Multi-location businesses: Is it worth doing Moz Local for each one?

[Tim Colling]

I've got a client with six legitimate offices throughout a fairly big state. I have already set up and paid for Moz Local for the office that is also their HQ.

I have set up GMB location records for all six offices, and Yelp and Facebook pages for each as well.

Is it worth the time and money to set up and pay for Moz Local for all six offices? It seems to me that if it's worthwhile for one, it will be for all six offices.

What do you think?

 

[joedillon68]

I set up Moz accounts for every one of our locations and so far it seems to be working. Hard to really know since the aggregators decide if, when and how they want to update your listing.

Some of my locations have better accuracy "scores" than others and I have no idea why. I've also had to work with Moz because sometimes updates are pushed out and sometimes they are not. So if you are going to go that route and set up each location separately, like anything in life, it's not just "set it and forget it." You need to stay on top of it and see if it's really working for you.

 

[Tim Colling]

...Some of my locations have better accuracy "scores" than others and I have no idea why. I've also had to work with Moz because sometimes updates are pushed out and sometimes they are not. ...

Yep, that has been my experience also. I have Moz Local accounts for a number of single-location clients and I have seen that many times. It seems to take a LOOONNNGGG time for them to get things started, and then sometimes, they mysteriously break and if you're not watching and complaining to Moz about it, they never get fixed.

Thanks for replying. I appreciate your help!

 

[MiriamEllis]

Hey There!
This is Miriam, from Moz. Just want to be sure you both have the link to our Help Desk, https://moz.com/help/contact/local so that you can get one-on-one support for any questions or issues.

Regarding multi-location businesses, provided they each have a unique GMB listing (no shared phone numbers) if they are brick-and-mortar businesses or a unique Facebook Place if they are SABs, you should be able to list them with Moz to help you get building a unique citation set for each. If you run into any problems, please definitely contact our Help Team.

 

[Tim Colling]

Hey There!
This is Miriam, from Moz. Just want to be sure you both have the link to our Help Desk, https://moz.com/help/contact/local so that you can get one-on-one support for any questions or issues...If you run into any problems, please definitely contact our Help Team.

Hi Miriam: I appreciate your frequent, helpful posts here and your generally upbeat and helpful manner.

In the case of Moz Local, though, the Moz support team has repeatedly failed to deliver results, and in some cases the problems have gone on for multiple years.

My Moz subscription is under the email address tim-at-trustworthycare.com

I'm guessing that you have access to the accounts, please feel free to look at mine. In particular, the one that I'm talking about is the one for A Servant's Heart In-Home Care, which has been incomplete ever since I set it up on Moz local, which has been several years now. I have written many times about it, and I get replies after weeks have gone by, and then nothing is fixed. Sorry to be a bearer of bad news, but that's the way it is.

 

[joedillon68]

Hi Tim: as a heads up your post inspired me to check my Moz dashboard and local listings and wouldn't you know it. 2 of my listings on InfoGroup were incorrect. Seems they're having an issue with their dashboard matching your claimed listing. So for example, when I search for my business I see the wrong address (in my case, we moved a few months back) but then when I go to the actual listing, I see the right one. if there was one provider I was going to keep an eye on, it would be them. They are big, it seems they control a lot of listings and their support stinks. Miriam from Moz is super helpful as I've worked with her before on a number of these issues and she's helped get them fixed.

 

[Phil Rozek]

Hey Tim,

I would suggest using Moz Local for your multiple locations, unless (1) those locations are already on LocalEze and (2) it's easy for you and your client to bang out the other listings (e.g. Acxiom). Generally, it's best either for new businesses / locations or for ones that don't have a lot of citation mess.

Joe's advice is solid: you have to keep an eye on the process (as you seem to do).

It's also worth really digging in when you see something that isn't right. For instance, when more than a couple months go by and you're still missing listings that ML was supposed to take care of, it's probably because ML stopped pushing data. Why? Most likely because of a change in your Facebook or Google page (intentional or unintentional). I've found ML can be on a hair trigger that way.

Also, be on the lookout for "unofficial" Facebook pages. If you have an incorrect Factual listing, Facebook often will auto-generate a page you don't want (those two sites are now partners). So you can get caught in this weird feedback loop: you want to fix Factual through Moz Local, but you can't use Moz Local because there's a rogue Facebook page that conflicts with your info on-file at Moz Local.

TL;DR: Moz Local is great but requires some tending.

 

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Tim!
I will absolutely check out your dashboard and will PM you via Moz with any feedback. I'll do anything I can to help.

 

[Tim Colling]

Hi Tim!
I will absolutely check out your dashboard and will PM you via Moz with any feedback. I'll do anything I can to help.

Thank you Miriam. I appreciate your help. I have read your PM and I'll do the things that you suggest.

 

[MiriamEllis]

My pleasure, Tim, and please don't hesitate to contact the Help Team or me, personally, with any follow-up questions!