{"id":1650,"date":"2011-10-19T13:50:07","date_gmt":"2011-10-19T03:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.e-cbd.com.au\/blog\/?p=1650"},"modified":"2020-09-29T05:14:59","modified_gmt":"2020-09-29T05:14:59","slug":"google-places-optimisation-seo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.e-cbd.com.au\/blog\/seo\/google-places-optimisation-seo\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Places Optimisation & SEO"},"content":{"rendered":"

More and more people are using the Internet to find information, products and services. Local search, according to Google, accounts for approximately 75% of this online activity, making it more important than ever to have a presence in local search results.<\/p>\n

There are many things you could do to try and rank your business for local searches, including Search Engine Optimisation<\/a> and Google Adwords<\/a>, however for those of you who don\u2019t have the budget for an online marketing campaign, we suggest having a Google Places listing \u2013 a free<\/strong> (yet valuable) way to <\/p>\n

So, what is Google Places?<\/h2>\n

A Google Places listing are those businesses (with or without a website) that have a pushpin in the Google map and a corresponding result in the “Places for [insert search term] near [insert location]” when you search for a local business using Google (see image below). The map and listing used to appear within the search results with a link to that business’ Google Places listing. Now Google has combined the listing with a result for the business’s website. What this does is make it much easier to get a result on the first page of Google.<\/p>\n

\"Google<\/a>How to get started with Google Places<\/h2>\n

1. Submit or claim your listing<\/strong>: Go to www.google.com\/places\/<\/a> and start the submission process. If your business is already on Google Places, you can do a search and claim the listing from this area.<\/p>\n

2. Verify your details<\/strong>: Google needs to make sure that your listing is legitimate. There are 3 ways to verify your listing: by phone, postcard or text message. The phone or text method is the fastest way to verify your listing.<\/p>\n

3. Wait for your details to appear<\/strong>: It takes time for Google to start showing your listing in search results, and in many cases it won\u2019t show up on the first page of Google. Of course, there are things you can do to your listing to improve your chances…<\/p>\n

Five things you should do:<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Listen to Google<\/strong>. Make sure you are following their Quality Guidelines<\/a> otherwise your listing may be declined or take much longer to be displayed.<\/li>\n
  2. Be accurate<\/strong>. Fill out your Places listing as accurately as possible \u2013 make sure your details exactly reflect your business in the offline world.<\/li>\n
  3. Do more than the bare minimum<\/strong>. The more complete your listing is, the more likely it will be displayed within Google search results. Include your hours of operation, select appropriate categories, payment options, upload images (you can have up to 10 including your logo), videos and any extra information in the \u2018Additional Details\u2019 section.<\/li>\n
  4. Encourage customer reviews<\/strong>. While it\u2019s not always the case, listings with a greater number of positive reviews will typically appear above others that don\u2019t. We all know that those who didn\u2019t have a positive experience will usually want to tell the world, but those who had a good experience with a company rarely let them know about it. Try and counter this by reminding customers to write a review \u2013 include a small message on your invoice, emails or website, for example.<\/li>\n
  5. Select a Service Area<\/strong>. Companies that don\u2019t want to show their physical address or who run a mobile business can also enjoy the benefits of a Google Places listing \u2013 when you\u2019re submitting your details, select \u2018Yes, this business serves customers at their locations\u2019, then list your services areas by region or postcode. You can even choose to not show your business address on your listing.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"Oak<\/a><\/p>\n

    Some things you shouldn\u2019t do\u2026<\/h2>\n