Setting up a winning google places page

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Copyright © 2011 by Daniel Fathi. All rights reserved. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that neither the author nor the publisher is engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. The names in this work are used in an editorial fashion only without the appearance of a trademark symbol after every occurrence of a trademarked name, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. TERMS OF USE THE WORK IS PROVIDED “AS IS.” WEBMARK INTERACTIVE INC. AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO GUARANTEES OR WARRANTIES AS TO THE ACCURACY, OR COMPLETENESS OF THIS WORK OR RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED FROM USING IT, INCLUDING ANY INFORMATION THAT CAN BE ACCESSED VIA HYPERLINKS WITHING THE TEXT. WEBMARK INTERACTIVE INC. AND THE AUTHOR EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Neither Webmark Interactive nor the author shall be liable to you or anyone else for any inaccuracy, error or omission, regardless of cause, in the work or for any damages resulting there from. Under no circumstances shall Webmark Interactive and/or the author be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, punitive, consequential or similar damages that result from the use of or inability to use the work. Printed in Canada. Webmark Interactive Inc. 925 de Maisonneuve West Suite 178 Montreal, Quebec H3A0A5

ABOUT THE AUTHOR An experienced online marketing strategist with a keen eye for aligning online and offline marketing for maximum effectiveness and profits, Daniel knows what it takes for a local business to achieve great results from Internet marketing.

A seasoned marketer with more than eight years of online marketing experience, Daniel is committed to doing his share in helping build strong and vibrant local communities by educating business owners on how to leverage the power of the Internet for business growth.

He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Marketing from Concordia’s John Molson School of Business and a Graduate Certificate in Internet Business from McGill University. He also has a degree in Electrical Engineering from a previous life.

ABOUT STANDOUT LOCAL Standout Local is a full-service, local Internet advertising agency dedicated to helping business owners grow their businesses using online marketing.

With a focus on strategic alignment of your online and offline marketing, Standout Local can help you transform your website into a full-time moneymaker.

Services offered include: training and consultation, local and national SEO, PPC management, email marketing, and lead generation. For more information, please visit: http://www.standoutlocal.com

http://www.standoutlocal.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ............................................................................................................5

Setting Up Your Places Page ...................................................................................7

What Makes A Winning Places Page ...................................................................7

Getting Started ........................................................................................................8

Filling out the Basic Information .......................................................................10

Business Name...................................................................................................11

Business Address ...............................................................................................11

Phone Number ..................................................................................................12

Email Address ....................................................................................................13

Website ..............................................................................................................13

Description.........................................................................................................13

Category.............................................................................................................14

Service Area and Locations Settings ..................................................................14

Hours of Operations and Payment Options ......................................................15

Photos ................................................................................................................15

Ninja Photo Trick ............................................................................................16

Videos ................................................................................................................17

Adding A Video To Your Places Page..............................................................18

Geo-Tagging Your Videos ...............................................................................19

Additional Details ..............................................................................................20

Verifying Your Ownership .....................................................................................21

Adding Coupons and Offers To Your Page ........................................................22

Other Search Engines ............................................................................................23

Where to Go From Here .......................................................................................23

Helpful Resources .................................................................................................25

INTRODUCTION Whether or not your potential customers can find you on the first page of search results can make or break your business. The competition to get onto the first page is fierce, and the space available extremely limited. Google Places has proved to be many smart business owners’ secret weapon for achieving first page results.

Recent changes to Google Places have made it an even more powerful tool for location-based businesses. As of late 2010, Google started to merge business listing results with search results for location-specific keywords (like: dentist in Toronto). This has provided local businesses with an amazing opportunity to find themselves on the first page of results, often above national companies and big corporations’ websites!

As you can see in the above screenshot, starting at the third position, Google Places results (local results) are merged into the search results. In many cases, the local results are displayed before any natural search result is displayed, starting at position one.

Copyright © 2011 StandoutLocal.com All rights reserved. 5

Having a high-ranking local business listing (Google Places page) not only gives you easy access to a first-page position, but also enables you to connect with your potential customers by way of maps in wireless devices such as iPhones, iPads, etc., right when customers are in your neighbourhood, looking for the products or services that you offer.

Your success in achieving a first-page position for your Places page depends on having a properly set up, complete and optimized page that adheres to Google quality guidelines.

