A couple weeks ago the Nifty Marketing blog highlighted Google’s offline marketing initiative to engage local business owners with a $100 AdWords offer ($100 offer ends January 31, 2010).

The promotional offer applies to local businesses that have verified their local  listing(s).

“I got a letter from Google today with $100 worth of free advertising.

The letter is being sent out to businesses with claimed LBC listings and starts out saying “You already use Google’s Local Business Center to help customers discover your business online when they search locally on Google or Google Maps.

Then goes on to explain the effectiveness of search advertising.

I have included an image of the letter for your enjoyment.”

Nifty’s article goes on to ask the question, “…why would Google be promoting AdWords to LBC users if they are planning to launch local listing ads any time soon?”

Why Google Is Promoting AdWords To LBC Users

In case you are not familiar with Google’s Local Listing Ads program, here is a screenshot:

The Local Listing Ads platform provides local businesses a turn-key advertising solution for a flat monthly fee.  No bid management, no keyword selection, no geo-targeting–just select your Categories and purchase.

This option will increase the number of Google advertisers and puts to bed the issue of click fraud for small entities with very limited budgets.

Still, there are numerous reasons why AdWords is a viable advertising platform alongside Local Listing Ads:

1.  Ad Inventory

There is a limited amount of ad inventory available for Local Listings Ads.  In my opinion, displaying more than four Local Listing Ads for any given search is just clutter and creates a negative user experience.

Alternatively, replacing the “free” local business results (Google 7-pack) with only paid listings would be problematic for Google.

On another note, piling AdWords on top of Local Listing Ads on top of local business results on top of organic results and additional universal search elements is also a blow to user experience.

I personally believe the AdWords ads should only be presented in the sidebar if Local Listing Ads are present.

2.  Ad Revenue

Ad revenue for the Local Listing Ads program is limited to inventory and flat monthly fees.  Conversely, AdWords is bound by neither.  Engaging LBC users with the AdWords option increases ad revenues.

3. Long Tail Search

As it stands today, Google doesn’t present local business results for long tail searches.  To give you an example, the screenshot below displays side-by-side search results for the keyword sets “dry cleaners Dallas” and “organic dry cleaners Dallas.”

As a result, it is unlikely you will see Local Listing Ads for the search “organic dry cleaners Dallas,”  which clearly conveys local intent.

4.  User Preference

Why not give users options?  The Local Listing Ads simply display local businesses with very little detail.  On the other hand, AdWords offers the advertiser space for marketing copy.  A compelling call to action is often the difference maker to convert competitive keyword sets.

That is my take.  Can you think of additional reasons?

On Friday, local search expert David Mihm announced the launch of GetListed.org University:

“Back in 2008, when Pat Sexton and I were brainstorming the ideas that would eventually turn into GetListed.org, one of our very first long-term goals was to put together a low-cost, non-profit seminar series that would introduce business owners to the world of online marketing.  It pleases us greatly to announce a major step towards that goal: the very first GetListed.org Local University event in Spokane, WA on February 4th.”

David has assembled an all-star cast of local search marketing consultants to present the intensive sessions including Matt McGee, Mike Blumenthal, Mary Bowling, and Ed Reese. 

Here is a look at the Agenda:

Spokane is the first stop and the game plan is to focus on markets a step behind tech leaders San Francisco, New York, and Seattle.

The charter event takes place on February 4th and is sponsored in part by the Google LBC, the Spokane Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, Launchpad Inland Northwest, The Pacific Northwest Inlander, and Spokane’s Bangkok Thai Limousine.

The seminar fee is only $129 (I have seen less impressive seminars range between $275 - $450) but attendees can save $50 today by using the coupon code mihm2010.

This announcement is great news for SMB’s ready to embrace local online marketing strategies.  If you are interested in applying local search marketing best practices to your small business, and getting a competitive edge in your market, this seminar cannot be missed.

There are a number of opportunities but what caught my eye this morning was a screenshot in an article by Aaron Wall, Google’s Youtube Caught Cloaking to Spam Google Users & Increase Ad Revenues.

