Search Engine Optimization & Internet Marketing Google Places, Maps & Local Business Listings
Jul 16
Jul 15, 2010 at 4:39pm ET by Matt McGee
You may remember, or maybe you’ve seen, the Google Maps test that involves showing room prices as part of a hotel’s local business listing. Search Engine Land about it in March when few users were opted in, but Google tells Search Engine Land today that the experiment is rolling out to more searchers over the next couple weeks.Read the full article
Jun 9
Finally, Google has launched the ultimate application in South Africa which allows you to not only navigate your way to a “final destination” but to get an idea of what the destination looks like.
Just in time for the Soccer World Cup as promised!
Nov 2
I attended the Cape Town Google Maps Developer Codelab last week, presented by Jarda Bengi, Google Maps product manager for Europe & Africa.
Jarda announced that Google is currently mapping our major cities and surrounding suburbs. They hope to launch Google Street View in time for the Soccer World Cup which is being hosted by South Africa in 2010
South Africa is being given preference by Google ahead of some other countries due to the major World sporting event being hosted here.
Local business will benefit as consumers start to make use of Google Maps, Google Mobile and Local Search. Again it is important to claim and edit your local business listing in the Google Local Business Center!
Oct 29
This just was just announced a short while ago on the Google Mobile Site. I think the implications for small businesses and local search are profound, it is now more important than ever to claim your Google Local Business listing and make sure it is correctly optimized.!
Google Maps Navigation is an internet-connected GPS navigation system with voice guidance. It is part of Google Maps for mobile and is available for phones with Android 2.0.
Google Maps Navigation uses your phone’s internet connection to give you the latest maps and business data. But that’s not all that’s different about Google’s approach to GPS navigation. Watch the below video to learn more
Oct 27
by Don Campbell www.expand2web.com on October 26, 2009
According to a new study by TMP and Comscore, almost 40% of people who conducted an Internet search for a local business ended up visiting the store in person.
via eMarketer
The most likely action they take after getting the search result is to call on the phone, followed by getting a map and directions.
Some other interesting data points:
Oct 10
Here is part an interesting post on Googles Face book Page:
An improved interface for local information in web search We changed our interface for local business information when it occurs in search results. It’s now much more readable (larger fonts) and friendlier to use (easier to click on just what you want). Example search: [pizza palo alto] Here are before and after shots for the search.
Click on either image for a larger version Facebook | Google: This week in search 10/9/09.
Sep 29
Place Pages Raise SEO, Reputation and Click Concerns
Google has people riled up with its latest local search effort Google Place Pages. Place Pages are a Google Maps feature launched last week, which serve the purpose of providing everything you want to know about a place (a city or a business) in one spot. For example, if you search for a specific restaurant, you should get web pages, directions, reviews, images, street view imagery, business hours, etc. Google lets businesses submit specific categories they want to include.
There is concern from some that Google is trying to eliminate the need for users to leave Google and even visit a small business’ web site. WebProNews reader Doug Stewart, who wonders if this is an “assault against the small business website,” commented, “Google wants people to spend more time on Google. Yahoo wants people to spend more time on Yahoo. Facebook wants people to spend more time on Facebook. Several of these large online “media” [companies] are doing everything in their power to keep the eyeballs on their website
Will Google Eliminate the Need for Small Business Websites? | WebProNews.
Sep 25
Sep 24, 2009 at 4:08pm ET by Greg Sterling
Google is swapping its “info window” in Maps out in favor a much richer full-page experience that offers more information and a number of new capabilities and features. The pop-ups on Maps previously opened to an expanded info-bubble view, featuring a tabbed experience that buried much of the information available about a business.
The new “Place Pages” offer a more user friendly presentation of the same information. Also launching today are Place Pages that cover cities, neighborhoods, points of interest and transit stops, in addition to business locations. (The Place Pages are accessible from the “more info” link associated with the listing or result.)
Below is an example of what the new Place Pages look like for a search on “San Francisco Cafes.” First the familiar result on Maps:
Clicking on the “more info” link in the pop-up would previously have brought up a larger tabbed window that showed reviews, business hours and images/video within the map:
However, after today you’ll now see a full page showing this same information but presented much more effectively:
This page contains ads and, in the lower right corner, “related maps,” which were not previously presented. Google is also running a separate algorithm that ranks content providers within the sections on the page (reviews content, for example).
The idea behind Place Pages, according to Google is to “give you all the info about a place, in one place.”
Each of these pages will apparently have a unique URL but will not be indexed in organic results. They will only appear via Maps. Google also believes that these better looking, more prominent Place Pages will encourage more local businesses to claim their listings. I would agree.
Sep 15
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Aug 12
If you are trying to claim your Google Local Business Listing on Google Maps you may get an error message “your listing is not eligible for verification, please refer to our guidelines” or something similar.
This could lead you to mistakenly believe that you have done something unforgivable in the eyes of Google or that you are generally a bad person! Never fear, it is nothing as sinister as that.
If you do a search in the user forums you will find that you are not alone and even worse Google doesn’t give you much guidance on how to resolve the problem. Remember Google is staffed by very smart people who expect you to read their guidelines and instructions. They are a huge organisation with users that literally number in the hundreds of millions. They just don’t have the resources to spoonfeed everyone that has a problem.
My advice is take a look at other listings in your sector and compare what you are inputting with their information. In all likelihood you have simply formatted your address incorrectly.
Remember claiming your listing is just the first step, you would be well advised to find proffessional help to correctly optimize the listing for local search, the business you generate as a result will pay for your investment many times over.
