What are the competition's Google Places pages optimised for?

[JamesMio]

I'm doing some work on a client's Googe Places page, and wondered if there's any way to see what a completitors Places page is currently optimised or categorised for?

Basically, we're trying to rank for 'Bathrooms Edinburgh' and almost all of the page 1 SERP's are (unsurprisingly) full of Places results, with #1 Organic slot right down at the bottom of the page.  In short - we NEED to get our Places page kicked into shape, and pronto!

So, is there any way to find out how the competition's Places pages are ranking so well?  e.g. What have they categorised themselves under?

Cheers in advance folks,

JM

[RobertFisher]

If you are wanting to know what they categorized (Ya'll spell funny) for, it is simple. Go to their places page by clicking on the upside down teardrop.

I picked one at random (Boscolo Bathroom Company): This is an owner verified listing, but you can still click on edit this place. Boscolo uses the following categories (cut and pasted from the page):Bathroom Design and Installation,Bathroom Installation & Supply,

There, you have it. Do the same on the others and you will know theirs.

Now, Funkitude is correct, and you do not have to stay with what Google gives, after the first mandated category you can add your own. So, work around the ranking you want but DO NOT keep putting Bathrooms Edinburg. Edinburg is assumed if that is your Places location. So if you sell toilets (loos to you), put bathroom toilet sales, if you remodel bathrooms put bathroom remodeling, etc. Make sure you put in a full complement of photos and geo locate them as well. Do the same with video.

This should help a bit with your project.

Best

[FishAcct]

Places ranking is generally about head terms + location, i.e. 'bathooms edinburgh', so if your competitor has optimized their places page, they have likely chosen categories which correspond to keywords they want to rank for. Make sure you've got a physical address listed. Check out a fairly compete list of Google Places categories here: http://blumenthals.com/google-lbc-categories/search.php?q=&val=hl-gl%3Den-US%26ottype%3D1. Look at their home page as well, what keywords do they have in their title tags, meta description, h1 tags. They have likely optimized their Places page for similar terms.

Make sure you add lots of detail to your listing (description, pictures, solicit reviews) as well.