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Google Places Question

by jmaria67
16 replies
I thought I understood . . . but I don't. Okay I did a Google search for attorneys in Birmingham Alabama. A) was theroselawfirmllc.com B) csattorneys.com C) burr.com D) bakerdonelson.com
How is B ahead of C & D? It's not even an owner verified listing. It has 1 review but D has 2 reviews.

Please explain!!!!!!! Thanks
#google #places #question
  • Profile picture of the author jmaria67
    Also I'm not in Alabama; so I don't think it's geographic. And also why are they in different order on Google Maps?
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  • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
    What are the places pages like? Does B have more information than c or d?
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    • Profile picture of the author jmaria67
      Not that I can tell. csattorneys.com is now in the 1st position and alabamapersonalinjury.com is in the 2nd position. As far as I can tell csattorneys.com has nothing substantial going for it. Their webside has 18 backlinks and some of the others have less the 5; but, bakerdonelson has 77 backlinks and it's now down to 6th
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  • Profile picture of the author sconlinemarketing
    In my opinion it's a no brainer why theroselawfirmllc is ahead. They have a better optimized listing. Not the best but better all around. They have an ok discription, a picture, reviews, a coupon, and citations.

    Also when you look at their homepage, they hit it home about Birmingham Alabama. They have it all over the homepage. Birmingham this, Alabama that. There Meta title is also better. It says Birmingham once Alabama twice Attorney once and lawyer once. They have an all around Google friendly setup compared to the others.
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    • Profile picture of the author jmaria67
      My question was how for csattorneys ahead of the other 2. I understood why theroselawfirmlls was in the number 1 spot. Thanks

      Originally Posted by sconlinemarketing View Post

      In my opinion it's a no brainer why theroselawfirmllc is ahead. They have a better optimized listing. Not the best but better all around. They have an ok discription, a picture, reviews, a coupon, and citations.

      Also when you look at their homepage, they hit it home about Birmingham Alabama. They have it all over the homepage. Birmingham this, Alabama that. There Meta title is also better. It says Birmingham once Alabama twice Attorney once and lawyer once. They have an all around Google friendly setup compared to the others.
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  • Profile picture of the author sconlinemarketing
    I'm sorry, I will check that out then.
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  • Profile picture of the author srtyker
    Not anymore. csaattorneys is now on G.
    I havent seen the details, but judging from your question, it seems Google has fixed its index eventually.

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  • Profile picture of the author Nutria
    I think it more depends on the citations and how optimized is the listing (services, video, photo, even address and phone number). Also now with the new website-listing configuration, your website plays a big role in this.
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    • Profile picture of the author Catalyst eMarketing
      With the new merged algo it's MAINLY about their organic SEO ranking which in local does not necessarily mean backlinks. On page factors are huge in local and also KW in domain is a biggie and part of why they ranked higher.
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      • Profile picture of the author MRomeo09
        It's pretty simple really, they have 58 citations to their places page. Also look at one of the main citations Martindale. For attorneys having Martindale, avvo or lawyers.com helps immensely, they are very powerful citations.

        Reviews are definitely not the end all be all. Especially with attorneys who can't really solicit for reviews.

        Marcos
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      • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
        Originally Posted by Catalyst eMarketing View Post

        With the new merged algo it's MAINLY about their organic SEO ranking which in local does not necessarily mean backlinks. On page factors are huge in local and also KW in domain is a biggie and part of why they ranked higher.
        I'm #1 in Google Places right now without a website.

        Since there is no website to optimize, there must be stronger factors.

        Others down the listings do have websites.

        Best,
        Ewen
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        • Profile picture of the author rbrShorty
          If the sites are not optimized, they don't provide so much of weight, and of course there are other factors who influence the Place Page more (in some cases. It is true what Catalyst eMarketing said, but it's more valid for the real merged search, where you could see a picture of the listing and a description from the website. In the old-style 7-pack, the optimization of the website does not have such a big significance in my opinion.
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          • Profile picture of the author Catalyst eMarketing
            Originally Posted by rbrShorty View Post

            If the sites are not optimized, they don't provide so much of weight, and of course there are other factors who influence the Place Page more (in some cases. It is true what Catalyst eMarketing said, but it's more valid for the real merged search, where you could see a picture of the listing and a description from the website. In the old-style 7-pack, the optimization of the website does not have such a big significance in my opinion.
            Yes you are exactly right. There are 2 algos right now.

            I was referring to the new merged algo that shows up with the new larger merged SERP display. It relies more on site SEO and organic rankings. (But that isn't the ONLY ranking factor, and there are always exceptions on G. I just said it's heavily weighted toward SEO.)

            But yes with the old style "pack" payout, that SERP display style still largely uses the old Places algo which is more reliant on Place page, citations, reviews, distance etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author sdentrepreneur
    Filling out the profile completely, including naming your 10 photos with keywords in file name. There is another Thread I starting about the top directories sites, need to get 150+ backlinks seems to be a magic number for us. Reviews and having a coupon posted are also very important keys. Is there a Google Map embedded in the clients web site?
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    • Profile picture of the author rbrShorty
      OK, I checked these and I would make something like a short description of the factors that caused each one of the Place to be at the position it actually is (I am talking about the keyword "attorneys Birmingham AL"):

      A) Burr: owner-verified listing, 55 citations, organic optimized website

      B) The Rose: owner-verified and optimized listing (obviously they have hired some professional local SEOer to optimize it), 39 citations, 4 reviews

      C) S.Eason: 30 citations, probably organic optimized website

      D) Baker: owner-verified listing, 26 citations, 2 reviews

      E) Birmingham Wrongful: owner-verified and optimized listing (they have two listings merged, so this takes them down), 6 citations, local optimized site

      F) Shuttlesworth: 1 citation, 1 review

      G) Christian: 64 citations, organic optimized site

      All places are very close to the center of the city.

      I would make the prediction that the place at position E) will soon go to position B). Furthermore position B) will soon go to position A).

      The main factors here are:
      1) Number and quality of citations
      2) Number of reviews
      3) On-site LOCAL optimization (the general optimization isn't working that well for local search)

      P.S. If G) gets claimed and gets a few reviews, they could easily compete for the first position.
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      • Profile picture of the author mattlwil
        They are showing different for me now. Is it just me or are none of the sites organically optimized for those keywords? Looks like Rose is leaning towards Birmingham Alabama divorce but that's about it.
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