Each facet of Google.com is at all times two steps ahead of its competitors. They’ve established themselves as one of the most valuable worldwide data mines, they’re API technology is yet to be matched by any other competitor, they’re Maps data is so comprehensive that you can even view Area 51 from a bird’s eye view. With Google street view, the fact that you can virtually walk from one place to another online may indicate that augmented reality isn’t so far away after all. It’s ubiquitous and futuristic, and the choke-hold that this technology has over the rest of the market is strengthening. Google Chrome, despite using Apple’s Safari browser technology, has produced some admirable competition amongst the big wigs of browsers. What about Google Apps? This business model has diverted over 25 million businesses away from Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes.

Google Maps is arguably one of Google’s most prized possessions, and biggest seed for growth on the search engine’s path to into local search and mobile search domination. It was only a matter of time before Google started cashing in on one of their most significant works to date. Australia looks to be the guinea pig to test the fiscal outcomes of the new Maps venture. It’s all very exciting, but does this actually signify the end of the online paid directory for anything other than linkbait?

Hotfrog.com.au is Australia’s largest independent online directory, but even Hotfrog makes a vast majority of their revenue from Google AdSense and bases their location data on the Google Maps API. It really is a working example of how Google AdSense, in conjunction with Google Maps, has set up the search engine giant for greater influence. But will sites such as Hotfrog continue to make a profit off Google AdSense through their high amount of site traffic? Unlikely.

Unless Google gives an independent directory a “leg-up” in search, these independent businesses are going to suffer as a result of the trend shift towards Google Maps. Look at TrueLocal and the YellowPages, they’ve got nothing to worry about… But why? You would think that the Yellow Pages would be sweating buckets in the digital age with their phone books having more use now as drink coasters, arm rests and booster seats for short people rather than for locating local businesses. In my optinion, the Yellow Pages have covered their tails well here. They are well networked with Sensis, one of Google’s primary data sources for Australian business information.
TrueLocal on the other hand, despite being networked with Yahoo! Australia’s online search directory, are still closely networked with Google as it appears to favour the business directory as a “trusted source”. You would think that a business directory that is relatively new to the game would suffer, but luckily for them they’ve had the financial prowess of News Ltd. to back their venture.

With Google now planning to sell branded ad-space on Google Maps, the game just got interesting. Businesses, big and small, will now have the incentives to go to Google’s Local Business Directory directly. The implications for the smaller business directory websites here is that unless they can achieve Google’s trust, they will not have the backbone necessary to sell their service as a local business directory. After all, why would a business want to buy into a service that isn’t recognised by the biggest search engine in existence?
Welcome to Google’s inner-circle of local business directories. The game of local search is rapidly becoming the game of Google Maps.

The notion is pretty simple to understand, we see it as a hybrid of the classic Street Directory advertisements with conventional PPC cost schemes where the company will be charged based on an agreed number of impressions. Check out this example that we managed to snap of the National Australia Bank in Sydney:

The branded logos pinpoint the location of the advertisers’ store locations, sort of like the McDonalds logos in the old UBD street directories… Anybody remember these?

The Google product manager mentioned that the idea has been conceived to make map references more useful to users by using the logos that they would see on the street. The intention of this is questionable, seeing as Google already have Maps street view to help users identify their destination before they get there. It could be a way of making the satellite view user friendly, but the agenda seems to be for pure profit in our opinion. The new scheme has been expressed as non-relative to the existing local search listings, rather it will work alongside them. Removal of local search listings would have a devastating impact for SMEs, and although Google don’t plan on neglecting local search, does this new development indicate that they may be planning to cash in on basic business directory listings?

Either way, keep an eye on this development because if successful, it could be redefining Google Maps for local businesses.

Firstly, you’ll need to search for your listing and then claim it as the business owner. Google pulls it’s Australian data from trusted sites such as truelocal.com.au and yellowpages.com.au – if you are already listed on truelocal, then you should already have a listing in existence. The search engine will allow you to ‘claim’ you listing as a business owner, so you can manually edit and optimize your listing with more content.

When you are confirming a listing, you will be prompted through a confirmation process either over the phone, via mobile text or via a mailout. Once you have claimed a listing as a business owner, you can update it whenever you want at your own discretion simply by logging in to the google local business center.

