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New To SEO? Start With Google Places for your New Business

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Are you a small business or a new business looking to get you website ranked on google? If so, the best place to start is with Google Place registration. This is super easy and can be done in a matter of minutes. Google Places is really the best way to start your SEO campaign and will help you in your search for SEO dominance. Google Places is really the first port of call in establishing your online SEO presence and if you have not done this before for your business, then the following steps will guide you through this simple process.

How To Create Your Google Places Business Account.
If you are new to this and want to create a Google places listing read on. This can be done by clicking on the ‘business solutions’ button on the front page of Google. From there you can go to the Google maps for business and begin the registration process. They will need your: business name, phone number, business address as well as business category.

There are a few rules to be aware of as Google Places is very strict on how you register your business. For example:

  • Name: this has to be the exact name that your business was registered in. There can be no deviation or creative licence here. Don’t try to add keywords that relate to your business here, as Google will recognise this as spam and you can be barred for this. I have seen situation where businesses have tried to keyword stuff into their business name and have had their listing disappear.
  • Address: Only one address per business name. Forget about trying to have multiple addresses to cover all capital cities as this will be picked up. If you are a local servcie providor use your local suburb address as this will rank very quickly. Plumbers in Bondi Beach will get a higher ranking than plumbers in Sydney.
  • Phone Number: One landline per business, That’s the golden rule.

WHAT NEXT?

After you input all this data, Google will need to verify that you are a real person from a credible business and therefore will need you to enter a pin number. This will either be sent to your mobile phone or via the post to your business address. This is a fool proof way of ensuring that your business address matches your Google places entry. Once you are logged into your Google Places account and have put in your verification code you will be show up on Google places within a few days. It’s as simple as that.

What Do You Do If Your Business Has More Than 1 Location?

If you have more than one physical address and are say a mobile or travelling sales person, Google will still need one physical address from you. Note also, that PO boxes are not considered an address. You actually need to have a physical presence.

The SERP 7 Pack

Once your business is indexed it will show up on Google places. There are 7 places on each page and there are no guarantees that you are on the front page. There is a function to ‘see more places’ button and you might well end up down the list if you are in a competitive area. If you are more localised, chances are you will end up nearer the top, where competition for space is far less.

Other Directories

Let’s all agree that Google Places is really the only place to be for your business location,  but there are other directories that you may also consider. Think, reach local, yellow pages and other online directories. Make sure the information you give is exact and precisely the same across all the directories you register your business on.

If you get stuck with this process or any other information on how to get your website ranking on the search engines please call us here at Hopping Mad Designs on 02 9360 8514.

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