Lisa Myers, CEO of Verve Search, discusses the importance of Google Places in enhancing local search visibility, highlighting its increasing relevance in consumer shopping behavior. She emphasizes that businesses should utilize Google Places accounts to improve their local search rankings and suggests best practices for local SEO management. The document also outlines factors affecting rankings, such as location, relevance, and prominence, and strategies for generating positive customer reviews and citations.

1. Google Places
- Global Approach
Lisa Myers
CEO, Verve Search
#SMXISS
@LisaDMyers

2. About Lisa Myers
• 11 years experience in Marketing, 7 in Search & Social
• Speaker at Search Conferences Worldwide (SES, SMX, A4U, ISS etc)
• Regular contributor to on and offline publications and author of several SEO Best
Practise Guides including eConsultancy and B2B Marketing
• Heavily involved in the global Search Community, founder of
SEO-chicks.com and co-founder of European search blog StateofSearch
Awards
• “Search Personality of the Year” UK Search Awards 2011 + “Best SEO
Campaign” for her agency Verve Search + “Best SEO Campaign”
• Management Today “35 women under 35” list 2009
• “Best Use of Technology woman under 30”
BlackBerry Woman & Technology Awards (2008)
• “B2B Marketing Newcomer of the Year” (2007)

3. Google Places
- the little giant
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

4. 1 in 5
search queries have local intent..

5. 97%
of consumers use the web
to shop locally

6. Local is the fastest growing trend in
search...

7. 20%
of all Google search
queries are related to Local
Search

8. Google Places now operates
in over 100 countries...

9. From Papa New Guinea.....

10. .....to Iceland

11. FULL List of supported countries
http://bit.ly/M8MGnq
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

12. local results
are dominating listings

13. IN G
A T
MIN
DO
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

14. Venice Update
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

15. It is a misconception that Google Places is just
for SMALL businesses. It’s NOT!
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

16. Increase of smart
I’m looking
for something
phones =
....it’s got to
be close by! increase of
local intent searches

17. More and more sectors
Accommodation (hotels, property etc)
Entertainment (bars, restaurants etc)
Education
Health & Medical
Retail
Consumer Services (hairdresser, plumbers etc)
Business to business
Transportation
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

18. Google Places Survey
• 5 European countries
• Agencies & client side
- The importance of Google places by sector
- Ranking factors
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

19. Importance - All
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

20. Importance - UK
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

21. Importance - Spain
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

22. Importance - Denmark
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

23. Importance - Switzerland
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

24. Importance - Germany
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

25. Impact On Bottom Line - All
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

26. Everyone should
Everyone should have a Google Places account
for the BRAND as MINIMUM
- a high percentage of brand searches the intent
is to contact/find a phone number/address etc
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

27. GOOGLE is the new LANDING PAGE
...and has been for a while

28. Global Local Campaigns
As an international brand you would be stupid
to ignore Google Places
There are really only two challenges on an
international level:
- Bulk uploading/Verification
- Management & Streamlining strategy
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

29. ranking factors

30. Location, Relevance, and
Prominence

31. #1 Location
Looks at where your business is based & your proximity to the
location in the search query
#2 Relevance
Internal factors such as business name, associated categories +
external data
#3 Prominence
External factors; Data citations, reviews, occurrences of business
in UGC
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

34. Consider
• Don’t keyword spam
• Don’t put keyword in title unless its also in
your brand name
• USE local phone numbers where possible (not
freephone and national numbers)
• FORMATTING of phone numbers and
address should be the same throughout
(citations & Google Places listing)
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

35. citations
{it’s mentions, innit }

36. Citations
• Citations are simply mentions of your
business name, address and phone number in
close proximity on a webpage.
• It does not have to be a directory
• But some directory passes more value, the
valuable directories generally vary from
country to country.
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

37. Citations
1. Consistency
Keep your business name, address, telephone number the same to increase trust
2. Major Datacentres
Some “mentions” are worth more from some sites than others
3. Local Directories
Source local directories and make sure you are listed there
4. Citation Competitor Analysis
Go to their Places page, underneath the reviews click the link “more from around the web”
this outlines their existing citations.
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

38. reviews
{ getting your customers on side }

39. Impact Of Reviews On Ranking
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

40. Reviews
• Believed to be the largest influence factor of
increased rankings
• Reviews also has a massive impact on CTR
• 5 or more reviews for boost
• Anything above 2 stars counts more or less
equally for boost
• A review score of 1 or less stars is likely to
impact ranking negatively
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

41. Ideas for Generating Reviews
• Contact Customers (email, mail etc)
• QR code (on brochure, menu, business card that
goes to Google Places page)
• Set up a competition (not necessarily paid, ehm)
• Offer discounts on next purchase
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

42. think Global
-go local!

