Maps = No Traffic

Google places is one way to generate traffic. Best of all it's free and still easy to rank for (not so once popularity of places gains) but should not be that main source of traffic.

It also depends on the term they are targeting and how many searches it gets a month.

How do they know they're not getting any traffic from GMaps... do they have the stats -- real stats - to back it up.

When I ask ' Do you know how many people are coming to your website' to most local biz owners I talk to, they shrug their shoulders.

In short, they have no idea what when and who is coming to their sites.

I show them PROOF if something is working or not.

it depends on niche but I have few sites in placement and they bring several impression and conversion to CPA offer(I am considering as real leads to offline business)...one niche i have getting around 10 leads per month..so map listing should bring business...tell them you need web site or least landing page..

The keyword phrases they are ranking for might not have enough traffic as has been mentioned.

Also, what you will fing with GP tankings the majority of searchers do not click through but make a call directly from seeing the listing. The only way to guage that is to ask the callers how they found out about them.

Riz

Here are some ideas:

1. Check stats in their official Google Places page. This will show the impressions and visits to the site.

2. Check to ensure the keyword is displaying the map. Sometimes geo-qualified keywords don't trigger the maps (or just the 1 or 3 pack vs. the 7 pack).

3. The primary action for maps is not always web traffic, but rather phone calls and store visits. It's tough to track phone calls because you can't use distinct call-tracking numbers

I have had some very good results optimizing Maps (Google, Bing and Yahoo) for my offline consulting clients. Google Local Business listings are obviously the big one, so let me share some things that have worked well for me: I have added the Google Voice "Click to Call" widget on the Local Business listings - Google likes that. I also have made sure that I have used all opportunities within the listing - Add photos, write a SEO-friendly keyword rich description of the business and its offerings, Add a video, Add a time-limited coupon and also just make sure all of the other variables are filled out correctly such as hours, payment types etc. Finally, the Google Local Business listing must be added to their website. By just doing these steps all of my clients are on the Top 5 (sometimes #1 or 2!) when the Google Map is displayed. Again, I would set up a Bing & Yahoo business listing with the Maps feature as well, but embed only the code for Google on their website. The Maps are also nicely optimized for Mobile as well as the coupons and the Click to Call from Google Voice is extremely useful with Mobile. Good Luck!

As Jeff Scott mentioned they need to track traffic in Google Places. Even in this mid size town I can see reasonable stats for a real estate agent. So there is no doubt in my mind that people actually search. Much like a search for a webpage/product online. I can see people are searching for it and make it to my site.

The problem is how many people bounce(don't call) and for what reason? Lack of pictures, poor description or hours?

I educate the people who I have set up on google maps to always ask people calling in to find out where you heard about us. For some reason even though business owners are not timid they act like it when it comes to getting this one question asked.

I am willing to bet that it is more of an issue with population size.

yeh it would all depend on how many people are searching for products and people are in the town.

also dependent on if it was a popular off-line product like a plumber