Do changing your phone number Influence SEO?
For some it’s just a string of numbers that are as insignificant like any string of numbers on a site. For others it’s an essential line of communication. A business telephone number is an essential part of a website’s presence. Without it, a lot of potential clients will not have a means of contacting your company. Although at times the phone number may seem to be more trouble than its worth, it’s actually valuable in ways you’ll never be aware of. – Switching Phone Number Seo
NAP SEO
One of the most important aspects in local SEO lies with the consistency of your NAP. It’s not about that you’re taking a great power nap at the same time each day, but it can certainly boost performance when in the right circumstances. – Switching Phone Number Seo
It is comprised of your name, address and phone number. If you are a business, this refers to the name of your company, the telephone number that is used to contact your company whether it is for general enquiries as well as a helpline and the address of your corporate headquarters.
NAP is required to ensure the best local SEO. In the end, without an official address and telephone number, how will any website like Google or Yelp or any other – confirm your locality? If a person seeks out a business close to them within a particular area and has an address that is local on your website is a guarantee that you are listed for the searches. – Switching Phone Number Seo
NAP uniformity is an necessity of keeping the information same for all locations. If you have several different names, people will question whether you’re actually the same business in the end. Multiple addresses can cause information to be thrown into confusion, unless the clarify the address that is linked to the branch. – Switching Phone Number Seo
However, phone numbers; what makes them so important to search engine optimization? Any phone number that is able to reach you works well however it’s not like Google calls to verify. In this instance is less so about the exact number and more about structure. 555.555.5555 and 5555-555-5555 both are valid, however, you shouldn’t make use of both on the same website as it will look unprofessional.
Of course maintaining the same phone number at each location is essential to ensure the sameness. If someone tries to find out what your phone number is and sees three or four different results There are a myriad of possibilities. Perhaps you’ve switched numbers and the old one is no longer working. Perhaps someone else is trying to promote an alternative number as a fake phishing scam. It’s hard to say!
Moving phone numbers
If you’re looking to change your telephone number, you have to think about SEO but it’s not necessarily to the degree that other businesses might. – Switching Phone Number Seo
Numbers for phones are crucial, more so than addresses. Online-only businesses don’t need the address of their business, however they do have a need for the number. Phones can open up a new market of customers that aren’t averse to email or chat on the web. This is a direct line to assistance from customers who require it. In addition, there are vast arrays of analytics and call tracking software that can help you keep all that data on track. – Switching Phone Number Seo
Sometimes, however it is necessary to change your number. Perhaps you’re an individual and you’re switching providers and are unable to move your number forward. There was a mishap with your phone provider caused the number transferred and you’re not able to recover it. Maybe you’re switching to Google Voice or other VoIP service. You might be moving to a tracker number instead of an untracked one. – Switching Phone Number Seo
Does changing your phone number harm SEO? The answer is “maybe.” It all comes back to the initial question: NAP consistency.
It isn’t important the number you use to call. There is no way for one number to be more or less effective than another in terms of SEO. I use “virtually” because it’s entirely possible Google could impose a penalty for some odd 900-number-paid-per-minute way of contact, however they could not. I’m honestly not sure. – Switching Phone Number Seo
It is important that your number appears identical across all places. If you’ve got your number within your header footer or your content, whitepages, YellowPages, Facebook, Twitter and hundreds of other websites, then all of those websites in the manner you are able to control – should have the exact number. –
It is important that your number appears identical across all places. If you’ve got your number within your header footer or your content, whitepages, YellowPages, Facebook, Twitter and hundreds of other websites, then all of those websites in the manner you are able to control – should have the exact number. – Switching Phone Number Seo
SEO and Call Tracking
Call tracking is able to function in several different ways. It is possible to have scripts that can change a number based on data about the person using the service, for example, demographics or referral data. You can have various numbers from different sources, sort similar to having various UTM parameter for the exact URL across different websites. – Switching Phone Number Seo
The second choice is the least desirable choice. Modern call tracking employs dynamic number insertion to display visitors a tracked number but also keep the default number accessible to any person who isn’t a part of an identified demographic or for bots such as Google’s crawlers. This way, Google will always display only one number, and can be consistent across other websites as well. – Switching Phone Number Seo
Other methods of tracking calls do not require dynamic numbers in any way. For instance, you could monitor information about calls that are made using your number via Google Ads which is whenever a user using an mobile device or using an phone client installed chooses to dial the number. It doesn’t require fancy numbers to allow Google to track the data within their analysis. – Switching Phone Number Seo
In general in general, if you’re using an advanced call tracking system that’s in place, it won’t interfere with your SEO. SEO is so vital that any call tracking system that could harm websites could have been shut out of business in the past. – Switching Phone Number Seo
Utilizing Multiple Numbers
Apart from calling tracking is one thing, but there’s lots of other reasons your business may have several telephone numbers. Are any of the above seem familiar?
