Google Places update today!

You should have noticed that Google finally updated the majority of its listings today.

This means anyone who has been optimizing their Google Places listing over the past 3 months should have seen the results update and their business found on the first page. Of course there are instances when listings may not have updated yet but on the main your results should be now ranking.

Google Places missing categories have returned

Another important update we have been waiting for is some of the missing categories and data which was lost on the last update has returned too.

You may have seen examples of inaccurate businesses showing up in the wrong category for example ‘dentists’ showing in ‘sports clubs’ & ‘health club’ listings.

Why do Google Places change?

The reason this sometimes happens is that when Google ever makes significant changes to its maps data it usually reverts to a previous state. Which might mean when categories or keywords we’re being moved around. So you get a kind of merged pack a data.

Just as if you did a back-up of your home/office computer and used a program such as Norton Ghost to take an image of your hard drive data of its current state. If you have not done a recent back-up and your computer crashed, the first thing you would do is try to fix it by reloading the image of its previous state. The same goes for Google Places data.

It makes a change, uses data from a previous state, updates it and eventually the latest data will catch up and show in the results.

Geo21
28 Hastings Avenue Whitley Bay, ne, NE26 4AF UK
maps@geo21.co.uk • 020 7993 4568

Google Places Citations Aren’t The Key to Ranking

in Google Places / Google Places Citations / Google Places SEO by Tom Peary November 8, 2011 0 comments

This is going to be quite a controversial post I think but bear with me.

For well over 12 months now so many bloggers, Google Places experts have been telling you it’s all about ‘citations’. For those who aren’t yet familiar with citations these are simply links for other websites and directories that mention your business details such as address and telephone number. The thought being the more of these you have the better the authority your places page will be given by the Google gods.

We’ve never used this technique to achieve our guaranteed first page results on Google Places, but for the past 6 months we’ve been doing a lot of testing just to bring this report to you.

There are several decent and reliable citation tools out there you can get your hands on (we’ll post a link to one below)

We’ve got dozens of examples where the top position results in Google Places have less or no citations whatsoever than listings further down the list. Again details of these will be posted soon.

But wait…. Google citations are the key! Aren’t they?

If we apply that idea surely all position A results should have more citations? But by using this great citation tool you can see that if you search for ‘Printers Southend’ that the top result has only 12 citations and if you check the SEOmoz ‘DA’ or ‘Domain Authority’ which Whitespark have kindly included in their software. You see that #1 has less powerful DA citations than position #3.

Check out the highest DA citations for position 1 below

Now check out the DA citations for position 3

Note: Remember these guys have 83 high quality citations

Compare these citations too, they have no more authority than the others, so why is that listing deemed to be worthy of the top spot?

We can do this all day too. But let’s not put you in a coma just yet.

So what does this tell us about Citations & Google Places?

Are citations useless to successful Google Places optimization and ranking?
Should we be looking elsewhere for our Maps SEO?

With the research done and the evidence in place to back it up I can only speak my own thoughts on this. I don’t believe citations no matter how great the Domain Authority is that this is the key to getting consistently solid Google Places rankings. I’m sure as I suspect most of you do they can play a small part in the overall success.

But it’s like baking a really good chocolate cake, miss out an ingredient or two, ‘an egg’ ‘less sugar’ ‘forget to whisk’ and before you know it you’ve baked a muffin. Sure it’s still technically a cake but just less grand.

Google Places Citations Summarised

In summary I think a lot of the citations hype is there because not everyone in this industry really understands Google Places. Yes there are some great examples of businesses and individuals who are doing a really great job for their clients. But we also know there are a lot of rogues out there, just in it for the quick buck. (Leaving the good guys to pick up the pieces of their tattered, annoyed, dissatisfied customers.)

I’m sure there will be others who will disagree but all I can say to that is we’ve done the research to back our claims up and most importantly we’ve never used this on any of our position A clients.

True or False

We would love to hear your thoughts on this article, do citations work for you? Or do you not bother at all adding citations as your main SEO source for Google Places optimization.

Thanks to Whitespark for their citation tool on this exercise.