Now, there is a lot of speculation as to what actually affects a Google Maps rank. In order to elucidate any myths or rumours you may have been hearing, let’s take a look at what Google’s Business Listing Quality Guidelines have to say:

“Business Listings in Local Business Center must have correct information about physical, local businesses, as they appear in the real world.”

1. This is the most common ranking factor misconstrued by many users simply wishing to manipulate the Google Maps algorithm in order to achieve a rank in the infamous “top seven” maps listings in the first pages of search. Based on the above, the fact remains:
   Your business must be registered at a physical address. Where Google obtains this data remains undisclosed, but know that they do have the information that indicates to them that a specified address is one registered as a business. This also implies that your business must have a physical mailing address – Google has made it clear that it will no longer accept PO boxes for local business listings.
2. URL – You should be using a URL that best identifies your individual location, this means that your URL should be a unique domain, registered with a business, and reflect your brand name.
3. Phone numbers – Google is extremely stringent in pushing the phone confirmation process. This process involves manual validation by prompting a Google call and subsequently receiving a pin number. To do this, ensure that the number you are providing Google is a land-line and not a switchboard. If you confirm via mobile, be well aware that your personal number will be appearing in public search – this method of confirmation is generally not advised unless you run a mobile business. Do not select the postcard option unless you want to wait 2 weeks to confirm your listing!
4. Customize your listing – A claimed listing goes along way, Google makes it clear that an owner-verified listing, that factors in all of the above, receives a favourable ranking in local search. But this is still only one piece of the pie. You want your Google local business listing to be performing at its peak.
   • Once your listing is owner verified – Go back into the Google local business center, double-check that your listing declares 100% completion. Make sure you have a diverse range of media in your listing: both images and video. Upload the images and video from a location on the web if possible.
   • Check your business categories – everything must be niche relevant, if you’re running a plumbing business, make sure you’re in the “plumbing” category. Pretty basic stuff, but it’s easy to miss.
   • Reviews – Trusted review sites are becoming a quintessential part of Google’s plans for local search development. Don’t know what “trusted Google sites” apply to your business niche? Do some competitor research. Search for your competitors on Google Maps, are they receiving any reviews from external websites? If they are, make sure your business is listed on those websites before confirming your Google listing.

What is local search?

Local search is the digital equivalent of a phone book. There is a major point of difference between local search and the conventional methods of looking up business details – that difference is the heightened level of interaction and convenience. Online local search not only provides you the basic business contact information, it can direct you to the business. In some cases, you may not need to call the business – say for example you’re looking to book in a car service. Rather than calling the mechanic, you could click on their website via the local search listing and make a booking online.

How local search is relative to the conventional phone book

Like the phonebook, online local search works on the notion of you searching through the index based on a keyword relevant to the goods or services you require. In a phonebook, when you locate the category pages you are presented with a compendium of businesses who offer services based on that parent category. Local search is the same, you can search based on a target category (or ‘keyword’, in search lingo) and you are confronted with a detailed list of highly relevant businesses – the difference is, these businesses are listed based on a measurement of your computer’s location, so not only do you get the mechanic you’re looking for, you get a complete list of mechanics in your local area as well as sophisticated directions that can take you from your garage to theirs.

The concept of ‘Farcasting’

What’s cool about local search is that it allows you to ‘farcast’ goods and services in an external region, something you could never achieve with the limitations of a regional ‘white pages’/phone book. Say for example I’m travelling from Sydney to Newcastle on the NSW mid-North coast. I’m arriving at night so I know I’m going to be pretty hungry after a long drive. I feel like having pizza for dinner so all I have to do is search for “Newscastle Pizza” and I can note down the locations of all the pizza restaurants in the region. I can even get directions from the hotel I will be staying at, to the front door of the place that I want to dine. This technique is known as ‘farcasting’ your search

The Power of a Local Search Rank

Google.com has the most comprehensive maps data available on the internet, as a result of their innovation and revolutionary technology, they are listed as the number one maps resource in terms of features and usability. With an almost unfair proportion of the online market-share, ranking in Google Maps should be an imperative part of any local search plan. To find out more on Google Maps ranking factors, check out local search optimisation resources page.