- Your company operates as a broker that connects customers with other companies Each company will require its own number in their own area of the webpage. – Switching Phone Number Seo
- The business you run has many branches locally. Each branch must have a telephone number to be reached by those who are looking for the branch.
- The company has many departments each with their own phone number. The users can browse through an index and then call the help center, support line and the front desk or the sales team.
- Your company has many employees who require their own personal contact numbers. The hospital may have different phone numbers per doctor as an instance.
In each of these scenarios the website you have created will likely include a number of different telephone numbers. However, as we’ve learned from previous posts, having one phone number that is the same throughout all of your locations can be extremely crucial. How can this be resolved?
The primary SEO factor that you should be looking into is multi-practicer listings. This is Google’s answer, that allows every company to have telephone numbers equivalent as the amount of lawyers working within the company and one additional general number. “Practitioner” is an overused term, but it could be used to describe individual departments or even branches of a company similarly to partners of a law firm. There are a few options to consider.
The first step is to remove any numbers that are not the primary number. Then, you can install the phone tree or system to call that number, which allows users to use through the tree to reach your front desk, or to any department or individual within. There are numerous business telephone systems in the market that can handle the call direction.
The advantage of this method is the fact that your only primary phone number can be displayed wherever. It isn’t a problem to determine which is the best number for your company. Typically, calling a specific individual within your phone system requires an extension however, if the person puts an extension in place however, the primary phone number remains the same.
However it could mean an overhaul of your phone system in general You’ll have to look up every single one for your numbers online , and ensure that they’re the correct primary number.
The other alternative is to keep the primary number in the top place, and then list secondary numbers on the Directory page, or an About Page. A phone book may help however it’s not the perfect or elegant solution for the issue in present.
The problem here is that you’ll have one particular webpage on your site that’s covered in numbers. You can now make sure they are labelled each one clearly, however, it could be an issue dependent on the formatting. It is imperative to ensure that the primary number is placed in an important position and that it is identified as primary. This can be a problem when multiple numbers are considered primary, for instance having three branches of the same company.
The alternative is to offer every single entity with its own number a profile page, which includes its contact details. This eliminates the problem of directory however it creates problems with duplicate content or confusion regarding the importance of every number. In many instances, Google is smart enough to know the number that is the most important or, at the very least, designate each number as its an individual branch however, you have to clearly state what is the primary. This is the reason you don’t find orphaned numbers on websites. They always include a complete NAP entry, whenever it is possible.
With the three options available the most important thing is the correct labeling. So long as Google can connect an address, a name or a telephone number, all three pieces of data are a distinct identity. If you have several numbers that are associated with identical addresses, these are given distinct names. If you have several numbers with the same address typically, they have distinct addresses. By identifying the different combinations, Google can keep them together.
Do you require a phone Number?
With all this in your mind, you could be wondering whether you require a telephone number. Many online businesses, particularly those owned by entrepreneurs , or owners who are solo may think they can complete all of their business via email.
There are some issues in this. First, having the phone number is a sign of trust. If you don’t have a complete NAP, Google (and some other websites) and even clients, will not trust the company as much. You’re already dropping the web address of a company, so losing even a phone could be a big problem.
If you decide to not to have a telephone number, you miss two important aspects in marketing strategy: phone sales and phone support. The importance of phone sales is immense especially for older generation. Younger people might be fine conversing via chat or email however many prefer to talk on the phone instead of other options. In the end it can be a quicker method of moving through the sales process than an inefficient email chain or an external chat box.
For support via phone is concerned, it’s an integral part in customer loyalty. The harder it is for you to get in touch when an issue occurs and the more unlikely an individual will make the switch initially as well as the greater chance they will to form a negative impression of you should support fail. Even if an individual views the phone number as a the last resort, it’s an option.
I’d suggest that generally speaking you require a telephone number for your company’s name. Addresses can be resold while name might be an established name, and calling a number can make up the distinction.
The most important thing to consider when making use of your mobile number for SEO is to ensure the number, no matter the subject matter it is the same across all sites. Make sure to double and triple-check it every time you are able, looking for websites which scrape your data and sites that have profiles which you are able to control, as well as every other site that has an address listed.
