Question about Multiple Phone Numbers for one location

[katdojang]

Hello,

I am the owner of a local martial arts school, the Korean Academy of Taekwondo. We have been in business almost 35 years now. For the last 15 years we have had a phone number, (303) 743-7767. However, we recently got a google voice number (720) 295-4TKD. BOTH 720 and 303 are local area codes for Aurora, CO.

The google voice number forwards to our receptionist's cell phone and that is the one we want people to call. Often people will call in the morning when we aren't at our location.

Right now, our citations are distributed between both numbers across the internet. I want to try to get all the citations pointing to one number. My question, of course, is which one can we use? I would rather the google voice, but will Google discount that, even though it is a local number? Or will it be just too difficult to update all of the old citations on the 303 number?

Thanks in advance for any advice you could give.

 

[Linda Buquet]

My question, of course, is which one can we use? I would rather the google voice, but will Google discount that, even though it is a local number? Or will it be just too difficult to update all of the old citations on the 303 number?

Hi and thanks for posting.

Well at 1st based on what you said above I thought you had NOT changed the # on the G+ Local page yet and were asking what to do, since you kind of asked if it would be OK with Google. So I was going to catch you and warn you about not changing the # on the G+ Local page but it looks like you already did that, so it's too late. Looks like it's been changed by bots or Googlers back and forth a few times already in the past few months. I would have cautioned you not to change it or given you the pros and cons, but looks like it's too late for that.

OLD: "Korean Academy of Taekwondo" "(303) 743-7767" 6,800 citations
G VOICE: "Korean Academy of Taekwondo" "(720) 295-4853" 32 citations

I sure would not have changed the # based on the info above. It's not just about the # of citations it's about the trust Google would have in the 1st # being correct. You will likely have a data fight with her changing the # back on you sometimes.

Plus I bet you lost some reviews when you changed the #. Plus that change likely hurt your rankings.

However at this point I'd hesitate changing it back because that could cause you to lose all your reviews.

So not sure what to advise now. I guess best to leave as is and work on changing the old citations. But that's not really my area of expertise.

FYI whatever # you decide to use VERY important the # on the G+ Local page matches the site. AND VERY important Google can READ the # on site OR she can't match it up.

Google cannot read this format very well - the way it is on your contact us page.
Phone: 720-295-4TKD (4853). Plug that # that way into Google maps and she said she does not understand it. Plus as a consumer I hate when numbers are like that, so you may be better off with a straight number. Also don't use the dash or period format. Google understands it better if you use standard format: (720) 295-4853

 

[katdojang]

Hi ma'am,

Thanks so much for the response. I really like this forum. I will be turning over our local seo to an employee and will definitely direct him to come and learn/contribute here.

When I changed the number on the website and google local, I didn't lose any reviews. I'm not 100% sure about local search position. However, I think I will change it back just so things are consistent everywhere. I will report back on the results here.

I especially appreciate your suggestion on formatting the number. I'm having trouble confirming with Yahoo as well, and I think this may be the holdup. This will be really helpful for us.

Bill

P.S. Where did you get the number of citations? Is that just a google search?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Yes regular Google search.

And sorry technically those aren't full citations, just name + phone matches found. A full citation would be "name" "address" "phone", but to isolate and just find which phone # Google likely would think is correct or has most trust in I just do name/phone.

 

[katdojang]

Okay, I set up the (303) number to forward to google voice and in my google local account I set the 303 number to be the main one and listed the google voice under cell. Hopefully by listing both numbers Google won't see any conflict... it's already udpated, and they didn't require a phone authorization. I will report back and let you guys know how it goes.