the author DaveC2
        Good point ShadyRay, using an image could be a workable solution. I think maintaining the original number on all relevant pages but in a much less prominent form would be a wise move.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kung Fu Backlinks
    If your client is already ranking well, you should not change the number. Let me put it this way... it SHOULD affect rankings. I wouldn't be money on it, but if the algo works the way it seems to work, changing the number will be a bad move.

    I wish I knew of another good way to track such things. Google Analytics can only tell you so much, I guess.

    Perhaps a "Mention this Ad / Picture / Notice and get XYZ" message may help track results.

    Let us know what you decide to use.
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    • Profile picture of the author AgileWarrior
      Overlaying an image over the original phone maintains the NAP consistency across all citations, but we still have the old # on the other sites without the image. Just a big mess when changing phone #s.

      Any extensive experience in using virtual phone lines such as grasshopper, Sander's IFByPhone, etc?
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