In this guide, I will show you, step-by-step, how to set up and optimize a Places page that search engines fall in love with! Even if you already have a Places page, the information in this guide can help you optimize your page and improve your search engine positions.

I wish you every success in your marketing endeavours.

Yours in online success,

Daniel Fathi

P.S. I have tried to write a guide that is easy-to-understand, easy-to-follow and detailed. But if at any point you have difficulty setting up your page or simply want to invest your time in another aspect of your business and have an expert take care of your local online marketing, give us a call at 888.828.4385 or send us an email at [email protected]. If your business matches our criteria, we will be happy to help.


mailto:[email protected]


SETTING UP YOUR PLACES PAGE Before getting started, it’s a good idea to read and familiarize yourself with the Google Places Quality Guidelines. Violating Google’s policies will sooner or later send your Places page into the abyss. Make sure that you understand the guidelines and try to play by the Google rules.

WHAT MAKES A WINNING PLACES PAGE The Google algorithm is designed to prioritize a Places page based on its relevancy to the term and location used in the search query, as well as the relative importance of the business itself from Google’s point of view.

As far as setting up a Places page is concerned, Google always favours the pages that make it easier for searchers to find the information they are looking for.

Fact: Google rewards businesses that make their customers’ lives easier.

Keeping this simple fact in mind puts you ahead of most people who try to outsmart Google with various spammy techniques and practices-- and unknowingly shoot themselves in the foot.

In this guide, you will learn how to set up a page that is optimized for your location and keyword, and how to increase the significance of your page by making sure it’s completed the way Google expects from a noteworthy business.

With that in mind, let’s get started!


http://www.google.com/support/places/bin/answer.py?answer=107528


GETTING STARTED Go to http://www.google.com/places/ and click on “Get Started” under “Claim your business listing” on the right.

Sign in with your Google account. (If you don’t have a Google account, you need to create one first.)

If your business is not new, chances are Google has already created a business listing for you. This happens quite often, as Google tends to create listings from the data it gathers from various sources.

Enter your country and your business’s main phone number to see whether or not Google has already created a Places page for you.

Warning! If you are setting up a Places page for a brand-new business, it is a good idea to submit your business listing to a few reputable business directories before setting up your page. Make sure the information you submit to directories is consistent with the information on your Places page. For more information, please refer to “Filling out the basic information” part of this guide.


http://www.google.com/places/


If your business listing is already there, you need to claim it and verify your ownership. The process is straightforward, and Google offer enough guidance on what you need to do.

If your business is not listed, it’s time to create your listing.

Warning! Having more than one Places page can hurt your page’s ability to rank high. At the time of this writing, the “Find business information” tool (pictured above) is not very reliable. If you want to make sure there are no other pages created for your business, go to Google Maps and search for your phone number, or zip or postal code.



FILLING OUT THE BASIC INFORMATION One of the ways that Google judges how important your business is and decides what position it should occupy in search results is by looking at your business’s footprint across the web. Your business’s Name, Address and Phone number, or NAP for short, is the footprint that Google searches for on the Internet. Think of the mentions of your NAP on other websites and in directories as votes for the significance of your business. Each time a mention of your NAP (called a “citation” in marketers’ lingo) is found, you’ve got yourself one vote.

It is vitally important that your NAP is accurate and consistent across the web. Small inaccuracies and inconsistencies, such as having different phone numbers or postal codes in different directories, can not only potentially confuse your customers, but also make it hard for Google to know whether the listed NAP belongs to your business or not. And, of course, you wouldn’t want to miss any of your votes.



Decide on a certain format for your NAP (down to the abbreviations such “Ave.”, etc.) and always use the same format whenever you list your business with a directory or mention it on a website. This ensures that Google will not ignore any of your citations due to an inconsistency. Remember, the more mentions of your business that Google finds on the Internet, the greater your chances of getting a high ranking.

BUSINESS NAME In its quality guidelines, Google requires you to “represent your business exactly as it appears in the offline world.” And it goes on to say: “Do not attempt to manipulate search results by adding extraneous keywords or a description of your business in the business name field.”

Having a business name that contains your keyword (e.g. Toronto Cosmetic Surgery Group) is a blessing, as it will help you rank better for that keyword. But don’t be tempted to spam the business name field (company/organization field) by adding additional keywords or locations to your business name. This field should only contain the official name of your business, nothing less or more. Otherwise, Google’s wrath might get your Places page suspended and send you deep into the underworld of the search results!

