Rethinking Google Places Ranking Factors

WHY YOU SHOULD RETHINK THOSE GOOGLE PLACES RANKING FCTORS IF YOU'VE BEEN TRYING TO GET YOUR BUSINESS RANKING HIGHER IN GOOGLE'S LOCAL SEARCH RESULTS... ..YOU'VE PROBABLY GONE THROUGH NUMEROUS LISTS OF WHAT YOU SHOULD BE DOING 20 COMMON LOCAL SEARCH RANKING FACTORS 01. Proper category associations 11. Quality/authority of inbound links to domain 02. Physical address in city of search 12. Quantity of native Google Places reviews (w/text) 03. Consistency of structured citations 13. Product/service keyword in business title 04. Quality/authority of structured citations 14. Quantity of citations from locally relevant domains 05. HTML NAP matching place page NAP 15. Proximity of physical location to the point of search 06. Quantity of structured citations 16. Quantity of citations from industy-relevant domians 07. Domian authority of website 17. Local area code on local Plus page 08. Individually owner-verified local plus page 18. City, state in most/all website title tags 09. City, state in Places landing page title 19. Quantity of third-party traditional reviews 10. Proximity of address to centroid 20. Page authority of Places landing page URL HOWEVER, APPLYING LAUNDRY LISTS TO GET YOUR BUSINESS RANKING HIGHER IS NOT EFFICIENT BECAUSE GOOGLE ORGANIZES EACH BUSINESS VERTICAL DIFFERENTLY WHAT WORKS FOR ONE TYPE OF BUSINESS IN ONE LOCATION... Madison Park Apartments www.themadisonpark.com 2.8 ***** 11 Google reviews · Google+ page 2235 W Broadway Anaheim (714) 783-2789 Heritage Village Anaheim for Seniors B 707 W Santa Ana St Anaheim www.hvanaheim.com Google+ page (714) 422-0550 Pacific Palms Apartments of Anaheim www.amcliving.com 3.2 ***** 6 Google reviews THESE BUSINESSES HAVE DONE SOMETHING Park Viridian Apartment Homes www.breproperties.com 2.2 ***** 9 Google reviews RIGHT. ALTHOUGH A FEW CERTAINLY HAVE SOME WORK TO DO WITH The Vineyards Apartment Community www.lyoncommunities.com 3.1 ***** 9 Google reviews THOSE LOW RATINGS. Re/Max Prestige orangecountyhousesearch.com 4.9 ***** 11 Google reviews · Google+ page e 5642 E La Palma Ave #212 Anaheim (714) 660-4008 The Keaty Team at Tarbell Realtors www.kevinkeaty.com Google+ page G 321 S State College Blvd Anaheim (714) 608-3298 >> WILL NOT WORK FOR ANOTHER. yon Мар Greystone Mansion Traffic West Hollywood Sunset Strip Sunset Blvd set Blvd- W Sunset Holmby Hills Beverly Blvd Beve iils W3rd St FBurton Way Wilshire Blyd twood Carthay cle Par W Pico Blvd Century City Claude Pepper Senior W Pico B Hillcres Country Club W Pico Blvd West Los Angel Venice Blvd- If you are a "Beverly Hills real estate agent" a quick look at the top ranking sites shows that they are all located near the center of Beverly Hills. SOMETIMES, IT'S SOMETHING AS OBVIOUS AS THE KEYWORD Google miami luxury real estate The 7 highest ranked businesses for "Miami real estate" averaged 4.71 matching keywords in the domain name and Google Places title. following 23 businesses had an average of 1.60 matching keywords. DON'T KEYWORD STUFF YOUR DOMAIN The However don't keyword stuff your domain and business name because, sooner or later, Google may punish those who use keywords to achieve higher rankings. Include keywords in your domain and/or business name subtely, like this.. True Real Estate - Sarasota 7061 S Tamiami Trail www.truesarasota.com Sarasota 2 Google reviews · Google+ page (941) 918-1956 Sarasota Property