How To Correctly Set-Up 2 Businesses At The Same Address

[Mich]

Hi Guys

I have 2 service based businesses that operate out of the same address and I'm looking for advice as to how to set this up so that they don't 'clash' with each other and one doesn't 'cost' the other SEO juice...

The businesses are:

(1) A local business, that only services the local area and I am looking to rank in local SEO.
(2) A national business that services Canada. So I am not looking to rank this locally but through 'normal' organic rankings.

Licensing requirements require that I show an address for both businesses - which therefore has to be the same address, as this is where I am licensed.

What I have done is set them up as following in Google +:
(1) Yes, that I do serve customers there and I put in my service area around the business.
(2) No, that I do not serve customers there and that the service area is nationwide.

They also have unique names, taglines, websites and phone numbers. However, they are the same business category.

Is this enough to stop business number (2) eating some of the SEO of business (1)? And would any citations I get for business number (2) dilute some of the SEO equity of business (1)? Any other suggestions for things I can do in order to protect the local SEO work I am doing for business (1)?

Hope this makes sense - thanks!

 

[Eric Rohrback]

Are they in the same business vertical? That would make a difference how these are set up

 

[Mich]

Yes - they are both 'mortgage broker' businesses (tagged as this category on Google Plus) but one is targeting a very niche mortgage product, the other a more generic local mortgage service.

Thanks

 

[JoshuaMackens]

Yes - they are both 'mortgage broker' businesses (tagged as this category on Google Plus) but one is targeting a very niche mortgage product, the other a more generic local mortgage service.

Thanks

Does the national business need a Google My Business page? If it didn't that will solve a lot of problems as national marketing wouldn't be positively impacted by a Google My Business page anyway.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Does the national business need a Google My Business page? If it didn't that will solve a lot of problems as national marketing wouldn't be positively impacted by a Google My Business page anyway.

I have the same question as Joshua. If they don't serve a local business area than a Local Google page is unnecessary. Setting a nationwide service area on a local page will not make the page rank nationwide. It will still only rank in the local area.

I would go for a G+ Brand page in that case.

 

[Eric Rohrback]

I think everyone has the same thought. I was just about to chime in with the same answer as Joshua and Colan, but they beat me to it. Can you elaborate a little more about this situation? It kind of seems like the one local page might be all that's necessary.

 

[Mich]

Ah switching the G+ over to a brand page is a good idea...

The only other concern I have is that the address will still be listed in various places online - including on the website itself (it is required to be for licensing). So would this interfere with the Google's perception of the citation consistency/ranking of site (1)?

 

[James Watt]

Agree that that second GMB entry shouldn't exist... a brand page wouldn't hurt you, though I'm dubious that it'd help.

The bigger question though has less to do with GMB and more to do with branding and identity. For the best SEO oomph, I'd be thinking in terms of having a single site, with a portion of the site targeting your local area. That local sub-home page is what your local GMB profile would link to, not your home page. Your actual home page then would be more national, though you'd need to link back to your local stuff to tie things together. It might be a little bit of a challenge branding and navigation wise to combine things like that, but you'll get more oomph for both services since you aren't having to split your time between backlink building and such for two different sites. Work you do for the local side can help benefit domain authority nationally then, and vice versa. If you're planning on larger outreach for your national brand (especially if you're going to be shooting for interviews and such as industry leaders) Then you want every single one of those high value backlinks benefiting both arms of the business... best way to get that is to have them connected on one site.

Edit: citation consistency would only matter if that address is showing up with same name and phone number. If both name and phone number are different, then I can't see how it'd cause problems. It'd be no different than a multi location business at that point. Though I suppose I can't say any of that for sure without knowing more details.

 

[Mich]

Thanks guys. Interesting thoughts on combining both!

So how do I get rid of this GMB account then - just flat out delete it ?

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Delete it out of your dashboard. It will still be connected to maps. You then need to go and report it for deletion VIA Google Maps Or contact GMB Support and explain the situation. You shouldn't run into any issues since this is not a local business and does not qualify for a local page.

 

[Mich]

Thanks. I deleted it from GMB. However, it's not in Map Maker. I think this is because I did not check 'I serve customers at my address'...?

So that should be it gone? I'll contact GMB support to explain too...

 

[James Watt]

That's right, it won't be in map maker since it's a service area page. You'll need to call in to get it finished off.