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Google Places Question with Locations

by jcbradley
16 replies
I have a question regarding location of a business for local seo. i did a search for kw city name and then just did a search for kw. and the places listings were completely different. the one without the kw showed only companies in my area. so how does one go combatting that?

im in st. louis we are broken down into many municipalites where each part has its own name. literally in a 10 mile radius, i can think of 9 different municipalities off the top of my head and im guessing google will only show results from companies in those areas.

so how does one get a company to show in those areas bc quite frankly, if im looking for a local business, i dont care if they are next door or 15 miles away.
#google #locations #places #question
  • Profile picture of the author Anthony seoserviceagents
    you could optimize your Google places listing to show in more municipalities if they are in a 20 miles radius from your current registered address for your business,where does it show for your keyword and location now?
    have you tried to search for the other locations you want to rank if Google displays your listing in surrounding suburbs even if its on page 10?

    Originally Posted by jcbradley View Post

    I have a question regarding location of a business for local seo. i did a search for kw city name and then just did a search for kw. and the places listings were completely different. the one without the kw showed only companies in my area. so how does one go combatting that?

    im in st. louis we are broken down into many municipalites where each part has its own name. literally in a 10 mile radius, i can think of 9 different municipalities off the top of my head and im guessing google will only show results from companies in those areas.

    so how does one get a company to show in those areas bc quite frankly, if im looking for a local business, i dont care if they are next door or 15 miles away.
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  • Profile picture of the author rotten72
    The best thing to do is to optimize their website for the organic search. I actually delete the google places accounts and outrank the places listings.
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    • Profile picture of the author Chad Kimball
      If you don't mind venturing into the dark side of SEO, setup a google places page for each municipality. I've setup tons of these and its not too difficult if you cover your tracks.
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      • Profile picture of the author rbrShorty
        Originally Posted by rotten72 View Post

        The best thing to do is to optimize their website for the organic search. I actually delete the google places accounts and outrank the places listings.
        Although one can outrank the Google Places with a well-optimized website, deleting the Google Places listing somehow does not match in the whole picture. There are two possible scenarios:

        1) There is the pure old-style Google Places pack. In this case with good optimization you could have BOTH the website and the Google Places listing ranking on page 1. I don't see the point deleting one of these opportunities away. That would be more than silly.

        2) There is the blended search (website+Google Places). OK, you can outrank the Google Places+website results with your website. But why should you do that without merging the website with the Google Places? This will provide you:

        - a red pin that will definitely distinguish you from the pure website results
        - an address+phone number on the SERP, without you having to spend space in the title tag or the meta description, and ALMOST DOUBLING the space that your result occupies on the SERP
        - if you have reviews - stars bar on the right, short excerpt from a review under the phone number + outline of the top review websites, where your reviews are coming from

        Please, prove me the truthfulness of your comment and the benefits of deleting one's Google Places.

        Originally Posted by Chad Kimball View Post

        If you don't mind venturing into the dark side of SEO, setup a google places page for each municipality. I've setup tons of these and its not too difficult if you cover your tracks.
        OOPS, black hat spotted. Please, refer to:
        Quality guidelines : Google Places Policies - Google Places Help

        Not to mention that in this case no black hat or anything on the dark side is necessary, neither for short-, nor for long-term results (oh, I forgot - black hats never bring long-term results).

        @OP - no matter the address is in one of the suburbs/regions of the city. Google does not show only results from the particular suburb. It shows results for Places it considers relevant to the search. And only one of the factors is the location, and the proximity to the location of search. As Anthony mentioned, theoretically a listing could show up for relevant keywords in a radius of up to 20 miles (I've even seen further, but rarely). So, all you need to do is work on that client's listing+website.

        Good luck!
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        • Profile picture of the author Anthony seoserviceagents
          very well said the max i have achieved is 35miles out of the city and still rank the client A slot for his keywords its all about good optimization of your google places listing i wouldn delete that opportunity.
          Anthony


          Originally Posted by rbrShorty View Post

          Although one can outrank the Google Places with a well-optimized website, deleting the Google Places listing somehow does not match in the whole picture. There are two possible scenarios:

          1) There is the pure old-style Google Places pack. In this case with good optimization you could have BOTH the website and the Google Places listing ranking on page 1. I don't see the point deleting one of these opportunities away. That would be more than silly.

          2) There is the blended search (website+Google Places). OK, you can outrank the Google Places+website results with your website. But why should you do that without merging the website with the Google Places? This will provide you:

          - a red pin that will definitely distinguish you from the pure website results
          - an address+phone number on the SERP, without you having to spend space in the title tag or the meta description, and ALMOST DOUBLING the space that your result occupies on the SERP
          - if you have reviews - stars bar on the right, short excerpt from a review under the phone number + outline of the top review websites, where your reviews are coming from

          Please, prove me the truthfulness of your comment and the benefits of deleting one's Google Places.



