Places listings vs other ORGANIC listings
-
Not sure how to search for exactly the answer I'm looking for, because frankly my question (at least to me) is hard to describe. I will try my best, though!
So I have a client who has an audiology business. They are located in Denver, CO. For search, we have them listed in the PLACES portion of the local search results (with the map, phone, address, etc). We saw this as a pretty big win, because its a fairly competitive market.
HOWEVER, the client feels like those listings aren't as clicked on, or aren't as prominent as say, a regular organic listing that would have a page title, and description.
I am assuming that isn't correct, that if I could only have 1 listing I'd want the PLACES one, but it occurred to me that this assumption isn't really based on any data I have personally read.
So my question is two-fold.
1a. Is my assumption about being in PLACES accurate, that that listing is more desirable (even if I could pick which one to get, which i don't think is realistic)
and
1b. Has anyone seen or have data that backs up my assertion one way or another.
Would love your thoughts!
William Smith
-
You're welcome! Hope that study will help you and your client decide what strategy best to use...
-
That study is exactly what i needed. Thanks so much Danny!
-
I think the best strategy would to achieve visibility in both Places listing and traditional organic. One without the other would simply be 50% less effective, atleast based on how Google is currently dispalying search results. Perhaps in the future there will be significantly more weight given to traditional organic results, or maybe places aill dominate...or some other form of search result placements will emerge. I think to have an all inclusive approach at this point would be a safe approach. Good luck with everything!
-
Hi there,
I've heard about some stories and case studies stating that organic listings seem to be disappearing and is being replaced by local listings. There are some articles about that online:
Is Google plus local replacing organic results?
Are your organic listings being replaced with local listings?
In your client's case, maybe the local listing has not been optimized yet.
You can link your Google + local page to the site as "publisher". This tells Google that the site is the publisher of the profile's content. Relevant contents on the site is also very important as they help strengthen the site's brand. Gathering customer reviews about the business is also very helpful.
Besides, according to SEOMoz's Eye-Tracking Google SERPs, local listings are more likely to be clicked in the search results.
Hope this helps!
Cheers!
-
Hello William,
I believe Google Places listings help a ton. Sometimes they show up at the top before any website and I think everyone agrees the info shown in the listing is very convenient and the map does draw some attention.
A client of mine boosted her sales thanks to the Google Places listing. She had better results with Places than with Adwords. It was very interesting, and I think this case isn't uncommon.
With Analytics you can track the source of your traffic and you can get Google Places to show you how many traffic you are getting from that listing. Perhaps with the data you receive from analytics, tho its a bit inaccurate sometimes, might help you and your boss to make better decisions.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
.png vs .jpg - Which ranks better or does it matter?
Hi Moz community, I am working on a SEO project (ecommerce) and most of the images on the website are .png and I notice they do not rank but yet the .jpg do. Do you recommend I change all the .png to .jpg? They all have alt text and keyword filenames (no spam 🙂 Here is the website www.moldear.com.ar. Notice the swimming pool coping tiles are .png and the swimming pool images are .jpg. I cannot get the coping images to rank for some reason Thanks Carla
Image & Video Optimization | | Carla_Dawson0 -
Google Places For Display Homes
Hi all, We have a client who is looking to get their Display Homes on Google Places. The main issue is as they are display homes, they do not get post delivered to them yet. So the old 'postcard verification' is not going to work, but its the only option we are getting. I would normally say, this might not be possible. Unfortunately one of their key competitors has somehow got all their Display Homes verified - so I was looking for some insight as to how this is possible? Am I missing something here? Thanks! J
Image & Video Optimization | | Jon_bangonline0 -
Can SEO companies be listed on Google Local, Bing Local, and Yahoo Local?
Can anyone confirm if SEO companies can be listed in the local results for Google, Yahoo, and Bing? I'm asking because when you search for most local terms, it will return their local listings. However, that doesn't appear to be the case when searching for SEO or marketing services - or at least none show up when searching from Houston and I'm pretty sure we have quite a few SEO companies here 😉
Image & Video Optimization | | ChaseCameron0 -
CTR of Video Rich Snippet vs. Normal SERP
Hi there, We were ranking no. 1 for one of our key terms for a long time, however a competitor of ours by the looks of it purchased a load of private blog network links and managed to shift above us. The page we rank for on that term has a video with the markup to trigger a video box rich snippet (which i've noticed never seems to be given on position 1 but can be for 2 and below) - so that is now what our entry in the SERPs is. Since then we have actually dropped down to 3rd, with the web page now being in 2nd not having any new links / content in a very long time. Therefore I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about whether the video box could actually reduce CTR which could have resulted in us dropping down to 3rd ? The meta description text seems to be reduced to 100 characters with the vid box, so we're not getting our full message across where the others in the results are. My natural assumption would be that the video box would gain a higher CTR, but i'm thinking this may not be the case for us. Does anyone know of any data relating to the video box in the SERPS ? Many thanks, Stuart MtsbA.jpg
Image & Video Optimization | | stukerr0 -
New Local Tracking Number for Places vs an 800 Number.
