Google Places Optimization
Put your business on the Map
If your business relies on local customers, you need a strong presence in Google Places. Triggered when someone makes location-based search such as “restaurants Sarasota”, Google Places results are displayed prominently on the first page. Very often, Places results are the first thing a prospective customer sees.
Google Place pages are free to set up, but if you are competing against many other businesses, you will need to optimize your page in order to appear in the Places results. There are hundreds of auto mechanics in Sarasota, for example, but only seven of them have a spot on the front page.
What’s involved with Google Places Optimization?
Google Places Optimization operates on the same principles as Search Engine Optimization. Google uses a complex algorithm to decide what pages are most relevant to display in the Places results. Some of the thousands of factors considered are:
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The quality and quantity your website’s inbound links. In other words, the reputation your website has with other sites on the Internet.
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The quality and quantity of your business’ citations. A citation is a mention of your business’ name and physical address on another website.
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The number and frequency of reviews on your Place page. Google is adept at picking up fake or spam reviews intended to artificially influence your Places ranking, however.
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The online social activity about your business. You have a better chance of ranking if people are regularly talking about your business on social networks.
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The quality and quantity of information on your Place page. Google prefers pages to provide as much useful information as possible.
Google Places Optimization with Internet Marketing Sarasota
Internet Marketing Sarasota has extensive experience in optimizing for Google Places, beginning from when the service was first introduced in North America in 2005. We have helped many of our clients achieve first place rankings for highly competitive keywords.
More people search for local businesses online than anywhere else. It’s past time to burn the Yellow Pages and get your business where the action is. Whether you have an existing Place page or require an end-to-end optimization service, our team can create a strategy to reach your goals.