How often is Google Places SERPs updated?

BC27 13 years ago

Well I see that you are currently I (#9) which isn't too bad considering that they are not just Westminster, but very north Westminster, making them that much further from Denver.

I'm in Evergreen by the way so I know the areas well.

I definitely think the progress you are seeing is due to the proximity of Denver and the A listing.

I've seen it cracked but the distance would make it take longer to convince Google it should be there.

All but A listing look like they can be overcome relatively easily (the A listing is well done and will be a challenge), but again the proximity is going against what Google is looking for, for this type of search.

You are the only listing in the top 10 that is outside of what the search SHOULD be returning. They SHOULD be happy with the progress you are making. They are asking you to push a boulder uphill.

-Brian
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aspnaren

13 years ago

Its not like google updating the SERPs. Google crawls list of large number of sites submitted by webmasters. It then looks into various factors to rank those pages.Then it displays results based on descending order of the rankings.
So, its everytime google bot crawls it updates the SERPs

Thanks

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SirThomas

13 years ago

Rob, I am not sure if you're in charge of both GPlaces and their website, but here are
my pointers.

1. Reviews - you have several reviews that were submitted on Feb 9. In the future, spread them over a period of time. Google can see this, even Insider's reviews have the same problem. It's nice, when reviews have some keywords in titles and the body.

2. Goggle Places - your listing is incomplete. You haven't provided any "Details, Photos (one) or Videos". Also, there are no hours of operation... Those are basic elements you must have.

When adding photos, make sure your photos are titled with "keywords" before uploading .../DenverLasik.jpg

In the "categories" section, you might want to remove Denver Lasik. They no longer like "location" in categories... Check what the top listing does:-)

3. If you have access to their website, add H1 tag to headline with the desired keyword:
<h1>Denver Lasik</h1>, just like the number 1 guy has.

4. Also, if you want your citations to appear faster, get some backlinks pointing at them. That's a good way to get them indexed and showing up on your listing.

When creating citations, decide what "description" you want to use and keep consistent throughout all directories. It's a good idea to also use this description on your Google Places and on their website...

Thomas

PS. For a business outside of Denver, you're already doing fine. You should advance to top 3. The only element that might make it more difficult is the proximity.

Thanks
1 reply

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charlie39

13 years ago

Originally Posted by SirThomas

Rob, I am not sure if you're in charge of both GPlaces and their website, but here are
my pointers.

1. Reviews - you have several reviews that were submitted on Feb 9. In the future, spread them over a period of time. Google can see this, even Insider's reviews have the same problem. It's nice, when reviews have some keywords in titles and the body.

2. Goggle Places - your listing is incomplete. You haven't provided any "Details, Photos (one) or Videos". Also, there are no hours of operation... Those are basic elements you must have.

When adding photos, make sure your photos are titled with "keywords" before uploading .../DenverLasik.jpg

In the "categories" section, you might want to remove Denver Lasik. They no longer like "location" in categories... Check what the top listing does:-)

3. If you have access to their website, add H1 tag to headline with the desired keyword:
<h1>Denver Lasik</h1>, just like the number 1 guy has.

4. Also, if you want your citations to appear faster, get some backlinks pointing at them. That's a good way to get them indexed and showing up on your listing.

When creating citations, decide what "description" you want to use and keep consistent throughout all directories. It's a good idea to also use this description on your Google Places and on their website...

Thomas

PS. For a business outside of Denver, you're already doing fine. You should advance to top 3. The only element that might make it more difficult is the proximity.

This is solid advice. Be sure not to write reviews from your ip address as well, Google sees all of it and will penalize you for it!

Thanks

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rbrShorty

13 years ago

Originally Posted by lost2442

Hey guys,

Got a client breathing down my neck because he isn't on the first page for "Lasik Denver". The main problem is that he is not located in Denver, but rather north of Denver in a city called Westminster. When you Google "Lasik Denver", it is true Google Places results that show up, and unfortunately not blended which display through other similar search terms (which I rank very well for). I have been building citations like its my job, have utilized tools to disperse reviews throughout location based sites (insider pages, yahoo places, etc.), and even leveraged Social Media across multiple sites to try and build citations that way.

This is a project I have been working on for the past few weeks, but I haven't seen any change in the SERPs even though I have built in excess of 100+ citations and backlinked to them. Do you guys think its a location problem, a lack of Google updating Places SERPs, or a lack of citations/reviews problem.

I am also in the process of acquiring approved images to continue to complete my places listing.

My site is the 2020institute.

Any insight is appreciated.

Thanks,
Rob

Rob, the topic of the thread is not connected to your actual question, but let me try to reply both.

1) How often is Google Places SERPs updated? - I am not really sure what do you mean, because it could be interpreted in two ways:

A) how often does Google switch from blended to pure search and the other way round (the pure is the one that you currently see for "Lasik Denver") - this is a thing no one can answer with certainty, but you might want to check this post:
Blended Local Search vs Pure Local Search: Why Google Shows One Result over Another

B) How often is Google rolling updates on its information clusters (when the major changes in ranking appear) - in my opinion, there are 3 types of updates:
- minor updates - usually appear every 6-7 days and include the merge of website and Place page if everything is done well
- normal updates - about once every month and then most of the citations + reviews from third-party websites get associated with the Place page
- major algorithmic updates - once every 6-7 months, when you usually have to rethink everything you have believed in regarding local search

Now to your main question - why does this listing not rank on page 1. Having in mind that the search is not merged, or as I call it old-style, here are a few possible reasons:

1. Distance from city center - your listing is more than 15 miles away from the city center, compared to the others on page 1, who are not more than 5 miles away

2. Citations - you've got only 3 citations picked up to now, 2 of which are from the website

3. Reviews - I'd suggest you to delete the reviews you've written yourself/hired someone to write - the ones from February 9th are obvious at least; this is raising flags. Furthermore, reviews from Google Users (in my opinion) don't have that much of importance as reviews from third-party websites and you've got only 1 of them

4. I'd definitely suggest you to remove the word "Denver" from the categories

Thanks
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lost2442 13 years ago

Hey Guys,

I really appreciate the feedback. I actually just inherited this account a few weeks ago, and it has gone through two different agencies in town with limited success. I have been wondering if the current reviews are holding it back as they do look extremely spammy. I also walked into a situation where multiple places profiles have been merged and I am trying to clean that up without hurting the listings any more- part of the reason why my listing isn't completed.

What would be the easiest way to delete the spammy reviews? Just flag as inappropriate? From what I understand one of the agencies in town had recommended that they create dummy google accounts to post the reviews- they failed to tell me that until they had given me the job. I have a feeling that the listing could have been slapped, so would deleting these reviews help that. I also have another listing for the south location which is in an even worse situation.

My original question was more around how often do the SERPs get updated for palces in terms of reviews and citations showing up. I am a traditional SEO guy so I am used to my ranking being updated within a couple days after my backlinks get indexed, but Places seems like a whole new ball game.

Also when you guys work with clients, how do you explain to them that Places optimization is going to take a lot of time, do you point them to any kind of documentation. The guy I am working for expects a quick win for some reason even though I have explained that this is a long term project.

Thanks,
Rob
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IbbyatLytham 13 years ago

Wow this is a brilliant reply and thanks for the info here.
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Zara Marie

13 years ago

For the images, put alt attributes using your keywords but never use the same keywords over multiple images. Better if the keyword describes the image. As to the update from Google, have you tried Google Dance tool. I'm not sure if this will help you in any way but for me, it does. I get idea as to when the update is happening - not in Google places though.