Multi Location Business in Google + Local

[Tyson Downs]

I just thought I'd share my experience.

I am working with a multi location business. Based on a few things that I've learned here and there, I created a city landing page and linked it from Google Places.

To be more clear, the homepage was optimized for CityADentist.

I created a city page on a subdomain citybdentist.customerdomain.com

I added this URL, citybdentist.customerdomain.com to Google + Local (new dashboard).

Within a week of moving that page over to customerdomain.com/cityb-dentist rankings increased across the board both organic and in local listing results. No other changes were made.

I know this is a very small sample size, but going forward I am going to go with customerdomain.com/cityb-dentist.

Just thought I'd share.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Ty,

I just shared some of my subdomain tips from the new On-site SEO course with some of the Pros on our last conference call. Were you on it? If not you should listen to recording. Think you'll find it interesting.

I'm confused about what you wrote though.

At 1st you said you created a subdomain for CityB.
Then later you are talking subdirectory.

When you said: "Within a week of moving that page over to customerdomain.com/cityb-dentist rankings increased."

What do you mean by moving page OVER?

So are you saying it WAS a subdomain, but when you changed it to a subdirectory, that's when it jumped???

 

[Tyson Downs]

Hi Ty,

I just shared some of my subdomain tips from the new On-site SEO course with some of the Pros on our last conference call. Were you on it? If not you should listen to recording. Think you'll find it interesting.

I'm confused about what you wrote though.

At 1st you said you created a subdomain for CityB.
Then later you are talking subdirectory.

When you said: "Within a week of moving that page over to customerdomain.com/cityb-dentist rankings increased."

What do you mean by moving page OVER?

So are you saying it WAS a subdomain, but when you changed it to a subdirectory, that's when it jumped???

Linda, I wasn't on that call, but the original subdomain trick I got from your course. Is it now different?

Sorry you didn't understand me, I am not very good at clarifying things it seems. You typically need clarification on most of my posts, so on posts in the future, I'll think them through much better and only post when I am 100% certain that the post can be comprehended.

Thanks for the reply Linda.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Or maybe I'm just slow on the uptake... It's just that I can usually see so many different potential scenarios in my head that sometimes I'm not sure which one someone was trying to describe. Because at 1st I thought you were going to say the subdomain boosted rank but then it sounded like NOT using subdomain helped.

When you said:

I added this URL, citybdentist.customerdomain.com to Google + Local.

Within a week of moving that page over to customerdomain.com/cityb-dentist

DID YOU MEAN...

I added this URL, citybdentist.customerdomain.com to Google + Local.

Within a week of moving that page over to citybdentist.customerdomain.com

OR DID YOU MEAN

Initially it was citybdentist.customerdomain.com but then you changed it to customerdomain.com/cityb-dentist and then it jumped?

 

[Tyson Downs]

OR DID YOU MEAN

Initially it was citybdentist.customerdomain.com but then you changed it to customerdomain.com/cityb-dentist and then it jumped?

This.

I had it listed on their Google + Local page as citybdentist.customerdomain.com

I moved the content/format, etc. of that page instead to customerdomain.com/cityb-dentist

I updated Google + Local.

Rankings improved in both local and organic.

The latest call where you talk about this, is it different than what you teach in the training?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Interesting...

Well in training I've never 'taught' to use a subdomain. In the advanced ranking tips I simply suggested TESTING it.

On the call and in the new training I go into much more detail about the pros and cons and warn people to only try it in certain circumstances and show a few examples of it working. Many big companies like Sports Authority do it. That link is their Phoenix store, which ranks A.

So that's why I was surprised by what you wrote and wanted to make sure I had it right. But again on the call and in training I warn extensively not to just go out and do it on all clients since there are pros and cons to it.

I wonder if what you experienced had anything to do with what Matt Cutts said here?
Subdomains and subdirectories

But in spite of what Matt said tons of site rank in the A spot with subdomains. It's just a giant puzzle and there are always so many factors at play.

 

[Tyson Downs]

Interesting...

Well in training I've never 'taught' to use a subdomain. In the advanced ranking tips I simply suggested TESTING it.

On the call and in the new training I go into much more detail about the pros and cons and warn people to only try it in certain circumstances and show a few examples of it working. Many big companies like Sports Authority do it. That link is their Phoenix store, which ranks A.

So that's why I was surprised by what you wrote and wanted to make sure I had it right. But again on the call and in training I warn extensively not to just go out and do it on all clients since there are pros and cons to it.

I wonder if what you experienced had anything to do with what Matt Cutts said here?
Subdomains and subdirectories

But in spite of what Matt said tons of site rank in the A spot with subdomains. It's just a giant puzzle and there are always so many factors at play.

My apologies. I'll rephrase.

What you mentioned on the On Site Training about somebody who had used it with good success, so it may be something worth testing.

I tested. And though a small test, the results were that having the city landing page on a subdirectory was better than having it on a subdomain.

Thanks for the info on Sports Authority and the Matt Cutts blog post.

 

[bradleymarones]

Hey guys, in what context would it be better to use a subdomain vs. a subfolder for multiple locations?

Thanks in advance!