If your business name doesn’t contain your keyword, and you still want to have your keyword in the business name field, your only solution is to legally change the name of your business, which in most cases, is not worth the hassle. There are other ways to boost your rankings.

BUSINESS ADDRESS Any local business with a physical address can have a Places page. If you have a single-location business, your job is quite simple. Just enter your address into the fields. There are cases, however, that can be complex and cause some confusion.

Below are the most common problematic cases and how you should deal with them:

Businesses with multiple locations: If you have a business with multiple locations in one city, you need a separate Places page for each location. Just make sure each Places page has its own NAP: a different name (La Pizzeria Downtown, La Pizzeria West, etc.), a different phone number and obviously a different address.



Single-location businesses with multiple specializations or practitioners: Many dental clinics where several dentists work out of one location fall under this category. You are NOT allowed to have a separate page for each of your specializations. But each doctor is entitled to his or her own listing. Each listing should have a different name (doctor’s name) and if possible a different phone number. The same rules apply to other similar businesses such as law offices, etc.

Businesses that operate in a service area: These businesses are only allowed to have one Places page for their main office.

PHONE NUMBER Enter your main phone number, including the area code, in this field. Make sure the area code of your phone number matches the location of your business and your keyword. For example, if your Places page address is a Toronto address, only include your Toronto phone line. Don’t enter other numbers you might have for serving customers in other cities.

In its quality guidelines, Google also recommends to “provide a phone number that connects to your individual business location as directly as possible.”

Warning! Do not use a 1-800 number. Google always favours businesses with a local phone number. A local phone number enhances your listing’s relevancy with your location and boosts your ranking. Forget what the Call Tracking company rep might have told you and avoid using a toll-free number here.



EMAIL ADDRESS Here, it’s is better to use an email under your business domain, if you have one. For example, if your business website is www.mywebsite.com, a good email address would be [email protected].

WEBSITE You don’t necessarily need a website in order to have a high-ranking Places page. I have seen many business listings on the first page that don’t contain a website. But having a website is certainly an advantage and you should consider listing it if you have one. If you don’t have a website, simply check the box next to “I don’t have a website.”

DESCRIPTION Description is one of the most important sections of your business listing. This is where you can get creative and throw in a couple of your keywords to enhance your ranking. But keep in mind that you should never sacrifice the legibility and grammatical correctness of your description just to accommodate a keyword.

The description should be written with your readers in mind. It should describe your products, services and perhaps your location within the character limit of 200. And it should sound natural.

Here is an example of how you can include keywords in your description. Notice how subtly the keywords are incorporated into the text without making it sound unnatural.

Here’s an example of a dentist getting it wrong:

As you can see, the description is full of keywords without any context. This practice is known as “keyword stuffing” and should be avoided. It not only eventually leads to a ranking penalty, but also makes an unfavourable impression on your potential customers.



CATEGORY Choosing the right categories can be a bit tricky. According to Google, “categories should say what your business is (e.g. Hospital), not what it does (e.g. Vaccinations) or things it sells (e.g. Sony products or printer paper).”

Google’s auto-suggestion gives you category recommendations as you type. Your first category should be a Google-suggested category. For the rest of the categories, try to match them as closely as possible to your primary keywords.

Here is a simple trick to make your job easier. Complete the sentence “I am a …” or “We are a ...”, and you have your categories.

For example, if you are a cosmetic surgeon, your categories would be:

I am a … cosmetic surgeon, surgeon, plastic surgeon.

Or, if you are have bookkeeping business:

We are a ... bookkeeping service.

Obviously, you cannot say, “I am a ‘breast enhancement,’ or ‘cosmetic surgery’ or a ‘bookkeeping’”! Those would be the wrong categories.

You are allowed to have up to five categories. Use them all as long as they are relevant. If you have more than five categories in mind, go with the most relevant, and popular ones.

SERVICE AREA AND LOCATIONS SETTINGS For businesses that don’t operate in a service area, the choice is obvious. If you go to your customers’ location to deliver your service, Google offers you the option of indicating your service area.

Warning! Do not include location as part of your category. Google punishes listings that contain location information in the category field. For example, never use something like “Ottawa Cosmetic Surgeon” for your category. The category should only describe what you are: “Cosmetic Surgeon.”



