How to improve Google Places Account

[BobGW]

Hello,

A friend of mine has a google places account. Her website is

http://debidonner.com/

You can see her places account listed under

"life coach scottsdale arizona"

I've attached a screenshot of her categories.

I just added "NLP Coach" and "Personal Coach" today, so results are only for the other categories.

We're looking for ways to improve it. We've had 43 clicks for driving directions. 4 map clicks, and 0 website clicks (how good is that, by the way)

Thanks!

screenshot-google-places.jpg screenshot-google-places2.jpg

[BobGW]

Very Greatful for SEOMoz. Thanks.

[MiriamEllis]

You're very welcome, Bob. The geo terms Debi targets will depend on whether her business model operates out of a location to which clients come or whether she is running a go-to-client business model. For example, a brick and mortar paint store in San Francisco is dealing within the city, whereas a painting contractor based in San Francisco may also be serving in San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley and etc. and will need to formulate a plan for targeting all of those geo terms. So, the answer to your question is based on Debi's business model. *Also, the business model type needs to be totally clear so she knows whether or not her address needs to be hidden or not on her Google Place Page to be current with the recent guideline change, see: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/why-you-may-need-to-hide-your-google-places-address-asap If she can't currently afford to hire a Local SEO, then she will need to put in the time to study this subject for the benefit of her business. The more she knows, the more she can dominate. I sincerely wish her luck! Miriam

[BobGW]

I think you have about answered everything really well.

I have one last question.

I know from experience in the area that

"life coach" + geographic location

and

"NLP"  + geographic location

are the 2 main terms for us (I have a similar site in Boise, Idaho)

According to local SEO, how many geographic locations are usually targeted? I know it depends, but could you give me an idea? I don't think Debi will be able to afford a local SEO.

That's about it for my questions. You've been so helpful. Thanks again.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Bob,

I'm delighted my response was helpful! Regarding your questions:

1. This is why I am recommending that Debi form a relationship with a Local SEO. Someone needs to do a full discovery assessment of her business (where are her clients, where does she see them, at her office, at their homes, at a medical center, what are her core terms, what are the most logical geo terms to add to her core terms, what types of content need to be added to the site, is the site currently using hCard or rich snippets or what have you?). There isn't a one-size-fits-all answer to this. The Local SEO has to really examine the nature of the business model, the goals of the client and the needs of the customer to formulate an educated plan of action. You can try making recommendations to your friend that you think will help her, but as you say, Local just isn't your thing. My opinion is that Debi needs to work with a Local SEO so that whatever she invests time in will be part of an overall plan rather than just a stab in the dark. Does this make sense?

2. You raise a very interesting point regarding citations and links. Google's link-related penalties are well documented but in the half a decade I've been doing Local, I have never heard of a citation-related penalty. So, while I wouldn't be worried about citation penalties, I understand the need to find reliable citation. In addition to Whitespark's tool, which I've linked to in my original response, I recommend you look at Myles Anderson's much lauded list of the top 50 citation sources for the USA and the UK, here:

http://searchengineland.com/top-50-citation-sources-for-uk-us-local-businesses-104938

I hope my suggestions are useful, Bob. I know how it can be when you are helping a friend, or even a client. They may need guidance with specific practices that just aren't your area. That's when it's time to refer them out to someone you really trust and who does specialize in the type of consulting or implementation the valued friend of client needs.

[BobGW]

Miriam,

Exactly the kind of response I was hoping for!

We will impliment your suggestions.

A couple of questions:

1. I recommended Debi taking 4 of her pages and optimizing them for 4 different geographic keywords of suburbs/cities near her. I recommended that she add (for example "life coach Pheonix" and "nlp Pheonix" to that page's title, meta description and that page's content one time) with the home page being optimized for her nearest geographic location ("life coach Scottsdale" and "NLP Scottsdale"). How can you improve upon my suggestions, as Local SEO is not my strong suit.

2. I only believe in adding citations (or directories in organic SEO) - because of long term experience-  that the citation site looks like it will be there for the long haul, a permanent citation. I've had too many problems with losing backlinks and the penalties of that and I imagine Google is doing that with citations as well. Provided that I do this which I believe is best, how do we find citations that are there for the long haul?

I'm thankful for your comments Miriam. Take Care,

Bob

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Bob,

How nice of you to help your friend out. Let me give you some ideas here:

1. Debi should add at least 5 photos to her Place Page...preferably 10.

2. Debi should add at least 2 videos to her Place Page (not one, but two, as adding one video may actually make her listing less complete than more so due a mysterious glitch in the system)

3. I'm not liking the description. Think of the Places Description as a sales pitch. What can Debi say about her business that would inspire me to phone her? Has she won awards? Will she help me achieve a specific goal? Is she the most skilled in the area? Does she have certain credentials others lack? Figure out the USP and make that the description. A little more on this...until a year or two ago, the Google Places Quality Guidelines specifically forbid the repetition of any word in the business title or categories, or any geographic term, within the description field. Google removed this from the guidelines a few updates ago, but I have remained suspicious that it may still be factor. Because of this, I don't use my local SEO clients' business names or category phrases in their descriptions. I don't know what Debi's USP is, but I would write a hypothetical description like this:

Voted 'Best In Town' by Desert Living Magazine. Empathetic, skilled coaching. Achieve your goals at affordable rates.

Something like that. Something persuasive.

4. Debi needs to earn reviews. Help her put a plan in place to encourage them.

5. Debi needs to earn citations. Get her listed in all the typical free local business indexes. Consider using a paid citation finding tool like Whitespark's at: <cite>www.whitespark.ca/local-citation-finder/</cite>

6. Remember that the optimization of the Place Page is only a small part of her overall local rankings and visibility. The strength of the website is the most important factor, especially since the Venice update. Nearly all local rankings are now blended in nature (meaning organic seo + local seo is the winning combo). I glanced at Debi's site and think it needs a review by a good local SEO as it it lacking in some basic best Local SEO practices. In your shoes, I would give Debi the above info and then advise her that she should invest in working with a quality Local SEO in improving her website. This will be her smartest move.

Hope these suggestions help, Bob!

Miriam

[blacey]

In general it would be good to put as much information onto Google Places as possible. I would add product images or promotional images as well as their logo.

Ensure you have a website address on your google places page and ask existing customers to write reviews where possible.

Unfortunately because I'm a UK user Google Places isn't showing your listing for the phrase you entered above, probably because I'm not in Arizona (Google Places only works on local searches, I believe)