Aaron makes an important point regarding Google’s lack of ethics–how Google is abusing their universal search results to spam searchers with YouTube results.  He goes on to make the case that Google could repeat this type of behavior with additional acquisitions such as Yelp, stating:

“…as soon as Google gets a market dominant position, you can bet on them locking it down to enhance ad revenues. The secret search relevancy algorithms, AdWords ad quality score, using AdWords rebates to push Google Checkout, always-on search personalization (even when logged out), mystery meat payout rates to AdSense publishing partners, universal search algorithms that allow them to arbitrarily promote their own websites, YouTube cloaking, etc etc etc”

Aaron then points out that Google jumped the gun on Yelp by integrating Yelp reviews in their AdWords ads before the acquisition was finalized:

I was not aware Google was testing this.  It is certainly a great way to leverage the Yelp brand if Google was able to acquire them.  Follow Greg Sterling’s updates on Google-Yelp developments here, here, here, here, and here.

Local business listings on search engines, internet yellow pages (IYP’s), interactive business directories, local business directories, and vertical directories are the foundation of a comprehensive local search marketing campaign for your local business.

Four Reasons To Optimize Your Local Business Listings Now

There are four primary reasons why you need to be proactive and optimize your business listings for local search in multiple, trusted directories.

First, each directory has their own audience/sphere of influence to bring visibility to your local business listings.

Second, many of the listing and category pages of these directories appear in the organic results of search engines and mobile search.

Third, many of the directories listed below publish local business reviews that are displayed in Google local business listings.

Fourth, when Google finds your business listing in a trusted directory through a web crawl, they often cite the web page featuring your business within your Google local business listing, also known as your Place Page.

Here is an example:

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Maybe.  According to Google Trends, Yelp gets more unique daily visitors than SuperPages & Dex combined:

Yellowpages is right behind Yelp and if AT&T Interactive were to act on Greg Sterling’s insight, they could create quite a powerhouse.

Citysearch and SuperPages are neck and neck.  Is the Google Trends data accurate?  This data doesn’t measure flush with the recent TMPDM/comScore study of Local Search Market Share.  Is it apples and oranges?  Do TMP and their study bias IYP’s?  Here’s a look:

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The inspiration for this article emanates from emails and phone calls I have received from a few local businesses.  They want to know how they can remove sponsored listing ads from their Google business listings (Google Place Pages).

While it may be wrong for Google to charge local businesses a fee to remove sponsored ads from their listings (a la Merchant Circle), common good business sense should compel Google to remove the ads from the business listing of any business subscribed to their new Local Listing Ads.

If you’re not familiar with Local Listing Ads, it is a new local online advertising service Google has currently rolled out to the markets of San Diego and San Francisco for testing:

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Prospective customers expect a certain level of professional design, usability, and navigation when they visit local, small business websites.  And then there is content—the information your customers are searching for; the reason they are looking for you online.

The content you present to search engines and prospective customers can make or break opportunities to generate local business online, especially if the prospect has never heard of you before (brand awareness = trust).

The right way to build a small business website, designed to produce local customers, is to present the content your prospective customers are searching for.  I brand this reflexive content.

Through years of keyword research and access to search analytics for well-known brands (with thousands of locations), I can share how people generally search for local businesses.

Reflexive Content

Let’s say you own a chain of dry cleaning stores in Scottsdale, Arizona.   The image below illustrates the pages of website content, and is followed by specific descriptions of each content category listed:

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Last week Peter Krasilovsky at Local Onliner summed up data from the recent TMP/comScore study:

The report notes that Google has overtaken online business directories in both IYP/local searches, where it has a 26 percent share, and in local portal searches, where it has a 45 percent share. But that doesn’t mean that the Yellow Pages industry is on the ropes.

While Yellow Pages usage is down three percent and now comprises 28 percent of local search, Internet Yellow Pages have jumped from 19 percent in 2008 to 21 percent of all searches. In certain categories, such as home services, IYP account for nearly half of all searches.