Various tests have proven that including a service area on your Places page affects your rankings negatively. This is a problem that Google has to address at some point, but until then, it is more advantageous if you go with the “customers come to this location” option, even when it’s you who goes to clients.

Make sure you don’t hide your address under any circumstances. Doing so can significantly lower your chances of having a high-ranking Places page.

HOURS OF OPERATIONS AND PAYMENT OPTIONS As I mentioned before, the more complete your listing, the better. Don’t ignore these fields, even though they might not seem very important!

PHOTOS Adding photos to your listing is a great way to improve your ranking while also adding some personality and flair to your page.

You can upload up to ten photos to your page. Go ahead and upload a few photos that you think your customers might find interesting. You can even upload a photo of yourself. Photos are a great way to create a sense of familiarity and build trust with your potential customers.



You can upload photos directly from your computer, or you can enter the link to a photo on a photo-sharing site where your photos are hosted.

NINJA PHOTO TRICK To get the maximum rankings boost possible from adding photos, try this:

Go to http://www.panoramio.com and sign in with your Google account information. If you don’t already have a Panoramio username, you will be asked to create one.

Upload a couple of your business photos. These can be photos of the inside or outside of your building, your staff, or almost anything related to your business.

Click on “Map this photo” on top of the photo and enter your address in the search field.

Select the correct address if you were provided with multiple options, and save your position.


http://www.panoramio.com/


Add a title and tag your photo with your business name, keywords and location.

When you are finished, click on the photo a couple of times until you have its direct web address in the address bar on top of your browser.

Grab the address and enter it in your Places page “Add a photo from the web” field.

VIDEOS Apart from having a positive effect on your Places page ranking, videos are extremely powerful communication tools. A professionally made, business promotion video can work wonders. But even a simple video of you describing your products and services can dramatically increase your conversion rates and consequently your sales.

If you are not interested in having a video made for your company and are not so keen on the idea of getting in front of the camera and making a short video yourself, I suggest creating a slideshow-type video. There are many online services that you can use to create a video out of your own business photos. Alternatively, you can create a PowerPoint presentation and record it using a plugin such as the Camtasia Studio PowerPoint Add-in.



ADDING A VIDEO TO YOUR PLACES PAGE Before adding a video to your Places page, you need to first upload it to YouTube. If you don’t have a YouTube account, go to http://www.youtube.com and click on “Create Account” on top of the page.

Select a username and create a YouTube account for your business. Later on, you can use this account to help boost your rankings and to drive traffic to your website. It’s a good idea to choose an appropriate username, something similar or close to your business name.

Click on “Upload” at the top to upload your video. Then, add the title and description to your video and tag it with your keywords and business name. Incorporate your primary keyword into both the title and description.


http://www.youtube.com/


GEO-TAGGING YOUR VIDEOS Now it’s time to tag your video with your location. Click on the video to view it, and then click on “Edit Video Detail” on top of the video.

When the menu on top of the video changes, click on “Map Location.”

Enter your address in the Location field and click search. When you are sure that the marker on the map is pointing to the correct address, click on Save Changes.



Grab the video’s web address from your browser’s address bar and paste it into your Places page video field. Don’t forget to click on “Add Video.”

Congratulations! You have just added a geo-tagged video to your Places page that encourages your potential customers to do business with you and helps boost your page’s ranking.

ADDITIONAL DETAILS Additional details fields are great for adding custom details to your Places page. They can also be used to include some of your other keywords into your page and increase its chances of ranking for those keywords. As always make sure your main objective is to provide valuable information to your potential customers.

One of the best ways to use this section is to add your products or services that are not already mentioned in the description field. You can also include information about your pricing, links to your blog or social media properties, and links to your review pages on review websites such as Yelp, etc. using the additional details section.

Warning! Do not spam the details fields, and make sure you are not repeating any information (categories, etc.) that you already have in other sections of your page. The Additional Details section should be used solely for providing complementary information not mentioned in other sections of your page.



Congratulations! You almost finished! Submit your listing now.

Important: Don’t forget to submit your page after adding your information. If you fail to submit your page, all the information that you have entered will be lost and you will have to start over.

