Google Places – Top Ranking Factors
Does your local business need Google Places and what are the Google Places top ranking factors that make your listing stand out?
Google believes that your business needs a Google Places listing so much that Google has reserved a listing for your business. If you haven’t claimed your listing you should do so right away. Because if you don’t someone else could claim your listing. If you don’t have the time or don’t feel that you have the skills to do it, then hire someone to do it for you. It isn’t that expensive and it could be a valuable asset to your business to have your listing.
When a person goes to Google to look for a local business in the San Bernardino County area they usually type in a “keyword” (what they are searching for) and then the name of the city they want to find it in, such as (Rancho Cucamonga realtor). When they do this they will most likely find a map with some dots and some tear drop looking things with letters in them that are the featured businesses to the left of the map. This is where you want your business to appear. And if you have optimized your listing you should rank well with the businesses to the left of the map. And this is where most people find the business they are looking for and the ones they call.
Let’s talk about what determines your Google Places Ranking.
First and foremost you need to claim your listing. Although there are still some listings that appear in the Google Maps area that have not claimed their listings, as time goes by there will be fewer and fewer as the competition becomes more intense to be found in the Google Maps area. Businesses are getting smarter and are realizing that people are calling the listings that are being featured in the maps area. And in today’s business world that’s how you get your phone to ring! Also, once you have claimed your listing you can make changes to your profile page and add more content about your business to keep everything current.
The number one factor in determining your ranking in Google Places I believe is Citations. What are citations? A citation is the mention of your businesses name, address, and phone number on another business directory. It is much like getting back links to your website from another website. It shows Google that others are mentioning you and makes your website or listing more important in Google’s eyes. Some of the business directories you may want to consider are Yahoo, Bing, Insider Pages, Best of The Web, Hotfrog, Kudzu just to name a few. The most important thing to keep in mind when signing up with any additional directories is to be consistent in your citation information. That is your business name, address and phone number as this is how Google links your listing with other listings.
Next I would say is to be sure that your listing is 100% complete. Fill in everything that Google is asking you to complete. Once you have completed your listing and submitted it to Google for review, Google will send you a post card with your pin number. you will then need to go back to your listing and enter the pin number to activate your listing. Be sure to do this!
Next you should have your own website. Google is beginning to link your website with your Google Places listing and we are finding more and more that the featured listings on the first page of Google are showing a website. If you don’t have a website you may want to have one built or you may be able to lease one for the type of business you have. You may want to check what we currently have available for lease. I don’t think you will find better pricing.
Be sure to add photos to your listing. Google allows you to add up to 10 photos. If you don’t have 10 photos of your business you can find photos you can use by going to Google, typing in your type of business, and then clicking on images in the upper left side of your screen. Download the photos to your computer and name the photo files after the keywords that you relate to your business. It is very important to do this as this will help to optimize your listing. GEO taging your photos can also help to optimize your listing.
You can also add up to 5 videos. These can be ones you have of your business or you can download from YouTube videos that are related to your business. Be sure not to use one of your competitors videos.
The location of your business may be a factor in getting featured in the maps area. It used to be that Google would tend to cluster the businesses near the center of a town or city. However, I believe it is becoming less important unless you are way out from all of the other listings.
Customer reviews can make or break your business. When people find your business on the first page of Google in the maps area and see your listing on the left hand side of the page, they tend to check out your reviews to see if they want to do business with you. And believe it or not people tend to believe the reviews of complete strangers. So, it is very important to get good reviews. And once you have five or more reviews on your Google listing you will begin to see your 5 star rating in gold. The better the rating the more of the 5 stars will show as gold stars. If you are already getting bad reviews and need help in this area we offer reputation management and can help you change a not so good reputation into a great reputation that will help your clients make the decision to call you and not your competitors. Just call us for details.
Another thing that you want to consider doing with your Google Places listing is to add coupons. Not only will this give your potential an additional incentive to do business with you but Google likes to see activity on your Google Places listing. So, you may want to consider changing coupons periodically. It helps to bring Google’s attention to your listing and gives additional value to your clients, but it will help with your Google rankings.
The above is an overall view of Google’s’ ranking factors. I will be adding additional information on how to optimize each area discussed above. When I do I will add a link to the additional information so that you can click the link to find a more in depth discussion. If you want it done right the first time or if you can’t get your listing featured on the first page of Google – give us a call and we will get you there.
For now, if you would like to check your current ranking and see which of your competitors are getting the phone calls that you could be getting just click below, enter your business phone number and get your free report.