Practitioner Name or Business

[Stack]

Hi everyone,

I had a quick question. I have a client that I am taking on and wanted to know what you guys would recommend.

This client is a dentist that has become a bit of an online personality on instagram and some other places so people there will just search for her name when they are trying to look for her from there. But her goal is to rank for the typical dental keywords and the location she is at. She has a practitioner GMB that has about 22 reviews right now but does not have a GMB for her business name. The name of her business is pretty long so if I do the method with her business name then her name then it will be way too long.

Would it be recommended that I go ahead and build everything around her name and not try to make it the business name or should I try to move everything to the business name and merge the reviews since it's a single practitioner at the office and it's only her.

Thanks

 

[Cherie Dickey]

I wouldn't create a new GMB listing...is there a reason you are unable to change the name of her practitioner listing to the practice? The best way though is to use the Practice: Dr Name format, which Google recommends. I'm not sure if that would be truncated or not if it's too long... I've never run into that particular issue before. It would be a good thing to know though, so maybe someone else can weigh in?

As for the site, I would create the site based on the practice name and branding, but include a section on the HP that includes a bio summary of the Dr that links to an actual page that is about (and optimized for) the Dr.

 

[Stack]

I wouldn't create a new GMB listing...is there a reason you are unable to change the name of her practitioner listing to the practice? The best way though is to use the Practice: Dr Name format, which Google recommends. I'm not sure if that would be truncated or not if it's too long... I've never run into that particular issue before. It would be a good thing to know though, so maybe someone else can weigh in?

As for the site, I would create the site based on the practice name and branding, but include a section on the HP that includes a bio summary of the Dr that links to an actual page that is about (and optimized for) the Dr.

Thank you for your reply. You are correct, we could just change the name of the Practitioner page. I was just worried with the name being super long for the business that if I did it that way then it would truncate or something and that would be a negative thing.

The website is already up and running for a while, I am just taking things over for them.

Thanks

 

[JoyHawkins]

I would 100% just update the name like Cherie said. I've never seen a negative impact from doing this.

 

[Cherie Dickey]

I was just worried with the name being super long for the business that if I did it that way then it would truncate or something and that would be a negative thing.

I would worry about that as well. As long as it's under 90(ish?) characters it shouldn't truncate in the KP. But that could be different for the list view in the local pack/local finder. I'm kindof itching to experiment with this now, haha

On a similar note, Mike B did a pretty funny experiment with this about a year ago. http:// blumenthals.com/blog/2017/05/05/just-how-long-can-a-google-my-business-name-be/ - too bad it didn't include screenshots from the local pack. We'd have our answer.

If you do go with the longer name, it would be great if you could post whether or not it truncated. But keep in mind when deciding which format to use, if you use Moz Local, and verify with Google, that is what will be pushed out to directories...so that's something to think about as well.

 

[Stack]

I would worry about that as well. As long as it's under 90(ish?) characters it shouldn't truncate in the KP. But that could be different for the list view in the local pack/local finder. I'm kindof itching to experiment with this now, haha

On a similar note, Mike B did a pretty funny experiment with this about a year ago. http:// blumenthals.com/blog/2017/05/05/just-how-long-can-a-google-my-business-name-be/ - too bad it didn't include screenshots from the local pack. We'd have our answer.

If you do go with the longer name, it would be great if you could post whether or not it truncated. But keep in mind when deciding which format to use, if you use Moz Local, and verify with Google, that is what will be pushed out to directories...so that's something to think about as well.

Thank you for all your information. So the best way for Local SEO etc would be to have the business name and then the dentist name.

I will talk this over with the office and see if they are cool with that and when i have it switched I will tell you how it goes.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Another advantage to doing the "Practice: Dentist" name format is you get credit for citations that just list the dentist name AND citations that just list the practice name - win win

 

[Stack]

Another advantage to doing the "Practice: Dentist" name format is you get credit for citations that just list the dentist name AND citations that just list the practice name - win win

I wouldn't create a new GMB listing...is there a reason you are unable to change the name of her practitioner listing to the practice? The best way though is to use the Practice: Dr Name format, which Google recommends. I'm not sure if that would be truncated or not if it's too long... I've never run into that particular issue before. It would be a good thing to know though, so maybe someone else can weigh in?

As for the site, I would create the site based on the practice name and branding, but include a section on the HP that includes a bio summary of the Dr that links to an actual page that is about (and optimized for) the Dr.

Thank you both for your comments and insight. Curious if it would make a difference if it was Dentist Name - Practice Name instead of the other away around. The client was curious since her name has been more the forefront of things with her social media etc.

Thoughts?

Thanks

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Curious if it would make a difference if it was Dentist Name - Practice Name instead of the other away around. The client was curious since her name has been more the forefront of things with her social media etc.

Thoughts?

Thanks

I don't think it would make (much) of a difference from a ranking perspective. Would be an interesting test though.