Google Places

Businesses and consumers have started to use online review sites like Angie’s List and Yelp more and more over the past few years. Customers use these sites to learn about the experiences of other customers as well as leave their own experiences, and businesses are realizing that these sites provide them with a way to engage with their customers and learn more about their business is perceived.

But online review sites can do more for business than just teach them how their customers feel. They can also improve local search engine optimization (SEO).

Local SEO refers to increasing online visibility through search engines based on specific geographic locations. For example, your company would want to have strong local SEO for the towns or cities where your physical business or franchises lie.

If you’re interested in starting a local SEO strategy or improving on your existing one, here’s how customer reviews can help.

Welcome to Venice

In 2012, Google changed the way that they generate organic search results using the Venice Update. With this new feature, localized signals were used to determine what websites appear in a search engine results page (SERP).

Before the Venice Update, if you were looking for a car dealer in Chicago, Illinois, you would typically type “Chicago Illinois car dealerships” into a search query in order to provide you with results in your area. With the Venice Update, you no longer have to do that. Instead, by using localized signals, Google can determine exactly where a user is located and use that information to provide them with results in their specific area. So if you’re located in Chicago and want to find local car dealerships, all you have to do is type “car dealerships” into the search query and your results will generate those found in Chicago.

How do online review sites help?

When your business page is claimed on online review sites, basic information about your business, including your location, is included. Search engines crawl through these sites looking for keywords and geographic triggers, such as your location, in order to provide the best search results for web users. By using your location information and keywords from your online review sites, these pages will be the first to appear in a user’s search query for your type of business in your specific area.

Along with the basic information provided from your business, the reviews and frequency of reviews on your site also help your local SEO. The more reviews your company receives on these pages, the more often search engines will visit your page and crawl through it looking for new keywords. This can help improve your local SEO by showing that your page is visited frequently, which helps your overall SEO ranking.

Since Google is a popular search engine, it’s important that you claim your business on Google+ Local, which is the primary online review site used by Google’s search engines. But don’t overlook other review sites, as Bing and other search engines, and even Google, will also use these other sites for local SEO rankings.

If you want to focus on gaining visibility in your area and reaching local customers that are interested in your products and/or services, it’s important that you use online review sites to help.

Steven Peters is a reviews tracker from Dallas. He specializes in online review management and often gives tips to others via blogging.

Always check your listing for missing information and/or accuracy

When registering with Google Places it is essential to correctly enter the location of your business on the map in order to facilitate the search performed by the users. Customers should know what your business is about, where it is located, and exactly at what hours it operates. Google uses the exact information that is posted on your official website. This means that by listing your official business (website) you have an extra chance of getting a better listing in the search results.

Images and videos have become an integral part of business promotion on the Internet. These are highly descriptive elements that can improve your listing. Google’s crawlers are part of a workforce that knows exactly how to make the best out of relevant media and accurate descriptions. Google offers a Starter Guide that can help you learn more about how crawlers index a website. Potential customers can also choose to view satellite images with the location of your business via Google Maps. ‘Street View’ allows a more detailed 360 degree view of your exact location.

Choosing the right categories for your business

Picking a relevant category for the business helps Google direct the most relevant queries to you. There is the option of entering your own category, but occasionally, if you are to be successful in selecting the right one, the defaults (suggestions) may offer a better choice. This though, shouldn’t deter you from coming up with your own categories as long as the description is accurate for the type of business you want to promote.

Having a powerful Web presence

Google is an information ‘behemoth’. This means that the popularity of your website on the Web is linked to your successful use of third-party sites to promote your business. Satisfied customers, and not only, must be encouraged to write reviews about your business directly on the Place Page. Another great way of improving your listing is to have reviews written on websites such as Yelp, Insider Pages, Yahoo Local, Dealer Rater, Trip Advisor, etc. This way your website will have a
strengthened ‘backbone’ with the sole condition of linking to ‘organic’ reviews, not spam or fake ones. Also, a great way of eliciting people’s interest in your business is to respond to such comments, further strengthening the online presence in which the reviews play a key role. Be sure to check back once in a while to keep track of what people think of your business.

Keywords make a huge difference

You are free to add SEO keywords to your Google Places information. This would definitely improve the ranking of the business you wish to promote. By giving Google a ‘helping hand’ in creating relevant associations in searches, keywords become an added bonus to your Place Page. A word of caution when dealing with keywords: be careful not to use ‘stuffing’ by adding irrelevant search criterions. Also, if you already have photos or videos on your website, that doesn’t mean you can’t add them to your listing too. Feel free to post comments or update the Page with new videos at your convenience.

Matt Fuller from Website Design Hotline is today’s author. Matt specializes in small business web design for local small businesses in Australia.