It has always been important to maintain consistency of your business information everywhere it appears on the web. This means making sure your information is exactly the same across your Google Business Profile, your website content, the way your webpages are coded (the schema) and your directory listings. Consistency builds trust; inconsistency undermines trust and confuses Google and AI Assistances like ChatGPT or Gemini.
It is not uncommon for businesses to have inconsistent information across these channels.
In this article, I’ll walk you through the pieces of information and where they live so you can audit, fix, and maintain consistency even with limited time or resources.
1. Business Name
Your business name must be an exact match everywhere. It must be the same on your Google Business profile, your website, the schema under the hood of your website and on any directory listings you have out there.
But what if you have different, more friendly versions of your business name? For example, what if your legal name is “Joe’s Plumbing and Repair” but you tend to use “Joe’s Plumbing” most of the time.
That’s fine, but you must be very careful to handle this carefully.
Here are a few rules of thumb.
Google Business Profile
Use your legal business name in your Google Business Profile. It may be very tempting to add keywords to your business name in your Google Business Profile, for example. “Joe’s Plumbing Toronto – Drain Cleaning & Repairs”. Unfortunately, this can have a negative impact over time if those keywords are not part of your legal name. Not using your legal name here could reduce trust from Google as well as AI Assistants like ChatGPT or, even worse, it could lead to the suspension or removal of your Google Business Profile altogether.
Get those keywords in with your Google Business Profile Business description, services list and website content as well as posts and Q&A within your profile.
Website Content
Feel free to use shorter, friendlier versions of your business name in your website content so long as the full legal name is referenced at least once on each page, for example in your footer.
Webpage Coding (Schema)
You can’t see a schema easily but it is essentially code that can be built into a webpage so that it is easier for Google or ChatGPT to understand what your webpage is about.
It is not at all uncommon for a webpage to be missing schema altogether but having them configured correctly can give your webpage a lot more visibility. If you don’t want to deal with schema, ask a trusted web developer or SEO consultant to do this for you.
To avoid confusing Google or AI Assistants or undermining their trust, be sure that your schema includes your full legal name exactly as it is shown in your Google Business Profile, your website content and your directory listings.
If you have a WordPress site, this can be easily configured with a plugin like RankMath. Just be sure to fill in all your details. If that’s too much, you can get the support of an SEO agency or web developer like ClearIntent.
Directory Listings
This can be a real pain if you are listed on a lot of directories but the objective is to make sure all those listings use the same name as your Google Business Profile, website content and schema.
2. Address and Phone Number
Like the business name, it is also important that your full business address including city, province or state, postal code, country and phone number are identical across your Google Business Profile, your website content, your schema and your directory listings. If you hear a digital marketer talking about your NAP, it just means your business Name, Address and Phone number).
Be careful of abbreviations (“Street” vs. “St”) or alternate words like “Unit” vs. “Suite”.
For your phone number, always use the same number format. That is choose +1-416-555-1234 or (416) 555-1234. Whichever format you use, use it everywhere.
If you want to use multiple phone numbers, for example one for sales and one for service this must also be handled carefully. In your Google Business Profile (and in your schema) you have the ability to add additional contact numbers but your main number should be consistent across channels.
On your website, it is common to have this information in your footer and on your contact page. Check for consistency and ask your web developer or SEO agency to ensure your schema matches exactly too.
3. Website Address
Always use the exact same website address across Google Business Profile, website content, webpage schema, and directory listings. Be careful to either include “www.” or not, and use “https” vs “http” consistently. Really, Google and AI Assistants should be able to figure this out, but by now you are probably getting the idea. Make this easy for them and don’t confuse them.
4. Hours of Operation
I am sure you get the idea by now. You want your hours of operation to be consistent across all these channels: Google Business Profile, website content, webpage schema and directory listings.
5. Service Area (For Service-Based Businesses)
For service areas businesses, businesses that don’t promote their brick-and-mortar address but serve a wide geographical area (for example, the Greater Toronto Area) it is important to have this be consistent across your Google Business Profile, website content, webpage schema and directory listings.
A Service Area can include a specific city or cities (like the Mississauga and Oakville) and possibly radius around that city (e.g. within 50 kilometres of that city).
6. Social Profiles
You don’t need to include these but they can be very helpful. Remember to be consistent across your Google Business Profile, your website content, your webpage schema and directory listings.
You don’t need to link to your Google Business Profile but you can by embedding a map to your Google Business Profile location. But even if you don’t do that, be consistent.
7. Reviews & Ratings
This can get a little complicated if you are including reviews and testimonials from different sources (for example, Google, Facebook and testimonials direct from your customer or client).
If you want to present a Google review on your webpage, you will want a schema (code) embedded in the page that makes clear that it is a Google review. Of course, make sure that review is actually present on your Google Business Profile.
If you want to present a Facebook review, same thing.
If you want to include a testimonial directly from a customer you can do that too. You just need to be sure that the code embedded in the page makes it clear what kind of review it is.
Conclusion
Consistency is the foundation of a trustworthy, discoverable local business online. When your business name, phone, address, hours, service area, website URL, social profiles, and reviews are all aligned everywhere, you remove confusion: for customers, for Google and for AI Assistants like ChatGPT.
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