10 Tips to Improve Your Google Places Page
Google Places Page Tips
1. Creating a Google Places page listing helps you rank higher in local search results.
Google emphasizes Places pages in its localized search results, both on computer and mobile browsers. You must claim you page if you have not already claimed it and control the page which is prime real estate. It only takes a few minutes to set up a Google Places page, so there’s really no reason not to do it if your business serves local customers.
2. Add keywords to your business description.
A Google Places page lets you describe your business in up to 200 characters. Make sure you use your most important keywords — but don’t stuff keywords in. Write a useful, accurate description that will appeal to readers first and to Google second.
3. Have multiple locations? Create a Google Places page for each one.
For each Places page, list each location’s local phone number and address, not the corporate headquarters address or toll-free phone number. Do not use a post office box If your business services many locations but has only one physical address, it’s best to simply create one Places page for your actual location and then add the areas you service to your listing.
4. Use standard categories when possible to describe your business.
When building your Google Places page, you can list up to five different categories to describe the products or services you offer. Using standard category descriptions, such as “Weight Loss” rather than custom descriptions, such as “Anti Aging Center,” will help your Places page rank better in search results.
5. Don’t add a keyword to your Google Places page’s business name.
if it’s not actually part of your business’s name. Example, your business is physical therapy but your business name is, say, Dr Smith Pain Management. If you list your business name as Dr Bob Smith Physical Therapy on your Google Places page, Google might actually push your listing down in relevancy. (Google is smart and always on the look-out for people trying to game the system.)
6. Encourage satisfied customers to add reviews to your Google Places page.
It’s easy for them to do, and it helps flesh out your Google Places listing. Even better, ask customers to rave about you on Yelp, CitySearch, Wellness.com and similar review sites on which you’re listed. If you own a Spa, for instance, ask happy customers to post a review on SpaAdvisor. Many SEO experts believe having citations from trusted sources like Yelp, CitySearch, and Wellness can help boost your Google Places page’s ranking in local search results.
Bottom line: Try to get as many positive — and legitimate — reviews posted to your Google Places, Yelp, CitySearch and other listings.
7. Space out reviews as much as possible.
It’s best to get a steady stream of reviews, rather than having a bunch appear all at once. Again, the search engines are always on the lookout for spam and frauds and may see a sudden surge of reviews as suspicious. At worst, this might cause Google to push your Place page down in search results.
8. Get your business listed in appropriate online business directories.
Listings of your business in directories such as Local.com, Yellowpages.com, your local city’s chamber of commerce, or a directory affiliated with your profession can help boost your Place page’s ranking.
9. Add images and videos to your Places page.
You can add up to 10 photos and up to five videos for free. SEO experts don’t uniformly agree that adding photos and videos helps boost your Places page ranking. But some believe geo-tagged photos and videos in particular may give you a bump. At a minimum, photos and videos can make your Places page more appealing to potential customers.
10. Monitor your Places page analytics.
Make it a point every so often to log in to your Places page account. You can learn the top search queries that caused users to see your listing and how many clicks occurred to your website over the past week or month. The information isn’t nearly as comprehensive as what you get with Google Analytics, but it’s helpful nonetheless. You can have analytics automatically emailed to you as well.
