GOOGLE Local Business Results MAP Question

[Michael Gavre]

Has anyone found a system/method that will allow someone to get a top 10 result in the Local Business Results MAP when conducting a search in GOOGLE?

For example, type in 'dentist in albany ga' and you will notice a map with 10 'dentists' located on it. If you click the link 'More result near Albany, GA' you will find that there are a lot more then 10 dentists in the area, but GOOGLE will only display the top 10.

Has any Warrior come up with a system and proof that they can get a business listed in the top 10 preferrable top 1-3 positions in the Local Business Results?

I have spent a considerable amount of time searching the net, trying to find something, but come up empty of proof, but many theories. Some say it is proximity to the city center, but that doesnt pan out in the example above where the number one position is located the furthest away.

I have also read that you must at least have a website and register your business with GOOGLE LBR (Local Business Results). Again, using the above example, 4 of the top 10 do not even have a website listed (hmmm.. i smell an offline opportunity for me in the making ;-) )

Perhaps together we can reverse engineer this and come up with something. Can you imagine the selling points we can make to a brick and mortar business if we can guarantee them a top listing in GOOGLE for a local search $$$ even higher then an organic search result...

Michael

[scorpio9]

Great idea Mike

scorpio9

[kenj]

Hi Michael

I'm not sure what you mean by proof.

I just typed in my type of offline business and my local area and It is number one result with a nice map. All I did was follow google's instructions. PM me if you want to see it.

Ken

[askmichaelknowles]

Hi Michael,

I haven't looked into that really. Yet. What I am doing with local businesses is helping them to dominate the entire front page.

I make videos, article postings, twitter, digg, squiddo, hubpages, ebay store and more so that when you go to the front page for that term the goal is to see them everywhere.

It's probably a Skynet.....uh I mean Google conspiracy anyway on who they want to put first there. But if you have most of the rankings on the front page anyway who cares about that.

Michael

[Michael Gavre]

Kenj,

OK... by proof I mean has anyone taken a local business that was listed on the 'other page' (meaning not showing in the top 10) done something to their listing in the LBR and made them move up into the top 10.

And sure, you can PM me your listing. But I have to also assume that everyone else followed Google's instructions as well. What makes your listing show up as number 1 and not someone elses?

[Michael Gavre]

Michael,

Thats a great strategy you have and one that will be sure to bring you much more business by word of mouth from your happy clients :-)

But wouldn't you also like to be able to put their listing at the VERY TOP of a Google search result? Even on top of the Organic Results... Then you would definitely have all bases covered.

[askmichaelknowles]

Hi Michael,

Yes that would be an added bonus of course. I'll have to check into that. I just thought google put whoever they wanted in those spots.


I just added my data to it to see what happens... it says will take about 24 hours to show up. I'll let ya know what happens

Michael

[jsherloc]

While there are never any solid guarantees with Google, I have had success with doing some of the following:

-SEO my entire local biz listing - Description w/ desired geo + keywords included
-Increase your overall business directory citations (all the mentionings of your business name/address in local/national directories)
-Take advantage of EVERYTHING in the LBC panel. Add coupons, pictures, videos,categories, etc.

[Richard Odell]

Originally Posted by Michael Gavre

Has anyone found a system/method that will allow someone to get a top 10 result in the Local Business Results MAP when conducting a search in GOOGLE?

For example, type in 'dentist in albany ga' and you will notice a map with 10 'dentists' located on it. If you click the link 'More result near Albany, GA' you will find that there are a lot more then 10 dentists in the area, but GOOGLE will only display the top 10.

Has any Warrior come up with a system and proof that they can get a business listed in the top 10 preferrable top 1-3 positions in the Local Business Results?

I have spent a considerable amount of time searching the net, trying to find something, but come up empty of proof, but many theories. Some say it is proximity to the city center, but that doesnt pan out in the example above where the number one position is located the furthest away.

I have also read that you must at least have a website and register your business with GOOGLE LBR (Local Business Results). Again, using the above example, 4 of the top 10 do not even have a website listed (hmmm.. i smell an offline opportunity for me in the making ;-) )

Perhaps together we can reverse engineer this and come up with something. Can you imagine the selling points we can make to a brick and mortar business if we can guarantee them a top listing in GOOGLE for a local search $$$ even higher then an organic search result...

Michael

As I said earlier in another thread, back-links from local websites.

