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I recently conducted a Digital Marketing Strategies workshop for a group of business owners and every business represented in the room had incomplete or inaccurate Google Places data. What was also interesting was that no businesses in the group had more than 15 reviews posted on Google Places.

Once I showed the business owners how easy it was to fix their profiles and setup a process to get customers to post reviews, they were very thankful. They were not aware of the importance of Google Places but now they do so and they can inspect their listings.

Knowledge is power.

From this experience, I decided to remind all members of this community to run through this checklist and make sure that you are leveraging the full potential of Google Places. Let me know what you found when you looked at your Places page, and share with me if this checklist helped you.  You can send a note to brian@pcgdigitalmarketing.com.

Google Places is Powerful Free Advertising

Google Places is the best free advertising resource for any business to increase online visibility, referral website traffic, and phone calls. Business listings in major metro market will be displayed tens of thousands of times a month!   Despite this opportunity, many business owners have not completed and optimized their Google Place data.

When you login into your Google Places Dashboard account it will tell you what percentage complete your data is currently. Make sure you edit your profile to achieve a 100% complete status.

Google Places Optimization (GPO) however goes further than having your profile data 100% complete.

You also want to optimize the consumer experience and enhance your brand message when consumers read your page. You also want to increase the opportunity to get MORE clicks to your Places Page than local competitors.

Google Places Optimization Checklist

Use this checklist to ensure that you have your Google Places listing optimized.  These tips apply to all businesses, and I have provided some specific advice for car dealers.

1. Enter your business name, address, and phone number so that it matches the primary information associated with the local phone company. Do not use a tracking number unless all professional registries and all business directories are using this number.  For car dealers, your primary local phone number should also be used on your OEM directory listing.
2. Make sure that you enter your website address and test the link. You would be surprised to see how many listings still have http://maps.google.com or the OEM website.
3. Use all five “business category” tags, which include your franchise brand and all services you offer. For example, if you are a Toyota dealer, make sure you pick “Toyota Dealer” as one of your 5 categories.
4. Complete the “Additional Information” section of the profile to include brands of goods that you sell and related services that include: tires, oil change, brakes, transmission service, and of course used cars.
5. Load 10 photos and stay away from photos of your building or your logo. Photos should show happy customers.  For car dealers this means photos of customers taking delivery of a car, your work in the community, OEM awards, or any brand enhancing images. Photos that will make people smile! Photos of your building will not help to engage your audience.
6. Load 5 videos and we recommend that three videos be actual customer testimonials. The remaining two videos can be a welcome to the dealership message and the final video to invite consumers to service their car at your dealership.
7. Set your “Service Area” beyond the default range of a 20-mile radius around your store location. For most dealers the range can be comfortably increased to 50 miles. Dealers near bodies of water can create a custom shape for their service area. If you need help, you can refer to this article I wrote on custom service areas.
8. Setup a process to get your customers to post reviews directly to Google Places. Your goal should be to get at least 30 reviews a month to be posted directly on Google Places. The Google Places App can help you easily achieve this goal. Between sales and service there are hundreds of customers that are completely satisfied with your dealership so ask them!
9. Once your have a strong number of positive reviews on Google Places, consider spending money to advertise your high marks from consumers using . Let your customers speak for you and drive more traffic to your website.

The good news is that once all of these tips are implemented, you can track the increase in impressions, clicks, and activity using Google Places activity reports. So login to your Google Places account and run through this checklist today.

Regional Training Conferences

I’ll be sharing more ways for business owners to leverage free online advertising tools and search optimization strategies at the PCG Pit Stop Conferences scheduled across the US and Canada.  Check out the nearest conference to your business at:  http://www.pcgpitstop.com

In a continuing effort to make Google Places a very important part of online business marketing and advertising, Google is rolling out Google Boost in select markets.  If your business is in any one of these cities, you can start testing Google Boost:

• San Francisco, CA
• Houston, TX
• San Jose, CA
• Seattle, WA
• Wichita, KS
• Charlottesville, VA
• Atlanta, GA
• Chapel Hill, NC
• Orlando, FL
• Washington D.C.
• Boston, MA
• Cross Plains, TX
• Portland, ME

Google Boost and Google Places

Google Boost is a pay-per-click advertising option to showcase your Google Places listing.  One of the main reasons why you would want to use Google Boost is to highlight your outstanding customer review counts.  For example, Acton Toyota in Massachusetts has over 1,000 Google reviews.  If they participated in Google Boost, they could bring their Google Places listing and reviews front and center.

Here is an example Google Boost ad:

The important points to remember is that if you are going to use Google Boost, you better have a strong Internet Reputation Management process in place.  Secondly, you can see that by using Google Tags ($25 a monthly) you can add the yellow marker and message to your Boost ad.

One of the other factors to consider when using Google Boost is the have another set of eyes look at your Google Places listing.  It should fully leverage all the marketing tools that Places offers business owners.

For example, you can load up to four videos on Google Places and I think that at least three of them should be customer testimonial videos.  Business owners should create one “welcome” video that outlines the advantages and benefits of doing business with your company.

Where Do Google Boost Ads Appear?

The Google Boost ads will appear in the normal places that Adwords ad would show but keep in mind that the landing page  can be EITHER  your business Google Places listing or your website.  Also notice that the current number of reviews will be showing in the ad.

There are so many ways that this can be leverages but it has to start with inspecting that your Google Places listing is correct and fully completed.  Second, you need to inspect the reviews that have been written about your company and to implement a strong reputation management process.

If you need help with creating a strong Internet Reputation Management process or if you would like assistance running your Google Adwords or Boost advertising, give us a call today: 732.450.8200.

Have you seen that Google is experimenting with a new Page One SERP design? I saw this today as I searched for Chicago Dealers and I was blown away how much Page One real estate was used for Google Maps listings.

I color coded the SERP in sections to show that:

• Google Adwords was split on top and right shown in pink.
• Two organic listings were displayed above the new maps region, shown in green.
• That 7 spots were taken up with exploded Google Maps listings, shown in red.
• The remainder of the organics were shown under maps which were cut off on the screen capture.

Google Maps Changes SEO Strategies

I don’t see this type of display for all searches and maybe this is a new design for broad commercial searches but this is a game changer.  What do you think?

What I can see is that Google review stars are SIGNIFICANTLY MORE VISIBLE which means that automotive reputation management processes must really be locked down.  What I also see is that if you are not in the top spots for organic search, you will get crushed by this new design and experience significantly less clicks.

What I also would expect is that the Google Ads on the right side will receive less clicks.  There is too much activity front and center that brings the consumers eye to the maps region.  So this will also be a game changer for Adwords bidding.

Google Maps Homework

Get your Google Maps listings updated with photos, videos, coupons, and make sure you have the geo-targeting set correctly.  If this is a look at the future, the more complete and compelling your Google Maps listing is, the more calls and clicks you will receive.

If you need help with Google Maps, call: 732.450.8200.

P.S. Here Another Example For Baltimore Honda Dealers – WOW – Same Issue Here