Google Place pages and regular listings in search results
-
I'm trying to clarify something about search results which contain local listings.
Here is the search string for Google that will give you the same results that I am seeing -
http://www.google.co.uk/search?&q=letting agents glasgow&pws=0
Of the results that are returned, some of them have data which seems to be related to their Google Place page but the "title" links directly to their website.
What I wanted to know is, "Is it their actual website that has given them those rankings" or "Are they listed where they are because of a well optimized and ranked Places page?
-
Again, many thanks for your answers and your time in looking at these results. I hadn't even noticed that the first listing hadn't actually claimed their place page (which does surprise me).
When you say that a company could achieve the same results by doing appropriate SEO on the local and organic level, I take it you mean SEO on the Places page and local targeted SEO on the main site?
Many thanks for your help and advice on this. I wanted to gather as much information regarding this area within the local search before committing to the client.
I have done a great deal of research about local search and SEO but was unsure of what was making Google actually rank these sites where they're ranking them.
Regards,
Michael
-
My opinion is that both have properly optimized websites, with the listing in the A position having the potential of strong backlinks and extremely well optimized site(although I have not done much analysis.)
Since the listing in the A position is rather far from the city center, and it has not even claimed the Googles Places listing, any optimization that has occurred locally would be from info Google has scraped from the web.
The listing in the B position has claimed/verified their Google Places page, but has done a poor job optimizing it. However, it does have a city center location.
I believe a company that wishes to compete in that market listing could do well if not better than the current top listings by doing appropriate SEO on the local and organic level.
-
Hi and thank you for your answer. From your experience, looking at the top two results, would you say they are most likely to be ranked where they are due to strong organic SEO of their site AND optimization of their places page?
I have a clients site which, due to way it is set up, cannot compete with the number one site from an organic SEO point of view but I could easily compete with its Places page.
Thanks,
Michael
-
Hi Michael,
Good question. There are a number of ways listings can show up ranging from organic only results, local only results(google 7 pack, and a mixed result of organic and local.
In your example, the organic/local mix is what we are seeing. In this case many optimization factors are taken into account that include local and organic factors.
A well optimized page + strong organic seo is what would be needed to give a company the best chance at ranking in a high position. This would include a verified and well optimized Google Places page.
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+ Local Listing - No Physical Address
Hi everyone, I have a client who won't be renewing his lease for where he conducts his business. Instead he will be working from home. That being said, he does not wish to have his personal address details showing within his local listing. Is there any other way to still show for Google Local without a personal or business address? Is a PO box possible, other there any other alternatives? Thanks in advance. Leo
Image & Video Optimization | | nimbleo0 -
Google Places - Bulk Upload Solution
Hi we have a client who currently has over 50 stores in the country (Australia). Some of these stores already have a Google Plus Local Pages and manage them individually. Most of them have reviews, and images. The corporate office wants to place all these stores under one bulk account to bring consistency with the brand and it's image. Now this presents a issue. From our research we have 3 options: 1. Un-verify the listings in each of the accounts and once this has been done, claim them individually in the account you want to manage them under. 2. Delete the listings from Maps and then recreate them under the bulk feed in account. This will allow you to manage them with the rest of your listings more efficiently, however if the stores have any reviews these may be lost. 3. Create new listings and leave the other ones and these should get merged, the issue here is the data could be incorrect and it could cause some duplication. Our goal is to transfer the listings to a single bulk account without losing the - reviews, and images.Or avoiding new problems such as duplicate listing or the listing gets somehow deleted for weeks during the process, causing massive frustration with all the stakeholders involved. I think our best bet is (1) to get the stores to individually unverify their account. However this may risk the lost of reviews and images. Plus it will be highly unlikely that the store owners will follow through or like doing this, and would be a painful long communication process which may take 2+ months. Are they any suggestions on how to best approach this situation? Thanks, Matt Carter
Image & Video Optimization | | Mattcarter080 -
How do you fix a Google Places category issue?
I have a Google Places listing that has the category set to 'Garage Door Supplier', yet if you do a search in Maps on this same phrase and zoom into the area of the map where the business is located, it doesn't get flagged as a garage door supplier. If you just search on the business name, is does get flagged in the right location. I spoke with Google (yeah, an actual human) and they were baffled. The only suggestion they had was to try adding a few more categories to see if maybe that would force an update. Has anyone ran into this, and if so, did you find a fix?
Image & Video Optimization | | WebMO0 -
Can you get in trouble/get results by sub-dividing one physical address into suites for local search?
We have a client in our area that offers a multitude of home services -- plumbing, HVAC repair, landscaping, etc. -- out of one physical location. It makes it difficult for them to rank highly for all of their services in local search since many of the competitors that rank highly only offer one of the services that they do. They have come to me asking if they could create a Google place page for each service by making imaginary suites for their main address. So, for example, plumbing would be located at 100 Main Street, Suite A; and HVAC repair would be located at 100 Main St., Suite B; etc.? Seems like this is either a great idea or could get you into some Google trouble. Has anyone experienced anything similar? Thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | monkeeboy0 -
What drives the position of the local pack in a google SERP?
I have noticed that sometimes search results appear above the local pack, and sometimes the local pack is right at the top. What causes this? is there a way to induce it?
Image & Video Optimization | | adriandg2 -
Does the location of a citation on a page have any relivance?
We have been working on local SEO quite a lot for our small business, trying to understand why we are consistantly outranked by our competators. I understand there are many factors at play here. I realize that DA & PA, Places page optimization, and on page optimization also play a role, but for the purpose of this question i would like to focus on just one factor: citations. From your experiance with local SEO do you find that a citation that is located closer to the top of the page holds more weight than a citation buried further down a page? Here is an example:
Image & Video Optimization | | adriandg
http://www.yellowpages.ca/search/si/1/Storage-Self+Service/Toronto+ON/ in this case the people paying for the priority positions on that page are right at the top of the page, rather than buried 5 pages into the results. in fact they are right at the top of each page of the results, so over and over again they are above the free listings. I have heard that google considers the value of a link based on its position on the page. So would it be safe to assume that google also considers the value of a citation based on its position on the page? Thank you for your time,
Storwell0 -
Can different phone numbers affect your google places listing?
If you use a non-landline number e.g 0330 or 0845 etc does this affect your position within google places? Is it better to use a local number e.g 0208 (uk) And if you use a local number for your google places account but have a different number on your website will this have a negative effect?
Image & Video Optimization | | challen0