VERIFYING YOUR OWNERSHIP Google takes “Verified by owner” pages a lot more seriously and treats them better when it comes to ranking the pages. A verified page indicates that the information on the page is accurate, up-to-date, and trustworthier than the information that Google might have acquired from other websites or data sources.

Verification can be done either by phone, postcard (mail) or SMS if you have entered a mobile phone number. Google does not offer all options to all businesses, though.

If you are lucky enough to get the phone verification option, go for it. This option is a lot faster, and you don’t have to wait weeks to receive your PIN by mail. When you select phone verification, Google will place an automated phone call



to the number you have listed, immediately after you click on “Submit.” Make sure you are able to pick up the phone and have a pen and paper handy to write down your PIN.

If you have to choose verification by mail, which is the case for most new accounts, Google will mail a postcard to your business address with the PIN that you need in order to verify your listing. It can take from two weeks to a month to receive the postcard, and sometimes it never arrives. Wait for a minimum of four (preferably five) weeks before requesting a new PIN, as the previous PIN will no longer be valid once you request a new one. And you don’t want to receive your original and now invalid PIN, a couple of days after requesting a new one!

It takes between two weeks to a month after submitting your PIN, for your Places page to go live.

ADDING COUPONS AND OFFERS TO YOUR PAGE After listing your business with Google Places, you will be able to add coupons and offers to your page. In order to add an offer to your page, you need it sign into your page and click on the Offers tab on top.

Then, click on “Add an offer now.”

Adding an offer to your page also increases the significance of your page and



positively affects your ranking. An offer might also be just the right incentive your potential customers need to pick up the phone and call your business.

OTHER SEARCH ENGINES Even though Google represents the lion’s share of search traffic (approximately 60% to 70% of all searches), listing your business with Bing and Yahoo can still be beneficial to your business and should not be ignored.

Unfortunately, as of this writing, neither Bing nor Yahoo offers Canadian business owners a viable solution for listing their businesses. Business owners in the U.S. can add their listing using the following links:

Bing Business Portal: http://www.bing.com/businessportal

Yahoo Local Listing Center: http://listings.local.yahoo.com/

WHERE TO GO FROM HERE Congratulations! You now have a strong foundation for a Places page that stands out from the competition, both in the eyes of your potential customers and search engines.

If you operate in a relatively low competition market, and you followed the instructions set forth in the guide, it is just a matter of time before your Places page finds its way to the first page of search results. If, however, you are competing in a larger market where many of your competitors have their eyes on a first page position, your page will need some outside help before it can climb to the first page.

Stay tuned for a detailed, step-by-step guide on how to get your Places page on the first page of search results using simple techniques that anyone can master. If you are not already a subscriber to our free monthly, “The Local Standout Newsletter,” head over to http://www.standoutlocal.com/newsletter.php and sign up. Not only will you be among the first to know when the new guide is ready, but also the newsletter is always filled with killer local marketing tips and tricks that you don’t want to miss!

In the meantime, list your business with as many local and niche directories as you can find, encourage your customers to write a review for your business and try to get a few links to your website. These will help your rankings considerably.


http://www.bing.com/businessportal

http://listings.local.yahoo.com/

http://www.standoutlocal.com/newsletter.php


Finally, if you are in hurry to get your business listing on top of the search results, or simply wish someone else would take care of your online marketing for you, our skilled experts are equipped with the knowledge and tools necessary to help you achieve the results that you desire.



HELPFUL RESOURCES Local Marketing Ideas Blog by Standout Local: http://www.standoutlocal.com/blog

The Local Standout Newsletter: http://www.standoutlocal.com/newsletter

Google Places User Guides: http://www.google.com/support/places/bin/static.py?page=guide.cs&guide=28247

Local Search Ranking Factors: http://www.davidmihm.com/local-search-ranking-factors.shtml

Understanding Google Maps and Local Search: http://blumenthals.com/blog/

Local SEO Guide: http://www.localseoguide.com/


http://www.standoutlocal.com/blog

http://www.standoutlocal.com/newsletter.php

http://www.google.com/support/places/bin/static.py?page=guide.cs&guide=28247

http://www.google.com/support/places/bin/static.py?page=guide.cs&guide=28247

http://www.davidmihm.com/local-search-ranking-factors.shtml

http://www.davidmihm.com/local-search-ranking-factors.shtml

http://blumenthals.com/blog/

http://www.localseoguide.com/

www.standoutlocal.com