“By adapting to the world of online search, the Yellow Pages are proving to be a competitive and effective cross-platform reference,” notes the report. But local search remains very low on the totem pole for certain categories.  

In another example of adapting to the world of online search, R.H. Donnelley property Dex has recently been shooting up all over Google local searches.  Dex places advertisements with co-branded landing pages (powered by Dex) on Google for a number of categorical searches for local businesses.

I did see something similar to this on behalf of YellowPages.com last year with local automotive and professional services searches but they seemed to have dropped off.

I don’t know if this is just a short-term, introductory promotion (Google promo?), or if they are truly getting traction with local businesses advertising on Google AdWords–and this is part of the local online advertising mix.

What Caught My Eye

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The Google Local Business Center sent out their third newsletter last Friday.  Instead of pointing out changes to prohibit spam in the Business Listing Quality Guidelines (Mike Blumenthal chart comparison, Matt McGee recap), the newsletter reflects on the features of Google Place Pages:

When Google and Google Maps users click to learn more about your business listing, they’ll now see a new layout, with new information that we think will make it easier for them to learn about - and decide to purchase from - your business.

We’re calling this new feature Place Pages for Google Maps, and it allows people to view your basic business information, ratings, reviews, related maps, nearby transit and even a look at your business on Street View in Google Maps - all in one snap shot view. Previously, users had to click through several tabs to get a good view at everything about your business.

With this enhanced page, we expect even more potential customers to be viewing these pages, so it’s especially important to make sure that your basic information is accurate, and that you’ve added enhanced content like coupons, photos, and hours (hint: it’s free to do all of this). We’ve made a short video featuring the Place Page of Kasa Indian Restaurant in San Francisco, to give you a closer look at what this means to your business.

To make sure your business’ Place Page looks as good as it can, update your content in your account at https://www.google.com/local/add.

Why the new layout?

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While the yellow pages are creating a reputation as the fastest recycled paper product in America, Google is driving the evolution of local business marketing online with a blistering pace of updates to local search, local business listings, and local online advertising in 2009.

Google Displays “Reputation Trend” In Local Business Listings

Inside the Details section of the new Google Maps business listings, also called Google Place Pages, you may see a field called “Reputation Trend.”

Let’s say you’re looking for a hair salon in Seattle:

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The success of your ability to convert desired actions (phone call, registration form submission, pdf download, directions search, coupon download, gift certificate purchase, etc.) and generate local business online will hinge on a handful of factors—here are three:

1.    Creating a professional web presence

2.    Establishing online visibility where your local market searches

3.    Providing reflexive content—the exact information your customers are looking for

However, being seen and heard online by prospective customers will not be enough in the future.  By 2012, the majority of small businesses will be following many of the same local online marketing principles, then what?

What is your competitive edge?

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Get a step-up on your local competitors with a proactive strategy for local online business reviews.

Online interactivity has changed the landscape of local business marketing.  The stage is rapidly moving online and the consumer plays a supporting role.

Local brand marketers and small businesses need to understand and embrace this reality to remain competitive.

Local online business reviews (and ratings) featured on search engines and business directories impact consumer impressions and actions.

Here’s what you need to know to form a proactive strategy:

1. Simply having business reviews on the search engines or interactive directories like Yelp, InsiderPages, Citysearch, Yellowbot, Openlist, Kudzu, CityVoter, JudysBook, SuperPages, Dex Knows, Yellow Book, and Yellow Pages boosts your local search ranking in Yahoo and Google.

 

2. Interactive directories like Yelp allow you to join the online conversation about your business—you can address complaints publicly (and directly) and thank customers privately through the Yelp interface. Yelp is growing faster than the internet yellow pages (IYP’s) and has become the industry model.

 

3. Online reviews inform you about customer experiences and provide actionable business intelligence.

 

4. Leverage raving reviews in web assets like your website or social media profiles. For example, Carpet Dry Cleaning Inc of Raleigh, N.C. has 1,282 customer reviews presented in their Google Maps business listing! How did they do it? On the homepage of their website they actively promote the fact that they are rated #1 on Citysearch with 1,562 online reviews, 1,366 of which are rated Five Stars.

