Law Practice Buyout and Existing Citations

[Kymberly]

Good morning,

We have a lawyer that is selling his practice. The only changes will be the name and the domain. The business address and phone number will remain the same. Do you have a suggestion on how we should handle the citations? I for sure understand the importance of consistency, my main concern was creating immediate errors and or duplicates. So I wasn't sure if the best path forward were, to begin with building new citations under the new name and domain and somehow dissolving the current or if updating the existing would be the best path forward. Your insights and expertise are greatly appreciated!

Thank you so kindly!
Kymberly

 

[PKLilikoi]

Good morning,

We have a lawyer that is selling his practice. The only changes will be the name and the domain. The business address and phone number will remain the same. Do you have a suggestion on how we should handle the citations? I for sure understand the importance of consistency, my main concern was creating immediate errors and or duplicates. So I wasn't sure if the best path forward were, to begin with building new citations under the new name and domain and somehow dissolving the current or if updating the existing would be the best path forward. Your insights and expertise are greatly appreciated!

Thank you so kindly!
Kymberly

My suggestion would be to update the current citations as they have aged value. Make sure the NAP is consistent and matches what is on the new domain.

If you are using a service like BrightLocal, Moz or Whitespark, it should be easy to update the citations especially with the services they offer. If not, find all existing citations that reference the practice and update manually.

 

[Phil Rozek]

@Kymberly, as @PKLilikoi said, you'll want to claim and update listings whenever possible, rather than create new listings.

Of course, there will probably be some listings you can't update. In that scenario cases it's fine to create a new listing and get the old one removed (if possible). It's a case-by-case situation. Each site is different.

You'll want or need to work on those listings in 2-3 blasts of work, each spread a month or two apart. It may take a while to get them all updated, or to get them "good enough." Which is fine, because (1) the business with the cleanest citations often isn't the one that ranks best and (2) the updates are a little less urgent if the address and phone number are staying the same.

I'd prioritize the big, well-known sites and the larger legal directories (like Avvo) over the lesser-known sites. If you even bother with those at all.

 

[Kymberly]

My suggestion would be to update the current citations as they have aged value. Make sure the NAP is consistent and matches what is on the new domain.

If you are using a service like BrightLocal, Moz or Whitespark, it should be easy to update the citations especially with the services they offer. If not, find all existing citations that reference the practice and update manually.

Thank you so much for the great advice!

 

[Kymberly]

@Kymberly, as @PKLilikoi said, you'll want to claim and update listings whenever possible, rather than create new listings.

Of course, there will probably be some listings you can't update. In that scenario cases it's fine to create a new listing and get the old one removed (if possible). It's a case-by-case situation. Each site is different.

You'll want or need to work on those listings in 2-3 blasts of work, each spread a month or two apart. It may take a while to get them all updated, or to get them "good enough." Which is fine, because (1) the business with the cleanest citations often isn't the one that ranks best and (2) the updates are a little less urgent if the address and phone number are staying the same.

I'd prioritize the big, well-known sites and the larger legal directories (like Avvo) over the lesser-known sites. If you even bother with those at all.

This is excellent advice! Thank you kindly!