Google Business Listings A-Z

Status
Not open for further replies.

jogoeire

New Member
Has anyone noticed that Google has started to list business alongside a map at the top of the search results. I have seen this done in other countries but this is the first time ive seen it for google.ie. For me this is a pain in the a*s as I have a lot of aggregator sites that were highly ranked but now this map pushes my sites down the page.

Does anyone know how google go about choosing these business that sit
alongside the map? I presume they are not paid listings? Fairly political of google to just pick 10 businesses out of a hat to feature. It looks like one of their criteria is that the businesses featured actually have an address. I wonder are they picked manually?

Rob-Jogoeire
 

MickyWall

New Member
It would be some job if Google were to do this manually!

In many of the serps big high powered directories, lists etc where swamping the results and I think this will redress the issue.

For less competitive searches it's relatively easy to rank on local search.

Google will also be rolling out an analytics features for local search which will be great news and only shows the increasing importance of it.
 

jsd316

New Member
The local business results can be a great way to get top placement... it helps to focus on your keywords when creating your business profile.
 

Dara

New Member
Just seeing a change to the Local search results. It appears that only 7 instead of 10 listings are being displayed for most searches A-G Anyone else seeing that?
 

eoinlredmond

New Member
I've been working with a client for the last 4 weeks on their local business search results and I've seen three different sets of results i.e. a-b, a-g and a-e. I've always found local busines results to be a bit flaky to be honest.
 

UTD Web

New Member
There seems to be the same combination of things going on... it generally pops up when you put a location on the search itself e.g. "web design ireland"

For me this brings up all the web design agencies listed in Waterford, but having that search term in the title, description etc. can dictate position etc.
 
K

Kieran

Guest
eoinlredmond I don't think it is flaky its your choice of categories amongst other things that make a difference. Also I think the order of categories might figure as well.

Having read around this a bit in the past there is a lot of different suggestions on how to improve your placement in Google Local Businees. Here are some that I have read (disclaimer - I have not played with this too much)


  1. Put a link from your actual site to the GLB location
  2. Reviews make a difference as well. Ask someone to put even one review in on your GLB link.
  3. Make sure your company description in GLB has the appropriate keywords (without stuffing of course!)
  4. Your actual physical location on map will make some difference - center of Dublin versus suburbs for a hotel search.
  5. Use the Keywords in the company name without being silly again.
Your SEO is still important though if there is a competitive keyword however and the GLB method is really just a quick fix.
http://www.irishwebmasterforum.com/members/eoinlredmond.html
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top