Understanding Google My Business & Local Search
GetListed Birmingham
Today, I am presenting at the fifth GetListed.org Local University in Birmingham AL. If you are coming PLEASE take a moment to introduce yourself as I would love to meet you.
For those of you that attended the presentation these links will provide background information and details for a pathway to dig deeper into the world of managing your listing on Google Maps. For those of you that are not in attendance, the links provide a good overview of critical base line ideas and tactics that every local campaign should embrace.
Google Maps – Its not your mother’s yellow pages.
Slide 2 – March 2010 Search Engine Market Share
Slide 12/13 – The Importance of Page One Visibility
Slides 16/17 – How the Google Cluster Works
Slide 21- Choosing the Right Category – A Tool
Slide 21 – Writing a Great Business Description
Slide 21 – Google Places Policies: Quality guidelines
Slide 22 – Creating a GeoSitemap – A tool
Slide 28/29 Local Search Ranking Factors – the many variables
Slide 28/29 A brief list of 10 Ranking Factors – somewhat old but still valid and a quick read
Slide 28/29 Thinking about your Business Name in the Internet Era
Slide 30 – Custom Maps – A Goldmine
Slide 30 – User Generated Content – Geo Tagged Photos
Slide 30 – How To Gather Reviews
Slide 30- Where to Gather Reviews
Slide 31- The Importance of Citations
Slide 31 – 20 Citation Sources in the US
Slide 36- A Listing management tool
© Copyright 2023 - MIKE BLUMENTHAL, ALL RIGHT RESERVED.
Comments
5 Comments
@mike
Have you seen the new upload a photo option in google places
it links to a picasa web album from the google places interface..im going to play with it a little bit then report back
@Nick
Saw the announcement but haven’t yet been able to play
I now have the option for boost ads for most categories in my dashboard….I find the timing of the boost ads going nationwide and the phone verifications being shut down a little to close together….well played google well played
“list your business for free” if you have 3 weeks to wait for a post card then 3 weeks for google to index your places page by my count thats 11.5 % of the year…
OR
you can just pay 450 $ for 115 – 195 clicks “estimated” per month
Did google just turn into the DMV
I just sold my google shares and bought Baidu
@Nick – combined with the tags product and my own experience with their shady sales and placement tactics it is only a matter of time. Google grew via WOM in regard to their better search results back in the day. Being a public company that is chasing constant revenue growth has destroyed their vision. I agree we are seeing the beginning of the end for this company (not that they are going to fail today tomorrow or in the next 5 years but they have started digging the grave)
That being I think it is coincidence not correlation. Google has finally placed a concerted effort on local. As a result the problems we are all seeing is caused by the people making the decisions at Google. Being techie elite who do not understand the needs of businesses and consumers at the ground level they are not addressing the complaints and concerns of their primary audience. If anything Mr Blumenthals blog has been a running testimonial to this trend.
@ Mark
as I have proposed before in this very blog…That This is all too familiar..I for some reason keep thinking of alta vista and there decline stemming from a long witch hunt against spam..I agree it wont be sudden but more of incrementalistic fall from grace..
I can only assume the word Search Neutrality will be more and more of an everyday topic
I am interested in blekko and bing and what they are going to do next to try to seduce the smb’s
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