How Local Businesses Can Boost their Rankings in Google Places

While a client was successful in ranking organically on the first page of Google, the business was not included in the Google Places listing. This has been a lingering frustration for the client. Why was the business not appearing? To figure out why, we spoke with the Google Places team who provided some guidance.

Fix Your Categories: Google allows you to select up to five categories for your business, with one primary category. We analyzed the results of those companies who are listed on page one of Google Places. Check your categories to determine if that may be the reason why your business is not ranking higher. In this particular case, after several weeks in a new category, there was no difference in the rankings. There was no single category used by all the companies listed, so we went on to look at other factors.

Optimize Your Description: Google Places allows a brief description of your business and uses this to pull up relevant listings close to the searcher’s location. Be sure your description includes those keywords you think potential customers will be using. Those businesses whose names include a keyword have an advantage over those who don’t.

Encourage Reviews Companies with reviews tend to show up higher on Google Places results. This has been confirmed by many SEO experts. While soliciting reviews is against Yelp guidelines, it is allowed by Google, and in fact was encouraged by the Google Places team. It is also important to note that Google Places pulls in reviews from across the web, so the more places your company is listed and can obtain reviews, the better. A study conducted by Bizable revealed that five reviews significantly improved rankings. If those reviews incorporate local keywords, that also helped boost rankings.

Does Google Local Favor Companies Not Already Ranked on Page 1

An article on Moz.com caused us to wonder if something else wasn’t at play with the listings. Could it be that Google’s algorithm favors companies that aren’t appearing on page one of the organic listing? In the example cited in the article, linking the Google Places to a page other than the home page resulted in a higher Google Places listing.

Google Places vs. Google+ Local

One observation from investigating our client’s Google Places problem is that the newer Google+ pages typically rank higher than those operating off the old Google Places dashboard. The latest information from the Google Places team is that by March 2014, all of the old Google Places accounts will be converted over to the new, more robust Google+ platform. Despite the fact that our client has bothGoogle+ account and a Google Places account, the two accounts are not yet integrated. When the merger is complete, the account will be managed from one place, and include all the social features that can help boost rankings.

With local rankings becoming an increasingly important part of search, businesses can’t put their Google Places or Google+ listing on automatic pilot. They need to continue to monitor and optimize their listings to be sure they’re on the map, when it comes to local search. Has the conversion to Google+ hurt your local rankings?

Good Deeds Deserve Good Links

Palatine Travelers Baseball Supports Food Pantry

People like doing business with with businesses that support their communities. Yet too often, businesses fail to capitalize on their contributions by ignoring the PR opportunities their good deeds provide. Sponsoring local charities; bringing in students to explore careers; sending a team to participate in Relay for Life; are all good deeds deserving of attention by local media.

In Chicago, media sources such as Trib Local and Patch.com offer opportunities for anyone to post community news. As a result, you can build high quality links to your site by simply posting your press release to these sources. If those aren’t available in your area, the websites of the local newspapers will usually list an editorial contact or provide instructions for submitting a press release and photo. A public relations consultant can help write your release and distribute it locally at a very reasonable cost.

Some say B2B companies shouldn’t have a focus on local media or community events. I disagree. B2B decisions are made by people too. Even if I am not in your community, I want to feel good about doing business with your company. I am comforted to see your company is made up of real people with concerns for matters other than profit. And when companies are competing for talent, little things like charity events, can set your firm apart from the competition.

A project I worked on this week for my son’s baseball team (and the Palatine Township Food Pantry) reminded me how happy charitable organizations are to have their efforts supported with public relations. Whatever your event contributes to a charity, adding in a press release to provide additional exposure provides a huge bonus. You are helping build awareness for the charity, showing recognition to participants, and giving your business a little bit of credit.

RDO Equipment, a construction equipment dealer headquartered in North Dakota, is one company who gets it right. Their website is brimming with examples of how their local branches support their community. I admire RDO and all the companies like them, who are helping those in need. Isn’t it time to take some credit?

Good deeds deserve good links. What companies in your community stand out for their community service? Tout them here in our comments. We’ll give them some well deserved recognition.

Title Tags: What You Don’t Know Could Hurt You

Page titles are very important to search engine results. In an SEOMoz survey of SEO thought leaders, the title tag was considered the single most important factor by 35 of 37 participants. What’s included in the <title> tag on your page tells the search engines what your page is about. As a result, page titles represent a great opportunity to include important keywords for your site. Knowing this, I was carefully crafting page titles to drive traffic. They looked just fine when I viewed the pages, but almost by accident, I realized that my hard work was being ignored by Google.

Apparently, the SEO plug-in I installed on our WordPress site, conflicted with the theme, and the end result was less than optimized titles. Fixing it wasn’t a big deal, but it was an important lesson learned. Check to see if the search engines are correctly picking up your titles.

Google Webmaster Tools (available for free) and SEOmoz (paid) will help you identify potential problems with your titles. Here are some issues they can help spot:

Missing Titles – Pages without titles aren’t likely to be found by search engines.

Duplicate Titles – Search engines will be confused if every page on your site has the same title. Each page should have a unique and descriptive page title.

Titles that are too long or too short – Long titles will get cut off by search engines, short titles such as “home” and “about” are too nondescript to be valuable to search engines. According to SEOmoz, Google will display 70 characters in the title.