 

5. Offer customers an incentive in the form of a discount for creating a review if they are happy with your service. This tactic tends to generate positive customer reviews due to the quid pro quo nature of the transaction.

 

6. Entice customers to write online reviews by automatically enrolling them in a giveaway or drawing.

 

7. If your Google Maps business listing only has a handful of reviews and they are all negative, encourage loyal customers to write online reviews to dilute the negative-only impression.

 

8. Two important realities to understand about online customer reviews; 1) You can’t remove negative reviews, 2) You might not be able to find out who the review is from.

 

9. Having positive reviews ONLY is a negative. Negative reviews do not hurt a product/service as long as there are also positive reviews associated with it.

 

10. Negative reviews are good for business.

 

11. DO NOT create your own online business reviews. Posting fake reviews of your own business is a quick way to lose your listing and destroy your business reputation online. One New York company was forced to pay $300,000 for fake online reviews.

 

12. A negative business review provides you the opportunity to engage an unsatisfied customer and correct the problem. Turning nasty in response to negative reviews just reflects poorly on your business and does nothing to convince people to trust you above the negative reviewer.

 

13. Encouraging customers to share their experiences in online reviews builds trust and loyalty. Ask your customers for reviews in a follow-up email or online newsletter. Link to your business listing’s review section in a specific directory or search engine listing.

 

14. Politely ask your customers for reviews in company stationary or documentation—including invoices, receipts, and thank you cards. Direct them to a specific URL(s). Use a URL shortener if appropriate.

 

15. Google displays citations from consumer protection websites like Ripoffreport.com within Google Maps’ business listings. If you find your business in this predicament, file a rebuttal on the Rip Off Report article and engage the complainant directly.

 

16. Your company and product/service perception is not what you say it is anymore, but what Google says it is.

 

17. If you suspect a competitor has posted a negative review on Google Maps, encourage loyal customers to simply flag the questionable review as inappropriate, stating the reasons why, and then encourage them to post their own positive experience. What if your ex-wife is posting fictitious reviews?

 

18. Monitor your online reviews by subscribing to Google Alerts or the new reputation management tool by Marchex, featuring “every blurb, blog, comment, critique and glowing review about your business.”

This hilarious video about online customer reviews sums it up (h/t, Get Elastic):

Not every business is as glamorous as Tiffany & Co. or as admirable as Apple. Most businesses require an exceptional commitment to customer service in order to increase market share and out-market local competitors.

Get a step-up on your local competitors with a proactive strategy for local online business reviews.

Greg Sterling has articulated the details of Google’s new program to help local online marketers with a simple, easy to deploy advertising platform.  The new platform is called Local Listing Ads and the offering is currently available in only San Francisco and San Diego.

Read the rest of this entry »

I am seeing a lot of local business listings by brands that are teeming with keyword spam and violate the Google Business Listing Quality Guidelines.

Here is an example of brands that stuff their local business listing with a geographic modifier in order to rank in the Google 10-pack:

Google really needs to address the issue of local business listing spam for all businesses involved.  Currently, this wild west atmosphere puts local business marketers (including local internet marketing consultants and agencies) behind the 8-ball.

Are we to advocate keyword stuffing for clients in order to compete?

Should my business strategy consulting include a recommendation to officially change the name of an insurance client’s entity to something like this: Cheap Auto Insurance Chicago, LLC?  With the accompanying website, CheapAutoInsuranceChicago.com?

If Google doesn’t start addressing the junky, spammy local business listings soon they will lose market share for local search.  Spammy results are the main reason Google became the search engine of choice over Yahoo and especially MSN earlier this decade.

So what is the answer? 

For starters, remove the weighting of relevance currently applied to business names in the algorithm.  Any other ideas?

