There’s a lot to consider when you move your business from one location to another.
When we moved one floor down in our building, it was such a to-do, so we can imagine how daunting it can be for other businesses than need to move across cities and even countries. But even in our small move, we had some insights on how this business decision can affect your local SEO strategy as well as ranking factors.
The ‘digital’ move isn’t as clearly thought of as the physical move – and understandably so. However, failing to update your website, listings and social networks could spell a huge difference in search results. When a prospective customer checks out your outdated Google My Business listing and heads to your former address, they’ll see that it’s closed and could go to your nearby competitor.
You don’t want that, right? So to improve ranking factors and keep you up in searches, do these 4 important updates to your online real estate.
1. Update Your Website
When you want to let your customers know that you’re moving from one location to another, a “Hey, we’re moving!” announcement on your home page would be enough.
If you want to go the extra mile though, create a dedicated page, or even a blog post, talking about how you love the community you’ve planted your business in and explain why you’ve decided to make the move.
Not only will this help your customers understand your decision but you’ll also rank for keywords if you use your business name, your products or service and your location pre-move. Aside from that, be sure to update your address and phone number on your website.
2. Update Your Local Listings
Unless you’re operating from both your former and new locations, we strongly advise that you do not create a new listing when you move.
Instead, just update your current listing’s primary information. This is especially important in Google My Business, where creating a new listing may result in a duplicate.
Aside from updating your NAP, update your opening date as well. If you still haven’t made the move yet but you want to update your customers, you can set the opening date of your new location in the future and it will automatically be shown as ‘Coming Soon’. Google will show this 90 days before your opening date and once you’ve opened, your listing will show a ‘Recently Opened’ tag 90 days after your opening date.
For added measure, publish a Google Post, announcing that you’re moving and that your new location is finally open to serve customers.
Don’t forget to add a photo of your shop front in your post, or even a ‘We’re Open!’ discount offer to encourage more customers within your new area to visit you. It’s also important to update your other listings to maintain consistency as well as improve your search ranking factors.
Do it on the DigitalMaas Platform
Updating your business information is even easier when you’re using the DigitalMaas Platform. If you’re moving more than one location to another, you can update all their details without signing in and out of each listing. Publish posts, reply to reviews and answer questions within one central dashboard.
3. Let Everyone Know on Social Media
You know your customers are lurking around social media and are paying attention to your business. As you update your local listings, be sure to create social cards indicating your new address, directions and landmarks if space allows it and other important details you’d like to add.
On the caption, use the keywords you usually add your website content – this helps your visibility in search results. This way, you cover all your networks and improve your ranking factors in your preferred keywords.
4. Update Your Email Signature & Business Cards
People tend to forget this tiny detail and we do understand that there’s a lot that goes into moving locations. But emails are as important as your website, so keep in mind that you need to make a couple of quick changes in your company’s email signature when you’ve successfully moved.
Same for business cards, which are highly important during networking events. You will want to lead your future customers and stakeholders to the right location, after all.
Move your office or store from one place to another while ensuring that your own online real estate is updated. With the DigitalMaas Platform, you can rest easy knowing that you can update your locations’ business details in a pinch without having to log in and out of other accounts.
