G+ places/local - Company Categories and Pages question
-
I have two questions about google places/local and Personal/Company Pages
Regarding Local and the categories section.
Should you be using strictly the predefined categories they have? or should you be creating your own? Also say you're a car repair shop for instance. If you should be creating your own such as 'truck repair' should the city be in there as well 'Truck Repair New York/New York Truck Repair(keyword or location first?)'
When it comes to company and personal g+ places, i understand doing the rel author and its bennefits but what is the correct way about tagging this?
For instance in Wordpress, Studiopress has a section in the profile for the user g+ profile that will rel author it, and Yaost SEO says 'if you have a business page, insert it here and link your personal page as a contributor to the business page'
Should we be filling in both sections? or does this cause a conflict? Adding these items is very easy to do, but would rather do it right the first time then circle back and have to correct everything.
Any feedback/input is appreciated.
Thanks,
-
Hi Travis,
Yes, that's correct - no geo information in any way in the business description field. If you want to use service keywords in this field as part of your description, I would advise that you not repeat any words that have already been used in the categories.
What I like to put in the business description field, where I can, is whatever the company has most bragging rights to. Things like:
Voted #1 by Local Living Magazine.
100% money back guarantee.
Serving our neighbors since 1935.
Lifetime warranty on all our work.
Or, if this client carries a certain brand or performs a popular service that was not already used in the categories, I like to focus on those keywords. For instance, a dentist's description might include:
Let's build the smile of your dreams with Invisalign technology.
I like to use this field to set my client apart as more popular, safer, older, better, or what have you. Note, this may not be every Local SEO's favorite use of the description tag, but I have seen it work well for my clients.
-
Wow, thanks this makes perfect sense.
-
If i'm reading this correctly, you're saying that in the description field - no location based info whatsoever.
the actual example is home inspection which i've been steadily climbing over time and is actually a pet project of mine. Which I'm currently in a rework/push to clean up any 'spam'ish' material/loose ends.
So going back to the description -
Certified, Licensed and Insured Home Inspector --- MORE text Here [offering services x, y, z?]--
-Would be the right way to go, and not -
Certified, Licensed and Insured Home Inspector --- MORE text Here [offering services x, y, z?]-- Located in City, St
On the site i'm updating, I've done the schema format in the footer for the address/business and hcard via the contact page.
This leads me to the content pages, should not be geocentric beyond service area/contact pages
-- Once again i appreciate your help, and I'm really just trying to work out the kinks in this project, since a lot of articles cover this as a whole, but very few really get down to the very fine details that really dictate what that whole comes out to be. I'm a firm believer in 'it's the little things that count', and since I've seemed to of violated the 'measure twice, cut once', I'd really like to get back there
-
Hi Travis,
about the implementation of both the rel="publisher" and rel="author", you should insert both.
Let me explain me which are the differences between the two mark-ups.
REL="PUBLISHER"
The rel="publisher" is the mark-up that "links" your Google+ Business Page (or Local Google+ Page in your case) to your site. That way Google knows that the two are both expression of one entity: your brand.
Visually that means that whenever someone realizes a search in Google using your brand or a keyword + your brand (branded keyword), in column of the right respect the organic results, a box with a big snippet of your Google+ Business page will be shown. From an user point of view, this box reinforce the idea of having to deal with a recognized brand.
From a pure SEO point of view, this also means that all the effects of your activity on Google+ (aka: +1, shares of your posts, the raw number of people following your G+ page and the quality of the followers) will give relevance not only to the Google+ page, but also to your site, as it is linked to it.
REL="AUTHOR"
This mark-up link an author (who could be you) to a site. That means that thanks to this mark-up Google recognize that a real person is collaborating with a site a content producer. That's why the rel="author" must always reference to a personal Google+ profile (not a business page) and that's why the author must confirm this collaboration explicitly with adding a link in his G+ profile to the site (yours) as "Collaborator".
Visually it's the rel="author" which cause the SERPs snippets enriched with the authorship photos and G+ author profile metrics (i.e.: number of followers).
The authorship as a great impact on CTR in the SERPs, and a trusted author, who have great metrics on G+ surely helps a snippet to be clicked.
More over, if the author own an authoritative Google+ profile, maybe even if that is thanks to his collaboration with other sites (i.e.: guest posting, as I do with SEOmoz itself and State of Search), all that will impact positively to the your site.
Doing a metaphor, is like saying that the New York Time (the Publisher) not only is authoritative because of what it publish, but it's also authoritative thanks to the authority of its journalists (the authors).
I hope i was able to explain the reasons why you should insert both in Wordpress SEO
Ciao
-
Good analogy, Travis. And, just a reminder, be sure you're not putting those geo terms in the business name or description field, either. The only place geo terms belong is where you provide the address. Just thought I'd mention!
