- Mathnasium Matters - https://matters.mathnasium.com -

IMPORTANT: Required Changes to Name-Address-Phone Number (NAP) on Google My Business, Microsites, and Other Platforms

This post serves as a follow-up to the previous posts on Matters about Google My Business: Google My Business Company Name Update [1] and Update on Google My Business Company Name Changes [2].

Mathnasium Home Office is pleased to announce a final update regarding actions that will move us into best-in-class Google compliance, as well as providing us with a competitive advantage to drive more traffic and leads via local search.

Local search rankings are heavily influenced by Google’s ability to find your business information on the web. They do so from their data point suppliers and more importantly, they ensure that information is consistent on both your microsite and your Google My Business page. Fifty-percent of foundational ranking factors are derived from the quality and consistency of NAP (Name-Address-Phone Number) results. As nearly 50% of our website traffic is from organic search, our consistency in NAP information has a tremendous impact, both positively or negatively.

To ensure we are highly optimized and poised for continued growth and expansion, we are introducing the deployment of new NAP standardization and practices. This will require changes to be made by Home Office and by franchisees to ensure compliance and consistency. Please see our timeline below of the roll-out of these changes:

TIMELINE FOR NAP CHANGES:

  1. CHANGES BY HOME OFFICE:
    1. Microsites – Week of October 22nd (early in the week)
    2. Google My Business – Week of October 22nd (later in the week)
    3. Online Directories – Week of October 22nd (later in the week)
  2. CHANGES BY YOU (FRANCHISEES):
    1. Yelp – Week of October 29th (early in the week)

RESOURCES TO HELP YOU:

Please watch the following video [3], read through this post, and refer to the updated resources listed below to understand the methodology behind these changes.

  1. Google My Business Reviews Walkthrough Guide [4]
  2. Microsite Walk Through Guide [5]
  3. Yelp Reviews Walkthrough Guide [6]

CHANGES BY HOME OFFICE:

GOOGLE MY BUSINESS

As mentioned in the video above and previous posts on Matters, Google has recently begun to enforce their overarching guidelines for Google My Business listings. Thus, your center’s Google My Business page will need to have NAP information that is in compliance with their guidelines and consistent across our microsites as well as all online directories.

Please take a look at the changes Home Office will be making to your Google My Business page to ensure consistency and compliance with Google’s standards.

[7]

CHANGE #1 (Name): Your location will not be listed as “Mathnasium of LOCATION”. Rather, it will be listed as “Mathnasium”. Although the location piece will be devoid from the front-facing name of your center, the location of your center will still reside within the meta-data of your microsite (i.e. SEO Title). This meta-data already exists in the SEO section of your microsite’s back end (specifically in the Microsite Dashboard) and feeds Google with the necessary location information.

CHANGE #2 (Address): Your center’s address needs to be consistent with the address on your microsite and across all site platforms. Therefore, we will need to eliminate any directional content (i.e. “Next to the Trader Joe’s”).

CHANGE #3 (Phone Number): The phone number needs to be consistent with the phone number on your microsite and across all sites. Therefore, the phone number needs to have the standardized format of (xxx) xxx-xxxx and no appendages, such as “MATH”. Extensions are acceptable when necessary to the functionality of incoming calls.

UPDATED RESOURCE: To further assist you, we have updated the Google My Business Reviews Walkthrough Guide [4].

MICROSITES

Similar to the Google My Business pages, we need to have business information in the “Name-Address-Phone Number” (NAP) header of the microsite that is compliant with Google’s guidelines and consistent across all online directories.

[8]

CHANGE #1 (Name): Please anticipate that the business name in the top right corner will not display by default. The “Mathnasium” business name will only display if an individual hovers over the respective area with the cursor (desktop) or finger (mobile).

NOTE: The NAP header of the microsite is where we must be in compliance in NAP standardization. Therefore, we will not change the “Welcome to Mathnasium of LOCATION” title on the “About” page.

