The Beauty Lounge and Hair Salon – Pasadena Ca.

I have another client, The Beauty Lounge and Hair Salon  in Pasadena.

If you search “beauty lounge pasadena” as of this writing they are in the number one position on page one.  In fact when I searched today, they were not only the number one listing for beauty lounge, they were the only listing.

In fact, if you just search “beauty Pasadena”  The Beauty Lounge and Hair Salon” still appears in the top position on the first page.

However, the owner of this establishment and rightly so wanted to be optimized for the search phrase, “Hair Salon”.

I will begin the optimization process and update you as I go.  Currently when searching  ”hair salon” the listing is not on the first page.  However, at the bottom of the map listing there is a link to more listings in the Pasadena area, and if you click on that link as of this writing, the Beauty Lounge and Hair Salon is on the first page in the “J” position.  With a little optimization work we should be able to move this listing into the top 7 listings on the first page.

Dr. Claudia Cooke – Alternative Medicine NYC

I’ve decided to present case studies of some of my clients.  I am currently working with Dr. Claudia Cooke to optimize her listing on Google Maps.

Dr. Cooke practices Integrative medicine which is a combination of traditional medicine and alternative medicine.  She wanted to appear in the top ten seven search results for both the keywords integrative medicine and alternative medicine.

I optimized her listing on Google maps and made a few tweaks to her website.  Within a few weeks after my SEO optimization she was scoring high for one of her key words “Integrative Medicine”.  If you search “integrative medicine NYC” (as of this writing) you will see that she is on the first page in the “C” position. More optimization should move her to the top of the search results.

However,  getting good search results placement for “alternative medicine” has been more of a challenge.  She at this time is not in the top ten search results.

I will post my activities and results on this blog.

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How to Request Google to Index Your Website

A client emailed me and said that she created her website more than a week ago and she couldn’t find it in a Google search, even when she searched the exact url.

There are two reasons the website wasn’t findable in a Google search.
(1) It sometimes takes Google a couple of weeks to index a site and make it searchable
(2) Google has to know about the site.

The easiest way to inform Google that a new website exists is to submit the url of your website  to Google.

Google then responds with the info below.

Thank you
Your site URL has been successfully added to our list of URLs to crawl. Please note that we do not add all submitted URLs to our index, and we cannot make any predictions or guarantees about when or if they will appear.

You may also be interested in Google Webmaster Tools, which shows you Google’s view of your site, helps you diagnose problems, and lets you share information with us to help improve your site’s visibility in our search results

Look at the Quality of Video You Could Make

Below is a slide presentation I created with the fantanstic Animoto software.  The photos could just as easily be of your business.  You can make a free 30 second video.  Just register as soon as you get to the site.  If you want a full length video like the one below it is $30 per year.  If you would like my help creating a video email me.  al@mymapinfo.com

Video is the Magic Elixer

One of the ways to power your local listings into the top 7 search results is to add a video to your Google map listings.

And now it is more inexpensive than ever.  You can create a professional grade video for free.  Click on the icon below and register for free.  This allows you to create a 30 second video.  Want a longer video.  It’s only $30 per year.  You really have to check this site out to see how incredible it is.

New Local Center Guidelines From Google

Local Business Center Guidelines

Business Listings in Local Business Center must have correct information about physical, local businesses, as they appear in the real world. Google reserves the right to suspend access to Local Business Center or to other Google Services to individuals or businesses violating these guidelines.

Ownership

• Only business owners or authorized representatives may claim their business listings on Google Maps.

Business Name

• 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 or a description of your business into the business name.
• Do not include phone numbers or URLs in the business name.

Physical Location

• Do not create listings at locations where the business does not physically exist.
• PO Boxes do not count as physical locations.
• Do not create more than one listing for each business location, either in a single account or multiple accounts.
• Businesses that operate in a service area as opposed to a single location should not create a listing for every city they service. Service area businesses should create one listing for the central office of the business only.
• Businesses with special services, such as law firms and doctors, should not create multiple listings to cover all of their specialties.
• The precise address for the business must be provided in place of broad city names or cross-streets.
• A property for rent is not considered a place of business. Please create one listing for the central office that processes the rentals.

URL & Phone

• Provide a phone number that connects to your individual business location as directly as possible. For example, you should provide an individual location phone number in place of a call center.
• Provide one URL that best identifies your individual business location.
• Do not provide phone numbers or URLs that redirect or ‘refer’ users to other landing pages or phone numbers other than those of the actual business.

Custom Attributes & Description

• Use the description and custom attribute fields to include additional information about your listing. This type of content should never appear in your business’s title, address or category fields.
• Please see this page of the LBC User Guide for examples of acceptable custom attributes.

Best Practices

• Use a shared, business email account, if multiple users will be updating your business listing.
• If possible, use an email account with a domain that matches your business URL. For example, if your business website is www.giraffetoys.com, a matching email address would be you@giraffetoys.com.

Contact Us

• Report Spam on Maps.
• Request Reinclusion if your Local Business Center account has been suspended.
• Request Verification for your bulk upload.
• Post in our Help Forum.

For more information about the Local Business Center, please visit the Local Business Center user guide. //

The Best Condensed Blurb on SEO for Websites

This is one of the best condensed blurbs on Search Engine Optimization for websites that I have read.  Many of the techniques carry over into local search optimization.

http://www.seocompany.ca/seo/seo-techniques.html

Correcting Duplicate Listings On Google Maps

From Google

Got Duplicates? Help for Local Business Center users

Thursday, May 7, 2009 | 4:55 PM In some cases, adding listings, claiming listings, and correcting other information on Google Maps can lead to duplicates of your listing appearing in your Local Business Center account. In the Help Forum, we often get questions about how to remove these duplicates. These are the steps that we recommend:

Disclaimer: Before you get started, it’s important to remember that a listing contains information merged from multiple sources. Suspending a duplicate listing could cause the original listing to be removed from Maps, because all sources of information for both the original and the duplicate might be suppressed.

1. Choose the listing that you’d prefer to keep in your account. Make sure that you have all your enhanced content (photos, business hours, description) attached to this listing and this listing only.
2. For duplicates of this listing in your account (the ones you want to remove), remove all enhanced information. Keep only required information, like the business title, address, and onephone number.
3. Submit these changes and verify as necessary.
4. Now, sit tight for a couple of weeks – just for good measure.
5. Delete the duplicates from your account, choosing Remove this listing from my Local Business Center account.

That’s it! Now you should only have one entry to control the details of your business listing. Be patient with updating certain kinds of information, like pictures — they should eventually appear in Maps.

Photo Problems with Bulk Uploads

I was recently working on some business listings that were bulk uploaded.   At first there seemed to be a problem with the photos.  Ten photos were uploaded.  However, when you looked in the LBC only 5 photos were appearing.  They were all in the top row of five.  The role below these photos were filled with small boxes indicating broken links.  My assumption was that the photos weren’t appearing in the business listing and I deleted a few to reload them manually.  But I was wrong.  The photos were showing in the business listing on the web.  The broken