Keywords: What is too many?

While its important to use relevant keywords in the title, keyword stuffing isn’t advised. If there is nothing on the page about the keyword, using it in the title will only result in a high bounce-back rate for your page.

To brand or not to brand?

If your brand is a household name, placing the brand at the beginning of the title tag will help marketers capitalize on brand searches. But if your brand isn’t well known, most SEO experts suggest placing the name at the end of the title tag.

Why is Google picking up something than the title tag?

It’s important to note that sometimes Google finds something even better than your title tag to display in its search engine results. Based on a user’s query, the search engine may show alternative text that is more relevant than the title tag. You don’t have control over this, but its probably a good thing because it means your site was relevant to the search.

Titles are an important component of writing for the web. The more you know about writing good titles, the more likely your content is to be found.

Have you learned any SEO lessons the hard way?

How SEO Writers Boost Content Impact & Measure Value

Under the hood (SEO) aspects of content raise its value as an asset. SEO content writers know the rules of search engine optimization and apply them to boost the impact of their clients’ content. Copywriters and clients like optimized content because it can be measured. They can see what is working and what is not and adjust as needed.

How can content be measured? Just a few years ago, I could not answer that question. Now I can thanks in part to SEO trainer and consultant Jason McDonald of the JM Internet Group. Combining SEO methods with good writing offers a robust solution for online engagement.

At Content For Biz we tend to measure content impact for our clients in multiple ways. Our initial evaluation is a benchmark that will improve over time.

What to Measure

Based on the client’s business objectives, we figure out what to measure. Using the best free metrics tool on the Web – Google Analytics – we decipher what information is important. Basic data shows how people find the site. Is it from keyword searches or referring websites? And, once visitors arrive on the site how do they interact with the content? Advanced features will show data by geographic regions and other criteria. Google Analytics is a great tool to measure before, during and after SEO efforts.

How to Measure

We check a client’s current ranking on Google’s organic listings using keywords/phrases. We look not only for their site, but to see which of their competitors are ranking high. We conduct a keyword analysis to find the best keywords/phrases for them to use. We then consistently develop relevant content using the appropriate keywords/phrases. The content may take many forms including news releases, blog posts, social media and white papers. Search engines look for fresh content and reward sites that supply it with higher rankings.

We verify the content page is tagged correctly for search engines. Are the keywords/phrases positioned strategically? Are headlines, subheadings and photos tagged properly using keywords? We assess the organization of the site. Is it easy to navigate? What content should hold a priority position on the page.

Why Measure?

Next, we analyze links to the client site and to their competitors’ sites. We help add links to the client site by understanding the environment they are competing in. We publish news, write posts for their blog and social media to build the site’s reputation and authority.

This is one method to boost content impact. How do you measure the value of your content?

Eight Easy Ways Contractors Can Optimize Content for Local Search

To beat your competition in local search, contractors need to find ways to incorporate local content on their websites as well as on third party sites where their businesses are listed. This might sound more difficult than it really is. Here are a few suggestions:

1) Put your physical address and phone on every page of your website.

2)Add city, state or neighborhood data to all of your construction project photos.

3)Add city and state info to your customer testimonials.

4) Promote your involvement with local charities and business organizations online through press releases. Use location names in the headlines.

5) Create a page for each location of your business and be sure to include it on the site map you submit to search engines. Each page should feature unique images and information pertinent to the location. Maps and directions are useful geographic content.

6) Claim your business on search engine directories such as Google Places, Yahoo! , Bing and the Yellow Pages as well as B2B directories, if that is your target audience. Enhance your listings with photos, graphics and links to social media sites, where available. Be sure to include the cities and suburbs you will serve. A convenient way to find out if your business currently appears in these directories is to visit www.getlisted.org. It will give you a full report in just a few seconds and links directly to where you can update your information.

7)Blog posts are the perfect way to add geographic emphasis to headlines , so you can rank higher with search engines. Whenever you post a project photo or news item, don’t forget to mention the location. This ensures the local keywords show up in the <title> tag, where Google and other search engines pull content from.

8)Claim your listings on review sites such as Angie’s list, Yelp and Google Places. Encourage reviews by adding badges to your website and e-newsletter.

A Good Example of Local Search Optimization by a Contractor

If you want to see a good example of a contractor website that is optimized for local search visit Chicago Renovation Development. They came up No. 1 in my search for “Chicago remodeling contractor.”

Google Search for "Chicago Remodeling Contractor" — Chicago Renovation Comes Up No. 1 in My Search for "Chicago Remodeling Contractor

The home page includes location-based content focused on Chicago remodeling. In the footer of each page are three links to” leading Glencoe Remodeling Contractor,” “Highland Park Remodeling Contractor” and “Winnetka Remodeling Contractor.” Click on any of these and you will find a page of unique content, as well a complete listing of service areas. A badge for reviews is a highlight on the home page.

Type in a relevant local search term for your business and it is easy to see who is doing it well among your competition. With an estimated 20 percent of all searches (40 percent of local searches) made with local intent, you don’t want to miss this opportunity. Put these painless and highly cost-effective ways to improve your local search engine rankings on your to-do list today.