Telephone Tracking Numbers result in confused Google Place Pages

• We recently ran into a problem with one of our clients where Google Places started picking up telephone tracking numbers that our client is using on both his Web site, and in some Internet Yellow Pages for call tracking. The problem is it's resulting in incorrect call number volumes making the Yellow Pages appear far more effective than we believe they are.

  Now, my client is convinced that's the only way to go! He doesn't understand that the Yellow Page tracking phone number is getting used in Google Places now as well, which is artificially inflating the numbers. He even went so far to have the tracking number setup on his Web site, further inflating the data.

Answer: Internet Yellow Pages are highly trusted data sources for Google on their Place Pages. When Google picks up a tracking number or even your company's toll free number, it can give you false data for tracking. It can also be the kiss of death for your Place Page ranking in the search results.

Google is looking at these citations such as Internet Yellow Pages and local directories for concurrent information to verify it has the most accurate data on your place. The company name, address, Web site, and phone number need to be the same across all data sources to generate the highest levels of trust on your listing for Google Places. When data sources have different information, then it can cause both ranking problems, and even worse, it can cause incorrect information listed for your company in Google Places. There is some evidence that phone numbers may be even more important than the business address because historically, a business phone number is one of the identifiers least likely to change.

To rank the highest in Google Places, and other sites like Yahoo Local and Bing Maps, your NAP - (Name, Address and Phone Number) need to be consistent! The best thing your client can do is manually find all the references to that t...