What Is Google Local Business?

Are you wondering what is Google Local Business? Basically, Google local is Google's way of delivering a better user experience for customers who are trying to do business in their communities.
In 2008, more people turned to the search engines for local search than turned to the print yellow pages. While the percentage difference was small - 31 percent vs. 30 percent, Google and the other search engines are trying to take advantage of this fact and provide the results that viewers want so that they will continue to come back for more.
Basically, when a searcher modifies any search with a city name, a listing of 1 to 10 companies that match the search will come up. For instance, when someone types in "flowers," they could be looking for any number of things including gardening information. But when they search for "Long Beach flowers," they are probably looking for a local florist.
If there are more than 10 companies, a "more results" tag will be displayed. Realistically, very few people are going to click on this more results button, so being in the top 10 is very advantageous.
To get started with Google Local Business, go to Google.com/local. From there, you will be able to fill out a 3 page form to get listed.
List as much as possible including hours of operation and types of payment you accept, because the more complete you are, the better chance you will have of ranking in the top 10. Uploading photos and videos can also help.
Initial anecdotal evidence shows that if you list a website in your listing, you will rank higher in the 10 pack. Also, that means that visitors are taken to your site rather than a simple Google listing when they click on the listing.
Getting free listings in various online yellow pages, business directories, and interactive consumer review sites can also help.
With pay per click becoming more expensive and competitive for local businesses, Google local can drive a lot of traffic to your site.

Google Places and Google Local Business Center - What's the Difference?

Google Realigns Local Listings with Place Pages
Google Local Business Center recently changed their name to Google Places. The change is supposed to align their portal for local businesses with the 'Place Pages' they introduced in late 2009. Along with the name change came several additional features you should be aware of if you're marketing your local business online.
Google's Place Pages are primarily for local businesses, but they also provide useful information about cities, neighborhoods, points of interest, and mass transit stops. You can see a Place Page simply by going to Google Maps and entering in a search term. When the results come up, you'll have several results with representative pins on the map. When you hover over a pin, a box will pop up and in that box is a 'More Info' link. That link takes you to the Place Page for that local business or location.
So when you go to Google Places and fill out your information, it will automatically be listed here on Google Maps and in Google's local search listings. So whichever platform your customer uses to find you, they'll be able to find you.
What Else Can I Do With Google Places?
Google also announced several changes along with Google Places rebranding. The major ones are: the ability to define service areas for your business and the ability to use customized QR codes (more on what this is in a minute).
Add Your Service Areas
One of the limitations of Google Local Business Center was the inability for you to define which local service areas you serve. If you are physically located in one city but service several surrounding towns or wanted to be able to use neighborhood or subdivision names to help narrow down your target audience, you couldn't. You had to resort to including this kind of information in the additional description block where your prospects would probably never see it.
But that's changed. In Google Place listings, you simply list the names of the areas you service in the service areas block and then you can use the additional description block for differentiating yourself. And if you're a home-based business, now you can actually hide your physical address as well. Although it remains to be seen (and tested) whether or not this will hurt your placement.
Customized QR Location Codes
First of all, a definition is in order...what's a QR code? A QR code is similar to a traditional bar code except it's two dimensional and can hold several hundred time the amount of information a normal bar code can.
Many mobile phones have scanners that can scan these codes, so if you have one on your website or on your promotional materials, your customers could scan it into their phone or GPS and have it take them right to your store. It could also give them additional information about your business like business hours, special deals for people with the code, etc.
The customized QR code that Google Places will automatically create for you will take customers to your Google Places Page when they scan it in. So you could put it on business cards, stationary, newspaper ads, or any other printed material and encourage people to find out more about you online.
You can expect that Yahoo! and Bing won't be far behind Google on these developments. After all the local search market is growing exponentially and will only continue to expand over the coming years. As mobile devices become an even bigger part of our lives and we leave our home-based PCs and laptops for mobile computing platforms, it will become even more critical for you to be found when your customers go searching online for you.

7 Tips On How To Get In Google Local Business Results For Your City

Obtaining placement in the "7 pack" of Google Local business listings is extremely powerful. This article will show you how to get in Google local business results for your city. To achieve hi rankings in Google's local search cannot be guaranteed, but if you do the following, your chances increase tremendously.
1) Create a Google local business listing in Google Places, and claim this listing via phone code or direct mail code.
2) As best practice address should be near the center of the city you want to show up in, should be a physical address not a P.O. box, and should have a local phone #
3) Optimize listing for keywords you want to be found under - add keywords in categories, description, services, etc.
4) Complete every section of listing - add pics, video, coupons, etc.
5) Add this listing to local business directories - yellowpages, superpages, manta, kudzu, yelp, etc... There are hundreds. Also add your listing to data aggregators like infousa.com. These are whats called citations and are probably one of the biggest factors for local search
6) Claim as many of these listings as possible - delete any duplicate listings as duplicates can count against you.
7) Positive reviews on all these directories help your local listings as well. Solicit current clients to give you positive reviews on these directories as well as your Google local listing.
To get an idea of the number of citations you might need and what directories you can list in, you should do competitive analysis on bing local. This gives you a listing of your top competitors citations and where to get them.

