Google local listings
-
im working with gutter installation company, and we're ranking for all the top keywords in google.
the only thing that we're not ranking for is for the map results, for the keyword "gutter ma" since we're located in Springfield ma, i thing Google considers certain areas from Boston, because its more center of Massachusetts,
What can i do to improve my rankings in maps for this keyword, because i know it wont work with PO box since i need to confirm an address?
Thanks
-
Hello Vladislav,
Interesting question. Now, 'gutter ma' isn't exactly what I would call a local search. Local searches are typically city-based. So, for you, if you're located in Springfield, true local searches would be for things like 'gutter cleaning springfield' or searches without the 'springfield' but being performed on Springfield-based devices.
So, when we're looking at the more random results for a statewide search something like 'gutter ma' (which probably is not how most people would be searching for your services) we see a variety of locales represented. Setting my location to Springfield, this is what I see:
-
Abbott Window & Gutter Cleaning, Inc.
<cite>www.abbottwindowandguttercleaning.com/</cite> 1 Google review
-
2 Kane Industrial Drive Hudson, MA
(978) 562-1744 |Minuteman Leafguard
<cite>www.leafguardgutters.com/boston-ma/hudson</cite> Google+ page
-
50 Boston Road Lowell, MA
(978) 256-0092 |Insul-Kings
<cite>www.insulkings.com/</cite> 1 Google review
-
66 Farm Road Marlborough, MA
(508) 481-0666 |Marlboro Gutter Cleaning
<cite>www.cleangutter.com/</cite> Google+ page
-
Plymouth, MA (800) 994-3000 Gutter Pro
<cite>www.gutterpro.com/</cite> 2 Google reviews
-
60 Medford Street Somerville, MA
(617) 868-2673 |Carroll Seamless Gutters Inc
<cite>www.carrollsons.com/</cite> Google+ page
-
16 Jacques Street Worcester, MA
(508) 488-9999 |Custom Insulation Company, Inc.
<cite>www.custominsulation.com/</cite> 2 Google reviews - Google+ pageMore results near Massachusetts »
As you can see from this search, Google is selecting businesses from many different cities within the state. What their algo is for doing so on a broad search like this, I do not know. But, at least on my search, it doesn't appear that they are simply putting up listing from the state capitol (Boston). The selection looks quite random to me and I have no idea how one could influence it because of the apparent randomness.
Also, I would truly question the value of ranking in a local pack like this for a state based, unspecific search. Presumably, people are looking for your client for 'gutter cleaning' not just 'gutter' and if they are leaving off any geo terms at all, Google will show them local results based on their location, and if they are adding a city term, it would presumably be their own, in which case, your client has the best chances of ranking in the local pack of results for their city of location.
Hope this helps!
-
-
Hi Vladislav,
As MA is quite a wide area you have got a chance of getting a local listing in Springfield. Assuming you have verified you Google + Local page, it's all about getting as many valuable citations for your clients Business Name, Address & Phone number.
There is more details in this old post by Rand, but still all very relevant...
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/one-dead-simple-tactic-for-better-rankings-in-google-local
Hope that helps and good luck.
Iain - Reload Media
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
-
Blocking Google from telemetry requests
At Magnet.me we track the items people are viewing in order to optimize our recommendations. As such we fire POST requests back to our backends every few seconds when enough user initiated actions have happened (think about scrolling for example). In order to eliminate bots from distorting statistics we ignore their values serverside. Based on some internal logging, we see that Googlebot is also performing these POST requests in its javascript crawling. In a 7 day period, that amounts to around 800k POST requests. As we are ignoring that data anyhow, and it is quite a number, we considered reducing this for bots. Though, we had several questions about this:
Technical SEO | | rogier_slag
1. Do these requests count towards crawl budgets?
2. If they do, and we'd want to prevent this from happening: what would be the preferred option? Either preventing the request in the frontend code, or blocking the request using a robots.txt line? The latter question is given by the fact that a in-app block for the request could lead to different behaviour for users and bots, and may be Google could penalize that as cloaking. The latter is slightly less convenient from a development perspective, as all logic is spread throughout the application. I'm aware one should not cloak, or makes pages appear differently to search engine crawlers. However these requests do not change anything in the pages behaviour, and purely send some anonymous data so we can improve future recommendations.0 -
Google is indexing our old domain
We changed our primary domain from vivitecsolutions.com to vivitec.net. Google is indexing our new domain, but still has our old domain indexed too. The problem is that the old site is timing out because of the https: Thought on how to make the old indexing go away or properly forward the https?
Technical SEO | | AdsposureDev0 -
Google how deal with licensed content when this placed on vendor & client's website too. Will Google penalize the client's site for this ?
One of my client bought licensed content from top vendor of Health Industry. This same content is on the vendor's website & my client's site also but on my site there is a link back to vendor is placed which clearly tells to anyone that this is a licensed content & we bought from this vendor. My client bought paid top quality content for best source of industry but at this same this is placed on vendor's website also. Will Google penalize my client's website for this ? Niche is HEALTH
Technical SEO | | sourabhrana1 -
DMOZ listing
Hello, My website is not listed in DMOZ. Is DMOZ important? And how to submit website to DMOZ directory? Thank you!
Technical SEO | | JohnHuynh2 -
Google Places, Google Plus, Oh my!
Ok - So I am in the position to try and clean up the current Google places nightmare for a company. Right now there is about 3 or 4 different google places listings for them that they have no control over. So here is what I did: 1. I took control of them all by verifying via phone and confirmed all of them. 2. I suspended all the listings but 1 3. I edited the one listing to be accurate and complete.
Technical SEO | | DylanPKI
Then I waited, and waited... A month later, the old listings are still up and none of the changes to the one listing have been made. Today it gets a bit more complicated. Today I created a Google+ page for the business which seems like it may end up adding yet ANOTHER Google Places listing, is that correct? They are sending a post card to verify, but I have the page all set up ready to go and plan on tying it to the website. I am not exactly sure what my specific question is, but I am looking for any advice anyone has on the best way to go about this situation. Thank you in advance!0 -
Google Custom Site Search
I am an admin on a google custom site search account. I am also the owner of a verified webmaster tools account for the same site. The Custom Search control panel will not let me add URL's or a Site map for on demand indexing, but says "you must submit a sitemap of your own verified sites". Has anyone else has this issue? Does the Owner of the custom search account have to be the owner of the webmaster account, or can the logged in admin be? Thanks
Technical SEO | | SEMPassion0 -
Remove Site from Google
How can I get my website out of google? I want all pages completely gone. Thanks!
Technical SEO | | tylerfraser0 -
How to disallow google and roger?
Hey Guys and girls, i have a question, i want to disallow all robots from accessing a certain root link: Get rid of bots User-agent: * Disallow: /index.php?_a=login&redir=/index.php?_a=tellafriend%26productId=* Will this make the bots not to access any web link that has the prefix you see before the asterisk? And at least google and roger will get away by reading "user-agent: *"? I know this isn't the standard proceedure but if it works for google and seomoz bot we are good.
Technical SEO | | iFix0