Seven Simple Ways to Get a Better Google Places Ranking

If you want to find information on a particular topic, what is the first thing that you do? You go straight to a computer or take out your mobile and open the Google webpage, don’t you? Most of you probably answered ‘yes’ to that question. One of the lesser known facts about Google search is that practically one out of five searches involves a particular location.

This fact gave Google the idea to develop ‘Google Places’ which is a program that helps you to find local businesses easily according to what geographical location you enter. It is an extremely popular marketing tool, especially for local businesses that otherwise depend only on word-of-mouth advertising.

Benefits of Google Places

If you are a company that is well versed with search engine optimisation and social media, then you probably already have a profile set up on Google Places. Here are a couple of advantages to using it:

  • Your company can save a lot if it makes use of online advertising through Google Places instead of paying for Yellow Page listings.
  • Your business listing can appear on the first page of Google if your listing on Google Places is optimised properly.
  • Customers can get important information like physical address, phone number and website from the listing on Google Pages.
  • Promotion through programs like these is much more efficient in today’s world and results in an increased flow of traffic to your website and more potential customers.
  • It’s not necessary to have a warehouse or a physical retail store in order to be listed on Google Places.

Tricks for getting a higher ranking

Google Places is used all the time for businesses to increase their brand awareness, especially locally. Here are some easy ways to ensure that your company obtains a higher organic local ranking:

1)      Set up a profile on Google Places- All you need for this is a Google account which is not only easy to set up, but is also absolutely free!

2)      Increase your citations- A citation can be defined as a mention of your company on another website. Make sure that whatever information is provided on your Google Pages listing is repeated correctly elsewhere.

3)      Get listed- You should get citations from web pages like Angie’s list, Superpages, Yahoo and Insiderpages which are the ones with the hottest buzz. Once you get listed on Google Pages, all your relevant information will be accessible to the general public.

4)      Check accuracy of citations- All the citations on your website have to be proof-read and double checked so that you can be sure the information provided in them is accurate. Ensure that all your citations have the proper addresses, names and phone numbers. Your website details should be correct. But more important than this is that the data/content provided in the article should be verified. 

5)      Local link building- Having a large number of local links which mention the proper name of the company, address and phone number is highly beneficial. 

6)      Gain as many reviews as possible- Reviews show what the public opinion of the company really is and they are crucial for getting citations indexed and obtaining a high ranking on Google. Try to get different reviews from different sites. You could do this by encouraging customers to comment or ask questions.

7)      Update your Google Places page frequently- As often as possible, edit the existing content and videos/imaging. Also maintain a ‘new posts section’ to capture the interest of frequent users. This will give a good boost in your rankings.

Use these tricks and see how your Google Places ranking starts climbing and shows the desired results – more visitors and increased sales and revenues.

How To Get a Better Google Places Ranking

About Nathanael Vanderkolk

Nathanael Vanderkolk is the Director of the Smart SEO Company, a SEO Agency in Sydney, Australia. Smart SEO Sydney has a keen awareness of the latest approaches to online marketing. Follow him on , Facebook and Twitter.
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