Friday, February 18, 2011

Article: Optmising For Google Places - 7 Great Tips | Search Engine People | Toronto

Optmising For Google Places - 7 Great Tips | Search Engine People | Toronto
http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/optimising-your-google-places.html


Optmising For Google Places - 7 Great Tips | Search Engine People


As Google forges ahead with their obsession with localised searches (not that I mind at all) I thought it would be a good time to look at what the recipe is for a well optimised Google Places page. Google Places is often overlooked by both businesses and SEOs, which is a shame because it can pull visitors in for you on its on merit – and more importantly we are now seeing blended results – Google Places and good old SEO combined.

So what are we throwing into the mix today? Essentially we will look at the best practices for creating a great listing – today’s post is not about getting citations or local links, we are just looking at what makes a great listing. Businesses that offer location specific products and services can apply all of these tactics themselves in no time…and SEOs can remind themselves to put it on their ‘to do’ list for clients.

Q. “What does Google want to see?”

A. “Good Solid Information”

1. Basic Google Places Information

Google Places Basic Information

  • Fill in as much basic information as possible – the key thing to remember here is that whatever you put in here (address, telephone number – which SHOULD be local and business name should be consistent across the Internet.
  • Make sure you use your business name and not a location based keyword like “my main keyword – location”.

2. Fill in your Times and Description

These jobs take minutes but will help to give you a fully pimped out Google Places listing – take the time to fill them out. Make sure you cover you main services or products in the description – don’t turn it into a list of keywords, remember the users!

Google Places - Times and Description

3. Google Places Categories

With the categories you have to play by Google’s rules a little bit – you need to choose at least one or two categories that actually exist – trust me it isn’t always that easy for niche operators. Start typing and see what Google suggests to you, if you can’t see something appropriate start again – you are going to suffer if you don’t play the game. If you pick two you will still get the chance to invent three categories based what you actually do.

Google Places Categories

4. The always under-used ‘Additional Details’

Not only is the a great way to get some more of services or products or brands or whatever onto the page, it is also a great place to insert some of the keywords pertaining to your site. Most people just don’t seem to bother filling this in – stay one step in front of the competition!

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