Google Not Showing Some Descriptive Info Owners Input in Listings

If you haven’t noticed, Google Places listings have suddenly gotten a makeover to a much simpler, much sparser layout such as below

Notice what’s missing? As Google explains in it’s user forum, “The following info you provide may not appear on your Place page” including…

Email address
Additional details
[some industry specific details]

In one of Google’s forums it was mentioned that the additional details are no longer displayed because of spamming. Google goes on to explain “just because we’re not showing it, doesn’t mean it’s not helpful for us to have… it’s all still used to help us understand more about your business” We take that to mean that the additional info we develop and add to a listing still helps rankings. However we and many are complaining to Google that this additional information we develop is added to the listing to provide useful information to prospective customers who view the listing pages. Without these additional details the only owner provided content is a 200 character description along with photos and videos. We can only hope that Google will rethink this.

Review Snippets From Other Web Sources Have Been Removed

In the past Google would display snippets of reviews from sources such as Yelp, Superpages, etc. No more. As Google explains “…based on careful thought about the future direction of Place pages, and feedback we’ve heard over the past few months, review snippets from other web sources have now been removed from Place pages”

The scuttlebutt is that Google did this to head off an FTC investigation from complaints from those 3rd party review sites that Google shouldn’t be allowed to display them in their listings.

In any case, now only snippets from reviews that were input in Google Paces by other Google Account holders will be displayed on a listing. Although there may be links in the Reviews section that allow a viewer to click to see reviews from other sources.

This means it has gotten more important to make sure that you get at least some good reviews input directly into your Google Place listings so that snippets from those reviews will appear in your listing. However it remains helpful to get good reviews in any of the important Citation sites for your market (see more in the next section about Citations sites). Good reviews should help entice those who read the reviews to consider doing business with you. In addition, we believe Google will continue to read these reviews which may help rankings for your Google Paces listings too.

Citation Sites No Longer Displayed

Google used to display a number of web pages in a section named “More about this place”. These were some of the Citation sites that mentioned and often linked to the organization described in the listing. We’re not sure why Google decided to remove this section. Perhaps they thought it made it too easy for marketers to see what citation sites might be affecting their listing leading to spamming attempts. We did in fact look at these sites to see which sites were important to update or submit to. However we have more comprehensive methods to discover the important citation sites for a market within a territory.

The post Will Recent Changes In Google Places Listings (Google Maps) Affect Your Local Marketing Results? appeared first on eVision Online Marketing.

Highlights of the survey:

• Google Places (Google Maps) drives 33% of all website visits to local business websites
• Organic search drives 25% of all website visits to local business websites
• Yahoo & Bing account for less than 7% of all website visits to local business websites
• 59% of consumers use Google every month to locate a good local business
• 71% of search users value local search results & actively use these results
• 60% of consumers give more consideration to local results that have images

Read “Survey: Where do local business websites get their traffic & do consumers appreciate local search results?”

For more into

Optimizing for Local Search Even More Important With Google’s New Blended Local Search Results

The post Where do local business websites get their traffic? appeared first on eVision Online Marketing.

For a couple of years Google has often inserted a sample of local search results from Google Maps within the main search results on google.com such as the “7-pack” of local results in the screen shot below:

A: “7-pack” of local results from Google Maps within the main search results of google.com.
B: Beginning of the traditional organic results

New “Blended” Local Results

More and more Google has been “blending” local search results within the “traditional” organic listings such as in the screen shot below (Can I call something that hasn’t even been in existence for 20 years “traditional?). Often there will be two or three traditional organic results followed by seven local results. More traditional organic results follow below the local results. The map of the local results now appears in the top right corner of the page.

B: The first of the traditional organic results.
A: The local results from Google Maps now being “Blended” within the main search results of google.com.

Effects of New Local Results

If local search results are important to your organization then Google’s new blended local results have made it even more important to optimize your local listing(s):

Your Traditional Organic Results May Have Been Pushed Further Down Within The Search Results
The new blended local results take much more vertical space. They include quite a bit more information and often include images. This pushes the traditional results that follow below the local results much further down within the results. If you had a traditional organic listing(s) ranking well that listing may now be getting pushed much further down among the search results.