Google Local Business Listings Part 1 (Adding Or Claiming a Listing)

Introduction and Overview
Why should you be bother about having a Local Listing?
Research by the prestigious BIA/Kelsey Group shows that in the USA (with the UK not far behind) that 97% of all consumers use digital media to shop locally!
This doesn't mean that they are buying online, what it means is that consumers are comparing prices and looking for coupons online before they make a purchase, either online or offline.
Traditional advertising media is dying and is being replaced with online media, creating a listing in Google's Local Business Listings is just one marketing strategy (cheap and effective) that small businesses can use to promote themselves to a wider audience.
The balance of power in local shopping is shifting to online, you need to be in the race to win it!
This information, once you have gone through it completely, will enable you to comfortably and confidently get your local business listed in the top seven in Google local search listings. It will also show you how to get to number one, it's just a matter of more work!
I will go through each step one at a time from listing a business (Real Life Case Studies) to getting it to the top of the listings.
Many local businesses are missing out on a massive opportunity to advertise for free on Google, there is a search feature on Google which I am sure most of you have seen, that allows a business to have their name, address and telephone number appear on a map on the first page of Google's search results.
These results are show next to the map in a box of 3 to 7 listings and are triggered by certain types of businesses and keywords (some keywords don't trigger the maps like 'Website Marketing or Web Design which is ironic as we are the very businesses that promote Google!), also by location.
Although the exact algorithm Google uses to rank the listing is unknown, the observations included in this paper are the results of testing hundreds of listings for clients.
The map has information such as the website, telephone number, address, number of reviews and directions to the business.
Yahoo and Bing have also introduced this feature but for the benefit of this paper I will only be addressing Google's Local Search.
This paper is in two parts:

Part 1: Creating a Google Local Search Listing.

Part 2: Dominating Google's Local Search.

Please read the complete document fully first, before trying to gain a listing.
Part 1: Creating a Google Local Search Listing.
Before we get started you need to know which "keywords'' to optimise your listing for, these are the words that people would type in to Google to find your service or business. This is a subject that deserves a paper in its own right! If you have no idea how to find them try and put your self in your potential customers shoes and think what they would type into Google to try and find your service.
Some of you may find that your business is already listed in Google but you haven't put it there! This is because Google will have found your business while searching through the web from another source such as a business directory. If this is the case then you need to claim your listing (more later).
If you already see a listing for your business or you don't have a listing at all then the first step is the same, what you need to do is open a Google Account, this is very simple just go to https://www.google.com/accounts and look for the link to 'Create an Account Now' once you have signed up to an account the next thing you need to do is go to https://www.google.com/local/add/ and sign into your Google account.
Once in your Google account you then go to 'My Products >Google Places 'then 'Add New Listing'.
This is the first step and one of the most important, so it will pay dividends to spend a bit of time on this section making sure that you get it right.
First choose you country (There a few countries that Google doesn't provide listing for but not many).
Next you are going to input your Company/Organization, here you would want to have your 'keyword' somewhere in the title.
For example if you are an Accountant in Boston you would put your business title first then a dash then your location plus the keyword. Ex: "Henry Jones Accountants - Boston Accountants".
Make your keywords fit naturally. Blatant spam (using the keyword out of context or too many times) is not recommended.
The next thing to add is your address, if you have any other listings in any other business directories then make sure that the address you are using matches exactly, Google will search for other listings (known as citations, mentions or a web reference) that uses the same address and link these to your listing helping you rank higher.
In this case we are going for the keyword 'Secured Loans Hull', so we have searched Google to see if there is already a listing and found that there isn't, plus there are no local listings at all.
If by typing your address in Google you can't find your address on any other site then fill in the details as you would normally but make sure that you save those details exactly as you use them to get listed on Google as you will be using them later.
Google seems to use the location to the center of a town as a ranking factor (although I have no absolute proof) so if you are on the outside of a city/town it can sometimes be better to use a mail box service in the city/town center if you are going for a highly competitive listing.
Next you need to enter your main phone number, if you are using a 0800 number I would enter that as an optional number and put your normal number with area code as your main number, there appears to be some weight given to having the area code in the listing.
Now enter your website address, if you have one, if you don't tick the box below. Now enter a description. Use the keywords you are trying to rank for in the description, you have 200 words so make use of them, write a description that properly describes your business without trying to spam.
The last section on the page is the category's, you have 5 categories you can enter, make sure your main keyword is first and that at least one of the other categories is one that you have pulled from the options Google gives you.
Onto the next page!
When you hit that next button, Google will go out and search to see if there is already a similar listing in its database.
If it (Google) finds other listings then you will be given two choices,