Many local online marketers and small business owners are seeing this message from the Google Local Business Center:

Account Suspended!
Your Local Business Center account has been suspended. Please see the Business Listing Quality Guidelines for more information.

This appears to be replacing the “System Error” message that previously was used by the Google LBC to notify an account owner that their access had been blocked, and their listing removed.

The most disturbing aspect to the “Account Suspended” status is that the account owner is unable to access their account and correct violations—leaving the account owner to beg for help and guidance on Google’s help forum.

Personally, I believe there are just as many account owners that don’t know that they are doing anything wrong as there are spammers.  When a small business owner that has little or no experience with local search marketing sees all the spammy listings currently published, they just assume that keyword stuffing is the right way to go.

To avoid having your Google Maps local business listing suspended or flagged, adhere to the following standards:

Company/Organization

Google Quality Guidelines:  Represent your business exactly as it appears in the offline world. The name on Google Maps should match the business name, as should the address, phone number and website.  Do not attempt to manipulate search results by adding extraneous keywords into the title field, and do not include phone numbers or URLs in the title along with your proper business name.

Best Practices:  The best practice, at least currently, is to include your core service keywords but not locations or other descriptions in the name of a business listing.  Below is an example:

Anamorphics Graphic Design

Instead of:

Anamorphics Inc, Phoenix Graphic and Web Design

Google Maps relies on community policing, and it is only a matter of time before this listing is reported by a competitor and suspended.   The Google LBC includes a “Description” field to describe your company/organization with keyword-rich copy, offering 200 characters of space.

Business Categories

Google Quality Guidelines:  When entering categories, use only those that directly describe your business.  Do not submit related categories that do not define your business.  For example, a taxi company might properly categorize itself as “Airport Transportation,” but it would be inaccurate to also use the category “Airport.”  Also, please use each category field to enter a single category.  Do not list multiple categories or keywords in one field.

Best Practices:  The best practice is to create specific, accurate, keyword-rich Category descriptions (you can create up to five unique terms or phrases).  Do not use a geographic modifier such as your city or state in the Category fields.  Do not use multiple, unique phrases/keywords in one Category field.

Business Reviews

Google Quality Guidelines:  Don’t spam or post fake reviews intended to boost or lower ratings.

Best Practices:  Posting fake reviews of your own business is a quick way to lose your listing and destroy your business reputation online.  The best practice is to encourage customers to post their positive experiences as they happen.

Do not encourage customers to publish all their reviews on the same day of the year—it appears unnatural to Google (and prospective customers) if all your reviews occurred within a five day window, right?

Here is a particularly egregious example, also implying that handicapped customers receive a discount for being handicapped.  Hmmm…

What if a competitor is publishing negative reviews to your business listing?

Google Quality Guidelines:  The reviews themselves are not created by Google.  If you feel that a particular review of your business is inaccurate, we recommend that you express your concerns to the webmaster of the site on which this review was posted. If you’re concerned about a review that was submitted through Google Maps, click the Flag as inappropriate link found under the review, and submit a report. If the review is in violation of our Google Maps policies, we’ll remove it.

Best Practices:  If you suspect a competitor has posted a negative review, the best practice is to actively encourage your customers to post honest reviews about your business.  This will serve to dilute the effect of the questionable review.

Ideally, you would like to have loyal customers simply flag the questionable review as inappropriate, stating the reasons why, and then going on to post their own positive experience.

Andy at Local SEO Inc. recommends this strategy with the endorsement of Google Support team member Linda Chau on the Google Maps Help Forum.

If the negative review emanates from a business listing in a directory like Yelp, create your free Yelp business account and engage the reviewer publicly and directly.  This is key to joining the online conversation about your business and managing your online reputation.

Engaging unsatisfied customers builds trust within Yelp’s community.  If the Yelp’er then edits their negative review, because you met or exceeded their expectations, it will also impact the accompanying review published in your Google business listing as well.

Multiple Business Listings

Google Quality Guidelines:  Create only one listing for each physical location of your business. Do not create more than one listing for each business location, either in a single account or multiple accounts. Service area businesses, for example, should not create a listing for every town they service. Likewise, law firms or doctors should not create multiple listings to cover all of their specialties.

