Have you seen the amazing things that Google is doing with Maps? At the risk of sounding like a sycophantic fanboi, these things are amazing!
People are doing many wild and wonderful things with maps – walking tours, undersea tours, embedding photos of their favorite places, even customer lists. Here's ours…
View Top Local Rankings, Vancouver Customer Map in a larger map
We can keep updating this map and loading the html onto the site as our business grows. We can embed pictures and even video from our customers, giving them an SEO benefit. A big benefit!
Here's the link to the Map with photos embedded You can choose to add videos, webcams, even real estate listings to your maps. Click on the link, it's worth a look…
The Thing About Maps Is, People Use Them All The Time Now.
Maps get a lot more traffic than you might suspect. Our customer map is shared online at Google and while I have no idea who will see it or how, I know from other people that it will get traffic. Which is bizarre right? I'm going to keep this updated and make it richer with information. It's very easy to do this.
Here are the instructions from Google Maps.
There are some steps to get the SEO benefit from this though. Using Google's very cool photo service Panoramio is a big part of getting your maps to rank and to add weight and effectiveness to your Local Business Center listing.
Here's How To Get Extra Local SEO Rank Push From Google :
• First put your exterior photos of your business and the area on Panoramio. Sign up for a user account if you don't already have one.
• Do you geotag your photos? If you do, then you're ahead of the game. If not, then when uploading to Panoramio you'll have to go through their steps to geotag them.
• Here's the SEO optimizing part… add the business name to the photo title. Then add the business name, street address, and phone number to the comments. This enables the photo to be associated with your Google Local Business Center listing.
You'll get a warning that the photo needs to be approved. It can take 2-4 weeks (…is this because Panoramio is still in beta?) for these photos to appear in a Google Maps, Local Business Center listing. They will show up in the User Content section at the bottom of the listing.
• Data showing up in the “User Content” area of the Local Business Center listing probably affects ranking. We don't yet know how much. But after all, Google has gone to the trouble of adding this section so I assume that this information is important. It certainly is useful. Your photo will also be included in Google Earth and will appear in general Google Maps image searches, and that might bring more traffic.
To quote noted Local SEO expert, Mike Bluementhal, "If 'citations' are the new link than it appears that georeferences are the new citation."
That means geotags, hcards, .kml files are all worth the effort!
What questions does this raise for you?Filed under Blog, Local Search, SEO Ranking by . 
Changes For Local Search From Google
2 weeks ago Google made a seemingly small change to the Local Business result page that has big implications for local business and local SEO. Where in the past the results page started with a map of the area in question and 10 businesses ‘featured’; they pared that down to show 7 businesses.
Google announced on their blog they had introduced “An improved interface for local information in web search.” They made the font bigger and have added the respective balloon pin from the map next to each business name. Have a look…
New Google Local Result Showing 7 Businesses
I agree that the new listing is less crowded, so it is better and easier to use.
However, the 3 businesses that were “optimized out” are not happy.
Getting a Top Seven Listing
The effect of being listed on the front page of the used to be “Local 10 Pack” – now “Lucky 7 Pack” is an immediate increase in business — the phone rings more, there are more inquiries and more opportunities to get clients. I’ve seen this with my clients many times, like someone suddenly switched on the marketing machine.
However, it’s equally dramatic when someone gets bumped from the pack — the inquiries stop. Thus, 3 local businesses multiplied across many cities, regions and market niches are wondering what the heck just happened and why did the phone stop ringing!
For the “Lucky 7” who are showing in the map (for high traffic and great converting keyword searches), they are getting even more calls. If they keep optimizing and refining their LBC listing and local SEO, this will yield more profit for years to come. It is an unfair advantage.
Ultimately, it just got more competitive and more important to optimize your listing for the Google Local Business Center. As more and more people use local search, especially including on their telephones; and as Google, and Yahoo/Bing put more and more emphasis on local search, these investments will yield an ever increasing return.
