Phone Number to use on local area landing pages

[Matt Chauhan]

We have a client who has three different business locations. We have separate GMB listings for all three locations. We have also created the local service area landing pages on the website for these three locations. The problem we are facing is, the client has only one phone number and she is using that for all three locations, on the website, and in the GMB as well. For GMB, we have created the locally relevant call tracking numbers from Callrail and added those respectively but we are now confused about what number should we add on the landing pages of the website? Shall we go with the original number of the business on all three pages? Shall we generate locally relevant new call tracking numbers from Callrail and hard code them on location pages? Shall we ask the client to have new phone numbers in his offices for different locations? Please advice.

 

[JoyHawkins]

I would use a call tracking number in GMB as the primary number but make sure the secondary phone number is one that is present on the website's landing page. See this video from Darren Shaw about it: Can You Use a Call Tracking Number in Google My Business? - Whitespark Local Insider

 

[Matt Chauhan]

I would use a call tracking number in GMB as the primary number but make sure the secondary phone number is one that is present on the website's landing page. See this video from Darren Shaw about it: Can You Use a Call Tracking Number in Google My Business? - Whitespark Local Insider

Yes, we are doing exactly the same but we are confused about what number shall we use on the website's location pages.

 

[JoyHawkins]

I would suggest having a number unique to that location (local area code) that is the one you use on all your 3rd party citations on the landing page of the site. You can still use call tracking on the site utilizing a technology called dynamic number insertion where they can show a user a call tracking number based on where the user came from but Google will still see the "real" number.

 

[Matt Chauhan]

I would suggest having a number unique to that location (local area code) that is the one you use on all your 3rd party citations on the landing page of the site. You can still use call tracking on the site utilizing a technology called dynamic number insertion where they can show a user a call tracking number based on where the user came from but Google will still see the "real" number.

Got it. So we will have to contact our client to get new numbers for the locations. Having one number for all three locations won't work.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Correct.

 

[Jon Hall]

+1 @JoyHawkins

I'd only add that this since is a scenario where you're going to be adding a bunch of numbers for the client which may be used long-term--e.g. in citations, etc--you should *strongly* consider creating them outside of CallRail. Maybe directly in Twilio or with a vendor who transparently uses Twilio and lets you port them away.

Why? Because:
1. It sounds like you need non-tracking numbers for the locations (or at least 2 of the 3) to use for landing pages, citations, etc. You can always layer on tracking numbers with DNI if you need to track, but here it sounds like you simply need a local phone "of record" for each location.
2. If that's true, note that you're going to be stuck with those numbers long-term on all your citations. That means you''ll be paying CallRail's prices for calls and texts on those numbers even though it doesn't sound like tracking features here are a strategic concern or necessity.
3. Then if you find a new call-tracking vendor or more innovative phone/text solution to use, you won't be able to freely modify or move your numbers. That's a potential nightmare for you down the road.

CallRail is great. But "vendor lock-in" is bad. Venture-backed SaaS providers like CR all do it because you're stuck with them, which investors love.

IMHO it's better to stay free!

 

[Matt Chauhan]

Thanks, Jon for the detailed explanation! Can't I just do the following to solve all the problems?

- For users, generate call tracking numbers from call rail with the relevant area code to be displayed on the front end of the pages. While the original number of the business (on which all the calls will be forwarded) in the code of the website.

- For Google, GMB, Citations, and NAP Consistency, use the same original number of the business for all three locations of business.

 

[Jon Hall]

@Matt Chauhan Agreed that's the simplest approach BUT the single original number shared for multiple locations can, I believe, lead to issues when Google and others apply "smart" processes for updating/merging/de-duplicating listings. Which may be why @JoyHawkins recommended "having a number unique to that location (local area code) that is the one you use on all your 3rd party citations on the landing page of the site"

In general, it's best to do whatever Joy recommends My $0.02 is just that if you do need numbers that aren't "throwaway" tracking numbers, best to secure them directly rather than through a vendor who doesn't let you control/port them.

 

[Matt Chauhan]

Got it. Thanks, Joy, and Jon.

 

[jrobbins]

Got it. Thanks, Joy, and Jon.

Joy,

Following up on the use of the "same" number for all GMB locations in an account...is this bad for ranking?

 

[JoyHawkins]

I wouldn't suggest using the same phone number. It's a good way to have Google accidentally merge your listings, or suspend them.

 

[dotgal]

@JoyHawkins @Jon Hall Thanks for the insights. For Yelp if a client does advertising, should the call tracking/forwarding number that's associated with an ad be the same as that of the NAP information on GBP and the website? Or the number on the Yelp business listing (not the ad) be the same as the NAP phone number?

 

[JoyHawkins]

If you're looking to track calls, it would need to be separate or you won't know which is which. We've used call tracking numbers on Yelp without any issues.