Local SEO conundrum: Phone number tracking

6 replies
  • SEO
  • |
If you are doing some local SEO -- and you want the client's rankings to jump high -- you need a consistent NAP format. Yet by keeping a consistent phone number format -- you develop a huge margin of error when it comes to conversion rates because you are using a consistent phone number across all sources!

So rank high = high margin of error!

Custom Phone Tracking = lower rankings!

What's the deal yo!?
#conundrum #local #number #phone #seo #tracking
  • Profile picture of the author nicktyler
    Not sure I follow why you have to have the same phone number to rank high in search results. Unless you aer trying to rank for the number which makes even less sense.
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    1000's of IT jobs in the UK online now at Dice

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  • Profile picture of the author alxvallejo
    There are multiple sources claiming that any inconsistency in NAP will hurt rankings:

    Any confusion about your business name, address and/or phone number coming from trusted sources can suppress your rankings and should be corrected ASAP.
    --Mary Bowling

    Local Search Ranking Factors | Local SEO Best Practices for Ranking in Google Places
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  • Profile picture of the author nicktyler
    Name maybe, but I don't see the likes of big national companies with many retail outlets across the country with different phone numbers and addresses worrying or getting penalised for it. they also have many many sources/links from different local and national directories etc which state the differeent numbers and addresses

    Am I missing something here?
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  • Profile picture of the author alxvallejo
    Side question for you: Do you advocate phone tracking for local seo in this case? How else can you narrow the margin of error for sources of phone inquiries?
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  • Profile picture of the author nicktyler
    I do advocate phone tracking for SEO in this case. I have used it in the past with just the last few digits changed (like a different extention basically) If it did any harm to the rankings I was unaware of it and it was not enough to stop the sucess of any efforts to improve them.
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  • Profile picture of the author backshamilton
    There are many reasons that a person needs to do a cell phone number tracking. Part of the reason is to track prank callers, find your spouse's cell phone numbers and more suspicious. Whatever the reason, you have advanced technology, now you can find a lot of people use only a cell number information.
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