Google Places SEO Questions

[warrioradam]

I have one more question for everyone on SEO. I have just re-did a friends google places listing added all 10 photos, did categories right, full description, added 1 of 5 youtbue videos (all we have done so far), and added a review.

I was wondering how to get it to number one or top three on the first page. We are competing against property management companies in my local area and the competing listings only have one photo, more reviews, and no videos. So I am wondering if I can do anything else to up it? Or does it just take time?

The other thing is that the property mangement companies office is out of the location that we are trying to compete for if that makes sense.

Any feedback/tips would be greatly appreciated.

[36burrows]

You can go to fiverr.com and find lists of all the sites you can create citations on. Some gigs will even do it for you.

[Local Trifecta]

So ... similar to how you need "links" to help a website Google Places requires "citations". The is essentially online directories similar to the yellow pages listings. Any directory that posts a number and address could be considered a citation.

Bright Local has a few tools that are pretty powerful (I am not affiliated with the company but do use their tools). One tool you can enter a number of a competitor and it will track down citation sources for you. Pretty sweet.

They posted an article recently (if your in the US or CAN) with a list of the top local citations on SearchEngineLand (Top 50 Citation Sources For UK & US Local Businesses)

Other than citations reviews will play a huge impact! Get your buddy to get clients to post reviews ... they will absolutely help ...

[Kung Fu Backlinks]

Depending on the competition, your distance from the central location can really hurt you, but if you do everything else correctly, you have a fighting chance.

Make sure the in the footer (and sidebar, if possible) you have the company's location as you see it on Google Places. I would also add a link to the "Directions" for the office location is that makes sense for their business.

In the footer, you should also add links to subpages / articles that match up with the categories in the Google Listing. Make sure images and videos are optimized for these categories, as well.

Backlinking to the website, a few of the top citation pages, the videos and images should help.

Of course, citations are huge. Use a service to add the citations, and make sure you get a list of each one made so you can verify them. Not all listings are instantly active, so you'll want to follow up to make sure they are all done properly and live.

[DynaPass]

Just google "local seo" and the first blog by Andrew Shotland should tell you everything you need to know, including a list of sites to post your listing on.

If there is not much competition it may be a time thing keeping you from the first page. Expect first page placement to take at least 2-3 months. Another thing is onsite SEO, make sure the page isn't spammy and loads fast. Last thing, name your images in Google Places after keywords you want to rank for but dont spam it either. If you want to rank for "property management dallas" then make the image property-management-dallas.jpg and add it to the profile.

[paulgl]

You don't even need a website for google places.

They go by relevancy, location, then maybe ratings.

Relevancy and location trump just about anything.

You have to be very careful when sending your biz to
google for the listing. Be careful about the location
and actual business. Don't muck this up or you
will be sorry. Give them a real phone number for the
business as well.

You don't have to pay a soul. You can do all the fake
reviews you want.

Paul

[joshpatterson]

It also pulls reviews from around the web I believe, so not only having reviews on the actual Places page, but generally having reviews in other directories can help it rank well also.

[warrioradam]

thanks everyone for all the help really some great insight provided.

[TBInternetMarketing]

Originally Posted by 36burrows

You can go to fiverr.com and find lists of all the sites you can create citations on. Some gigs will even do it for you.

Yes focus on getting some citations now, and maybe even a few backlinks as well.
Unless you are going for something highly competitive like a restaurant or doctor/lawyer in New York etc, it won't take much to rank well.

[seanpearse]

yeah concentrate on getting some good quality citations. Make sure to always use the exact same NAP (business name, address, phone number) and collect the url of your citations. You can ping them with pingler or ping-o-matic to help get them indexed quicker and also bookmark the citations to give them a bit more weight.

Good luck