Best Practices:  Common sense—creating multiple listings will eventually get you suspended.  Below is a typical example.

Local search marketing in Google is a rapidly evolving industry.  Best practices today may be wrong or obsolete tomorrow.  The main thing to remember, especially with regard to Google, is to use common sense.  Do not do anything that is obviously spammy or would appear unnatural.

Read my story about small businesses participating in local cause marketing programs.  This is a great opportunity to out-market your local competitors!

From Sarah Kerkian, Senior Insights Associate at brand strategy and communications agency, Cone:

“American consumers continue to have high expectations of companies to support important causes, even amid the recession, and they are quite supportive of cause marketing.  In fact, Cone’s research found that a full 85 percent say it’s acceptable for a company to involve a cause in its marketing.  Now is not the time to be humble.  It’s the time to build authentic and lasting relationships with important organizations and causes and to engage consumers and employees in your efforts.”

I have had the pleasure of working alongside Cone with a national client and am very impressed with their competencies and insights.  They know how to build value for frequently searched brands.

Download Cone’s PDF, Cause in the Marketplace: Current Trends Spring-Summer 2009.

Here are three tips for small businesses to convert local business online by participating in a cause marketing program:

1. Include the cause’s logo on the home page of your small business website.
2. Link the logo to another page on your website that explains your involvement and how you have helped others participating in the cause.  Include a call to action.
3. Write and submit an online press release announcing your involvement with the cause, how you are specifically helping, and how your customers can participate (if applicable). Don’t forget to link the press release to your small business website, and to the website of the cause marketing program.

Here are some research insights from a Cone 2007 survey of over 1,000 US adults:

• Over 66% of Americans consider a company’s business practices when deciding what to buy.
• 92% state they have a more positive image of a company that supports a cause they care about.
• 87% are likely to switch from one brand to another if quality and pricing is the same, but the other brand is associated with a good cause.
• 30% have recommended a product or company after hearing about a company’s commitment to social issues.
• 22% have used the Internet or other technologies to engage in grassroots activism.
• 66% look at what a company is doing in the community when deciding where to invest.

Earlier this year when Google started displaying local business results for product and service searches that were not location-specific, they dramatically changed the local search game. 

For example, as early as March of 2009, a search for the phrase “dry cleaner” would trigger the Google 10-Pack, featuring local businesses at the very top of Google results—the most sought after real estate in Google.

Google search, “dry cleaner”

Earlier today, online marketer Chris Silver Smith highlighted the effect of Google’s power grab on local search market-share in an article filled with insights entitled “Brave New World For Yellow Pages.”  Utilizing analytical data from Google Trends, Chris reveals a sharp reduction in the number of Google referrals to internet yellow page websites (IYP’s) such as Yellowpages.com and SuperPages.com.

The not-so-subtle change in Google’s focus to recognize local intent in their search results has turned into a gold mine for small businesses with prominent visibility in the local business listings.  This move has also posed the challenge for small business marketers to reach the top of local business results and score a fluid stream of free advertising.

Use these tips from a Google Maps help guide entitled “Creating a great listing” to optimize your free local business listing:

Basic information
When you enter basic information about your business, make sure you include the following:

• Company/Organization: This is the official/registered name of your business.
• Address: Enter your address the same way it would appear on a paper mail envelope.
• Phone number: Make sure to include the area code with your business phone number.
• Website: Make sure to list your authoritative business website as your homepage, since Google uses information from your homepage to help improve search results. The URL you provide can be a maximum of 255 characters.
• Description: Tell users what makes your business special.
• Email address: Let users know how to contact you.

Categories
Categories are ways to classify your business that help Google show your business for the right searches. The Local Business Center will suggest categories that match what you type, but feel free to create your own if you don’t see a category that fits your business. Make sure that the categories you choose are accurate and describe your business well. It’s ok if they’re specific; Google’s search algorithm makes sure that users looking for a general business type, like ‘book stores,’ will see businesses in more specific categories too.

