Google Maps & Reviews – Where Social & Rank Meet | Understanding Google Places & Local Search

May 12, 2010

Google Maps & Reviews – Where Social & Rank Meet

Category: Google Places (Maps & Local),Reviews – Mike Blumenthal – 6:00 am

Here is a copy of my presentation given at the SES Local Search Summit in NYC in late March:

I have not annotated nor otherwise provided commentary, but if you have questions feel free to ask away.

Please consider leaving a comment as your input will help me (& everyone else) better understand and learn about local.

« A Very Strange Google Local Result(s) – GetListed Local University – Twin Cities »

11 Comments »

Thanks for sharing this info Mike
- I haven’t heard back from Google Places rep re: professional/specialist being on 1 Places account or on separate accounts.
Andy

Comment by Andy Kuiper - SEO (6 comments) — May 12, 2010 @ 12:07 pm
Loved this deck, Mike…enough to blog about same too!

http://www.canuckseo.com/index.php/2010/05/12/our-seo-tacticsreport-potpourri/

Jim

PS so when’s Amazon gonna have a compilation of all your LOCAL/MAPS/Places pieces all in a hardcover for us fans to buy anyways?

Comment by Jim Rudnick (164 comments) — May 12, 2010 @ 2:48 pm
Hi,

I have a number of clients that I have set up under the google local business center. But one client in particular (www.fisherautotrans.com) Fisher Auto Transmissions does not show up at all in the local maps…even in his own town of Fairfield NJ. This is particularly weird considering he says he is the only transmission shop in Fairfield. How do I get him to show up? Any advice?

Thanks,
Jim

PS By the way, his profile has been loaded into about 100+ local websites and directories.

Comment by Jim Rothstein (1 comments) — May 12, 2010 @ 3:07 pm
Mike, thanks very much for posting your deck from SES. Quick question in regards to slide 5 – is there a significant difference in having a NAP citation vs. an inbound link with just the business name anchor text? Would it not be more beneficial to try and get a full citation, on a multitude of sites as often as possible, instead of just the business name? Can you elaborate on points 1 and 2 a little more? Your insights are greatly appreciated!

Comment by Erin (1 comments) — May 12, 2010 @ 4:59 pm
Well I still think Citations and User Content is the Holy Grail for ranking

Comment by mike2k (1 comments) — May 12, 2010 @ 7:24 pm
@Andy
Please do not hold your breath. I would not in any want to be responsible for the death of a reader.

@Jim Ru

Thanks! No books for not.

@Jim Ro
Google is unable to geocode the address correctly thus they can’t place your client nor rank him.

@Erin
I am not really clear on your question.

Comment by Mike (2500 comments) — May 12, 2010 @ 10:26 pm
Nice slides! Just want to 1) supply context for the quotation on slide 12 and 2) clarify that the opinions I express on my blog are personal and shouldn’t be interpreted as official Google policy.

Comment by Daniel Tunkelang (9 comments) — May 13, 2010 @ 12:23 am
@Daniel

Thanks for the link and the clarification. Sorry for not thinking to provide the link to your personal blog.

Comment by Mike (2500 comments) — May 13, 2010 @ 6:50 am
Nice presentation – thanks Mike

Comment by Dave (81 comments) — May 14, 2010 @ 5:55 am
Mike,

First, Thanks for all the awesome work you do on this blog.

Second, have you seen any eye-tracking or click through studies that show the breakout of clicks when a local map is included? The reason I ask is I have a client that is number 1 in a three-pack with a nice bright 5 stars next to his name and then is also the top traditional organic listing. Based on our reverse math it seems that he is getting about 6 times more people to click on his traditional listing half way down the page compared to his maps listing.

Thanks

Comment by Jeff Mette (3 comments) — May 19, 2010 @ 4:34 pm
@Jeff

There have been no recently published human generated heatmaps demonstrating user behaviors around the 7-Pack. What has been published is using automated tools and only correlates about 75% of the time.

The best bet is to add analytic tracking to the Google Maps listing and then add up the additional data from the Places dashboard (actions) to get a broad idea of actual relative value.

Comment by Mike (2500 comments) — May 19, 2010 @ 4:42 pm