Let’s be blunt here and put it simply… Optimising for Google Maps via the Google Local Business Center will drive you “frickin’ insane”, and from my own personal experience, if you’re looking to set up listings on behalf of multiple brands within a certain time frame – you may as well quit your job now and declare yourself a telemarketer.

So is the end result worth the toil and frustration? The short answer is yes, and the catalyst behind the ever-more important inclusion of Google Maps into your SEO strategy is the shift towards optimising for local search with Google itself placing a stronger emphasis on local search results. But competing for those top spots for target search terms within geo-specific maps listings is turning into a visceral dogfight between local businesses who are still a little bit confused as to what SEO factors actually contribute to the calculation of their maps rankings.

If you’re a business owner (with a basic knowledge of search) trawling cyberspace for a lucid response to Google Maps optimisation, the odds are that you’ll encounter a whole heap of SEO jargon that does nothing but aggrandize a company or its services without giving too much away about the practice itself. Let me be truthful in saying that when I first started applying Google Maps as part of our search strategies, even I found it to be extremely vague… But it’s changed now, and after digging deep around the topic as well as regularly toying around with listing confirmations and errors I feel that my own personal understanding of the Google local business center has grown immeasurably.

Therefore in conjunction with KeyRelevance’s director of optimisation strategies, Chris Silver Smith, and his extremely helpful video explanation at SMX – I bring to you a coherent explanation of how Google local business center calculates your Maps ranking:

1. Proximity – Google maps relates the proximity of your businesses address to the city centre or suburb dictated in your listing. The closer you are to the city centre, the better the ranking based on your geo-relativity. Considering this, it is understandable that Google is trying to better the user experience by refining listings based on the actual proximity of a business to a targeted geographic keyword – and it makes sense, but at the same time, this measure of calculation is inherently flawed… Why? What if you’re one business with services targeting many different cities…? Recent developments have indicated that Google has placed less emphasis on this attribute, but it’s still something you should definitely consider when placing your listings.The ways around it? If your business is multi-faceted and offers services in other locations – look at implementing some SEO practices that can assist in improving your online visibility for geo-targeted keywords: create landing pages, optimise your tags and headings.
   
2. Ratings and Reviews – This one is tricky. Google heightens the performance of your maps listings if you have positive ratings and reviews that bear direct relevance to the quality of your services. I guess you could say that Google local business center has a bit of a QA process in place for Maps that ensures that the listing in the number one spot is giving customers a reliable service that will add value to them as a result of their search.Promoting customer reviews of your service online has always been a grueling task, but nevertheless you should encourage feedback amongst your users to boost your local search authority. The message here…? Make your business as genuinely transparent as possible – not only will Google place more value on your listing, but customers will also appreciate the objective sentiment.
   

   Let it be noted that any unethical manipulation of positive reviews will result in your business being severely penalized by Google search – and by no means do we endorse this!

3. SEO 101 – The organic search authority of your website does directly attribute to the performance of your business listing. Keeping this in mind, all standard SEO measures should be put in place within your website in order to make your domain as search friendly as possible. If you’re unsure about standard practices, check out the official Google search engine starter guide to get you going.
4. Keyword Relevancy – Keywords form the crux of any ranking calculation, so it is only logical that your Google local business listing should include keywords directly relevant to your business niche. If applicable, try to include keywords within the title of the business listing as well as within the business description. For example, if I owned a haggis restaurant in Sydney (god knows why), I’d want to be targeting a competitive keyword within my listing – let’s say “restaurant in Sydney”:
5. Include media within your listing – Make sure you enrich your local business listing with as much media content as possible. This includes images and video. Ideally, you will want to include images and video hosted within Google affiliated websites – this means YouTube for video, and Panoramio for image hosting.

There’s a lot more to a business listing than you originally thought, right…? Definitely, but follow the above practices and you have my personal guarantee that you can’t go wrong!

Just a further note on this article… If you’re looking for quantitative research that examines the positive and negative factors that can attribute to the calculation of a Google Maps ranking then the following article on local search ranking factors is definitely worth checking out.