Google Places SEO

in Google Maps / Google Places / Google Places SEO / Top of Google maps by Tom Peary October 13, 2011 0 comments

GEO21 are considered by our loyal following of customers the World’s leading Google Places SEO professionals. We are responsible for more than 5,000 first page Google Places results and have helped hundreds of small businesses across the globe.

Originally launched as a feature on the Google search to help you find directions, and how to find a local business, Google Maps quickly became popular amongst online users as it offered a simple way to find a local business in your area.

No longer did you need to trawl through a big yellow brick to find a “Plumber in Leicester” – For the first time ever in internet history you could actually see telephone numbers and website details of a local business in your area without having to click-through hundreds of website’s. AMAZING EH? (Well it gets us excited!)

Google Places Optimization

The good, confusing and just plain evil!

Yep! If you’ve ever tried to get your business found on Google Places then you’ve encountered the Google Local Business Centre. We love Google we really do but I am sure you too have been baffled by the wonder that is LBC.

Secret of Google Places Optimization

1.) Create a free account with Google

2.) Open LBC (Local Business Centre)

3.) Create New Listing

4.) Add in all your business details including name, address, telephone number, website, email, business description and categories you want to be found under.

5.) Google Local Business Centre will then ask you if you meant one of the businesses provided is yours or you would like to create a new business listing for Google Maps local results.

6.) Choose your weapon and press NEXT!

Google Local Business Result Verification

This can be a very simple process but also a little more complicated on the right occasion. Don’t worry – we’ll explain how to avoid getting your knickers in a twist and getting your business registered free on Google Maps.

1.) Choose your preferred method of verification. Your choices are;

a.) Telephone call – This is where a friendly robot voice [similar to that of Microsoft sam but with a little more estrogen] calls you and gives you a 5 digit PIN number to enter in to your local business account. – EASY PEASY!

Update: This service is only every occasionally offered as an option when the address & phone number has never been used on Google Places.

b.) SMS Verification – Google Local Maps will actually send you an SMS text message to your mobile and then once again you enter in to your local business centre account.

Update: This option is used more often if you have a clean account with no errors, black hat techniques to verify an address change or telephone number change. We have not seen this option available for over 4 months.

c.) Postcard – Yep! Ah good old postie even he is up for a bit of Google Places help it seems. This is the new standard to verify a Google Places listing. 99% of all listings must verify their business through this method. Usually arriving in 3 weeks or less but we have seen cases of 6 weeks.

Getting to the TOP of the Google Places results

Just spend 6 years working day & night researching how Google Places works and then you’ll have a good chance to be top of the local Google map results too!

Seriously! There’s no way we are going to give away our secrets but we will get your business to the top of Google Places/Maps if you want.

Just give us a call or drop us an email telling us a bit about your business and where and what you wish to be found for locally and we’ll make it happen.

How long does it take for Google Places Optimisation

Until the beginning of October 2009 there was no set time involved but then Google Maps changed. Not like you’ve heard so many times before on the billions of forums out there with every geek and his hamster claiming to know. It really did change and boy did it go loco for a bit. It’s okay we were a bit scared too!

Google Places/Maps has been pretty stable and one engine for almost 3 years. Yes! there has been a few changes but it was pretty much the original engine it was when it was first launched.

Google Places SEO – Google takes out the trash

So back in early October Google Places seemed to move to a new set of rules and thousands upon thousands of businesses that were previously on the 1st page suddenly disappeared over night.

Why did Google Maps Change in 2009?

1.) To improve the quality of local business results

2.) Clean up the duplicated businesses & spammers

3.) We also think they dropped a bit of a clanger too

This information is only based on our own personal findings and experience but we think it is pretty close the truth.

GET YOUR BUSINESS TO THE TOP OF GOOGLE PLACES!

Your Name (required)

Your Email (required)

Telephone (required)

Keywords (required)

Locations (required)

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Changing Address on Google Places doesn’t require postcard

in Google Maps / Google Places / Google Places Help / Google Places Listing / Google Places SEO by Tom Peary September 21, 2011 0 comments

Good or potentially lethal?