In addition, in the past many people would scan the pack of local results or scan the traditional organic results or both. Now that the local results are blended with the traditional organic results, they appear for many, I suspect, as one long list of results. So if you had a traditional organic listing in say position 4 it many now have in effect been pushed down to position 11.

Less People May Click To View Additional Local Results Within Google Maps
In the past there was a large text link to see more local results that was prominently displayed above the pack of local listings and another text link to see more local results below the pack (See the first screen shot above). Now there’s just the smaller text link at the bottom of the local results. I expect less people will click through to see more local results in Google Maps now.

The new blended local results have made it more important than ever to try to get a local result at the top of the search results within the listings Google displays on google.com

What you should do

Do some searches on Google’s main search page, google.com, on what you believe are some of your important search terms (keyword phrases) with and without the city/town, state names. If you see local results mixed in among the search results like in the above screen shots then you should work on improving your local search results to ideally get your listing to appear on google.com

Video Overview

Watch a 9 minute video overview about the imporatnce of Google Maps SEO since blended search resutls emerged. this is a video snippet from our “Get More Business from Your Web Site seminar

For More Info

Video on how to check for your local search listings (from 2009 but still a good visual overview)

Learn How eVision Can Help With
Google Local Search Optimization

The post Optimizing for Local Search Even More Important With Google’s New Blended Local Search Results appeared first on eVision Online Marketing.

41 positive ranking factors ranked by relative importance

8 negative factors that can hurt your rankings in Google (Maps) and Yahoo local search results.

It’s from last May, but most of the factors are still valid.

Follow these guidelines and you’ll have a decent chance of getting your Google local search results to appear in a 7-pack, 3-pack, etc in Google’s main search results. (Watch our video for an overview of local search results that appear in the main search results page (7-pack etc) as Blended or Universal Search has continued to evolve) –

Also see our article “Google Maps SEO, How to get top rankings and improved search results in Google’s local search listings” which covers many of the ranking factors rated in David’s article including descriptions and screen shots.

Read “David Mihm’s “Local Search Ranking Factors”

For More Information

Video on Google Local Search Results appearing in the main search results – Watch our video for an overview of local search results that appear in the main search results (7-pack etc) page as Blended or Universal Search has continued to evolve.

Google Maps SEO, How to get top rankings and improved search results in Google’s local search listings –  Covers many of the ranking factors rated in David’s article with more detailed descriptions and screen shots

Video:  How to find, claim, update and add listings in Google’s local search (Google Maps)

Ask for customer reviews. Good reviews = more business (And will likely help your local search rankings)

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The post 49 Local Search Ranking Factors Rated by Importance appeared first on eVision Online Marketing.

In past articles about Google Maps we’ve covered:

• Video Demonstration of Google Maps since the emergence of Blended/Universal Search

• Video on How to claim & update or add local search listings in Google Maps.

In this article I’ll cover the important factors for getting the best results in Google Maps (Not just rankings but overall results including enticing people to take action). Let’s get right to it –
 

Find & claim your listings.  The simple act of finding and claiming your Google Map listings, even if you don’t update them, will likely improve your rankings as it verifies the listing  (Learn how find & claim your listings in our video blog).
 

Proximity to the search location. You’d think this one’s pretty obvious, that the closer your listing is to the location being searched on the better you should rank (all other things equal). So if the search is for “lumber New Haven” the listings from within New Haven should rank higher than the listings outside of New Haven, again all other things equal. And this is often the case with cities.

However Google’s results when there are not enough listings in a location, such as a smaller town, or when the search is for a wide area like a state can be skewed towards downtown areas of cites etc.

