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Targeting businesses who have not claimed their Google Places?

by mrtrance
6 replies
I want to start offering Google Places services to my local area and I was doing some preliminary searches to see which businesses to target.

One thing I ran into is that when I'm searching for "accountant city" and I look at the first 7 listings on page 1 of SERPs I see businesses that are listed at the "C", "B" and even "A" positions that have not even claimed their listings. These businesses are already ranking high without even claiming or optimizing their listings so would it make sense to even contact these folks about GPlaces services?

I mean if they are already ranking that high without doing much what would be benefit of me pitching my service to them? Should I focus then on finding businesses on the 2nd- 5th pages of the SERPs who have not claimed their listings?

If a business is already ranking like at the "A" spot for that keyword and they have not claimed or optimized their listings does that mean it will be much easier to get another business ranking high quickly if we do the optimization for them?

Any insights from those that are offering Google Places services and how you go about finding clients to target?
#businesses #claimed #google #places #targeting
  • Profile picture of the author massiveray
    Offer to rank their places listing for 4 other keywords. It's all about perceived value, make whatever you're selling sound attractive, if they haven't claimed their listing, I'm willing to bet that they don't know that it is ranking well.

    Also a listing that is not optimised will not be generating leads for them, at any decent level at least, all you would need to do for a listing in position a is put a phone number and a URL and it will begin generating leads, literally as soon as google picks up the edits, it means you have created value in a day rather than the month or longer it will generally take if they aren't in a great position.

    Finally, if unclaimed listings are in the top 3 positions then they are easy pickings when you sell to the businesses on page 2.

    So many different ways you can sell people in this situation, just pick one and go with it.
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  • Profile picture of the author AussieT
    I have only done a few local GP listings but from what I have seen and read the answer would be yes. It means the competition is low and it should be relatively easy to get another listing to the top. So I would contact those NOT listed in the 7 pack.

    If it is a small area and there is only a few listings (no additional pages) then contact the one at the bottom first.

    The thing to remember is that you also now need to optimise their website in order to get top rankings if there is any real competition.

    I am going to check out the GP software tools this morning. I know there is a thread in the Offline section about 2 of them.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael William
    I have also noticed that a lot of unclaimed GP listings are on the first page, one I saw yesterday that I contacted was in the C slot for ac repair, had no content, and was ahead of many verified listing with 15+ positive reviews and lots of content.

    I do contact them, just as I do all unclaimed listings not on page one, and give them a heads up that at the very least they need to claim their listing and get some positive reviews going.

    But yeah, I have gotten a lot of business contacting unverified businesses. I don't care what position they are in. They need to verify it and take control.
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    • Profile picture of the author mrtrance
      Originally Posted by Michael William View Post

      I have also noticed that a lot of unclaimed GP listings are on the first page, one I saw yesterday that I contacted was in the C slot for ac repair, had no content, and was ahead of many verified listing with 15+ positive reviews and lots of content.

      I do contact them, just as I do all unclaimed listings not on page one, and give them a heads up that at the very least they need to claim their listing and get some positive reviews going.

      But yeah, I have gotten a lot of business contacting unverified businesses. I don't care what position they are in. They need to verify it and take control.
      Good advice. I did a search for "lawyer city" and the business in the "A" spot is not claimed. This one and another one at the D spot are not claimed, but have like 4 reviews each though. So I guess my pitch won't be to get some positive reviews going since they already have those. Any suggestions on how you approach these that are unclaimed, but have reviews already?

      By the way what sort of pricing are you doing for your GPlaces services?
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  • Profile picture of the author mrtrance
    Thanks guys for the advice. I'd figured that if the the "A" position is unclaimed and not optimized then it should be much easier to target a business not on the first page and get them moving up the SERPs a lot faster.
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  • Profile picture of the author mrtrance
    Anyone have any other feedback on this as far as pricing goes with GPlaces services?
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