Google Places - Optimisation?
-
Can someone please provide some details about key ranking factors for Google Places? Such as Keywords, reviews, pictures, location?
I've tried getting reviews, adding lots of details, + Pictures etc..
-
You are welcome, Charles. Yes, lots to learn...and the learning just continues because of the ever-changing nature of Local. The more you learn, the more you will be able to put your know-how to work for your business. Good luck!
Miriam
-
Thanks Miriam! Wow so much to learn!...
-
Hi Charles,
Thanks for the clarification. What I'm going to give you here is a quick rundown, but I'll include some links at the end for further reading. I'll break this down into a numbered list for easier reading.
1. It's critical to understand that the most powerful element of your local search engine rankings is your website. This means that...
2. It needs to be well optimized in terms of traditional SEO factors and...
3. It needs to have strong local hooks in it. Your NAP (name, address, phone number) needs to be in all the right places (typically on your contact page and in your footer sitewide). Consider utilizing hCard or Schema to make your geographic signals as clear and strong as possible. Also...
4. The content on your website has got to be as good as you can make it. Go for thoroughness, depth, clarity and good local SEO on every page of the site. Look at what your competitors are doing and then do more.
5. Because the website has become such a key to rankings, everything you've ever learned about SEO and search engine rankings applies. So, this means the strength of your domain name, age of the site and such elements are likely factors as well as the whole linkbuilding aspect of SEO. It all counts.
6. Once you've got your site in shape (plus a plan for ongoing content development) you can look off the site for opportunities. These include the obvious, such as inclusion in Google Places and other local business indexes, and also the 'hidden', meaning citations. You mention in your post that you have tried a variety of things, but as you haven't mentioned citations, perhaps this is an area you've yet to explore. Citations are to Local SEO what links have always been to traditional SEO. Once upon a time, Google displayed some of a business' citations right on its Place Page, but they stopped doing that, making citation research more difficult for Local SEOs and business owners. This has led to the development of tools...
7. Right now, Whitespark's Citation Finder Tool is pretty much the standard in the Local SEO industry. There is a free version of the tool, but it's not very helpful. The paid version is great. Here is the link:
http://www.whitespark.ca/local-citation-finder/
8. And if you are are in the US or UK, don't miss Search Engine Land's post on the top 50 citation sources:
http://searchengineland.com/top-50-citation-sources-for-uk-us-local-businesses-104938
Essentially, you want to build as many citations as you can over time for your business.
9. Reviews are part of the scenario, too, but Google is still very unsophisticated in this area. Their ability to value quality vs. quantity has not been demonstrated. You do want to get as many reviews as you can...but there are just too many instances of businesses with, say, 20 reviews, outranking businesses with 100 of them to draw a truly clear picture of the correlation between reviews and rankings. They play a part, but they do not, in my opinion, compare in power to the website or the citations.
10. Returning back to point 6 and the obvious work...obvious though it may be, it's absolutely critical that you build a violation-free Google Place Page. If you don't read the guidelines, you are likely to make a mistake, because Google's rules are not intuitive. Here are the guidelines: http://support.google.com/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=107528
Hopefully, my answer will get you off to a good start. I highly investigate the following:
David Mihm's Local Search Ranking Factors:
http://www.davidmihm.com/local-search-ranking-factors.shtml
A recent webinar we had here:
http://www.seomoz.org/webinars/all-about-google-placesAnd become a regular reader of Mike Blumenthal's blog. Mike is widely considered to be North America's leading expert in Local:
Cheers!
Miriam
-
I'm after high pinned ranking in the main search egine results.
-
Hi Charles1,
Thanks for coming to Q&A with this question. Your question is simply put, but it's leaving me wondering if you mean ranking solely within the Google Places/Maps rankings (clicking through actually into Maps/Places) or if you mean how do you get high pinned rankings in the main search engine results. If you can specify this, I will come back with information for you. Thanks!
Miriam
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Do random listings effect Google Local Rankings?
So my clients business name is "Photojennette Photography" and while researching citations to correct I have found a completely random issue. There's an actress named Jennette McCardy that apparently has a ton of photos on the internet and with that are page titles like "Brand New Photo : Jennette McCardy" and "Look at this Photo Jennette McCardy" My question is, would Google be sending my listing down because of this? It's completely random and has nothing to do with the business. Thanks in advance.