This tendency of weighting towards the centers of cities has diminished as other ranking factors have evolved (the “all other things”) and this should continue as Google is “constantly tweaking our ranking factors” (From a Google representative in a Google Maps forum about this issue)

Note – The letter in front of the following items corresponds to the letter in the following Google Maps “Edit/Add” Listing screen shot.

A: The Company/Organization Name in the Listing.  Having the service keyword in the name, such as “Acme Web Design” should help both with rankings and usability (making it quickly clear what you do). But see the Google Maps Guidelines linked to below: You are you required to use your actual business/organization name. However I’ve seen this rule broken repeatedly (see how to report spam below).
 

B. The Web Site/Landing Page. You don’t even need a web site but if you do…

Think about the best page to link to, just like you would when developing PPC ads. Should you link to the home page? Possibly it you have a single location and a limited focus.

Many of our clients have multiple locations. We’ve had the best results with one or more web pages per location. We link the Google Maps listings to the appropriate page. This has been helping with rankings. Plus, getting people directly to the location page they are interested in helps with conversions.

Have a site or page that is optimized for your key products & services along with local phrases; such as towns served, should definitely help your listings for searches on those products or services and locations. Many times I’ve seen the description developed by Google for the local search listing include text from the web site rather than from the Google Maps listing.

Some specific page elements to think about including on the web pages.

The location address in text.
A local phone number in text.
The location and/or towns severed in the HTML Title Tag.

C: The Google Maps Description. Spend lots of time on this 200 character description. As much time as you would developing an HTML Page Title and Meta Tag Description combination for an important page on your web site.

This description should be developed to help “sell” your business or organization to those who read it. If you include the keyword(s) and/or location being searched on in the description, for example “Web designers in the New Haven area since 2005”, it should help with rankings too.
 

Categories in the listing. If you are listed in a category that is being searched for, such as “web design New Haven, CT” this should help your listing rank better.

You can be listed in up to 5 categories. You can even suggest new ones. Do some searches on some important products or services and locations and check what categories are being used by others.

See the video for a demonstration of categories in “Google Maps Video: How to find, claim, update and add listings in Google’s local search”

Pictures & Video. Pictures and video can help you sell your business and its products and services.

Often a picture will be included in the Google Maps listing like our client’s below. That’s probably not going to help rankings, but could help click-throughs and conversions.

Picture in a Local Listing Result

Additional Details
Use the Additional Details fields to show more information about your business, its products and services (see the screen shot of an additional details area below).

These Additional Details can help sell your business, its products and services and they appear to help with rankings too. I’ve searched on some details that appear no where else but in the Additional Details and the listings where retuned in the results.

An example of Additional Details displayed in a listing

Citations (mentions and links on other sites).  You’re used to link popularity (PageRank, trust etc) for the traditional organic listings. It works very much the same for local listings.

Having Citations (mentions or links) on other web pages that help validate your local listing are a very important factor in local search rankings. These mentions don’t even have to link to the site, just verifying a local address and/or phone number helps.

Look for listings and mentions on sites (See the screen shots at the bottom of the article). Check any current listings you have for accuracy of the address, phone numbers, categories, and for issues such as duplicate listings, etc as Google often imports this information into your Google Places listing:

• The online yellow pages like SuperPages that are used as a source for search engines like Google. (See URL’s to the online yellow pages below).
• Regional listings such as on Yahoo, Business.com, local directories (eg chambers etc).
• Listings in sites like CitySearch, Yelp, etc.
• Local listings on the other major engines will help as they all crawl each others listings.

Try “reverse linking” the sites reaching the top local search listings for your local product and service keywords. Find which sites mention or link to them and what sites Google includes information from within the Maps listings. Might they be a fit for your site? (See the screen shots at the bottom of the article).

Ask for Reviews
I do not believe that reviews per se are a ranking factor. In my testing it does not appear that the number of reviews or the user ratings are affecting the rankings in Google Maps, however…

Having reviews may help verify a local listing and help build trust, but I haven’t been able to verify this.

Much more important, having good reviews can help you sell your business online.

