Location closing, transfer equity to nearby locs?

[Peter Hill]

We're closing one location in a city where we have 5. Does anyone have experience in transferring some of the equity to nearby locations?

I'm guessing the local pack will simply adjust for branded queries, but what about unbranded ones? Anyone have experience with this?

 

[JoyHawkins]

Hey Petere,

It's extremely likely that you'll lose ranking for unbranded queries in the area that the closed location is in. Since proximity is one of the ranking factors, not being as "close" to a person searching will hurt your ability to rank.


You *might* be able to transfer the reviews but it depends on all the specifics and what type of business it is.

 

[Adam Dorfman]

Joy is spot on about losing map pack rankings. If your link profile is extremely strong already, you could try and maintain the organic rankings by shifting the content on the location page URL to an informational page but that sounds like a stretch based on the information you provided. Regardless, make sure to set up 301 redirects if you take the location page down to pass on any link equity you have generated.