This week’s Ask An SEO question comes from Chatanooga’s Andrew, who writes:
“I have a client who is a personal injury attorney with the same last name as a major US city (city name removed).
Google sometimes gets confused and places its company’s website on the city’s SERPs along with our target keywords.
These queries have consistently received more attention than other legitimate queries in Google Search Console. Is there a way to let Google know that his last name is not actually the city they think it is, but just his last name?
This is a problem because his company is not far away [City Name]. “
Hi Andrew,
Good question and good news is that the answer may be easy to achieve.
Yes, when the city and name are the same, you can Google a location and a personal or business name.
This is easier because you are a localized business with professionals who need to be licensed or board certified.
Set up “Service Territory” in Google My Business
Google provides a helpful guide to setting up your service area here.
Having said that, the instructions in that article are not 100% clear, so here is the path to take:
- Sign in to your Google Business Profile dashboard.
- Click on the business location (if there are multiple offices).
- Click Information on the left side of the screen.
- Click “Add Service Area”.
- Add the city or region where you or your customers are served.
Deploy the schema using “Service Territories”
The next step is to deploy the “region service” pattern to your Web Services Page Architecture and Organization.
Both modes allow you to define service areas.
You can refer to the Regional Services section of Wikipedia or Wikidata to help define where you or your customers provide services.
Build citations and backlinks from local businesses
The last, and probably the trickiest, is to build local references and local backlinks.
In your case, it’s easy because you have licensed professionals who can become local experts.
Getting community- and city-based links and references can help show Google that you’re a well-known person, entity, company, or brand in the area.
Just don’t get spam and get caught link scheme.
Some of the items listed below may work against you if done incorrectly.
you can Create citations and links From:
- Local news sites (TV, radio or newspapers, including their recaps of radio interviews).
- Use your URL to run local ads on TV, bus stops, billboards, and more.
- Local podcast with website.
- Community, city, and state-based blogging.
- local directory.
- Complementary corporate and business partners.
- Sponsor community and local events.
- Host community events.
Think about what you can do to get involved in your community.
It doesn’t matter if the link is followed or not.
You try to show that you are the dominant force and are often cited in a particular area.
You still want to focus on the quality and localization aspects of the website that links to you.
Even if you’ve done all of the above, it’s possible that Google will show you in your client’s city with the same name.
If that happens, there are a few things that can ease their concerns.
Go into Google Analytics and view visitors by city.
If the city is larger than the area where your customers or business are located, your keywords may still get the most traffic, but since larger cities have more people, they can mask your local traffic.
That means you’re good enough to start focusing on new niches and new rankings.
Then, localize your site to reduce time wasted on customer support by people in areas you don’t serve.
Make sure to add:
- Local phone number.
- A stamp or message on your hero image that says “Proud to serve City XY for AB Years”.
- Only share local recommendations.
- Place a map of your area.
- Make sure your address is in the footer.
If you do the above, your body should be fine.
I hope this helps and thanks for your question!
More resources:
Ask about SEO is a weekly SEO advice column written by some of the industry’s top SEO experts, handpicked by Search Engine Magazine. Have questions about SEO? fill out our form. You may see your answer in the next #AskanSEO post!
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