Plus, snippets from your reviews are often included by Google in the local listings (see the screen shot below)

Local Listing with Review snippet

Also, searchers can exclude Google Maps listings by User Rating.

You need good reviews!!! (See the video for a demonstration this in “Google Maps Video: How to find, claim, update and add listings in Google’s local search”

Look at the sites reaching the top local search listings for your local product and service keywords and see which sites Google includes reviews from. Then ask for reviews on them as well as directly in Google Maps.

See “Ask for Reviews” for much more 

Where to Find Citation and Reveiw Sites

A: Review Sites Google Extracts From

B: Infobases Google Uses

C: Find More Possible Citation Sites In This Section

Resources

The Major Local Search Sites

• Google Local Business Center (LBC)
• Yahoo Add/Edit Local Listings 
• Bing Add/Edit Local Listings

Check this site out too: getlisted.org. The site will attempt to find your local listings for you, get you started on updating the listings, and they have lots of tips.

Google Maps Resources

• Business Listing Quality Guidelines
• Report Google Maps Spam 
• LBC Help Forum
• Problems & Errors forum

Recently posted in the Google Maps forum by a Google employee about reporting problems with listings “The best way to escalate these types of errors is to use the “Report a problem” link at the lower right-hand corner of the map. You’ll be able to provide details of the issue and subscribe to be notified of when the error is corrected.” 

The Major Online Yellow pages and Info sources to the majors

• InfoUSA (Database for many online yellow pages such as Yahoo’s)
• Yellowpages.com (ATT)
• SuperPages.com – Verizon (Database for other online listings: Google, Bing). Last known tel number for issues,  800-320-1395

More Info

Blended or Universal Search results.

Video Demonstration of Google Maps since the emergence of Blended/Universal Search

Video on How to claim & update or add local search listings in Google Maps.

How Flickr Can Help Your Local Business Get More Traffic – An article on Web Marketing Today about hosting images on Yahoo’s Flickr photo & video sharing site. These images are sometimes shown in the Blended search results including on Google

49 Local Search Ranking Factors Rated by Importance – The results of a survey of 27 folks who work on local search; 41 positive ranking factors, 8 negative factors

How to Promote and Syndicate Your Local Business Listings – More about citations on Web Marketing Today

The post Google Maps SEO, How to get top rankings and improved search results in Google’s local search listings appeared first on eVision Online Marketing.

I’ll also talk about how to improve your rankings in Google’s local search results (Google Maps).

Local search has grown in importance with the advent of Blended search results the past year or two. For example, Google often shows some local results in its main search page (See below for more on Blended Search). Local search results are being used more and more to find local services and products, find specific business, to get directions and contact information, and to check user reviews.

What this Part 1 Video Covers –

A demonstration of local search listings using Google’s local search results (Google Maps).

How updating your local search listings in Google Maps with descriptions, hours, pictures and video etc should help you “sell” your products and services to those searching for the products and services you sell.

Reaching top results in the local search listings, which are often displayed at the top of the main search results in Google, can lead to a significant increase in search traffic.

Taking ownership of your local listings and updating them appears to be a significant factor in improving the rankings of Google’s local search results.

Searchers can submit reviews of your business or organizations via Google Maps. Google summaries these reviews with a star (*) rating system. Getting good reviews is and will become more and more important.

To Enlarge the Videos:  Hover your mouse over the YouTube logo in bottom right corner of the video and you should see a “Watch on YouTube” link (the videos plays wider there) or click on the full screen button in the bottom right corner

In future articles I’ll show you how to take ownership of your Google Maps listings, how to update them, as well as how to add new listings. I’ll probably also show you a tip to get more good user reviews.

More info

Part 2 – How to find, claim, update and add listings in Google’s local search (Video)

Blended Search Overview – I mentioned how local search has grown in importance with advent of Blended search. This article is an overview of Blended Search

Learn How eVision Can Help With
Google Local Search Optimization

The post Video: Check your local search listings (like Google Maps) if local search results are important: Part 1 appeared first on eVision Online Marketing.