My presentation from ISS (International Search Summit) London 2012 on Google Places - Global Approach. How to optimise your Google Places account: citation building, getting reviews, dealing with verification and bulk uploads.
2. About Lisa Myers
• 11 years experience in Marketing, 7 in Search & Social
• Speaker at Search Conferences Worldwide (SES, SMX, A4U, ISS etc)
• Regular contributor to on and offline publications and author of several SEO Best
Practise Guides including eConsultancy and B2B Marketing
• Heavily involved in the global Search Community, founder of
SEO-chicks.com and co-founder of European search blog StateofSearch
Awards
• “Search Personality of the Year” UK Search Awards 2011 + “Best SEO
Campaign” for her agency Verve Search + “Best SEO Campaign”
• Management Today “35 women under 35” list 2009
• “Best Use of Technology woman under 30”
BlackBerry Woman & Technology Awards (2008)
• “B2B Marketing Newcomer of the Year” (2007)
15. It is a misconception that Google Places is just
for SMALL businesses. It’s NOT!
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS
16. Increase of smart
I’m looking
for something
phones =
....it’s got to
be close by! increase of
local intent searches
17. More and more sectors
Accommodation (hotels, property etc)
Entertainment (bars, restaurants etc)
Education
Health & Medical
Retail
Consumer Services (hairdresser, plumbers etc)
Business to business
Transportation
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS
18. Google Places Survey
• 5 European countries
• Agencies & client side
- The importance of Google places by sector
- Ranking factors
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS
26. Everyone should
Everyone should have a Google Places account
for the BRAND as MINIMUM
- a high percentage of brand searches the intent
is to contact/find a phone number/address etc
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS
27. GOOGLE is the new LANDING PAGE
...and has been for a while
28. Global Local Campaigns
As an international brand you would be stupid
to ignore Google Places
There are really only two challenges on an
international level:
- Bulk uploading/Verification
- Management & Streamlining strategy
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS
31. #1 Location
Looks at where your business is based & your proximity to the
location in the search query
#2 Relevance
Internal factors such as business name, associated categories +
external data
#3 Prominence
External factors; Data citations, reviews, occurrences of business
in UGC
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS
32.
33.
34. Consider
• Don’t keyword spam
• Don’t put keyword in title unless its also in
your brand name
• USE local phone numbers where possible (not
freephone and national numbers)
• FORMATTING of phone numbers and
address should be the same throughout
(citations & Google Places listing)
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS
36. Citations
• Citations are simply mentions of your
business name, address and phone number in
close proximity on a webpage.
• It does not have to be a directory
• But some directory passes more value, the
valuable directories generally vary from
country to country.
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS
37. Citations
1. Consistency
Keep your business name, address, telephone number the same to increase trust
2. Major Datacentres
Some “mentions” are worth more from some sites than others
3. Local Directories
Source local directories and make sure you are listed there
4. Citation Competitor Analysis
Go to their Places page, underneath the reviews click the link “more from around the web”
this outlines their existing citations.
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS
40. Reviews
• Believed to be the largest influence factor of
increased rankings
• Reviews also has a massive impact on CTR
• 5 or more reviews for boost
• Anything above 2 stars counts more or less
equally for boost
• A review score of 1 or less stars is likely to
impact ranking negatively
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS
41. Ideas for Generating Reviews
• Contact Customers (email, mail etc)
• QR code (on brochure, menu, business card that
goes to Google Places page)
• Set up a competition (not necessarily paid, ehm)
• Offer discounts on next purchase
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS
44. Bulk Upload Tool NEWS
New version of bulk upload tool on 8th May:
• Edit one or more of your listings’ data at once
• Search through your listings, filtering by
specific information or for listings with errors
• Upload new listings using a data file or by
adding them individually within the interface
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS
45. Bulk Upload
• Download template and fill in (follow formatting rules)
• Upload the file
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS
48. Verifying Bulk Uploads
• Use a company email address (same as listing domain!)
• Usually takes about 2 weeks,
• The bulk uploads is manually reviewed by Google Places
representative
• Process is quicker in the US
50. Verification
• You CAN still get your listing verified via
phone => You can claim a listing that has yet
to be verified. Or create a listing via
MapMaker (not in the UK).
• But if it does not exist on Google Maps yet,
you HAVE to verify by mail
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS
51. Things I’m not saying
If you don’t have an office in a city you wish to
rank in, I would not:
b)Contact a services office and offer to pay
them to call you when the postcard appears
c)Rent a virtual address
d)Use a PO box but just write the address on
the “address line 2”
This will definitely maybe not work..ehm..
53. Successful Global Management
To manage a global local campaign you need to:
- Educate Globally
- Organise Centrally
- Manage execution locally
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS
58. Local Tools
What keywords triggers Google Places
www.linkdex.com and www.seomoz.org
Google Places Category Tool
http://blumenthals.com/index.php?Google_LBC_Categories
Local Citation Finder
http://www.whitespark.ca/local-citation-finder
Local Search Rank Checker Tool
http://www.brightlocal.com/seo-tools/local-search-rank-checker/
Local Competitor Analysis
http://www.localsearchtoolkit.com
59. Top Citation Sites
1. Yelp
2. Superpages
3. Citysearch
4. Yellowpages
5. Infogroup
6. Yahoo Local
7. Localeze
8. InsiderPages
9. Niche Industry Sites (including TripAdvisor, OpenTable, and DealerRater)
10. Acxiom
11. Best of the Web
12. BBB
13. Judy’s Book
14. Angie’s List
Source: David Mihm’s Local Search Ranking Factors (2011)
60. Top UK Citation Sites
www.yelp.co.uk
www.qype.co.uk/
www.yell.com
www.localdatacompany.com
www.thomsonlocal.com
www.touchlocal.com
www.smilelocal.com
http://search.infoserve.com/index.asp
www.brownbook.net
www.ufindus.com
62. Ways of Tracking Local
• Utilising Filters in Analytics
• Implementing 301 Redirects
63. Tracking Using Filters
Custom Filters in Google Analytics
(Only tracks visitors that click through to place page before visiting website)
• New filter ->
• Filter name ‘Maps’
• Filter Type -> Custom Filter
• Checked : include
• Filter Field: Referral
• Filter Pattern: ‘maps.google.’
• case sensitive : no
64. Tracking Using 301redirects
Using 301 Redirects tracks all visitors but is a little
more difficult to set up.
3. Set up a vanity URL e.g. www.example.com/widget-location
4. Implement a 301 redirect from that page to a page which includes “utm
tracking code”
5. E.g.
http://www.example.com/widget-location /?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=
More info how to do this:
http://www.vervesearch.com/blog/seo/how-to-track-your-google-local-listing/