Monthly Archives: December 2011

Google Places Marketing

Google Places is the name that Google has given to the location relevant search section of Google that comprises both Google Maps and Google Earth.  Recently, Google has changed their search algorithm in order to put a larger emphasis on the location based searches that Google Places offers.  If Google feels that the searcher is looking for a local place (based on an inclusion of a location such as a zip code or city name) then Google shows a map on the side of the page and local business listings at the top of the search results.

google places marketing nj
Google has placed a larger emphasis on Google Places because it makes searchers much more relevant.  Last year, 30-40% of the searchers were for a specific location.  Googles goal is to be the most relevant search engine.  So in order to meet the needs of its searchers, Google has made local business listings more relevant in their search results.  This is why we have a specific internet marketing service geared towards local internet marketing – because it is so powerful and gets your local business much more online visibility and customers.

The demand for a Google Places listing is growing and if you have a website you need to have a Google Places listing or you will lose out on many potential customers. A Google Places listing includes images, videos, categories, broad description, and coupon area.  Yahoo and Bing are also put an increased emphasis on these location listings.

There are many tricks and tips to get your listing to the top and that is where Local Buzz comes in.  Check out Local Buzz Internet Marketing Services to find out how to get many more customers in your local area.

The 3 Most Important On-Page Search Engine Optimization Techniques

What are the top 3 search engine optimization techniques to get top Google rankings?

Quick Answer: URL, title, snippet (meta description)

Long Answer: Your websites URL doesn’t have to be your company name.  A huge part of SEO is getting your domain name to contain a main keyword. For example, if you are selling shoes and you aren’t a huge company like Steve Madden then your URL should be something like www.buyshoesonline.com.  Steve Madden already has name recognition and therefore does not need to include shoes into their URL. By having “shoes” in the domain name, you are letting Google know that your search should be ranked higher when a customer searches for anything containing shoes. This gives you a HUGE advantage in the search engine wars.

Another thing to keep in mind: When Google search results come up, what do you see? You see the title of a website, its URL, and a snippet (small blurb that describes the website.) It makes sense that these are the items that Google puts the most emphasis on in their rankings.

How to change the Google snippet?

Include the following in your <head> portion of your website coding.

<meta name=”description” content=”Insert 2 sentences with keywords that you want your customers to find you for.” />
Summary:
Optimize your URL
Optimize your <title> tag
Optimize your snippet
These 3 sections are the most important for on-site SEO. There are several other things that you can do however these are the most important Search Engine Optimization techniques.