Linda Buquet
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Andrew Shotland did a post yesterday over at Search EngineLand about a Dentist I did some troubleshooting consulting for once. And he actually called me recently for free advice on the problem he's facing. Son is joining practice so he needs to re-brand.
It's a really good topic since Google makes rebranding so dang hard!
Since Google wants businesses to represent themselves as they are in the "real" world AND since in the real world businesses move and rebrand - it would be nice if it was a little easier to move and rebrand on a Google business listing.
When Geoff called me I warned him about all the potential pitfalls and offered him some suggestions to help work around Google's struggles with name changes. (Gave him some basic advice as a freebie, have not started consult to actually implement anything yet.)
This is not a critical name change that needs to happen immediately like a buyout. It's just changing practice name from Geoff's name to Bell Family Dentistry since his son is joining him.
My advice in a nutshell was don't change the name on the Place page. Go ahead and build a new site with the new domain and start building up ranking. But don't get rid of old site yet. Keep it and just add a graphic header with the new name to start rebranding for patients benefit as that's mainly what they will see. That was my initial free advice. Then I'll consult with him over the finer points of how exactly how to make it all happen.
What do you guys think? Have you had clients change their name?
Was it a bear with Google?
It's a really good topic since Google makes rebranding so dang hard!
Since Google wants businesses to represent themselves as they are in the "real" world AND since in the real world businesses move and rebrand - it would be nice if it was a little easier to move and rebrand on a Google business listing.
<a href="http://searchengineland.com/the-smb-guide-to-changing-business-names-seo-128939">The SMB Guide To Changing Business Names & SEO</a>
There are plenty of complications in changing a business’ name. Many involve filling out a lot of forms to tell the government what’s going on.
Unfortunately, the United SERPs of Google does not provide much in the way of forms. And rebranding (as we call it in the biz) can be the quickest way to destroy your search engine rankings.
Perhaps a few tips in a handy list from myself and some other notable local SEO geeks are in order to avoid the SEO equivalent of root canal:
When Geoff called me I warned him about all the potential pitfalls and offered him some suggestions to help work around Google's struggles with name changes. (Gave him some basic advice as a freebie, have not started consult to actually implement anything yet.)
This is not a critical name change that needs to happen immediately like a buyout. It's just changing practice name from Geoff's name to Bell Family Dentistry since his son is joining him.
My advice in a nutshell was don't change the name on the Place page. Go ahead and build a new site with the new domain and start building up ranking. But don't get rid of old site yet. Keep it and just add a graphic header with the new name to start rebranding for patients benefit as that's mainly what they will see. That was my initial free advice. Then I'll consult with him over the finer points of how exactly how to make it all happen.
What do you guys think? Have you had clients change their name?
Was it a bear with Google?