Understanding Google Places & Local Search – Developing Knowledge about Local Search

Sahelia Datta has uncovered what appears to be a voice driven directory assistance service for Google Maps. She details both its strengths and its foibles.
The number for this free service:
1 877 466 4411 (1 877 GOOG 411)

Greg Sterling has an interesting analysis in his posting on Brands, User Experience and Mobile. He clearly positions the service in the big picture of directory assistance and local search.

For me the concerns are more pragmatic. Is it really Google results? (yes, they are) Is it free? (yes it is) And is it enough better than current directory assistance that consumers would use it? (Let me know what you think but it sure has promise).

For any of you that thought that optimizing for Google Maps was unimportant, this will certainly shake your world view. It clearly points out why it is important to have a solid listing with Google Maps, be listed in the top three in as many categories as possible and why if at all possible that number 1 ranking is critical on your keywords.

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Greg Sterling has a thoughtful post where he eflect on what are the “real” local numbers.

From Emarketer.com newsletter

At Mike the Internet Guy’s Blog he has some interesting coverage of the SES Local conference. The summary from Local Search Marketing Tactics – SES Local had a very nice overview by Christine Churchill of the steps to develop a local campaign

In mid- July Search Engine Roundtable noted in a posting that Google Maps results with the map included were displaying prominently in the Google Organic results. Clearly for anyone attempting to optimize for local placement this possibility brought up images of the promised land.

I experimented with tweaking our own listing and in our first listed category out of the 5 categories I had entered we succeeded in having our local listing include a map (and exclude other local listings from the front page). I followed my local guidelines and was able to achieve this ideal placement. That being said I do not fully understand exactly why the listing was upgraded from the normal 3 local text links that appear on the main search result.

But as they say: pride cometh before a fall… (more…)

2)Enhance the title of the Business to include the key phrase(s)

As I have explored Google Maps local rankings, I have used the models developed for organic search optimization as a starting point to develop understanding and make progress.

The working theory I developed is that the business name created in the Google Business Center functions in much the same as a Title Tag on an html page and that it perhaps has priority over other methods of determining relevancy. Minimally it plays a role, that much is sure.

Note in this example how Google highlights the search phrase in the Business Name (title) phrase.

Google Maps though has a number of different ways to potentially determine relevancy of a page to a search. One of the most significant besides business name is categories. Since they are limited in number and any listing can only have five they could easily play this role. Description also seems to play a part in reinforcing the relevancy of the listing.

It is certainly conceivable that category and description are more important or equally important to title. My theory is though that they act more like body copy & headlines on a text page to reinforce the business listing name. Can anyone shed more light on this relationship?

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1)Be sure to edit the local listing and include the relevant business categories

For those of you that are new to Google Local this might not seem obvious how to do. If you have just one business your can edit the business listing that appears in Google Local in one of several ways, neither of which is totally obvious or readily available.

Way one (the long way) is to find the business record via the main Google Search window…search on your business name and local information (either the zip code or city, state) and then drill down into the record via the “More local results” link. From there select your record from the list, and then drill into the “bubble” and on into the details area of your record. At the bottom you will find an “Edit this listing” link. The other (much shorter) route is to go to the Google Business Center. If you didn’t know to look for this link, it would be less than obvious to most business owners. The third way is to use GoogleBase to upload a list of locations (if you have more than 10. Again a solution that is not particularly market accessible)

The question that cropped up after I articulated this process to myself was : Why is this so hard to get to? (more…)

Here is a simple list of what is I have discovered is necessary to start improving your ranking at Google Maps and Yahoo Local.

As I have worked with local listings over the past year I created this small check list for achieving some measure of success. These points may be self evident or they may require additional clarification which I will be attempting to provide over the next several days. They all need testing and examination.

1)Be sure to edit the local listing and include the relevant business categories
2)Enhance the title of the Business to include the key phrase(s)
2a)Craft the categories and the description to reinforce the key phrase(s)
3)Get lots of web references (these are like links but not as rigidly defined) that reference the main key phrase and location of the business
4)Be sure that your own site has lots of references to your local address and key phrase
5)Join the Better Business Bureau/Mobile Travel Guide/Talking Phone Book etc. etc. that Google uses to provide details
6)Be sure to get some good reviews from the reviewing services the Google & Yahoo uses

Unlike optimization for organic search, optimization for local search at the major engines is in a much less developed state. It seems to have many fewer people poking, prodding and testing the hypothesis of local search and coming up with a definitive set of best practices. This is list is an attempt to create that model that we can all test. Have a go and let me know.

Almost 6 months ago I was requested by a local client to get them listed (or rather improve their listings) in Google Maps and Yahoo local.

I made a series of changes to the listing, helped them get their reviews improved, modified their business categories. On Yahoo the results showed up within a week.

On Google however the local listing was mired on page two and despite many of the same changes, didn’t go anywhere. This past Sunday, the listing has moved to the number one spot on the Google search page.

This raises several questions but the obvious one is: Does Google Maps have a Sandbox?

It would seem likely that they do. But the question that I have is: Is this just a function of their data update cycle or is it a more formal protocol that they follow.

Over the 6 month period, I had noticed that the reviews from citysearch.com that seemed to influence the standing on this listing were updated on Google. Now the aggregate star rating has been updated although Google Maps still quotes an older 3 star star review.