How to Optimise Your Google Places Listing

Google has integrated normal search results with Google Places listings. For instance, if you search for “Japanese Restaurant Gold Coast,” you will see four Google Places listings before the normal results (with this keyword, the establishments that appeared on the top spot listings did not appear on the normal search results). Usually, seven listings appear on the search page (also known as the 7 Pack).

This example is to illustrate the importance of optimizing a business establishment’s Google Places listing. It’s an opportunity to get potential customers to consider your business—and an opportunity to get prime spot on Google’s search result pages.

The best way to do this is to completely fill out the required information—and make sure they are accurate. Put in five Categories for your business and  use your business’ exact name as it appears online and elsewhere. Put videos and photos as well. This is so Google can index more information, resulting to better search results. Inconsistent information means lost opportunity for indexing.

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Also, put the exact, unique address for your establishment. Don’t put your P.O. box address, as other businesses may be using this address too, making your business a lesser priority for indexing.

On your listing, include your social media accounts, while include a link of your Google Places listings on your social media accounts and your official website.

It’s also wise to get listed on other location and review sites as well, since Google considers this for ratings. Yelp, Yahoo Local, TripAdvisor, and Zagat are among the 10 top sites to consider. Of course, this is only applicable if you are in an industry that would value output from such sites.

Make sure that the information you put on your Google Places listing is exactly the same as the ones you put on your official website. Again, this is for indexing purposes, as Google gets ranking from citation from other sites.

Lastly, try to get as many quality reviews as possible. It’s not the number that’s important here, although try to match the average number of comments listings within your industry get. What matters here is that the reviews are authentic; fake reviews will be more of a problem than an advantage to your Google page ranking.

The idea here is to guarantee that your business is real and relevant. What you’re doing here, in essence, is verifying your business is what it claims to be.

For more information on how to optimise your listing or optimise your website, contact a professional at Ignition Media.