Rank Higher In Local Listings
We’ve said it once, and it’s worth repeating: Google Places, along with organic SEO, is the most important factor for small businesses looking to attract a customer base. In Google Places is Where You Need to Be, SEO Expert Ali Husayni explains its importance in helping customers find you. The article included the following pieces of advice for Google Places: positive reviews under your Google Places listing, adding a +1 button to your site’s pages, and running a campaign to improve your website’s link popularity. Husayni encouragingly points out that, as shown in a Master Google survey, clients that appeared on Google Places showed an increase of $45,000-to $274,000 in their annual revenue compared to those who didn’t. These businesses spent a small fraction of their budget to achieve these results, making it a great choice.
Now there are a couple of new suggestions of ways to keep you ahead of your competition (and rise your ranking) in Google Places: by keeping your content consistent and completing missing information.
Image courtesy of Onbile.com.
Keeping each of your online profiles consistent can be tough, but be sure to update all of your content, on every platform, every time. Failure to do so can hurt your SEO efforts big time, according to a recent article by Ashley Zeckman of TopRankBlog.com.
“It is important that your Google Place profile contains the same information as any other profiles your company may have online. Google Place pages create another opportunity to build trust and consistency as part of your marketing strategy. Be sure to audit your other profiles and answer each question as consistently as you can,” Zeckman says.
Other great ideas that Zeckman brings up to create consistency with your content across multiple platforms include:
- Linking: The problem here is often too many profiles for your business. Link them when possible.
- Branding: Be sure to reference your brand in the same way, every time.
- Imagery: Fight the urge to use different images in different places. Keep them the same.
When filling out profiles, there is often so much to fill out, that a business leaves an optional spot or two blank. Don’t or it might impact how easily you’re found online.
“Have you ever heard the expression ‘better off safe than sorry’? Take the same approach when setting up or editing your Google Places profile,” Zeckman advises.
No matter where your online profile is going to go, or how many of them you have, always fill out these bits of information: company name, email address, phone number, website, and address. Sometimes this can get time consuming, and not all businesses can fix everything at once. But regardless of which of these tips you take or leave, it is important to understand the continuing importance of staying current with Google Places, as Husayni explains.
“It won’t matter if you don’t know how to use Adwords, Analytics, or Google+,” Husayni says. “Being seen at the top of search results is equivalent to purchasing a large, eye-catching ad in your local Yellow Pages that everyone owned 10 years ago. If your ad was the first, your phone would not stop ringing.”
If you are not listed with Google Pages, please see the simple steps to getting listed with this video: how to get on Google Places.
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