Hours of operation
Let customers know when your business is open.

Payment options
Specify the payment types you accept.

Photos/Videos
Including photos and video adds visual appeal to your listing.

Additional details
Create custom attributes that allow you to include additional information that you’d like customers to know. For example, you can list what brands you carry, or if your business has parking.

The MarketingSherpa Chart of the Week takes a look at how search marketers define events as a conversion.  For small businesses and local internet marketers, tracking conversions are key to measuring the success of your online campaigns and return on investment.

Marketing Sherpa, Chart of the Week

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I was contacted last week by a small business owner in distress about her Google Maps business listing.  She was looking for a “real person” to talk to at Google and eventually stumbled upon my blog while searching for help.

This blog tends to get a lot of traffic for the phrase “google customer service,” and in the last six months the number of emails from small businesses and novice local marketers has skyrocketed, mostly regarding business listings and AdWords issues.

Competition is fierce today for prominent visibility in the Google 10 Pack for local product and service queries, even in towns with a population under 50,000.  This indicates that we are getting closer to that point where the majority of brick and mortar small business owners will become vested in profitable and effective local online marketing strategies.

How important are Google Maps business listings to small service businesses?

Back to the small business owner who contacted me about her Google business listing.  She and her husband run a Boerne, TX locksmith company and have been the trusted name in Boerne for the last twelve years.  They had accidentally removed their business listing and had to re-verify, and now are waiting for the postcard.

In the course of our initial phone discussion she told me that their business listing, when prominently visible in the local business results for targeted keyword sets, accounts for a whopping 85% of new business.  WOW!  Not bad for a free service.

As the competition for prominent visibility has been heating up, so increases the number of business owners and SEO consultants/vendors stuffing “service/product” and “location” keywords into business listing titles.

In fact, domain registrar Network Solutions actively promotes keyword stuffing for it’s enhanced business listing service:

Joel H, a Google support team member, shares the Google Maps stance on stuffing keywords into the listings of business names:

“Google wants you to list your business name as it is used when doing business with the public.  Anything else (keyword stuffing, etc) may be penalized and is, most certainly, frowned upon by both Google and SEO Consultants alike.”

“Ed’s Tire Shop” is a great name, especially if that’s how you operate your business as; no need to fret over “Ed’s Tire Shop, LLC” or “Ed’s Tire Shop, Inc.”

“However, “Ed’s Chicago Tire, Axel and Wheel Shop Located in Chicago” is considered spammy.  While it will indeed work, the benefit will be temporary until it is discovered.”

As such, Google has created a way to report your competitors if you believe that they are violating Google’s quality guidelines for Google Maps, resulting in indefinite listing suspension.

For those with suspended listings, Google does provide a process for reinclusion.

I think the Google Maps business name/keyword stuffing policy is a horribly unresolved mess.  Currently, Google does not police this issue in a uniform and comprehensive manner, and they rely on the community of users to report spammy listings.

Google either needs to review every listing (pushed to them by data providers or submitted by business owners) for violations, or alter the algorithmic filters that attribute relevance to the business name field.

At face value, the way to circumvent this shoddy policy is to change your entity’s legal business name and website address to include your services and location, such as “Billy’s San Francisco Bicycles & Fitness Equipment, llc.”

Best Practices for Business Listing Names in Google Maps

The best practice, at least currently, is to include core service keywords but not locations in the name of a business listing.  For example:

Prestige Dry Cleaners

-rather than-

Prestige Dry Cleaners The Greener Cleaners in Scottsdale Arizona

Local Search Marketer David Mihm emphasized this tactic at SES 2009 San Jose last month.

Tobias Jones isn’t your average small business owner.  When it comes to wearing a lot of hats, this self-proclaimed “urban entrepreneur”  exceeds all expectations.

He is a master of cross-marketing—the promotion of multiple unique products and services simultaneously.

