Google Places Optimisation

You may have noticed that Google Places results are now being ranked higher in many searches than organic results.  The idea is to provide the searcher with businesses that are close to their location.  Google Places is linked with Google Maps and in theory should display results only in the physical location of the area searched for.  Places are also tailored into Googles personalized search and the location selected as an option within Google.

Google Places and SEO

With Googles push to rank Places listings higher than organic listings it is becoming vital in an SEO campaign to utilise this to our advantage.  In theory a company that is based in London for example should never show up for in a search for someone that is looking for services in the Brighton area. A few years ago an SEO company could just put an extra page on a website owned by a company in London and use it to target the Brighton area.  This would then show up in a search for that companies services in the Brighton area.  Even though they are based in London.  This is getting more difficult now with Google Places and the reason Google has done this is to improve their search results for the end user.  In practise it is a good idea as if someone is searching for a service in the Brighton area then they want to find companies that are based in Brighton and not a company based in London that has used SEO on their website to appear in searches for Brighton.

But this doesn’t help companies that are based in London that wish to offer their services in the Brighton area.  Fortunately like everything in the world of search engine optimisation, there is ways around it.  We’ve been studying Google Places for over a year now and have a good handle on how it can be optimised.  We use our experience in this area to help our clients gain visibility for their website across many different areas.

If you would like to find out how we can improve your Google Places rankings and the SEO on your website overall then you can apply for a free SEO report here.