This is ample proof of the value of getting professional local seo help to get your business into the top 7; and to keep you there.
Targeted Local Advertising in Testing
Google also announced that they are testing a new local advertising form in San Francisco and San Diego…. a local listing ad. These ads sit just above the local business results and sometimes below the top PPC ads. In the photo, the local listing ads have Blue pins.
Local Listing Ads from San Francisco
You will only see these ads if you are located in San Francisco or San Diego… thanks to Mike Blumenthal for providing these.
These are interesting ads since they are not PPC ads. They are static ads for local business with a physical location; so far, they are display ads focused on getting you to call or visit the business. Depending on price, these might be fabulous value for local business.
Google states that the pricing will be determined by popularity and competition. In other words, they will get the most they can get. From that, I would surmise that for some competitive markets, it will be expensive. Others will be reasonable — it will be market area and search volume dependent.
After the testing period and adjustments, they will roll this out across the world. It will be a worthwhile test to be one of the first companies to try this out in your area and market.
Those awful screams you hear in the distance are from all the different yellow page, local portal, local business aggregator sites, owners/CEO’s. IMO Google just signaled that they can do a better job providing accurate results plus monetize local search better. Combine these ads with the new Place Pages, extensive mapping changes, mobile search refinements, etc., would you bet against them?
As of October 2009, in Vancouver, BC — for many markets the competition is not fierce. However, in all the large urban areas in the US and UK, the competition to get onto the front page of local search results is huge, because the Return On Investment is very strong.
It’s only a matter of time before this moves full force to Vancouver BC. I encourage you to grab more business now! Call us for help optimizing your Local Business Center listing. (604) 638-7212
Participate in the conversation by leaving your comment below.Filed under Blog, Local Search, SEO News by .
Vancouver Local SEO
This is an exciting and challenging time in the advertising/marketing business. The internet has become the only mass media channel that is still growing and expanding it's reach across almost all demographics.
In Canada, as well, we're facing some strange paradoxes in the telecommunications arena. I could get into telecom pricing, competition; internet access pricing, bandwidth, net neutrality; but I'll rant about those things at another time!
Instead, let's explore what's going on online here in comparison to our southern neighbours. In the larger cities, and in the more online savvy competitive markets, getting a number 1 position for your business is becoming difficult.
In some areas and many markets there is, what amounts to, an all out search engine position gold rush happening in the USA. They are playing hard ball with real money to make sure that they are at the top of the local search rankings for their respective business.
Local search optimization has really blossomed in the last 2 years as an important subset of SEO and smart entrepreneurs are using local search as an important way to drive customers to their business.
In Vancouver, well… for an internet/web development hub in North America, we've actually not done a good job in getting the message out to small and medium sized business owners. And it shows when you do a local search.
The listings are dominated in many markets by directories. This is a clear indicator that small business has not caught on to how much business they are leaving on the table by not having an internet marketing strategy.
When we look into the future, say 5 years from now.. what do you think will be the reality? Is there going to be less internet access or more? Is there going to be cheaper web access in more places or less? Will internet capable telephones be more popular?
I think the answers to those questions are self evident. The changes that we will see to easy online access in the next 5 years will be startling. Further, I predict that they will finally mean that businesses without websites will have a very hard time keeping profitable.
Worse (for those who are deaf to this tsunami coming), the businesses that take advantage now and secure top rankings on the search engines and maintain them, will be virtually cemented in place. They will get the lions share of the business.
After all the hype from 10 years ago about how the internet was going to change everything, it is happening now and accelerating around us. The gold rush is starting for local search positions in Vancouver. Are you ready?
Traffic is not the be all and end all of making your website a business producing tool. Does your website convert that traffic into customers using a well designed and systematic conversion process?
Hanson Brothers
Here's great article discussing some pitfalls from one of my favorite local SEO blogs.Is Flat the new Hockey Stick Growth?
Filed under Blog, Local Search by .