43. Target multiple locations with
Google Places bulk upload function...

44. Bulk Upload Tool NEWS
New version of bulk upload tool on 8th May:
• Edit one or more of your listings’ data at once
• Search through your listings, filtering by
specific information or for listings with errors
• Upload new listings using a data file or by
adding them individually within the interface
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

45. Bulk Upload
• Download template and fill in (follow formatting rules)
• Upload the file
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

46. Once Uploaded

47. You Can Edit One or More

48. Verifying Bulk Uploads
• Use a company email address (same as listing domain!)
• Usually takes about 2 weeks,
• The bulk uploads is manually reviewed by Google Places
representative
• Process is quicker in the US

49. the verification process
- now don’t swear

50. Verification
• You CAN still get your listing verified via
phone => You can claim a listing that has yet
to be verified. Or create a listing via
MapMaker (not in the UK).
• But if it does not exist on Google Maps yet,
you HAVE to verify by mail
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

51. Things I’m not saying
If you don’t have an office in a city you wish to
rank in, I would not:
b)Contact a services office and offer to pay
them to call you when the postcard appears
c)Rent a virtual address
d)Use a PO box but just write the address on
the “address line 2”
This will definitely maybe not work..ehm..

52. management

53. Successful Global Management
To manage a global local campaign you need to:
- Educate Globally
- Organise Centrally
- Manage execution locally
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

54. Local Search Resources
www.davidmihm.com/
http://blumenthals.com/blog/
http://www.martijnbeijk.com/
http://www.localseoguide.com/
http://www.marybowling.com/
http://marketing-blog.catalystemarketing.com/
http://www.vervesearch.com

55. Thank You!
@LisaDMyers
Email: lisa@vervesearch.com
Web: www.vervesearch.com
www.seo-chicks.com
www.stateofsearch.com
@LisaDMyers #SMXISS

56. Appendix

57. tools...

58. Local Tools
What keywords triggers Google Places
www.linkdex.com and www.seomoz.org
Google Places Category Tool
http://blumenthals.com/index.php?Google_LBC_Categories
Local Citation Finder
http://www.whitespark.ca/local-citation-finder
Local Search Rank Checker Tool
http://www.brightlocal.com/seo-tools/local-search-rank-checker/
Local Competitor Analysis
http://www.localsearchtoolkit.com

59. Top Citation Sites
1. Yelp
2. Superpages
3. Citysearch
4. Yellowpages
5. Infogroup
6. Yahoo Local
7. Localeze
8. InsiderPages
9. Niche Industry Sites (including TripAdvisor, OpenTable, and DealerRater)
10. Acxiom
11. Best of the Web
12. BBB
13. Judy’s Book
14. Angie’s List
Source: David Mihm’s Local Search Ranking Factors (2011)

60. Top UK Citation Sites
www.yelp.co.uk
www.qype.co.uk/
www.yell.com
www.localdatacompany.com
www.thomsonlocal.com
www.touchlocal.com
www.smilelocal.com
http://search.infoserve.com/index.asp
www.brownbook.net
www.ufindus.com

61. tracking
{ it ain’t easy }

62. Ways of Tracking Local
• Utilising Filters in Analytics
• Implementing 301 Redirects

63. Tracking Using Filters
Custom Filters in Google Analytics
(Only tracks visitors that click through to place page before visiting website)
• New filter ->
• Filter name ‘Maps’
• Filter Type -> Custom Filter
• Checked : include
• Filter Field: Referral
• Filter Pattern: ‘maps.google.’
• case sensitive : no

64. Tracking Using 301redirects
Using 301 Redirects tracks all visitors but is a little
more difficult to set up.
3. Set up a vanity URL e.g. www.example.com/widget-location
4. Implement a 301 redirect from that page to a page which includes “utm
tracking code”
5. E.g.
http://www.example.com/widget-location /?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=
More info how to do this:
http://www.vervesearch.com/blog/seo/how-to-track-your-google-local-listing/