Sunday, March 24, 2013
Tips for Google Places for Business Optimization
There are more than 20 different fields you in your Google Places listing and surprisingly most businesses don’t bother to fill them all in. Don't forget to add pictures of your business and link to YouTube videos as part of your listing. Sometimes having a photo or video more than your competitor's listing is all it takes to rank higher.
2. Make sure you have client reviews in your Google+ Page(s).
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| Google+ User Review |
Encourage your clients to write a review on your business' Google+ Page. Sometimes, the business with the most reviews can rank higher than the business competitors. Be sure that you'll be aware of your reviews whenever someone post reviews and comments on your page, positive or negative. Utilize Google Alerts to notify you of this event.
Respond immediately to negative reviews / comments by reaching out to your unsatisfied customer and seeing if you can reach out and explain your side and persuade the customer to withdraw the bad review.
3. Make sure that you'll use the best keywords in your listing's Categories section
Choose the most appropriate categories for your business / service. Pick a category from the predefined suggestions of Google to help it show your business for the right searches. You can always enter your own category if you can't see it in the predefined list. Make sure that you avoid using location-specific keywords (for example: london, manila, davao) as part of your category names. This can alert Google that you are "gaming" the system. Just define the exact business type or service that you offer.
Don't be afraid to define specific categories instead of generic ones. The important thing is that the categories describe your business exactly. Google's algorithm makes sure that users searching for "cafes" will see businesses in more specific categories like "internet cafes", "gourmet cafes", and "sidewalk cafes" too.
4. Use only one Google Places Listing if you have several service areas
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| Google Places for Business Service AreasSection |
"A business owner may add service areas to a new or existing listing if his business model requires him or an authorized representative of his business to travel to his customer's location. Some examples include: a restaurant that offers delivery to your door, a dog-walking business that picks up your pet from your home, or an in-home maid service."
Businesses that operate in a service area should not create a listing for every city they service. Businesses that operate in a service area should only create one listing for the central office or location and designate service areas for each city that they service.
5. Get listed in the other top local directories like:
- Yelp
- Bing
- Yahoo Local
- Best of the Web
- Hotfrog
- Foursquare
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| Yahoo Local |
I hope you can use these tips to improve your Google Places for Business listings. If you have questions or inquiries, just add a comment to this article or email me at mailto: seo.expert4hire@gmail.com
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