Hi all, New to the forum and looking forward to the conversation. Here's my situation. I currently do my work from my home office but am looking to establish an office outside for a place to meet with clients. I would also like to take advantage of the SEO advantages that come with that. I live in a community that is in one state (North Augusta, SC - USA), and I really would like to get an office in North Augusta if possible. However, there is more opportunity for business in Augusta, Georgia which is still a part of the same community (just across the river). However, I'm wondering if I really want to get first page placement, for example, for "augusta web design" will not having a physical street address in Augusta work against me. Any thoughts on that? Just been trying to work through this as I look for office space. Still fairly new to navigating SEO and marketing so I consider myself of rookie Appreciate your thoughts.
It would definitely help as Google usually shows Google Places listings ahead of the rest of the search results. If you don't want an office in Augusta you could probably purchase/rent a mailbox (i'm not sure how it works in the US) so you would have a physical mailing address. Of course if there's not a lot of local listings for 'augusta web design' you could probably get away with just optimizing your website for that term. Take care, Kevin
True, you need to add you street address, google listing is the first thing to show in result after google ads, in terms of getting in top of listing. google is relying on third party listing sites, such as Yelp, superpages, foursquare, mapquest etc., and of course reviews. in terms of Mailboxes, think google is not allowing PO Boxes and mailboxes. Google wants a physical and true address for your business.
Good idea!! you need to add you street address, google listing is the first thing to show in result after google ads, in terms of getting in top of listing.
Yeah, never forget to submit your actual physical address for local SEO and also add map because the site who are using maps get optimum level faster.
So many useless posts in this thread. The guy asked a legitimate question and there are 5 crap posts out of 8. Kevin
Hey, I appreciate the feedback. Definitely helps in knowing how to best adjust my site. From what I think I'm understanding on Google, they are trying to get away from sites that are "over optimized" (if there is such a thing) to more "genuine" optimization. Like if a business is actually showing a street address for a city, it would carry more weight than just a site that was not necessarily a zip code in that city but was optimized for a particular keyword set. Any other thoughts to consider?
that's exactly right. Google is putting more emphasis on naturally ranking sites. You can definitely be 'over-optimized'...try not to appease Google as much as you want to appease your visitors. Make sure your content is up to date and informative, so they have a reason to keep coming back and reading more. Kevin