          OOPS, black hat spotted. Please, refer to:
          Quality guidelines : Google Places Policies - Google Places Help

          Not to mention that in this case no black hat or anything on the dark side is necessary, neither for short-, nor for long-term results (oh, I forgot - black hats never bring long-term results).

          @OP - no matter the address is in one of the suburbs/regions of the city. Google does not show only results from the particular suburb. It shows results for Places it considers relevant to the search. And only one of the factors is the location, and the proximity to the location of search. As Anthony mentioned, theoretically a listing could show up for relevant keywords in a radius of up to 20 miles (I've even seen further, but rarely). So, all you need to do is work on that client's listing+website.

          Good luck!
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        • Profile picture of the author jcbradley
          Thanks guys for all the replies.


          Originally Posted by rbrShorty View Post

          @OP - no matter the address is in one of the suburbs/regions of the city. Google does not show only results from the particular suburb. It shows results for Places it considers relevant to the search. And only one of the factors is the location, and the proximity to the location of search. As Anthony mentioned, theoretically a listing could show up for relevant keywords in a radius of up to 20 miles (I've even seen further, but rarely). So, all you need to do is work on that client's listing+website.

          Good luck!
          quick question on this and let me use an example. what im finding is if i type in...say... landscaper city name.. then the places listsings are all over but when i only type in... landscaper.. then only companies from my little area are shown. i also had a few friends that did the same thing and are seeing the same results from their area/municipility. it "appears" they are using a proximity of the location of my IP to determine the businesses to show.

          are you saying with strong optimization... citations, linking, etc.. you can overcome this?

          thanks,

          chris
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          • Profile picture of the author rbrShorty
            Originally Posted by jcbradley View Post

            Thanks guys for all the replies.




            quick question on this and let me use an example. what im finding is if i type in...say... landscaper city name.. then the places listsings are all over but when i only type in... landscaper.. then only companies from my little area are shown. i also had a few friends that did the same thing and are seeing the same results from their area/municipility. it "appears" they are using a proximity of the location of my IP to determine the businesses to show.

            are you saying with strong optimization... citations, linking, etc.. you can overcome this?

            thanks,

            chris
            One of the most important factors that Google takes into account is proximity to the point of search, not to the city center! This said, if your query does not include location marker, Google will automatically assign one (using your IP for example) and then show you the most relevant results FOR YOU, which will be different from the results that your friends at the other side of the town will see. However, if you search for "landscaper Los Angeles" you already input some location marker. Google considers the center of LA as a wide area, much wider than your own locale, which could be a small neighborhood in the suburbs. Therefore, a large area is taken into account when determining which businesses to show up for "landscaper Los Angeles". This area could probably have a radius of 9-10 miles, but at the same time if you search only for "landscaper" the area which will be taken into account would be probably about 1 mile.

            I could try to explain it in a figurative manner:

            1) Searching for "landscaper Los Angeles"
            - the "first circle" of businesses (getting the biggest benefits, because of their location) are in the range of 9-10 miles from the LA geographic (!) center
            - the "second circle" of businesses (getting a bit smaller benefit, as they are further) are probably in the range of 11-14 miles
            - etc...

            2) Searching for "landscaper"
            - the "first circle" of businesses would include only businesses in the range of your neighbourhood, about 1 mile
            - the second circle will include such in the nearby neighborhoods - about 3 miles
            - etc...

            This means that with good optimization you CAN overcome the proximity factor from example 1), but is almost impossible to overcome it in example 2).
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            • Profile picture of the author jcbradley
              Originally Posted by rbrShorty View Post

              One of the most important factors that Google takes into account is proximity to the point of search, not to the city center! This said, if your query does not include location marker, Google will automatically assign one (using your IP for example) and then show you the most relevant results FOR YOU, which will be different from the results that your friends at the other side of the town will see. However, if you search for "landscaper Los Angeles" you already input some location marker. Google considers the center of LA as a wide area, much wider than your own locale, which could be a small neighborhood in the suburbs. Therefore, a large area is taken into account when determining which businesses to show up for "landscaper Los Angeles". This area could probably have a radius of 9-10 miles, but at the same time if you search only for "landscaper" the area which will be taken into account would be probably about 1 mile.

              I could try to explain it in a figurative manner:

              1) Searching for "landscaper Los Angeles"
              - the "first circle" of businesses (getting the biggest benefits, because of their location) are in the range of 9-10 miles from the LA geographic (!) center
              - the "second circle" of businesses (getting a bit smaller benefit, as they are further) are probably in the range of 11-14 miles
              - etc...

              2) Searching for "landscaper"
              - the "first circle" of businesses would include only businesses in the range of your neighbourhood, about 1 mile
              - the second circle will include such in the nearby neighborhoods - about 3 miles
              - etc...

              This means that with good optimization you CAN overcome the proximity factor from example 1), but is almost impossible to overcome it in example 2).