I am having a problem with local search for my business. I submitted the same NAP (Name, Address, Phone) info to Google Places as I have submitted via LocalEZE and Universal Business Listing. Here is the issue. The local number that is being used does not have any way to track calls, meaning the phone company (xo communications) does not give us the number of incoming calls. To add call tracking to the local numbers through our PBX system is very expensive, $2000 per store. Also to transfer this local number to a call tracking company (like callsource or whoiscalling) is a lot of trouble and not an option either. I need to track the call count somehow so I have two options left. 1) Get a new local number (that is also a tracking number through a phone tracking company) and then submit this to Google Places, LocalEZE and Universal Business Listing. The issue with this is that all of our citations will be re-set with a new local number, basically we'd have to do local SEO all over again. 2) Use the main 800 number in Google Places, this can be tracked. However, then our local number is on all of the NAP citations and Google Places will be the only web property with an 800 number. What are your thoughts?
Image & Video Optimization | | qlkasdjfw0 -
Optimizing Google Places Listing - Please Help!
I claimed the Google Places listing a few months ago - added a description and all the necessary information. Finally got the page to show up in the places category on the 5th page for the search "vet las vegas". Then on some computers it likes to show up on the 8th page and on others the 5th page - weird!?. I need some help on the following: How can I get Google to put my website as an link in the "More About This Place"/citation section? The old website which was at a different domain is present but not the new one (the new one has been live for 2 months). -Am I missing any key information to help with my ranking? The 8th page is a pretty poor ranking and holds no value whatsoever. The description I typed out on Google Places does not display in the search results. - I am assuming adding citations is essentially just about adding backlinks that Google can pull to add to the "More About This Place" section - any surefire ways to get more citations there? WEBSITE: http://www.petmedicalcenter.com PLACES PAGE: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&prmd=ivnscm&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1187&bih=649&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=vet+las+vegas&fb=1&gl=us&hq=vet&hnear=0x80beb782a4f57dd1:0x3accd5e6d5b379a3,Las+Vegas,+NV&cid=13431404354265657899&ei=5Bf1TdvWLIey0AGe-M3sDA&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=placepage-link&resnum=4&ved=0CEIQ4gkwAzhG Any other feedback or ideas would be really appreciated. Thank you to all the SEOMOZ members would have helped me over the last month - you guys are awesome! Thanks again, Brant
Image & Video Optimization | | PMC-3120871 -
Citations have dissapeared from places listing
This site citations have dissapeared from the 'more about this place' and looks to have effected the maps ranking by dropping the listing a few places: http://maps.google.com.au/maps/place?hl=en&ie=UTF8&q=stella+settlements&fb=1&gl=au&hq=stella+settlements&hnear=Perth+WA&cid=9895804169495459418&z=14 The citations that have been removed are: http://www.truelocal.com.au/business/stella-settlements/burswood http://www.hotfrog.com.au/Companies/Stella-Settlements http://www.yellowpages.com.au/wa/burswood/stella-settlements-13951907-listing.html (all of these are listed on other competitors citations currently) (also the places page is using the reviews on Truelocal.com.au listing above which is strange) Do you know why these citations listings have been removed, however these have not been removed on competitors places pages by Google? thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | nickydunin0 -
Google Places & Maps
Hi I'm preparing a confernce in France to explain Google Places & Maps to an audience interested in promoting local businesses but mainly hotels and other tourism related. As you know, searches such as Hotel + City are giving a lot of visibility to Google Places results. Being in the top results is as important if not more important than organic ranking. I'm going to be looking into the new presentation of Google Places results in the SERPs and maybe underlining a difference in results between Places and Maps which I've just recently spotted. Can anyone recommend some good ressources online to explain the changes that came about with Google Places and ranking factors I should be talking about ? If you have a pet theory on what triggers the different presentation of Places results in the main SERPS or what factors make one local business rank better than another in Google Places then please discuss below too 😉 Ah ! Almost forgot, any feedback on Google Boost use also interesting for us ; although it isn't in France yet Thanks Neil
Image & Video Optimization | | NeilInFrance0