Local Search Engine Optimization for Google Places

White hat, black hat, grey hat… forget all that! This is not Dr Seuss, but amongst the confusion, search engine marketers and small business owners who do marketing can feel a little childish. It’s not all fairytales and storybooks though, especially when dealing with marketing technology like Google Local Business Listings. And this article is not going to be a rhyme about a cat in a hat as well. Instead I will explain what is local search engine optimization on Google Places?

Let’s get this straight. There are two forms of optimization for your local business listing, onsite and offsite. Just like nationwide SEO, local search engine optimization is based on the same fundamentals. Onsite deals with what is on the listing itself down to the smallest details including services, media and business info. Offsite is a mix of how relevant the info you have across the web is and the SEO of your website, but why worry about that until you have an optimized business listing.

To really figure out what local search engine optimization on Google Places is, we must look into onsite optimization. Just like a children’s book it is best to start off slow and build interest with Google, get the basics right first.

•Company name: List your real company name, not some optimized name full of keywords. Eventually the search engine will find out and penalize you.

•Address, number, email, and website: List these exactly as you would on your business card. Having information on the web that is consistent will increase your chance for exposure that the search engines can track.

•Description: This is the spot for blatant promotion of your keywords to a certain extent. It is a good idea to list your company’s name and the city it is in but also feel inclined to list your services, specialties and keywords that draw people in.

•Categories: Always take the time to included relevant categories. Start off with at least one category that Google provides but you should use as many of the already listed categories as possible. If there are not 5 premade categories that fit your business, which in most cases there won’t be, then make custom ones. Also your custom categories should be your main keywords, they are taken very seriously by the search engine.

•Images: Make sure the first image you upload is the image you want to be seen the most. It is shown in the search results next to your listing most of the time. The image should be a rectangle that is lying on its side as well so Google will not distort the image or crop it. You are limited to 10 images, so you may as well upload 10 images because a picture is worth a thousand words… that’s 10,000 words.

•Additional Details: After what I said in the description you may be thinking about blatantly spamming this area. You can, but just like the company name eventually the search engines will find out and you will not be happy when your listing drops 4 pages. You can add a lot of info here but I suggest just placing the same words you find throughout the listing one more time. Additionally listing brands, material types or other specialty information is a good idea.

So whether you have a brother in-law’s sister’s cousin working at Google or you think I am feeding you green eggs and ham, I assure you that these facts hold true. After all local search engine optimization, just like any other form of SEO, is all about drawing in targeted searches to provide the correct products and services.

Google Places is a key factor to get your business properly listed on Google Maps and like any other listings or directories page, you must provide relevant information from optimized profiles and listings so that they can draw in people who are looking to search. Just like search engine marketers and small business owners who are trying to draw in traffic, Google needs traffic to sell products to through their advertising.