Search www.sarasotapropertysearch.com Google+ page B 630 S Orange Ave # 300b Sarasota (941) 914-8006 Rose Bay Real Estate, Inc. www.rosebay.com 3 Google reviews · Google+ page 1815 S Osprey Ave Sarasota (941) 366-7673 Allen Real Estate Services, Inc. - Sarasot... www.buysarasota.com 4 Google reviews D 7131 Curtiss Ave Sarasota (941) 544-6467 Sarasota Association of Realtors www.sarasotarealtors.com 2320 Cattlemen Rd Sarasota (941) 952-3400 Google+ page Tami Cashi www.teamcashi.com Google+ page 100 N Tamiami Trail Sarasota (941) 366-8070 Sarasota Short Sales and Bank Owned E... 630 S Orange Ave #300b Sarasota www.sarasotashortsalesolutions.com 1 Google review (941) 405-3206 See results for sarasota real estate agent on a map » WORKING ON IMPROVING YOUR SITE'S AUTHORITY, WHICH CAN OFTEN BE BEST MEASURED THROUGH A GAUGE LIKE MOZRANK, IS AN IMPORTANT ELEMENT TO SECURING TOP LOCAL SEARCH POSITIONS. Zilbert International Realty www.zilbert.com 1129 5th St Miami Beach Google+ page (305) 726-0100 Kevin Tomlinson - One Sotheby's Internati... 119 Washington Ave #102 www.kevintomlinson.com 4 Google reviews · Google+ page Miami Beach (305) 982-7560 Buy the Beach Realty buybeach.com 1 Google review © 800 W Ave # 6 Miami Beach (305) 531-6929 South Beach Investment Realty www.sbirealty.com 1 Google review 1680 Meridian Ave #102 Miami Beach (305) 538-7170 MiamiDreamRealty.com miamidreamrealty.com 4 Google reviews · Google+ page 1680 Meridian Ave Miami Beach (305) 978-7704 Jon Corso - Coldwell Banker www.floridamoves.com Google+ page 1691 Michigan Ave #530 Miami Beach (305) 672-6300 400 Alton Rd Murano Grande www.sildycervera.com 4 Google reviews Miami Beach (305) 695-0129 See results for miami beach real estate on a map » BELOW ARE THE MOZRANK'S FOR THE SUCCEEDING 33 SITES 5.04 THE AVERAGE MOZRANK OF THE 5.16 TOP 7 RANKED SITES 1.65 4.65 FOR "MIAMI BEACH REAL ESTATE" IS 4.17 4.91 THE AVERAGE 5.15. MOZRANK OF 6.03 2.76 THE SUCCEEDING 1.52 33 SITES IS 2.74. 2.79 4.68 1.24 4.84 3.64 THE MORE QUALITY LINKS YOU 5.49 HAVE, THE HIGHER YOUR MOZRANK 4.74 WILL BE. IF YOU SEE THAT YOUR COMPETITION HAS HIGH MOZRANK, 2.7 3.55 ACQUIRING LINKS SHOULD BE PART 2.76 3.31 OF YOUR LONG-TERM STRATEGY. IF 4.08 YOU WANT TO RANK IN A SHORTER AMOUNT OF TIME, FOCUS ON A KEYWORD IN WHICH MOZRANK ISN'T AS BIGA FACTOR. 5.38 5.19 ASIDE FROM FOCUSING ON THE RANKING FACTOR(S) IN YOUR NICHE, MAKE SURE THAT YOU GET AS MANY POSITIVE REVIEWS AS POSSIBLE. 150 120 90 60 30 Sep 5 Sep 1o Sep 15 Sep 20 Sep 25 Sep 30 Oct 5 Oct 10 Oct 15 Oct 20 Oct 25 Oct 30 Nov 4 Notice the sharp increase in Google Places traffic for a local business around October 25. That is the same day a review was made on a site different from Google+ (merchantcircle.com to be exact) meaning Google is very aware of the reviews you get not just on its own platform, but on other sites as well. YOU'LL WANT TO GET REVIEWS Reviews ON YOUR GOOGLE+ PAGE AND 4.3 ***★★ 24 Google reviews OTHER SITES. TO SEE WHAT THE "OTHER SITES" ARE, SEE More reviews: switchboard.com, insiderpages.com, WHAT WEBSITES YOUR TOP superpages.com, kudzu.com RANKED COMPETITION IS GETTING REVIEWS ON. YOUR GAME PLAN... YOUR KEYWORD SELECTION SHOULD INFLUENCE YOUR GOOGLE PLACES CATEGORIES AS WELL AS YOUR WEBSITE CONTENT AND BUSINESS NAME. Keyword (by relevance) Avg. monthly searches ? STEP 1 "apartment for rent" 170 USE GOOGLE'S KEYWORD PLANNER "real estate agent" 50 TO DECIDE