-
Mariam,
Thanks for taking the time to reply, and what you are saying makes sense. I also agree with your gut, as that what i was thinking along the lines of.
Just as someone may have a 'heavy hand' when pouring a drink, I myself can get a bit overzealous with the optimization and sometimes finding that I have to stop myself and step back and look at the big picture...
-
Hi Travis,
I can answer the local portion of your question. If there are 5 pre-set Google categories that accurately match your business, then you can do all 5 as pre-set categories, but many businesses find that fewer of the pre-set categories than 5 are appropriate for them. Perhaps 2, 3 or 4 are a good match, and then the rest need to be made up from custom categories your write yourself. My rule of thumb is that you should try to select at least 2 pre-set categories as your first 2 choices.
When writing custom categories, follow these guidelines:
-
Do not include any type of geographic terms in your categories. No New York, no New Jersey, no Boston, no San Francisco, etc. Never put anything like this in a category.
-
Make sure that any custom category you write follows the is-not-does rule. This means it should say what your business is, not what it does. So plumber, not plumbing, electrician, not electrical services. In your case 'truck repair' is not an allowed category, but truck repair company would be.
-
I try to avoid being too repetitive in my categories. For example, I wouldn't want lawyer, lawyers, accident lawyer, car accident lawyer, auto accident lawyer. Note, this is a gut feeling rather than a well-documented rule. Thought I'd mention it though.
I hope these tips help. I am not sure about your WordPress and Yoast questions and will ask one of our great SEOs to stop by for additional advice.
-
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
-
Re-branding Company Social Profiles
Hi Does anyone have experience of re-branding LinkedIN or Facebook? Can you keep the company page/followers and just change your name or do you have to start again? Thank you!
Social Media | | BeckyKey0 -
Google+ Brand Page in Knowledge Graph
We've been unsuccessfully trying to get our brand's Google+ page listed in the Knowledge Graph for our brand. I believe that our markup on our website is correct. Can anyone advise on why we can't get this to pull up in the knowledge graph? Google+ page: https://plus.google.com/+Tacticalgearcom Knowledge graph for TacticalGear.com: https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome-psyapi2&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8&q=tacticalgear.com&oq=Tac&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j0l2j69i57j0l2.2831j1j7
Social Media | | cat5com0 -
Google Plus page - keep or delete?
Do you guys think that if we are not going to be able to maintain a Google Plus page, from a SEO standpoint is it better to keep or delete the page? Also, do you guys think there's still SEO value to having a Google Plus page in general? Is it worth it? Thanks! MS
Social Media | | MargaritaS1 -
Is it worth setting up a Google Plus page for your blog?
Hi All, OK we all know the merit in G+, Authorship etc. I'm a regular user on G+ and I work hard to keep my profile up to date and with fresh content. I have no doubt my increased number of followers has helped my blog rank (which my G+ account is linked to). My question is - is there any merit at all in setting up a separate page for my blog so I can get +1s for it (probably very few). Much like any company page that gets +1s and people to follow that company. Or is this just plain silly and I should concentrate on building my personal profile? Thanks
Social Media | | bradkrussell0 -
Google Auth and brands/individuals problem
So you can auth pages with personal google+ profiles - and its being suggested by some that this could now help rankings if that person has lots of people in their circles. So what about brand/companies content? why cant they auth the content with their Google+ profile to get the content ranking better. It doesn't seem right an individual blogger can do this but a company cannot who has written lots of guides. An example is a holiday company has written some awesome content on resorts around the World - how to use the auth for that content to rank higher? - currently only possible to link up an individual as writing the content not the brand/company itself. Any suggestions on this much appreciated. I do not want to lose any gain there might be from this new bonus given from Google.
Social Media | | pauledwards0 -
Best Practices for apps.facebook.com pages
A client of ours has experienced a large drop in traffic (per GA) from apps.facebook.com referral source in the last 30 days. After a lot of searching, its apparent that there is not a lot of chatter on this topic. So this is a twofold topic..... 1. has anyone observed a drop in apps.facebook.com referrals lately as well? 2. does anyone have any best practices learning on optimizing these pages? Facebook guidance and content in general on the topic is virtually not existent. Google is still clearly indexing the url structure so its visible in search at least. https://www.google.com/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=%22apps.facebook.com
Social Media | | SWKurt0 -
How are Google Plus pages related to Google Plus Local pages?
How are Google Plus pages related to Google Plus Local pages and what is the best way to join/link them? e.g. if I go to Starbucks Google Plus page https://plus.google.com/117575809843355974839/posts, where can I see their store locations or google Places pages? If I go to a Google Places page from Google Maps - which now takes you to a Google Plus 'Places' page - how is that Google Plus Places page related to that companies main Google Plus page - I can't see a way to go between them. See: https://plus.google.com/117861970252906134982/about?gl=au&hl=en Is there a way to connect these two kinds of pages for a business?