Look in the company profile pages of the local search results and look at the web pages that back-link to that site. A lot of them will be from that town or city. I got one local site (a hairdressers) to the number two position with just one local back-link (and that has held its position now for over two months,without anymore work!).

I've seen it over and over again. Sometimes its nothing more than a link back from a local amateur sports team that the company sponsors. A lot of the time, Google is so starved of information that they will even give the site recognition without even a hyper or contextual link (on a text address alone!)

Don't rely on back-links from bookmarking and articles, from sites thousands of miles away. Local is search is really only relevant to that specific location, Google is looking always for validation.

Different ballgame off-line marketing; a different mindset.

-Rich

[HeySal]

Not 100% sure of this, but Wolfram might already have this one covered. Might want to check it out before you get in deep with an "already been done".

[Michael Gavre]

Sal,

Not sure what you mean. Only Wolfram I know is the weird new search engine Wolfram Alpha. I did a search here for Wolfram and nothing significant came up...

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by Michael Gavre

Has anyone found a system/method that will allow someone to get a top 10 result in the Local Business Results MAP when conducting a search in GOOGLE?

For example, type in 'dentist in albany ga'

I have.

Or, more accurately, I have in Ireland where, given the small size of the country (never mind the local area itself), it may, or may not, translate to larger areas in the same way.

I've found that, ceteris paribus, simply using your primary keyword/phrase as your URL will, 4 times out of 5 (as a rough guess), get you a no 1 -3 listing for both that keyword/phrase and closely-related ones in both the organic results, and the local business map. So, in the above example, you might use dentistinalbanyga.com or dentist-in-albany-ga.com (In my experience, Google doesn't seem to care one way or another about hyphens.)

Mind you, being in a small country has other advantages that probably do mean the way I do things might not translate to the U.S., U.K., and other larger countries. Advantages like there being a relatively low number of locally-oriented sites to begin with; the fact that it's much easier to get links from existing local sites; much less restrictions when dealing with Google; and a myriad other things I can't think of right now.

Tommy.

[Michael Gavre]

Originally Posted by Richard Odell

Don't rely on back-links from bookmarking and articles, from sites thousands of miles away. Local is search is really only relevant to that specific location, Google is looking always for validation.

Different ballgame off-line marketing; a different mindset.

-Rich

Thanks Rich,

Maybe you are on to something with this. Has anyone tried to create a mini-web of city portal sites for this technique? I mean get 4-5 sites like cityportal.com , mycityportal.com, inmycity.com, formycity.com etc.. and use links on these sites to promote a local business into the top 10 results?

I am just getting interested in the offline world and was wondering if this could be accomplished. It would be a wonderful selling point if it works...

I think someone with much more experience in this area then me should try it and post back their results here (hint, hint...)

Michael

[whseo99]

hi, interesting thought and something ive been looking into, i came accross this member on bhw, i think he sells an ebook with methods on how to do it for 77$ and supports from that forum. working along similar lines.


sorry i removed the link, im not sure if allowed to post them

[Michael Gavre]

Thanks whseo99,

I assume bhw=Black Hat World? If so, i can't verify any of the info because that site is blocked from my work computer :-( Anyone heard of this ebook? Better yet, has anyone purchased it and tried it out?

Michael

[HeySal]

Originally Posted by Michael Gavre

Sal,

Not sure what you mean. Only Wolfram I know is the weird new search engine Wolfram Alpha. I did a search here for Wolfram and nothing significant came up...

Yes, that is what I was saying. They have some pretty unique search abilities and I just figured that town directories might be one of them. Great program for statistics.

[whseo99]

i can post the link if i am allowed? i cant pm yet though sorry, you could contact the guy, he was very helpful when i was emailing him with questions

[captivereef]

I have heard that you need to have the address on every page to rank well for local map search. Also google supposedly targets the center of the city as their geographic reference point, if you can get a po box or some type of address at or near the center it is supposed to help.

I have never tried any of this just posting what i have read.

[Michael Gavre]

captivereef,

I think having the address on every page might have some merit, at least it couldn't hurt.

However, I am not confident about the city center theory. I have heard it as well, but have seen many, many examples where this is not the case. Even my example above, the #1 listing is the furthest away from the city center...

[whseo99]

i need 15 posts to reply to your pm so this should be #15 will send you the info in a min, please report back what you think of the method