Sometimes, you may be running two businesses from the same physical address. There simply may be two offices that have the same exact address, with two very separate businesses being run out of them. Some business owners who are in this situation are concerned that having the same address as another business (even if that business is also yours) is going to have a negative impact on local search engine optimization.
Here are some best practices for shared office addresses and local SEO:
- If the businesses are really the same exact business, they should have one listing. Some businesses will “split up” their service areas under two different names, claiming them to be different businesses in an attempt to increase their market share. If your business is really one business offering two services, you really only need one listing. Google will not appreciate being “gamed” by one business listing itself in two different days.
- Do not duplicate content. If you are set on having your two separate businesses at a shared address, you need to make sure that nothing else on your webpages is identical. Why? Because Google is going to see the identical addresses and is then going to check the webpages to see if anything else is similar. If there is duplicate content, it will assume that you are trying to game the system. If there is no duplicate content, it will just assume that there are two businesses with the same address.
- Make it clear that your businesses are not the same. The most common thing to happen when Google notices two listings with the same address is to merge those listings. They will only do this, however, if they have good reason to believe that it is the same exact business, operating under two different names. Try to make it as clear as possible that this is not the case by making your actual websites as dissimilar as possible. Use industry categories in your Google My Business listing to differentiate between the two.
- Remove the address from one listing. If you really do not want Google to merge the two listings with shared office addresses, you can easily solve this problem by removing the address from one of the listings. Only do this, of course, if it is really not necessary for potential clients or customers to know your street address.
Sometimes, you may be running two businesses from the same physical address. There simply may be two offices that have the same exact address, with two very separate businesses being run out of them. Some business owners who are in this situation are concerned that having the same address as another business (even if that business is also yours) is going to have a negative impact on local search engine optimization.
Here are some best practices for shared office addresses and local SEO:
- If the businesses are really the same exact business, they should have one listing. Some businesses will “split up” their service areas under two different names, claiming them to be different businesses in an attempt to increase their market share. If your business is really one business offering two services, you really only need one listing. Google will not appreciate being “gamed” by one business listing itself in two different days.
- Do not duplicate content. If you are set on having your two separate businesses at a shared address, you need to make sure that nothing else on your webpages is identical. Why? Because Google is going to see the identical addresses and is then going to check the webpages to see if anything else is similar. If there is duplicate content, it will assume that you are trying to game the system. If there is no duplicate content, it will just assume that there are two businesses with the same address.
- Make it clear that your businesses are not the same. The most common thing to happen when Google notices two listings with the same address is to merge those listings. They will only do this, however, if they have good reason to believe that it is the same exact business, operating under two different names. Try to make it as clear as possible that this is not the case by making your actual websites as dissimilar as possible. Use industry categories in your Google My Business listing to differentiate between the two.
- Remove the address from one listing. If you really do not want Google to merge the two listings with shared office addresses, you can easily solve this problem by removing the address from one of the listings. Only do this, of course, if it is really not necessary for potential clients or customers to know your street address.