Mulitiple Local Schema

[rossicone]

Hey Linda!

One of my team members sent me this blog today: How to use Schema Markup to Optimize for Multiple Locations - Odd Dog Media

It is about using schema for multiple locations. The coding says Organization - schema.org, but we would use /LocalBusiness still.

I was curious to get your opinion on it. Do you think this is something worth investigating a little more into? It's always been my understanding that best practice is to still only have one NAP per page of your website. However I'm getting push back from some departments with this...just trying to make everyone happy

Thanks for your help!

Rachel

 

[Linda Buquet]

Rachel you posted this great Q at the bottom of someone's help thread which would take their support thread off topic, but more importantly it was buried at bottom of that thread, where hardly anyone else will see it. So moved to new post in more visible forum with relevant subject to get more play on your Q.

1st off, here's what I see when I read that post... (I may be wrong, it's just my perception)

It appears to be someone who does not even have local mentioned in their services nav, so likely does not understand the deeper issues and complications as we do. It was someone searching for an answer and latched onto something they found that they think may be a solution, but I think just one small piece of the puzzle and it's very possible they don't understand the surrounding and related issues. (Like merging and disconnected listings.)

My thoughts,

Schema is always a good idea. So if you are going to put multiple NAPs on a page, yes use schema.

1 of the reasons in the past that I recommended no mixed NAP on any pages is due to Place page merges which used to happen more frequently. It does not happen as much and Phil Rozek says he mixes NAP all the time and has never had a problem.

The other reason I say not to mix NAP is ranking problems and listings "potentially" getting disconnected from the pack due to multiple location/multiple listing confusion.

That's not to say a merge or a disconnect will ever happen. It's to say there is the potential and I've helped many clients with those problems.

So many of my warnings are conservative best practices to avoid potential problems. It's like me telling you if you speed, you could get a ticket. Almost everyone speeds, knowing they could get caught and they seldom get a ticket. But it COULD happen and so if you want to avoid the ticket problem you don't speed. (The conservative, safe approach - but does not mean I have the power to tell you to never ever speed.)

So if your team is pushing for mixed NAP and they understand the potential problem and don't think it's an issue, then do mixed NAP. Chances are it will be fine. The issues I mentioned don't happen as much any more. Google is getting better at lots of stuff. But as you know she sometimes still DOES get confused. And IF it becomes a problem it can take lots of work and time to fix it. So just need to weigh the risk/rewards and time factor in each case and decide.

AND each case is unique. For example if you have a client that already has mixed NAP on a locations page and no indiv location landing pages. They don't have the budget for any redesign and all you can do is add schema - then that's all you can do. HOWEVER they likely aren't going to rank well if they have 10 locations and no location targeted landing pages for the G+ L page to go to, so just need to advise them that's the tradeoff.

 

[mborgelt]

Hi Rachel,

When working on a business with multiple locations, I always like to have location specific landing pages, with relevant content about that particular location along with a Schema Markup for that location.

While I have seen some businesses utilizing the multi-location schema across their site, I feel that it could easily confuse Google, especially the more locations you have.

 

[rossicone]

So many of my warnings are conservative best practices to avoid potential problems. It's like me telling you if you speed, you could get a ticket. Almost everyone speeds, knowing they could get caught and they seldom get a ticket. But it COULD happen and so if you want to avoid the ticket problem you don't speed. (The conservative, safe approach - but does not mean I have the power to tell you to never ever speed.)

I love this analogy! So true!!

Thank you Linda and mborgelt for your thoughts on the matter! I always error on the side of caution, but can sometimes be too cautious. Thank you for confirming that even though schema markup for multiple locations exists, it is still safer to only have one NAP per page of a website.