In this part we will discuss how to move your listing up the ranks to get to number 1 or that coveted A.
For many of you when you have just added your listing you won't see it on the front page in fact it may be several pages deep within the results, so our goal here is to get to the front page.
There are two elements we need to be aware of here as we have already properly optimized our listing. The first is reviews and the second, citations.
When you look at the normal 7 box set of results you will see next to most listing's that there is a link next to each one that says '12 Reviews' (or however many).
You should click on each one of these links and look to see how many reviews each listing has and where they are coming from, also how many citations each listing has.
You will find the number of citations below the reviews under the header 'More about this place', note all of these down in a spreadsheet. Also note down the websites that the citations are coming from because you will use the same websites to gain citations for your listing.
To get on to the first page you need to have more reviews and more citations than your competitors!
The easiest way to get more reviews is to simply ask your existing customers for the reviews, most customers (especially if they are happy with your service) will give you a review. Some 'out the box' thinking will come in handy here, make sure you reward your customer in some way for giving you the review.
The more reviews you have the better but depending on how many your competitors have you may not need that many to get listed on the front page.
When I was looking at my competitors reviews I saw a lot of reviews on http://www.qype.co.uk, so in this case I wish to list my business on Qype and then direct my customers to the listing to leave a review there.
Having reviews on different sites as well as reviews directly on Google maps makes it a good natural mix, although Google does take a bit longer to find some of the reviews and citations.
The most effective citations seem to come from the major data providers like Yell.com and Citysearch.com (I have added a list to the resource section)
As well as using the 'big boys' I would also add into the mix many local directories, as you have a local listing it makes sense to have local 'mentions'.
By adding reviews and citations you will find that you will rank higher and higher as the Google spiders find your details all over the Internet, this will result in more targeted traffic to your website and more sales (providing you have set your site up properly to convert browsers into buyers, but that's a whole other story!)
Click the link in the resource box below to get the pdf version with video and images.
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