Google Maps - Local Search
Posted by admin in Local Search on May 31st, 2009
Major search engines and directories are now presenting searches with an emphasise on local search results. Google the largest player in search is splitting search results into Local Search Results or Google Maps Results followed by their Generic Search Results.
Generic search results would be what you are probably used to seeing when you perform a search at Google. But times are changing and more people now realise that Google present local search results if an area is appended to the search.
For example a search on “plumbers canberra” performed at www.google.com.au will produce the following results.
You can see it is very important to have your business listed in the Local Search section of the Google search results.
It’s going to become more important has time goes on as people start to use local search extensively on both their home PC’s, laptops and smart phones to locate local businesses.
Listing To Higher Ranking In Local Search
Posted by admin in Directories on May 27th, 2009
Investigations are showing that higher rankings in Google’s local search results can be assisted by having a business listed on other directories that Google judges to be credible. A directories credibilty can be raised if a directory validates it’s listings in a similar way that Google local search or Google Maps do.
Google local search or Google Maps uses one of three methods to authenticate a listing.
- Snail mail to the address of the business.
- A phone call to the phone number entered in the listing. This phone call will deliver a PIN number to be used to authenticate the listing.
- SMS sent to the mobile number entered in the listing. The SMS will contain a PIN number to be used to authenticate a listing.
If a business lists on a business directory that uses similar authentication methods that Google use it’s probably safe to assume Google’s local search algorithm will award some points to the listing if the business details listed match the details listed in Google Maps.
The king of directories that Google would rank highly would be a paid listing in YellowPages, after all if a business pays to be listed (especially at YP rates) there is an excellent chance Google rates them with some high level of credibilty.
So if you want to give your listing a leg up in the rankings look to listing your business in directories that use some form of validation. That’s not to say you shouldn’t list your business in directories that do not validate listings, but it seems logical to assume that Google would judge validated listings as more credible.
Is Your Business Listed on Google Local Search
Due to the implementation of local search Google has changed the way they produce search results. When anyone uses Google to search for a local business, for example “plumbers canberra” by appending canberra to their search words, the searcher is informing Google they are seeking information only on plumbers located in the Canberra area.