How To Rank Better in Google Maps-Part2
Mary Bowling | 21 February 2008 |
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Standardize and Build Trust
Another huge factor for ranking well in Google Maps is the Search Engine’s trust in the information they have about you. One measure of trust is if the information they see about your business across the web is standardized.
Standardize Your Business Name
Have you used different names for your business on different websites? If the Superpages list you as Denver Widgets LLC, the Chamber of Commerce has you as The Denver Widget Company and your website says Best Widgets in Denver, how can Google tell if you are one business or three? They will look at clues and often do make the connection. However, it’s much better if you make the connection for them and not leave that to chance.
Standardize Your Business Address
If, when Google crawls the web, they see several different addresses for your business in different places, they get confused about where you really are. Did you move? Are you in the town where you’re PO Box is or somewhere else? Have you used your home address in some places and your office address in others? Again, Google can solve some mysteries, but it may still cause you problems.
How to Standardize the Information About Your Business
As explained in part 1 of this series, you should claim and verify your listing in Google’s Local Business Center. If there are multiple listings in Google Maps for your business, suspend the additional listings. Mike Blumenthal tells you how to do that on his Local Search Blog.
Check your listing in the online version of your local phone book. If this isn’t the information that you want people - and the Search Engines - to see on the web, then change it. Most Internet Yellow Pages make this fairly simple to do.
Go to the websites of the two big aggregators that feed Google Maps and make the information they have about your business uniform. These companies, who compile and distribute information about people and businesses, are the sources that other companies use for data. While it can take several weeks to several months, the updates you make in these places will propagate to the many, many other websites across the web who rely on them for data, including Google Maps.
See where business data comes from for each of the Search Engines withBruce Clay’s Search Engine Relationship Chart - Local Edition.
Here’s where to go to add or update your listings:
Info USA It’s difficult to find out what information they already have about you, so it’s best to fill out the form on this page with what you want them to know.
Geosign makes it impossible to figure out how to update your business info on their website. so email them at info@geosign.com .
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