Image & Video Optimization | | jonnyholt0 -
Google+ advice
I am in the process of finalizing G+ pages for our financial institution's 70 locations. So far, the only things I see in my control (set-up only) are the basics - address, phone number, website, description, categories, etc. I do have some great information for additional information (drive-through hours, products, services, etc.), but I see that there's not a place for those. So aside from ensuring accuracy, choosing the best categories provided by Google, uploading quality pics, writing an effective/optimized description, and making sure my pins are correct, any other tips for making these the best pages the best I can? The only thing in my scope is page set-up. Our social media coordinator will be mitigating reviews and posting content. Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | SSFCU0 -
Google Places for Business - multiple accommodation listings
Hi there I have a client who runs a holiday rental accommodation business in Australia. The business model is: a single brand (+ website) with multiple holiday homes (each with their own physical address). So, I have two questions: 1 - She currently has her Google Places for Business configured where there is one 'brand' Places account with an individual listing for each holiday home. How is it best to link the Google Places account to a (yet to be created) Google+ profile? 2 - Google's quality guidelines are a little grey around 'rental accommodation'. She does not run a real estate company but the properties are technically being rented which I fear contravenes Google's quality guidelines for Google Places. Does anybody experience in this area (the competition is doing it left, right and centre). Thanks in advance! Laurie
Image & Video Optimization | | turnbullholdingsltd1 -
Thoughts on Google's New NAP Dispaly on Google+ Local
Hi, Do you think ACTION needs to happen based on Google's new NAP formatting change? They are changing Suite or STE to #. So for example 265 Racine Dr #100 Wilmington, NC 28403 Even if you enter in Suite they change it to pound. I am wondering the thoughts of the community of the following: 1. Do you think Google knows that STE, Suite, and # are all the same 2. Do you feel that we need to change ALL online local business listings and our website to match this change. 3. Here is the letter from Google on the matter FROM GOOGLE: Thanks for informing us about your address appearing differently on your local Google+ page than it does on your dashboard. After looking further, we've determined that 240 Stockton St #300 San Francisco, CA 94108 is an appropriate way for your listing to be displayed. Note that the address on your page might be different from what you've input into your dashboard. Our processes might alter user-input addresses to make them more standardized and easier for users to access. Thanks for understanding. Best, Nathan
Image & Video Optimization | | WebBizIdeas
The Google Team0 -
Any special way to rank a youtube vid in google page 1 for a kw?
I've failed to rank a youtube video before , I don't know why.. but do you guys have something that can help me to rank a youtube video to google page one? backlinks? If yes, then what type of backlinks? Just like backlinking articles and websites? thx for the input guys
Image & Video Optimization | | martino8880 -
Google Image Search?
We get very little search traffic from the images on our site & I can't necessarily figure out why? We post a ton & tag them correctly, we've got to be missing something? We are a Wordpress blog, can anyone provide some quality articles on Image search or have suggestions that should help to get more traffic? Our site does fairly well, as we get over 100k/visits a month, so we'd really like to get more traffic from our images.
Image & Video Optimization | | seointern0 -
Genuine Reciprocal Google Places Reviews, is that OK?
I have a client who works with other businesses, is it OK to have reciprocal reviews going on, they would be genuine reviews both both sides as they work for each other. Is that OK? Is it best for my client to use the Google Account that holds their Google Places page for doing the reviews? Or should they have a separate account for writing reviews, not associated with their business? I would appreciate your thoughts on this please? Many thanks Leo
Image & Video Optimization | | Rosewood0 -
Multiple Businesses in One Location + In One Google Places Account Under Review
HI, My Problem: Multiple businesses in one location, under one Google Places account, one being reviewed. My Question: see very bottom of this post Background: I am trying to help a client get both of his businesses ranking in Google Places. The problem is the office building has multiple doctors/practices in the same building and gave no business suite numbers to doctors that rent office space. Here is the list of the other businesses in the office: http://www.fullcirclefamilycare.com/health_care.htm. The problem escalates because the doctor I am trying to help has a chiropractic business & a spinal decompression business, both legal entities, both different registered company names, different phone numbers, and websites, but both located in this office building. He rents two offices (they should be suites) in the building. The problem escalates even more because the doctor has registered both locations (see below) in his Google Places account: Westchester Spinal Decompression Center
Image & Video Optimization | | WebBizIdeas
1241 Mamaroneck Avenue, White Plains, NY 10605 (914) 421-1502 Joint Effort Chiropractic
1241 Mamaroneck Ave., White Plains, NY 10605 (914) 368-7668
jointeffortchiro.com The first (spinal decompression) was registered a long time ago and ranks #1 for "spinal decompression white plains NY." The second he just confirmed the Google Post card a few weeks ago and has been under review since. More research so you can help me better: The "The Shop for Holistic Health / The Shop at Full Circle", a businesses location in the same office building has verified their account and ranks #1 for "women's health care white plains NY" and "midwife white plains NY." Another business,in the same office building "Keras-Donaghy Melissa S", has not claimed their listing and ranks #1 for "Women’s Health physical Therapist white plains NY" Another business, "Kuhl Josephine MD," has not claimed their listing ranks in the top 10 for "Adolescent Psychiatrist white plains NY." My Question: What do I do, wait it out and see if Google will remove the "under review" under his current Google Places account or do I add a suite number now and see if Google will send another post card? Or do I create a new account, add the business, add a suite number this time, and see if they will confirm it. I don't want to do this because the doctor already has 12 reviews on this Google Places account. If I do do this, what do I do with the Google Places account under review?0