A business owner recently asked me how to go about building positive reviews in a way that would "optimize" their Google Maps listing. This is about as provocative a topic as it gets in the Local Search community, I know, but it’s also an unavoidable subject worth addressing. Search marketers ponder the same "How To" [...]

Local and mobile search is being used more frequently by customers on their smart phones and other devices now more than ever.  As local search becomes more and more prevalent, marketers must ask themselves what can they do to incorporate this marketing strategy into their arsenal. According to a recent release by ComScore, nearly 3 [...]

Our goal to create a digital representation of the real world doesn’t just mean a birds’ eye view through Google Earth, or a street-level view through Google Maps. It means providing a local view as well, and tools like Google Places help people across the globe learn about and connect with the places and businesses [...]

If you’ve worked with Google in the past you’ll know just how hard it is to rank for Google Places for many searches. It’s also apparent how important Google Places have become – they often take up the top parts of the page for a search term. So even if you rank first for a [...]

Local business keyword phrases, which always usually include the city and the service that the business is located in and provides, are worth an inordiante amount of money in terms of ranking for them as compared to other types of search terms with the same low number of search queiries per month. There seems to [...]

Many of you use location extensions to automatically show your business address and other information in your ads on Google. These ads also show directions to your business location, along with your address and phone number. By clicking on the directions, potential customers can map the quickest route from their location to your business. We’ve [...]

General tips for local search listings Add your official website URL, business, products, and contact details. Insert the most important keywords on the texts. Take advantage of this online presence by adding corporate logo, photos of your store and/or products along with videos. Check if there are any third party listings of your business or [...]

Back in October we announced Google Boost, a new advertising solution to help local businesses connect with potential customers in their area. Today we are excited to announce that Boost ads can appear on Google Search results pages on Android and iPhone devices. Consumers increasingly use mobile devices to search for products and services, and [...]