He possesses a profound understanding of the need to serve the customer by acquiescing to their every reasonable request.

What particularly caught my attention about Mr. Jones’ local online marketing savvy was his ability to leverage YouTube video, driving home his unique value proposition whilst creating a vast constituency of existing and prospective customers.

In fact, one of Mr. Jones’ local business videos has now gone viral on YouTube, yielding in excess of one million views. Note the initial call to action—a pleasant overlay featuring his phone number:

Furthermore, Mr. Jones really wows with his ability to meet transparency head on, directly looking into the camera and addressing mistakes in his initial video campaign.

Remember, the key to local online marketing is building trust, especially if you are not a well-known brand:

Mr. Jones’ message resonates with the consumer and he appropriately directs viewers to his website at the close of the video.

Upon review of Mr. Jones’ website, www.jonesgoodassbbqandfootmassage.com, it is clear he understands best practices in these anemic economic times.

One of the first elements brought to one’s attention is the high-impact reference to his generous daily specials, further enticing the prospective customer to act:

Here are some additional YouTube marketing tips for small business.

The majority of small business owners and consumers are active users of local review and ratings websites for various professional and personal reasons, according to a new survey.

Building Trust Is Key

More than 90 percent of small business owners polled and 80 percent of consumers surveyed engage in some kind of activity on review and ratings websites, but respondents revealed significant concerns about the reliability and trustworthiness of current resources.  Building trust is key.

The 2009 Online Ratings Survey was commissioned by LexisNexis and conducted by Lightspeed Research, an independent research firm. The survey of 200 small business owners and consumers was conducted online in April of 2009.

The survey is the first of its kind to examine the general use, attitudes, and experience in using review and ratings sites among small business owners and consumers.

Small Business Customers Use Review Websites - LexisNexis

When you find out, let me know!

Seriously.  Google will not remove a direct competitor’s (or any other) Sponsored Ad in a Google Maps business listing because this is a free service.  Google creates and displays business listings to place advertising within, and generate revenue.

I ran into this request in the Google Maps Help Forum and wanted to share the response from Google Support team member, Cecelia:

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Find out in my iMedia article “Cheap” SEO tricks and how to use them.  Article highlights include:

* Why the traditional thinking on “cheap” no longer applies

* Learn how savvy brands are optimizing their sites for this “cheap” searches

* Read about a fake hotel with more site traffic than real ones

The week of February 16th Google made a dramatic change in how it determines results for branded searches by location.

Earlier this month, changes in the Google algorithm moved in favor of big business across all industries by displaying corporate websites at the top of organic results for geo-targeted, branded searches.

Over 90% of regional and national brands DO NOT optimize pages for cities and states and often cede traffic to direct and indirect competitors.  Instead they use dynamic store locator pages that perform poorly if at all in the organic results of search engines for geo-targeted searches.

Let’s review an example.  Below is a screenshot of the results for the Google search “Physicians Mutual Austin,” taken on February 13th.

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“My mother used to say always leave your heart open… it’s the only way to give and receive love.”

Sound familiar?  Unless you have been living in a cave or have a PHD in DVR programming you couldn’t have missed Kay Jewelers’ highly effective Valentine’s Day campaign over the last few weeks.  Kay Jewelers, a top retail jewelry brand, started with one store in 1916 and has blossomed into a 1,402 store operation in all 50 states and employs more than 21,000 team members.

Kay Jewelers scored big with a sensational Valentine’s Day campaign and their website traffic reflects it.  Thanks in large part to their iconic Open Hearts campaign featuring the stylish and refined Jane Seymour, Hitwise reported a dramatic spike in KayJewelers.com website traffic rankings for the week ending February 7th:

“The Kay Jewelers website moved up 1,606 positions among all websites visited by U.S. Internet users (week ending February 7, 2009) to rank number 1,593 overall. Of the website’s total traffic, 72 percent consisted of new visitors. The websites contributing traffic to Kay Jewelers that increased contribution compared to the previous week were: Yahoo! Mail, eBay and AOL Mail.”

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