Chapter 47
Optimize Google Places
Is your business listed on Google Places?
What's Google Places? Well, if you search for something on Google, quite often you'll find a map at the top of the search results with upside-down red teardrop-shaped icons all over it (labeled A, B, C, etc.). And right beside that map, you'll find seven businesses listed, corresponding to the teardrops. That's Google Places. It's also been referred to as Google Local. The idea is to show relevant businesses that match search queries for local businesses, and also to show exactly where those businesses are located. But what happens if there are more than seven businesses that are relevant? What determines which businesses show up first, second, and third?
Google uses an algorithm to determine the order in which the businesses are listed. The Google Places algorithm is not the same as the algorithm for regular search results but it's an algorithm nonetheless. That means you now have to optimize your business for two Google algorithms, not one. First, you have to optimize your website for placement in regular search results—this is called search engine optimization (SEO), which we covered in Chapters 29, 30, 31 and 32. Second, you have to optimize your business for placement in the Google Places results, which is the subject of this chapter.
We'll start by reviewing the three criteria for the Google Places algorithm that Google has identified publicly: location, relevance, and prominence.
- Location. If the ...