Social Media | | TracyMu0 -
Hoping someone could take some time to give me some feedback / advice. Thanks!
Hey guys, I want to give you a bit of background to help you understand what I'm trying to do, and the motivation why. I understand that there are a variety of opinions and beliefs regarding what I'm trying to do online, and I hope this post doesn't turn into a list of everyone's views, or a place for someone to say mean / disrespectful things regarding what I'm doing. I feel like this group is a professional one, so I don't think any of what I've mentioned above will be a problem. Last year we were surprised to learn (in the delivery room) that our first child was born with Down syndrome. Not having any interaction with anyone with Down syndrome I had no idea what my new life was going to be like and set out to find some information online (videos, blogs, etc.) I was surprised to learn that there isn't much quality content out there. Much of the information is outdated, cheesy, lame, etc...In fact many of the videos that I found by searching online about Down syndrome were by people making fun of those born with Down syndrome (comedians, etc.) Very few of them gave me any sort of idea what the future over our family was going to be like. A few months went by, I met many many parents and others who personally knew someone with Down syndrome whose lives have been greatly enriched by their interaction. In addition to that I realized that our life was much more normal than I could have ever imagined. In addition I released that there have been tremendous medical advances in the last two decades and today children born with Down syndrome can attend regular classes, attend college, get married, have jobs, and live productive life's. They no longer ride "short buses", forced to stay in special needs classes, or destined to live a life in some sort of institution. I was surprised that our son (at 3 weeks old) was going to physical / occupational / speech therapy at such a young age. The idea today is that children born with Down syndrome work hard at a young age to stay ahead of the curve. I couldn't believe the things they had him doing at such a young age. (At just a few months old they had him on a treadmill so he could get a head start on learning to walk! ----> http://noahsdad.com/treadmill/) All of that to say, I decided I wanted to be an online resource to help give people an idea of what life is really like raising a child born with Down syndrome. I do a daily one minute video where I'm creating an online narrative by telling his story every day.
Social Media | | NoahsDad
I have a growing Facebook page (http://facebook.com/noahsdadcom) and twitter account (http://noahsdad.com/) and our blog readership is growing everyday.
I own a lot of good domains, and am trying to figure out the best way to use them to create awareness. I've been trying to read about SEO as much as I can. I've only been going on NoahsDad.com since May and my page rank is 4. (I'm not sure if that really means anything, but just wanted to share it.) All of the SEO info can be a bit overwhelming and I'm not sure I'm doing things the best way. I was wondering if someone would mind taking a look at my site and I'll be happy to give any info you need (info from google webmaster tools / antlytics, etc…).
I think I'm doing all the 'basics." But I'm not sure what I need to be doing to really step it up. I think the tag line / title page for the home page could be changed up, and perhaps doing some different things on my home page. When I first started my idea was to have a few different categories, Noah's Minute (which is where I was going to put my daily video), resources (posts counting helpful info), Noah's Mom, MD (medical posts by my wife who is a doctor), twitter/iPhone photos (I used one of these catigories and excluded it from my home page to post random pictures form twitter).. Not that I'm 6 months into it, I've relaized that it didn't work out the way I thought at first..every post is a Noah's Minute post pretty much (and lots of twitter pictures)…and the Noah's minute posts could be broken down into sub - categories. Or…I could not have a "noah's minute" category and change my catagories to "resources" "therapy" "toys" "how-to's" etc…and break up what I used to call "Noah's Minute" into those categories..if that makes sense. The reason I didn't do that before is that I wanted someone to be able to watch every video in the order they were created to see the whole story..since I'm doing one minute every day, someone could come and watch his story unfold from birth until present day..but I guess you wouldn't really need a category for that…you could just go to the last page of the blog. The key words I'm trying to rank well for (and I know some of these wont't be possible) are: Down syndrome Down syndrome videos Down syndrome facts Down syndrome information Down syndrome Blogs (I actually own the domain downsyndromeblogs.com as well..I wanted to make a list type website where i list out a lot of the good blogs on down syndrome) Down syndrome families Down syndrome pictures Down syndrome toys (I own this domain also…thinking of doing an amazon affliate page or something..) Down syndrome physical therapy Down syndrome occupitonal thearpy Down snydrome speech thearpy Also there are some mis-spelling of these terms that I would like to try to rank for as well..and I'm not sure how to do that in a post without my post looking like I made an error. I know that is a lot of info, but I wanted to lay everything out there. I'll be happy to post any more details that anyone needs to help me out.
Thanks again and I'm looking forward to the feedback. Rick NoahsDad.com UPDATE: I thought I would include a picture for you guys to see what your dealing with...! 🙂 Warning: His cuteness is contiguous! down-syndrome-cute-boy-halloween1.jpg26