Ten Google Places Optimization Tips

Yesterday I had written about different ways of leveraging Google results for additional traffic to your website and I had mentioned that I’d be sharing a few ideas today about improving the results of your Google Places listings. So without further ado, here are ten Google Places optimization tips:

1. 1. Add the search terms (keywords) that you want to work for to your descriptions. Everything on Google is driven by the keywords on your site and Google Places pages. By including the search terms that you want to rank for, Google will know when to display your listings.
2. 2. Create pages for multiple locations. If you have more than one location be sure to set up a new Google Places page for each location with a unique phone number. This will increase the chances of your listing appearing and it will be more relevent to local search results.
3. 3. Add your own images to your Places page. The space is there so you might as well use it.  People like to do business with people they know, like and trust so if you’re a business owner display a picture of yourself.  Before and after pictures (for landscaping, revovations, etc.) are also effective.  Remember: a picture is worth a thousand words.
4. 4. Use videos too. You can also place up to 5 videos on your Places page.  To do so, upload your video to YouTube first and then grab the embed code to display the video on your Places page.  Customer testimonial videos work wonders here.
5. 5. Track everything using Google Analytics. You’re likely already using Analytics to track your website results.  Add the tracking code for your Places page as well and you’ll have a better idea of just how well your Places page is working for you.
6. 6. Complete your profile entirely. Google loves content and the more words on your Places page the more dedicated you look in the eyes of Google.  Be sure to complete all available fields to improve your chances for a higher listing.
7. 7. Get reviews. This is likely the most important criteria for higher rankings. Ask your customers to complete reviews on Google as well as Yelp, foursquare, etc.  Google has begun harvesting reviews from third party sites and that trend will only continue. The more reviews you have the better.
8. 8. Leverage other business listings. Again, while Google doesn’t like you harvesting and displaying duplicate content on your site the Big G is the biggest creator of duplicate content on the web.  However, that is good news for you.  The more directories in which your business appears (Yelp, Yellow Pages, BlogSpot, UrbanSpoon, etc.) the more important your business will appear.
9. 9. Consider using Google Boost. If you follow the suggestions above it should take too long for your Places page to appear at or near the top for most of your search terms. However, if you can’t wait, Google Boost is available. With this you can pay to have your Places page show up at the top of the listings.
10. 10. Leverage discounts and special offers. Everyone loves to get a good deal and Google Places allows you to offer coupons right on your Places page.  This is great for business and also helps you track the effectiveness of your Places page.

There you go.  Ten Google Places optimization tips. I hope you enjoyed them. Now go out and implement!!!

Promoting Your Business Through Google Places

Rarely does a day go by when a small business owner doesn’t ask me how they can improve the visibility of their website.  Usually they are asking about different tips and tricks for getting higher search engine rankings and most often, the search engine they’re most concerned about is Google.

As of this writing there are four differnet ways that you can get your site listed on the first page of Google.  You can pay for placement through their Adwords program. In this case, your ad will appear in the top 3 listings (shaded with a blue background) or down the right hand side of the listings.  Where your ad appear will depend on how much you’re willing to pay for a visitor and a number of other factors that we won’t get into here.

The other way to get on the first page is to set up and promote your site in such a manner that Google believes your site is the best source of information for their visitors and ranks you above all of your competitors.  This is what most people know as search engine optimization and it is as much an art as a science.

The third way to get listed on Google’s first page is to have content you’ve placed on third party sites appear there.  By content, I mean videos, articles, press releases, etc.  This is an often-overlooked area and a huge opportunity for local business owners. A subset of this approach would be renting a site or space on a site that already appears on the first page.  This is an area where I see a lot of growth potential.

The fourth, and what I believe, is the easiest way to get a good Google ranking is to leverage Google Places.  Google Places (or Maps) is a free service provided by Google that is similar to an online Yellow Pages ad. However, it is much more powerful.  Here’s why…

If you do any kind of local search in most cities you’ll notice that some of the top listings have pinkish-red bubbles beside them.  Those are Google Places lisings and if you click on them you’ll go to a one-page site hosted on Google that provides a map to that business as well as other pertinent information.

There are many interesting things to note about Google Places. First, this is a free service provided by Google and anyone can claim their listing.  It is a very simple process and I’ll be posting about how to do so shortly.  Second, these listings are gaining a higher and higher priority on Google so they are often bumping the normal or organic listings down the page.  I’m often seeing search results that show 7 Places results on the first page and only 3 websites.  Think about what this means to the 7 sites that got bumped to the second page.

The third thing about Google Places pages is that you can provide as much or as little information as you wish.  Google allows you to place pictures and even videos up on your Places page.  This allows you to build a pretty elaborate billboard to advertise your business.

Finally, Google Places seems to be driven by customer reviews.  Of course, Google will never tell you exactly what criteria they use to rank Places pages but it is apparent that businesses with more reviews do seem to rank higher.  This is great for good businesses but can be destructive for businesses providing notoriously bad services.

That about covers it for Google Places for now.  Stay tuned to my next few posts where I’ll be covering different ways of optimizing you Places page so that it should get ranked higher.  In the meantime, if you haven’t claimed your page yet you should do so right away. Google shows you how here. The sooner you do, the better jump you’ll be getting on your competition.

New Danny Wallace Book Out

If you’ve never heard of Danny Wallace before, shame on you.  He is a British author that wrote Yes Man (which was turned into a movie starring Jim Carrey) and a whole whack of other books.  He has a very dry and very strange sense of humour which I find hilarious.

I stumbled across his work when I was in a thrift store in Nottingham.  I picked up a copy of ‘Yes Man’ for less than a dollar and I must have read it 3 times before giving it to a friend of mine.  It is that good.

In any event, Danny has come out with a new book called, “More Awkward Situations for Men”.  Obviously, this is a sequel to one of his earlier books.  I haven’t read it yet but I’m sure it is going to be just as good as all of his other stuff.

The thing that I really like about Danny is that he writes about his own life experiences.  He’ll put himself into all of these awkward situations (which of course, turn out to be hiliarious) and gets you sucked into thinking “What if I was to do something like that?”

For example, the premise of “Yes Man” is that Danny commits to saying ‘yes’ to everything for a year.  As a result, he gets himself in some fine messes but he also opens himself up to a world of possibilities that he never knew existed.  While the book is funnier than a fart in a space suit it is also very much a self-help resource.

If you’ve ever read any of A.J. Jacobs’ stuff – especially “My Life as an Experiment” – you’ll find their writing styles and the situation they put themselves in quite similar.

Anyway, I haven’t read it yet and all of Danny’s stuff is hard to find in Canada so if you have had a chance to read it, please let me know how it is.

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with one of Danny’s videos but beware, this tune is addictive and you might find that you’ll be humming it for days.