Google Places making me insane

13 replies
First, this seemed the most appropriate forum, if not, I apologize.

I own a local computer business as my 'day job'. For several months, off and on, I've poked at my Google Places listing trying to get it to show up for local searches.

The county has three cities that make up most of the population: Southern Pines, Aberdeen, and Pinehurst. These are small cities, so they all show as '-' for searches in G's KWT. Also, only one of the cities actually shows places results by default, the rest I've just been clicking Maps for.

They may not get any searches, but if I can't get my site to show up, I won't pretend to be able to do so for someone else.

I printed the google places listing, and uploaded it here: http://www.gocyber.com/docs/googleplaces.pdf

Would some kind soul take a look and see if they can figure out what I've done wrong?

I've been searching with "computer repair CITY ST", with the cities listed above, and NC as the state. (I've purposefully mangled the search here so as not to appear to be looking for free links.)

I spent Saturday searching for references to my old street address to get those updated. Hoping to help the with this "NAP" thing.

Many karma points and even a paypal bonus to someone who can help get me back on the map.
#google #insane #making #places
  • Profile picture of the author SendCards
    Did you claim a existing listing or did you start from scratch?

    How long ago did you start?

    Did you verify your listing with Google?

    Do you have a walk in location?

    At a minimum you need to max out your photos and video submissions. Just keep plugging away.


    Chris
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4846728].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Bobster0007
      You need some basic on page optimization on your website for starters. Then do off page. Use the all in one seo pack to optimize your title and meta tags. I would add more targeted text to the homepage at least. Also optimize your places page both on page and off.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4847680].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Tobarja
      Originally Posted by SendCards View Post

      Did you claim a existing listing or did you start from scratch?
      For this particular listing, I'm not sure. I have two other "suspended" listings in my places account that have the old address from a couple years ago.
      How long ago did you start?
      I've been poking at places for at least two months trying to get it to show up at all.
      Did you verify your listing with Google?
      Yes, it's verified.
      Do you have a walk in location?
      Yes.
      At a minimum you need to max out your photos and video submissions. Just keep plugging away.
      I'll work on this.
      Signature

      Regular guest posters wanted for blogging, white hat SEO, vacation/travel niches. New sites, will pay($) for good content. PM samples.

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4848541].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
    Look, 90% of google places is based on completion of listing, reviews, and citations... building back links to your places page isn't going to do you any good, it is a different algorithm than organic search.

    Why don't you pm me the search term and your website and all that information.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4848086].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author bluesteele
      Originally Posted by iAmNameLess View Post

      Look, 90% of google places is based on completion of listing, reviews, and citations... building back links to your places page isn't going to do you any good, it is a different algorithm than organic search.

      Why don't you pm me the search term and your website and all that information.
      Not to split hairs, but 90% seems a little bit high. Computer repair niche in Google Places is a tough one, even in smaller cities. My suggestion would be to spend some time on your organic effort.

      EDIT: Just noticed...been playing around w/ "services clients at their own locations" function a bit more lately...I would select all customers come to business location instead.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4865288].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author hfmoo
    Banned
    [DELETED]
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4848521].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Tobarja
      Originally Posted by Bobster0007 View Post

      You need some basic on page optimization on your website for starters. Then do off page. Use the all in one seo pack to optimize your title and meta tags. I would add more targeted text to the homepage at least. Also optimize your places page both on page and off.
      Thanks. I've installed all in one seo pack, and will see what it can do.

      Originally Posted by iAmNameLess View Post

      Look, 90% of google places is based on completion of listing, reviews, and citations... building back links to your places page isn't going to do you any good, it is a different algorithm than organic search.

      Why don't you pm me the search term and your website and all that information.
      I can't PM yet. I'll look for a different way to contact you in a few minutes.

      Originally Posted by hfmoo View Post

      Did you...
      Just answered those, thanks.
      Signature

      Regular guest posters wanted for blogging, white hat SEO, vacation/travel niches. New sites, will pay($) for good content. PM samples.

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4848578].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Tobarja
    Just came across this link, that could be related: Google Places Alert: Another Ugly Bug That Could Nuke Your Listing | Understanding Google Maps & Local Search


    I just looked further down in the city I'm in, and a neighboring city, and I show up on page 13 on one, and 14 on the other.
    Signature

    Regular guest posters wanted for blogging, white hat SEO, vacation/travel niches. New sites, will pay($) for good content. PM samples.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4848614].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author DNChamp
      Originally Posted by Tobarja View Post

      Just came across this link, that could be related: Google Places Alert: Another Ugly Bug That Could Nuke Your Listing | Understanding Google Maps & Local Search


      I just looked further down in the city I'm in, and a neighboring city, and I show up on page 13 on one, and 14 on the other.

      Great info thanx!!! I just did my first google listing for a client and he does not come up for ceratin words.....Some say DONT do backlinks to the listing but what else do you do to get it to the top?
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4852440].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Bobster0007
        Originally Posted by DNChamp View Post

        Great info thanx!!! I just did my first google listing for a client and he does not come up for ceratin words.....Some say DONT do backlinks to the listing but what else do you do to get it to the top?
        After not getting any movement for months, this is what i did starting 3-4 weeks ago to finally get some good movement all the way to number 9 position as of now. Its a competitive market. I started fairly consistently backlinking to about 10 URLs of my best business citations. I.E. superpages, yelp, yahoo etc... also remember to include YOUR citation as part of the backlink for some of the backlinks. Confusing ? maybe... but read that carefully.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4856809].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author amenwolf
    Do you frequently 'Edit' that listing?

    What I notice is that, If I touched on the information / phone / address / working hours / Service Area.
    It kinda "Resets" (no idea of what other word to use)

    It's much better to do it all in one shot, and do more work towards citations and onpage / offpage optimization (For the site you're linking to at your G Places)

    But pictures / Videos is highly recommended to be updated frequently.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4849545].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Tobarja
    Over the last few days, I have edited it a few times, yes.

    Just for fun, I turned on one of the suspended listings (with the wrong address) last night. This morning it's on page one. Yeesh.
    Signature

    Regular guest posters wanted for blogging, white hat SEO, vacation/travel niches. New sites, will pay($) for good content. PM samples.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4851966].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Rob Richards
      Keep on pluggin'! Full GP listing, Reviews and Citations.

      I'm also seeing some results with adding the Citation urls to the bottom of the GP listing and creating a Citation links page on your main website that links to the home page.

      Also, any duplicate GP listings have to come off completely, otherwise Goo gets confused

      HTH

      Rob
      Signature

      Need Help With Your Google Places Results?
      Let Me Create 50/100 High PR Citations For You!
      Just $50/$100 - PM Me When You're Ready

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4852399].message }}
  • {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4853345].message }}

Trending Topics