Local Ranking Factors Question

[MichaelWeisbaum]

Local SERPS continue to confuse me.  I feel like I can tell what's going on but I'm never right.  How do these two listings rank for "best bar" in the local Chicago SERPS?  It's the same if you search for "best bar in chicago".

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&biw=2109&bih=1218&noj=1&gs_upl=3495l4209l0l4335l8l5l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=best+bar&fb=1&gl=us&hq=best+bar&hnear=0x880e2c3cd0f4cbed:0xafe0a6ad09c0c000,Chicago,+IL&cid=17128325649974296516

or

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&biw=2109&bih=1218&noj=1&gs_upl=3495l4209l0l4335l8l5l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=best+bar&fb=1&gl=us&hq=best+bar&hnear=0x880e2c3cd0f4cbed:0xafe0a6ad09c0c000,Chicago,+IL&cid=455944883716881589&ei=aQPqTo7mN4mIgwe4oc3fCA&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=placepage-link&resnum=5&ved=0CFgQ4gkwBA

This has had me stumped for months.  I've analyzed everything and there aren't any good indicators as to how this was done.  The former doesn't even have a website.  The latter example has some category keyword stuffing, which I don't get why they're account hasn't been suspended because of it.  It also has a very small and not very powerful link profile.

Any insights would be much appreciated!

[Jinx14678]

I found alot of conflicting info on the topic...

It appears in September of 2010 they did change it, but I think it is only enforced and it is almost even worded as if you just cannot elicit the content of the review...

But It seems to be sort of a grey area as alot still do it and flourish (much like everything else in Google)

I have never personally tried this incentive strategy myself  but Have done the citation route many times and seen EXTREMELY good results.

And in my look around incetivizing increased reviews by over 100% (of course) so this may have been why they stopped it, as those with the most money could have the most reviews causing an unfair advantage (but isn't that sort of true in everything?)

Just in my personal opinion since I am not a lawyer nor do i work for Google

Incentive's for reviews are good for all as long as you are not incentivizing the content

1. Customer -

Get the chance to either come back and enjoy another meal/service or If they had a bad time the owner gets to try to make it right...

2. Perspective Customer -

They get to learn about the experience and see the transpareny of the owner either rectifying or not. (of course i understand some clients/customers are unreasonable, but hey it is a part of being in business

3. Business

They get the Benefits in both Word of Mouth and Search Engine Marketing plsu the chance of repeat business OR the chance to right a wrong therefore helping brand image.

It also entices the business owner to strive to be better to make sure they do not incentive themselves into a bad review

But hey this could get you in trouble, but their are lots of risks taken every day in business, must weigh the ROI potential.

w00t!

[MiriamEllis]

Greetings, Michael!

Thanks for coming to Q&A to ask your question. While a complete audit of both businesses would take some doing and is really beyond the scope of what I can do here in the forum, I think the obvious reason one of those business is ranking for 'best bar' is that the name of the business is 'best bar  (b que)'.  Google may be understanding queries for 'best bar' as having an intent to find this business.

Other members are taking a proactive stance in asking you what you are doing for your business. Are we all reckoning correctly that these 2 businesses are your competitors? If so, have you done everything possible for your own business, in terms of a local search marketing campaign. Specifically,

How strong are the local hooks in your website?

How strong is your local content?

Have you got a good link profile pointing to the site?

Is your Google Place page violation free and complete?

Are there duplicate listings or other problems that could be tanking your rankings?

Are you actively encouraging Google-based user reviews? Does any competitor have more reviews than you?

Are you listed in major third party local business indexes and review sites?

Are you building up a strong citation profile to your Place Page?

Shane Thomas is right to mention the importance of reviews - but I did want to be sure to mention that Google and most other review entities specifically forbid the use of incentives in exchange for reviews. You must inspire happy customers' goodwill rather than attempting to give them bonuses if they will review your business. And Yelp doesn't want you to ask for reviews at all (though this is something of a grey area).

It's smart to look at the competition, absolutely, but the only thing you can control is what you are doing with your own business. Hopefully some of these ideas will be helpful to you! Good luck!

Miriam

[ResslerMotors]

I'd also use Schema when putting your business info on your website: schema-creator.org

[Jinx14678]

Hi,

This is a good place to start..

http://www.seomoz.org/dp/seo-directory#local

Go through every site on this list (most are free) and if your business applies (which you would apply to most)

eitther submit your business or claim your business and make sure your business:

Name

Address

Phone

and Website

are Identical to your Google Places listing.

This will greatly help your rankings.

I also notice they have some reviews. It may be a good idea to start some kind of campaign on your tickets or receipts to give a 10% discount the next time they come in if they leave a review or something like that.

Moral of the story   you need more reviews and local citations and you will see good results!