How to Optimise for Google Places when advertising locally.

In 2011 a Google Places listings consists of seven businesses for most local searches results. Considering that most local searches provide thousands of organic search results, being placed within the top seven in Google Places can be very rewarding for small businesses who are advertising locally.

Google Places is the most powerful free marketing tool available when it comes to advertising locally. Google Local advertises local business information on top of many of most of the Google's organic search results and it is free of charge.

Getting listed on the top seven positions takes some skill and time but staying there can take a lot of effort. It all starts with claiming and optimising your page and then making Google Places help your business listing.

Visit Google and search for Google Places and register or claim an account.

The first part of the submission form easy, all you need to do is fill in the blank, but there are three important opportunities for optimising your listing.

Name and Address:

Choose your business name carefully. Although no one checks the listings to see if the listed name matches your company name, it is better to enter the correct name and not one that is simply using your keywords.

If you mess with your company name too much using obviously manipulative methods for cramming keywords into the field one day you will find that your Google Places listing has been removed from page one and places on one of the double numbered pages by Google. This usually happens when one of your competing businesses reports you to Google.

Description:

Take some time to write a 200 character description of your business using your very best keywords first and then the others next. Don’t spend any effort on marketing like “We serve the local community” or by including any geographic references.

Your description is designed to reach a broader search audience so keep it simple, because 200 characters is not that much.

Category:

Use your best keyword to find a category that is available in the list that Google gives you. Then enter up four more categories of your own, or use one or two related categories from Google and the remaining can be for specific keywords.

The Location Settings are designed to let a business draw out a service area on the map. This is only if your business does not have a premises where customers can visit you. If you have a premises select ("Yes, this business serves customers at their locations") complete this option using your best judgment.

Business hours and payment:

The payment and Business hours options and are optional and do not help in optimising, but customers will find the information helpful.

Photos and videos:

You can add up to ten photos and five (YouTube.com) videos to your page, but always use keywords to name your photos and take advantage of the “youtube.com” tag function to get a slight boost in optimisation.

Additional details:

Google's examples are virtually useless and very misleading. To optimize your listing, create a table of your key products and services using as many keywords as possible. Each detail consists of two fields with a maximum space of 200 characters each.

Submit.

To make your listing active you must first verified it this can be done by a telephone call from a Google automatic computer to the phone number of the business that is verifying its listing or it can also be done by postcard mailed to the address of business that is being listing. Postcards can take 2 or 3 weeks. Once verified, the real work of optimisation and getting and keeping a top position begins for companies who are serious about advertising locally.