Google Places Change of Address without PostcardVerification

Whilst amending a customers Google Places listing address and expecting the usual ‘you will be sent a postcard within the next 2-3 weeks’ response instead the listing completed and the new address went live within 3 minutes. No further Google Places optimization required either!

So what does this mean for Google Places security?

I for one thing although yes it makes things a lot simpler to make legitimate changes to your Google Places listings it does also open the doors for those who dabble in the black-hat to abuse this update and make changes to addresses that they do not own or have access to.

We will probably test a listing this week and see what happens if we can change our address to a public landmark without the need of additional verification.

What can we expect to see with this loophole?

Probably a whole lot of spamming from those dirty rodents who are hell bent on turning Google Places in to one big nasty dump of illegal listings and spam.

Why would Google miss this and leave it open to abuse?

Hmmm! I guess they are human after all, if only just a bit geeky. Maybe they missed this one?

After the recent issues with many businesses being reported as ‘permanently closed’ this could be another huge flaw. I am sure this will be fixed quite quickly as it will get abused unfortunately. Watch out guys this could leave your competitors to proactively target your location without the need of postcard verification.

Be great to hear your thoughts on this one guys and any experiences you’ve had with this recent Google Places glitch.

Speak to us

IMPORTANT! Google Places Update Glitch Fix

in Google Maps / Google Places / Google Places Glitch Fix Update / Google Places Help / Google Places Listing / Google Places SEO by Tom Peary August 18, 2011 0 comments

Hey guys please excuse any poor spelling or grammar on this post we’ve had to write it fast to make sure you all hear about it.

Google Places missing website URL

Did Wednesday mornings Google Places update leave your business listing without a website url? If your places results showed as merged with the organic results in the new layout did they drop?

How to get my URL showing on my Google Map Listing – FIX!

Log in to your Google Places Account
Click ‘EDIT’ your listing
Add http:// to your website URL
Press ‘SUBMIT’

This is one of the easiest Google Places fixes we’ve ever published but you guys need to make sure your Google Places listings all have the http:// extension as without it Google cannot always show your URL and will drop your rankings.

Tweet this post if you found it useful

What’s it worth?

in Google Places by Tom Peary August 3, 2011 0 comments

How much does your business spend and probably waste on advertising and marketing every year? £1000, £5000, £10000?

All of us are victims of the plague of cold calling sales rats pestering you about the same thing just rebadged.

Hard selling is a bug bare of mine, we don’t do it here in fact we haven’t made a single cold call since we started trading. Seriously?
Our phone bills are stupidly low.

If something is worth having then you’ll find it on your own.

You certainly don’t need someone telling you this is a ‘one time offer’ ‘special price for today only’ and ‘if you miss out then you’re
Business won’t get any more new customer.

So if the average ageing directory is charging £1,250 for premium listing per annum and your local rag is £400-800 per month (I know per month that’s incredible isn’t it?) and that’s to capture a very small, no minuscule audience is or really worth it?

It’s always has to be your decision but just weigh up the results in new business over the year against what you’ve spent.

These rats are nibbling but are you biting?

One thing is certain these people calling you everyday are fast becoming aware that ‘YOU’ the customer is a lot more marketing and internet savvy these days. You don’t take everything said as gospel (rightly so)

Therefore their tactics have changed and now they throw jargon and internet buzz words at you like ‘back links’ ‘page rank’ ‘seo’ ‘blackhat’ when all they are really trying to say is ‘please buy my crap!!!!’

Truth be told sales people generally aren’t marketing gurus or internet SEO geeks. Buzz words can be used to take the heat off and make you feel comfortable with their nonsense.

The gospel about directories:

Most directories do not have any link juice value to your website or search engine optimization because their webmasters put a block on all outbound links also more commonly known as ‘NO FOLLOW’.

You’ll often hear this banded about during renewal time but don’t believe it as very few well-known directories still offer back links with any value at all. Therefore they DON’T help your search engine rankings.