WHAT KEYWORDS YOU WANT SENDING YOU TRAFFIC TO YOUR GOOGLE PLACES PAGE. THE "apartment rental" 30 MORE TRAFFIC, THE BETTER, BUT YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO CONSIDER "apartment in boston" 50 GOING FOR A NICHE KEYWORDS WITHOUT MUCH COMPETITION. "apartment for lease" 10 ANALYZE YOUR COMPETITION TO SEE WHICH OVERLOOKED FACTORS STEP 2 ARE ALLOWING YOUR COMPEITION TO RANK HIGH FOR YOUR CHOSEN SET OF KEYWORDS. AFTER ANALYZING YOUR COMPETITION YOU MAY FIND IT MORE EFFICIENT TO GO AFTERA DIFFERENT SET OF KEYWORDS. MozRank Zilbert International Realty www.zilbert.com A 1129 5th St Miami Beach (305) 726-0100 5.59 Google+ page Kevin Tomlinson - One Sotheby's Internati... www.kevintomlinson.com 4 Google reviews · Google+ page 119 Washington Ave #102 5.34 Miami Beach (305) 982-7560 Buy the Beach Realty buybeach.com 1 Google review 800 W Ave # 6 Miami Beach (305) 531-6929 4.1 South Beach Investment Realty www.sbirealty.com 1 Google review D 1680 Meridian Ave #102 Miami Beach 4.55 (305) 538-7170 MiamiDreamRealty.com miamidreamrealty.com 4 Google reviews · Google+ page 1680 Meridian Ave Miami Beach 5.29 (305) 978-7704 Jon Corso - Coldwell Banker www.floridamoves.com Google+ page 1691 Michigan Ave #530 Miami Beach (305) 672-6300 6.1 G 400 Alton Rd Murano Grande www.sildycervera.com 4 Google reviews 5.1 Miami Beach (305) 695-0129 AS SHOWN EARLIER, “MIAMI BEACH REAL ESTATE" WOULD TAKE A VERY LONG TIME TO GET INTO THE TOP 7 BECAUSE MOZRANK IS A DETERMINING FACTOR IN RANKING IN THIS VERTICAL. UNLIKE OTHER FACTORS, MOZRANK CAN TAKE A VERY LONG TIME TO GET HIGH ENOUGH FOR TOP POSITIONING. RATHER THAN GOING FOR BROAD KEYWORDS LIKE "MIAMI BEACH REAL ESTATE" , GO FOR SOMETHING MORE NICHE LIKE “DOWNTOWN MIAMI CONDO FOR SALE" MozRank Miami Beach Condos for Sale constecrealty.com Google+ page 100 S Pointe Dr 2.38 Miami (305) 864-3100 South Beach Condos for Sale, SBC realty. www.southbeachcondosforsale.com Google+ page 3801 Collins Ave Miami Beach (305) 433-7780 6.03 Condos For Sale In Miami condosforsaleinmiami.com © 888 Biscayne Blvd #3911 Miami (917) 830-8106 3.17 Google+ page MOZRANK ISN'T A BARRIER TO ENTRY FOR "DOWNTOWN MIAMI CONDO FOR SALE" . FOR THIS NICHE, REVIEWS AND BUSINESS NAME ARE MORE IMPORTANT. C NICHE KEYWORDS MAY GIVE YOU LESS TRAFFIC, BUT THEY MAY GIVE YOU MORE SALES IN THE LONG RUN BECAUSE YOUR POTENTIAL CLIENTS SEE YOU AS A SPECIALIST AND NOT A JACK OF ALL TRADES. STEP 3 GET AS MANY REAL REVIEWS AS POSSIBLE Email your current and past clients instructions on how to leave a review for you. Make sure to vary which sites you point your clients to. Look at your top ranking competition to see which sites they are getting reviews from & then follow suit. EXAMPLE 1 GOOGLE "THE LOFT EXCHANGE, INC.' 2 IN THE SEARCH RESULTS, LOOK FOR A LINK TO WRITE A REVIEW The Loft Exchange www.theloftexchange.com/ - The Loft Exchange, Inc. 453 S. Spring Street, Unit 1023. Los Angeles, CA Bed/2 Bath Southfacing Loft For Lease . Biscuit Co. Building. FOR LEASE Google+ page · Be the first to review<- THANK YOU FOR WRITING A REVIEW! THE MORE REVIEWS WE GET, THE MORE CLIENTS WE CAN MAKE HAPPY! ASIDE FROM EMAILING YOUR CURRENT AND PAST CLIENTS, HAND OUT LEAFLETS WHICH TELL THEM EXACTLY HOW TO WRITE A REVIEW. INFOGRAPHIC BROUGHT TO YOU BY IMFRZA The Internet Marketing Agency www.IMFORZA.com SOURCES: http:/moz.com/blog/top-20-local-search-ranking-factors-an-illustrated-guide