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Searching for Google Site Page listing is important whether you have an online or offline business.
Google Places, formerly known as Google Maps, is a great way to stay online especially if you are a brick and mortar business without a website. It can provide potential customers, who may be seeking location service, with important and accurate information about your exact location, opening hours, photos, videos, your services and customer updates. It also allows you to give customers additional incentives to use your business in the form of coupons.
The process of claiming your Google listings is very straightforward. Just open a Google Account and once you have done this and logged in you need to go to Business Solutions. Under the ‘Reach New Customers’ section you will see a Google Places link. Clicking on a link will take you to a section where you can request a listing for your business.
Many businesses have sought out their Google Locations list but have not fully utilized it and as a result will have limited value. Simply entering a business name, address, phone number and selecting one type of business category is not enough.
More local search on Google will now return to the first results page which includes Google Map and a list of up to 7 businesses that Google sees relevant to the search query. So, for example, in the event that a customer searches for ‘Plumber in Manchester’ Google will return results that include a list of 7 local plumbers and a map of Manchester and surrounding areas that identify the exact locations of each of the 7 businesses.
As a plumber in Manchester you would like to be seen as one of these 7 business lists. To give you the best opportunity to do so you should make full use of your Google Site List by entering as much information as possible. If you do not organize your list correctly you will not appear in Google Places.
Here are 10 tips to improve Google Site Page listing:
1) Specify the name of your company (it may be helpful to enter the location of your intended location – ie XYZ Plumbing Ltd | Manchester).
2) List the full details of your business address including postal code (if you work from home you may choose to keep your address confidential).
3) Enter your main phone number and additional fax, mobile phone numbers if you have one.
4) Enter your website details (tick the box if you do not have one) and your email address.
5) You now have 200 characters to describe your business. It is very important that you enter keywords here in the description that its customers will be using to search for your business type and location.
6) The next section asks you to specify the stages into which your business falls. This is one area where many businesses fail when they want to list Google properties. There is a one-phase box available at the beginning and you see situations where businesses complete this one-phase box and move on when in fact there are 5 stage boxes that can be completed. You should list your business in a single category such as Google’s suggestions as you type information. For example as you start typing ‘Plumber’ Google will suggest ‘Plumber’ and ‘Plumber’s Merchant’. You can then click on ‘add category’ 4 more times and enter your category keywords based on what people use to search for your type of business including location ” Plumbing Services in Manchester ‘,’ Manchester Heating Engineer ‘etc.
7) Choose whether your business provides services, such as delivering or repairing a home, in local areas. Here you can choose to hide your address if you like and choose to show the location where your business provides distance or specify covered areas using place names or postal codes.
8) Specify your opening hours.
9) List all payment options available to customers.
10) Add business / product images (list as many as you can 10), video (maximum 5) and any additional details about your business ie parking, guarantees, refund policies etc.
As you work by adding information to your list everything you have completed so far appears on the right hand side of the page and percentage. The goal is to complete all sections and get 100% points.
Google has the following help pages to help you along the way – ‘Creating a good listing’, ‘Tips to help users find your business’ and ‘Business Listing Guidelines’.
To improve your listing and give you a better chance of appearing on the map and the list of 7 businesses on Google Page 1 with your search terms you can add coupons and get updates. There is a separate coupon tab from your ‘View Report’ page. Creating online coupons helps to inspire people to visit your site or touch your business. Invite customers to leave updates about your service with their Google Accounts. Getting more updates than your competitors gives you the opportunity to get the best ranked list.
Once you have completed your listing, Google requires you to verify your listing. You can do this by getting a call, text message on your cell phone or by postcard to your business address. It is quick and very easy to confirm by phone or text. You will be given a PIN number that you just entered on your Google Places page.
You can view what your list looks like for potential customers by logging into your account and clicking ‘See your list on Google Maps.’
Google also offers a new ‘Viewing Report’ dashboard that gives you valuable feedback on the value of your appearance (how often users see your business listing as a result of a local search) and actions (how often users have shown interest in your business listing) recorded on your list. This is a very useful information that can be used as part of search engine optimization for your listing and website if you have one.
If your business is not listed there is no better time right now. The online search of a local business will grow in importance and the better you hold your position. It can attract direct, free traffic to your business.
