Last Name & City Name The Same: How To Show Google The Difference - Search Engine Journal

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This week’s Ask An SEO question comes from Andrew in Chatanooga, who wrote:

“I have a client who is a personal injury attorney with a last name that is the same as a major U.S. city (City Name Removed).

Google gets confused sometimes and puts his firm’s website on SERPs for that city plus our targeted keywords.

In Google Search Console, these queries keep gaining traction over other, legitimate queries. Is there a way to let Google know that his last name is not in fact the city that they think it is and is just his last name?

It’s an issue because his firm is located nowhere near [City Name].”

Hi Andrew,

Great question and the good news is that the answer will likely be easy for you to implement.

Yes, you can differentiate for Google between a location and a person or business’s name when the city and name are the same.

It’s even easier because you are a localized business with professionals who need to be licensed or board-certified.

Set The ‘Area Served’ In Google My Business

Google offers a helpful guide to setting your service area here.

With that said, the instructions in that post aren’t 100% clear, so here’s the path to take:

• Log into your Google Business Profile dashboard.
• Click on the business location (if there is more than one office).
• Click Info on the left side of the screen.
• ...

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