              Thank you, thats what i was looking for in terms of the example 2. Guess we can hope google can get a bit smarter and realize that just bc a business is very close to me, doesnt me those are the ones i want to choose from. i know when choosing any type of home repair, etc, location doesnt come into play....heck, i travel 20 miles to see my dentist.
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              • Profile picture of the author Chad Kimball
                Originally Posted by jcbradley View Post

                Thank you, thats what i was looking for in terms of the example 2. Guess we can hope google can get a bit smarter and realize that just bc a business is very close to me, doesnt me those are the ones i want to choose from. i know when choosing any type of home repair, etc, location doesnt come into play....heck, i travel 20 miles to see my dentist.
                google is sort of stuck between a rock and a hard place on this. There are only three ways to figure out where someone is: 1) IP address, which can sometimes not be very close to where their computer actually is 2) GPS (only works for phones) 3) you tell them where you are, but only internet savvy people will do this, most wont.

                With Ipod touches sometimes I wonder if they somehow use WIFI network data also, but thats pure conjecture.
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        • Profile picture of the author LiquidSeo
          Originally Posted by rbrShorty View Post

          Although one can outrank the Google Places with a well-optimized website, deleting the Google Places listing somehow does not match in the whole picture. There are two possible scenarios:

          1) There is the pure old-style Google Places pack. In this case with good optimization you could have BOTH the website and the Google Places listing ranking on page 1. I don't see the point deleting one of these opportunities away. That would be more than silly.

          2) There is the blended search (website+Google Places). OK, you can outrank the Google Places+website results with your website. But why should you do that without merging the website with the Google Places? This will provide you:

          - a red pin that will definitely distinguish you from the pure website results
          - an address+phone number on the SERP, without you having to spend space in the title tag or the meta description, and ALMOST DOUBLING the space that your result occupies on the SERP
          - if you have reviews - stars bar on the right, short excerpt from a review under the phone number + outline of the top review websites, where your reviews are coming from

          Please, prove me the truthfulness of your comment and the benefits of deleting one's Google Places.



          OOPS, black hat spotted. Please, refer to:
          Quality guidelines : Google Places Policies - Google Places Help

          Not to mention that in this case no black hat or anything on the dark side is necessary, neither for short-, nor for long-term results (oh, I forgot - black hats never bring long-term results).

          @OP - no matter the address is in one of the suburbs/regions of the city. Google does not show only results from the particular suburb. It shows results for Places it considers relevant to the search. And only one of the factors is the location, and the proximity to the location of search. As Anthony mentioned, theoretically a listing could show up for relevant keywords in a radius of up to 20 miles (I've even seen further, but rarely). So, all you need to do is work on that client's listing+website.

          Good luck!

          Great response rbrShorty!
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        • Profile picture of the author rotten72
          Originally Posted by rbrShorty View Post


          2) There is the blended search (website+Google Places). OK, you can outrank the Google Places+website results with your website. But why should you do that without merging the website with the Google Places?
          In my experience I have found that Google Places will actually interfere with rankings for multiple search terms. Once the website is no longer tied to GP you will be able to rank better for multiple terms.

          The reason I did this originally was to test conversions on websites I sell leads from. I found that removing the GP I was ranking better for multiple keywords. Ranking higher for multiple keywords I was able to generate more leads. By helping my clients get more leads I make more money. So I did it again on another site and another,etc. If I don't get leads, I don't get paid!

          You can believe what ever you want to believe. But believe this, I would not do this if it had a negative affect on my bottom line!

          That's why I am the Local SEO Renegade
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  • Profile picture of the author francischan
    The area code you put in the address when filling out Google places would help in pinning the correct city. Also the area code in the business telephone number. Hope this helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author francischan
    The area code you put in the address when filling out Google places would help in pinning the correct city. Also the area code in the business telephone number. Hope this helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author keyuria
    Nice thread to learn about google maps.
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  • Profile picture of the author pepes4329
    Im taking NOTES............great discussion
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  • Profile picture of the author dcnjlolley
    May I add another question to this line? It's about two business entitites, completely different websites, slightly different names and slightly different niches, both sharing the same physical address and phone number.

    CompanyXGroup is a staffing company specializing in the educational sector.
    CompanyX Staffing is a generalized staffing & recruiting company.

    I am supposed to be doing SEO & Google Places for CompanyXGroup right now. Both websites are Meta and on-page optimized, because I wrote the content for each.

    Citations I'm finding on the Internet to claim & optimize are for CompanyX Staffing. Google Places recognizes CompanyX Staffing, although not claimed as of yet by them.

    Since they are two business entitites, but similar niches, and they share the same physical address & phone number, is it even possible to begin new citations & Google Places or Bing for CompanyXGroup? Or will this muddy the waters for CompanyX Staffing, which is already established?

    I'm thinking they can't both be at Google Places, Bing, etc. because they share the same address & phone?
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