If you're pursuing local search marketing strategies for your small business, one of the most powerful and effective tools you can utilize is Google Places, also known as the Google Local Business Center (LBC). What's so great about Google Places? Well, to start with, it's estimated that Google dominates as much as 90.5 percent of the search market share over Yahoo and Bing (Pingdom, July 2010), clearly making it the king of search engines to be featured in. Now, when people perform local searches in Google, they are often presented with the Google Places results at the very top of the page, complete with an eye-grabbing map. That's good news for you if you're one of the top seven listings included there. In fact, in some cases, the local search results get more clicks than all of the organic results beneath them combined (hotel related searches are often one such example). How cool is that? Google is basically giving you an opportunity to shortcut to the very top of the search results for keywords about your business in your location. Not only that, they let you do it for free. All you have to do is give them the content they are looking for in your listing. Here are seven search engine optimization steps you can take to help catapult your Google Places listing to the top of the local search results for your town or area... - First of all, be sure that your business name, address, and phone number are absolutely correct. Google uses this information to verify the authenticity of your business. Don't forget to include your website if you have one. Fill out all the sections about your business in detail - provide as much helpful information to your prospective customers as possible. Google loves meaty (and accurate) content, and if your listing provides it, they will serve it first to their users. - Don't overlook the importance of an engaging, keyword-loaded business description that will grab the viewer. This is where you get to speak directly to your customer. Keep it pithy (200 characters or less) and make sure to include a call to action at the end. - Fill out the categories for your business with as much accuracy as possible. Pick at least one category that is already suggested by the system, and then be sure to include keyword terms for your other category examples. - Photos and videos engage your prospect, so be sure to add them. People love to see your product, examples of your work, what your store looks like, you name it. - Get reviews about your business from your customers. As far as rankings go, volume of reviews is more important than the number of stars. But of course 5 stars will serve you a lot better than 1 star when a prospect finally finds your listing. - Citations from other trusted providers (the references in the section titled "More about this place") are one of the most important elements of your listing, because they indicate to Google that you are a credible, established local business. So, in addition to your Places listing, it's critically important to make sure that your business name, address, and phone number are consistent across all other directories and sites where you may also be listed. - Look up other websites in your industry to find opportunities where you can request a citation (if not a link to your site) for your business. This is another area Google considers when evaluating the authority of your listing. Follow these simple local search marketing strategies, and you will already have a significant edge over the majority of your local competitors in Google.
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