1. Claim listing,

2. Add listing.

How to Overcome Google Local Search Engine

Many small local businesses are moving towards online advertising these days. Thanks to Google local search results, it's now possible to set up a search optimization campaign for a fraction of the price when compared to a global campaign. Google has made it possible on Google's business search results pages that advertisers and businesses can target internet users by geographical location.
It took time before businesses and service providers realized the value of Local Search Optimization, and started to use this tool to promote their businesses and get their listings included in local search results. Google has finally realized what their advertisers really want and need, but this can be very complex for the average local business owner. Getting relevant pages back from a search can be a result of geo-targeting and it is something every business should keep an eye on. The good news is that it has just become easier.
Many business owners are still sitting on the fence about Google local search, as they do not quite understand how it can improve their results and even their profits. They cannot believe that it can be really that simple to get included in Google local business searches and have no idea where to start. Here are some step by step instructions on how to overcome procrastination and get listed on Google local search as soon as possible.
Google automatically collects information on businesses and includes them in their results page. However if they would like to take advantage of local search engine optimization, businesses will have to claim their listing immediately. Businesses have to verify their contact information. After that, a revision of the listing can be requested and Google will edit this to allow search engine optimization to take place.
Google is going to rank each listing that is similar to each other or provide the same services by feedback, reviews and popularity. It is a great idea to ask existing customers either via email or in store to review each listing and leave a comment or rating. This is going to improve your Google local search results ranking for your business.
How to Edit Listings on Google Places for Local Search Engine Optimization
Pick the right category. Businesses have to make sure that they are checking out the category Google picked for them, and choose the one that is the most relevant.
Make sure your address is correct. There is nothing more annoying for customers than not being able to find the physical shop they are looking for. It is not good for Google and not good for the advertiser, either. There is also an option to include a map link, and it is advisable to use it every time.
Web addresses should be checked and included. Not every listing comes with a URL address, but it is essential for search engine optimization to have the website linked to Google.
Photos, references, past work samples can really make a difference. This process for Google Places is giving local business listings an unfair advantage and exposure.
Google local search is a great way for businesses to gain extra exposure and target the right geographic group. However in some cases, local search engine optimization takes some time to test and tweak before it brings in the best results.

Google Local Business Listings - Techniques to Show Up 1st

Everyone is talking about the power of Google Local Business Listings and what it can do for your business regardless of what type of business you own or operate. With Google getting over 70% of all searches on a monthly basis can anyone actually afford not to pay attention to Google Local Business Listings to increase business without breaking the bank.
Search Engine Marketing Techniques

You need to what you are doing when adding your business on Google.
You must understand the basic SEO techniques in order to maximize results
You must use the proper keywords and or categories for your business during the sign up process other wise you are never going to show up.
You Must add Pictures To Your Listing
If you have a Video about your business that is always a plus.
Set up your Hours of Operation so that customers know when you are open for business
Customer Reviews, This is the biggest factor when customers see your listing and it does have a weight on results from what we are noticing in searches.
If you have a website add a link from your website back to the Google Local Listing so customers can see both.


Google Guidelines to pay attention to:

Do Not Try and spam with multiple Google Listings with the same phone number ( It Does Not Work )
No matter how many Businesses You own only 1 Address per business ( Do not Use The Same Address for all of your businesses.
Have a Unique Phone Number For Each Listing and Unique Business Address to be successful
There are many other factors and techniques to making your Google Local Map Listing jump to the top of the search results and it comes down to making changes from time to time to see what works best. Google is getting smart with how they rank a listing and we will never know exactly what is the best way to achieve First Page Google Listings other than trying out different tactics that will not get you spammed from Google.
We have tried many ways to achieve 1st Page Rankings on Google Local Searches and with most of them working and sometimes they did not work we went back to making small changes to see what factors have the highest weight with Google to make sure the next time when setting up a new Google Local Business Listing for a new client we want to make sure they show up on the first page of Google quickly and stay there for a long time to come.
Trying to stay on the first page of Google is like trying to keep your body in shape, you must work out on a regular basis to achieve the goal and the body you have always wanted. SEO is constantly changing and Google changes with it as well, One day Google may rank your website in the top 5 and next week you could be number 11-15. The only way to avoid this is to always update your website with new information in order to show Google you are still alive and kicking.