CHANGE #2 (Address): The address field needs to be consistent with your center’s address across all sites. Therefore, we will need to eliminate any directional content (i.e. “Next to the Trader Joe’s”). This address will reflect what is listed as your address in Google My Business.

CHANGE #3 (Phone Number): The phone number on your microsite also needs to match perfectly with the number listed for your center on online directories and needs to have consistent formatting. Therefore, the phone number needs to have the standardized format of (xxx) xxx-xxxx and no appendages, such as “MATH”. Extensions are acceptable when necessary to the functionality of incoming calls.

CHANGE #4 (Limitations to Updating Phone Number): To maintain compliance with Google’s guidelines, we will be limiting microsite users’ ability to update the phone number on their center’s microsite. If you need the phone number updated on your center’s microsite, please contact Mathnasium Support (support@mathnasium.com).

UPDATED RESOURCE: To further assist you, we have updated the Microsite Walk Through Guide [5].

OTHER DIRECTORIES

While Google My Business and microsites are the primary focus, we must also be in compliance universally and throughout the many directories upon which your center is listed (i.e. Yellow Pages). We will take care of this for you.

CHANGES BY YOU:

YELP

You are the sole manager of your center’s Yelp page. To keep the Yelp listing consistent with our NAP standardization, you will need to make the following changes during the week of October 29th. We will be providing a follow-up post on Matters to further assist you with these changes in Yelp.

[9]

CHANGE #1 (Name): Please change your Yelp page from the “Mathnasium of LOCATION” to merely “Mathnasium”.

CHANGE #2 (Address): Your center’s address needs to be consistent with the address on your microsite and across all site platforms. Therefore, please make sure that your address is correct on your Yelp page and that it doesn’t have any directional content (i.e. “Next to the Trader Joe’s”).

CHANGE #3 (Phone Number): The phone number needs to be consistent with the phone number on your microsite and across all sites. Therefore, the phone number needs to have the standardized format of (xxx) xxx-xxxx and no appendages, such as “MATH”. Extensions are acceptable when necessary to the functionality of incoming calls.

UPDATED RESOURCE: To further assist you, we have updated the Yelp Reviews Walkthrough Guide [6].

NO CHANGES NEEDED ON SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS & OTHER MARKETING MEDIUMS:

There are no changes that need to occur on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and any other social media platform as these are not heavily-weighted factors in NAP congruency. You also do not need to make any changes to any marketing materials and resources.

IN CONCLUSION:

These changes are critical to our local and global SEO efforts, which directly affects leads, revenues, and brand awareness. We expect that our higher level of compliance will lead to better SEO and, in the long run, improved rankings on Google search engine results.

We thank you for your understanding and assistance as we continue to evolve as a company.

If you have any questions or concerns, please watch the video above before reaching out to your FBC. If you have any further questions that need to be addressed, Mathnasium Support (support@mathnasium.com [10]) would be happy to help as well.

Stay tuned for follow-up posts on Matters that will further guide you through these changes and provide next steps in the process!

(End)

3 Comments (Open | Close)

3 Comments To "IMPORTANT: Required Changes to Name-Address-Phone Number (NAP) on Google My Business, Microsites, and Other Platforms"

#1 Comment By Farid Hamedy On October 18, 2018 @ 5:59 pm

another good place to check and verify your search engine listing is Yext PowerListings Scan [11]
it will let you see what your business information looks like on a many many search engines.

#2 Pingback By » October 2018 Operations Manual Release: New & Revised Content and Resources for Lead Generation and Right Materials Mathnasium Matters: On October 25, 2018 @ 7:27 pm

[…] These resources have been updated with language and specification as outlined by the recent NAP changes. […]

#3 Pingback By » UPDATE: Required NAP Changes on Google My Business, Microsite, and Other Online Platforms Mathnasium Matters: On November 14, 2018 @ 7:03 pm

[…] During the week of October 22nd, the Home Office team rolled out updates to Google My Business, microsites, and online directories to ensure that we are in compliance with Google’s guidelines and have consistent information across all sites. For more information about these NAP changes, please refer to the Matters post on October 18th. […]