Any business will understand the effort required to grow their online presence and achieve first page Google rankings, which makes it rather disheartening to learn that an office move to a new location can rock this. In this blog, find out how to adjust your local SEO after an office move.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a secret formula to immunize your business against a ripple with your local SEO rankings if you choose to change your address. Google views an office move as it would a new business listing, so it’s no surprise some businesses choose to keep the old details and add a ‘we have moved’ page to their, in order to avoid losing SEO rankings.
If like us, accuracy and consistency are your bags, updating your details after an office move is an answer. This may mean having to rebuild some of your local SEO power, but there are few tips and tricks you can put in place to help you.
First, let’s look at the importance of NAP Protocols.
NAP protocols
When looking at where to rank you in the local results pages, Google looks at your website and other listings, such as Google + and Google Places listings to cross-references key information, such as NAP (name, address, phone number). The NAP should match wherever you are listed.
Having a local address to the proximity of the user searching is of course important, but if there is a discrepancy in your NAP databetween your site and your online listings, this could result in Google not ranking you at all because discrepancies hinder Google’s ability to trust the data they have gathered about your business, online sources.
NAP matching is an important activity to undertake when moving your office if you want to rebuild your SEO efficiently.
Google places (Bing local etc.)
A good start is adjusting your Google Places and Google + listings. Since these are branches of the Google powerhouse, these listings will be the first sources scanned when the search engine is matching your data, so it’s a no-brainer.
Other Citations
Once you have adjusted your Google listings, it’s time to find where else you are listed. You may have an organized listed of citations to work through. If not, you can find your existing citations in Google and Google Maps using search parameters such as (“01303 123456” -yourdomain.co.uk) so you can log back in and change them.
Directions Pages
NAP protocols covered, you may also want to consider consistency across any directions pages. If any directions pages to your old office exist online, adjust them to show directions to your new location. Ensure this is matched on all your citations.
Schema Tags
Websites can be found in the search results more easily by implementing the proper schema markup. This enables you to include microdata about your businesses location, open hours and contact details.
Although the data isn’t shown on the website, it exists in the code and it can be managed easily via your websites admin system easily.
Moz local
Pushed for time? You can clean your listings in one go using the Moz Local portal. It’s also a handy tool for checking your current localized visibility. It’s not cheap, but it saves a lot of time and resources.
Email signatures
Some marketers believe that having traffic from a broad range of sources sends a strong quality signal to Google and that includes email signatures any digital stationary such as PDFs and white papers. This point is arguable, but in any case, it’s good practice to have consistency across all of your digital listings and material, for accuracy.
AUTHOR BIO:
Chris Surridge is an experienced digital marketing director with a wealth of knowledge on search marketing strategies and conversion analysis. As well as his many years as an SEO professional, the value he brings is in strategic planning for client accounts and his consultative services in helping businesses grow. He is the marketing director for Whitefish Marketing, a Kent based SEO agency, and manages a team of highly experienced digital professionals.