Google Maps & the value to your business

We all know by now that everyone uses Google to search for everything (about 90% of the UK in fact)

Nearly every search conducted on Google results the user clicking on something from the first page (usually at the top)

To get your business more customers than anywhere else is going to cost your business just

£850 per annum

Find out more

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It seems everyone wants to be on Google Maps

in Blog / Google Maps / Google Places / Google Places Expert / Google Places Experts / Google Places Help / Google Places Listing / Google Places SEO / How to get higher on Google Places by Tom Peary August 2, 2011 0 comments

This past 3 months has been crazy – we’ve had to up our work rate considerably to handle the sheer volume of calls and emails from people looking to get their businesses found on Google Places.

There can be only 1

As much as we’d like to help everyone out there we’ve always been committed to helping one business type in each location. This means that we can only help 1 electrician in London, 1 Manchester plumber, and 1 restaurant in Edinburgh etc

Be our #1 priority on Google Maps

The fairest way to operate our much sought after Google Maps optimisation service is to work on a strictly first come first served basis.

Today we signed up 2 more companies who want to be found on Google Places but we’ve also had to turn down another because we already have someone optimized in their area. Sorry guys but they just beat you to it.

Don’t lose out on being the top dog!

Get in touch tell us what your business does, even if you’re not 100% sure on the best keywords for your business we’ll help you out there.

note: Google Keyword Tool is free and can help you find the best searches for your business.

Give us up to 5 keywords of your choice and we’ll get you on the first page, and aiming for the number one spot in no time.

GET YOUR BUSINESS TO THE TOP!

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Google 3rd Party Reviews Update!

in Blog / Google Maps / Google Places / Google Places Citations / Google Places Reviews Have Disappeared / Google Places SEO / Qype / Top of Google maps by Tom Peary August 1, 2011 0 comments

A little over 2 weeks ago we blogged about the recent removal of third-party reviews from Google Places.

Shortly after we added a follow-up on how we thought the Google Maps results would adapt to still feature these additional reviews from third-party sources such as Yelp & Qype.

Today whilst speaking to a nice chap on the telephone we were telling him about this very subject and he said he had noticed another businesses listing showing the exact update which we predicted.

The new 3rd Party Reviews Feature on Google Maps

You can see the image about that ‘Reviews from around the web: qype.co.uk (4) – freeindex.co.uk (2)’ now shows at the bottom of the Google Places reviews. Third party reviews no longer feature mixed in with the maps reviews but are available.

Google hasn’t removed all 3rd party reviews

Just as we said in our earlier blog post – the third-party reviews although don’t show in with the ‘OFFICIAL’ Google Places ones they will still be available on the page. I still think that they will introduce a 3rd party review preview tab section very soon.

Watch this space!

‘Thanks GEO21 we are #1’

in Blog / Google Maps / Google Places by Tom Peary July 31, 2011 1 comments

‘Phone books are a thing of the past, everyone searches for service online and the chances are a huge percentage of them use Google, so getting on to the first page of Google Places has to be the way to go.

GEO21 not only ensured that I stayed on the first page but got me to the number one spot as they had promised. Now if anyone looks for ‘Osteopaths Edinburgh’ my business and website is the first found!’

Patrick Harding, Mulberry Osteopaths

Service Provided:

Google Places Optimization

Website Optimization

Impressions per month: 3,859

Google Places London

in Blog / Google Maps / Google Places / Google Places SEO / SEO / Top of Google maps by Tom Peary July 31, 2011 0 comments

You’ve come to the right place if you’re a business in London and need help from the original Google Places experts.

We’ve been getting all types of business on Google Places for the past 7 years, from when it all began.

‘Sports Massage London’ – Position B

Nordic Balance

Don’t worry about ‘can it be done’ of course we can we’re the Google Places geeks, one word from you and we’ll tame this puppy like no other.

So don’t be a stranger give us a tinkle and tell us what’s on your mind. We’ve NEVER been beaten yet, we never will be.

Guaranteed or you don’t pay
12 months first page results (starts when you are on the first page)
Choose up to 5 keywords
Dedicated account manager
White-hat optimization only
Get more calls!

Get in touch

Last updated by Tom Peary at October 25, 2011.

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