Title : Googles Going Local, Why Google Places Pages Are Now More Important than Ever for Organic Placement
Link : Googles Going Local, Why Google Places Pages Are Now More Important than Ever for Organic Placement
Googles Going Local, Why Google Places Pages Are Now More Important than Ever for Organic Placement
With Google pushing location specific listings pulled from their Google Places index, it's getting harder for prospects to find your "real" website. Localization is the rage with search engines right now. It is now more important than ever to use your local Places page as a doorway to bring visitors into your website.
Have you noticed the change in Google.com results? Have youseen all the red icons in front of listings whenever you do a Google searchthat contains a city location in the query? Are you noticing that yourwebsites organic (unpaid placement) seems to be pushed down below a myriad of localresults? Welcome to the new world of Googles localized results!
With Google pushing location specific listings pulled fromtheir GooglePlaces index, its getting harder for prospects to find your realwebsite. Localization is the rage with search engines right now; even Bing andYahoo have gotten into the act too. It is now more important than ever to useyour local Places page as a doorway to bring visitors into your website. AsGoogle is the big player in the world of search, well focus on discussingGoogle Places accounts in this article, but be aware that Bing and Yahoo bothhave similar services.
If you have a business, you most likely already have aGoogle Places page even if you never created one. Google has planned ahead foryou, and has created a page just for you, based on the information that it hasfound on the Web about your business. Its your job to claim it, and then work thepage over so it can be a selling tool to funnel customers and prospects intoyour real website.
How do you claim yourlisting?
First, visit this page: http://www.google.com/places/. On the right you will see a section forbusiness owners. Your listing is free, but you will need to set up or tie anexisting Google account login to your new Google Places account. One word tothe wise, if you are paying a third party to do set up for you, make sure thatthey tie the Google Places account to you and not to themselves. You want toretain ownership of your Google Places page as long as you have your business.
The sign up and set up interface is easy to use. You willenter in your physical address (no P.O. Boxes allowed), your phone number, emailaddress, website URL, business description, and then select service or productcategories. Dont be afraid to choose custom categories that are short keywordsof the services or products you provide. You can only set up a maximum of fivecategories.
Your Places page is not complete until you enter detailsabout your business such as: operating hours, types of payment accepted,photos, YouTube.com videos, and finally the important additional details.Take time to add additional details that make sense. We recommend using keywordphrases for these additional details.Keep in mind that what you enter here should be considered like abulleted list, with a one to three word clarification in the second field tothe right of the entered keyword. Focus on keywords that are indicative of whatyou sell and in a very short concise format.
Although you are done, your Places page will not go liveuntil Google has verified that you are really located at the address your havelisted in your Google Places account. Plan on two weeks for a postcard or plainenvelop to come to you via regular mail at the listed location. This correspondencewill contain a PIN. You must enter this PIN number in your Google Placesaccount for your Places page to be put in the indexing queue. It may then takeanother one to four weeks for your listing to actually become live. Unfortunatelysetting up and verifying a Google Places page is not quick process but makesure to follow the instructions carefully. If someone has already claimed your physicallocation you will not be able to claim it as well. This is an important note toremember for office buildings and even businesses sharing physical spaces withthe same street address. The location will be tied to a single Google Places accounton a first come basis.
How to maintain top positionwith your Google Places listing?
As Google Places pages are so important now in the organicresults, how can you improve placement and then retain it once you win it. Werecommend that you do monthly updates of your photos and videos on your GooglePlaces page. If you dont have videos, nows the time to start getting creativeand make several short videos using your digital camera. Just load your videofiles to YouTube.com (tied to the same Google account that you used for yourGoogle Places page). Insert the YouTube.com link to the video into your GooglePlaces account in the video section. You can show up to five videos at a time.As for pictures we recommend sizing 20 or so into a square shape and thenrotating ten different ones each month. Google seems to like and reward Placespages with better placement that are actively managed on a regular basis.
Google also seems to reward Google Places pages with betterplacement when the business offer coupons and has more review than theircompetitors. Not all markets seem to have a clear cut path to top placement,but we do know from research that in major markets reviews and coupons are justone of the keys for top placement of a Google Places page. Your geographicproximity to the person who has searched is still the top determining factor inwhich businesses are shown and then coupons and reviews will additionally rankthe returned business listings.
Where do the reviewscome from that appear on my Google Places page?
Google scans the Web and pulls reviews from all over andembeds them on your Google Places page. Users can also leave reviews directlyby visiting your Places page if they are logged into their own Google account.Additionally, with the creation of Google Hotpot, a social business reviewtool, Google is actively seeking for others to rate your business with theirown application.
Unfortunately, you have no control of the reviews thatappear on your Places page. However, as the Places owner, if a poor review is posted,you can respond to the review, but there is no remove this review button. Youcan however flag the review for Google as inappropriate, but Google may leavethe review at their option. If the review is pulled in from a site that is nota Google property, even if you flag it as inappropriate Google has stated thatthey will not block it from showing on your Places page.
Be careful if you are using a third party set up servicethat the creation of fictitious reviews is not part of your package. YourPlaces page could be dropped from the index through a violation of Googlesterms of service.
In conclusion, with theadvent of search engine localization, claiming your GooglePlaces page is a very important aspect of managing your online presence.With Google Places pages being ranked higher than websites for search queriesthat contain a location, you really must use this new tool to your advantage tofunnel clients and prospects into your website.Thus this article Googles Going Local, Why Google Places Pages Are Now More Important than Ever for Organic Placement
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