Google is taking their street view a step further by now going inside actual businesses. Google has hired professional photographers in select cities to go into businesses and take photos inside the location that will later be displayed on that businesses Google Places page. Businesses can apply for a photo shoot using this form: https://services.google.com/fb/forms/googlemapsbusinessphotos/
~ErikGoogle Maps is in the process of rolling out a solution for businesses that don’t want a street address attached to their listings, namely home-based businesses or those that offer a service to a large geographic area.
~ErikThrough the local business center (LBC), Google allows business owners to update their location and store details that display in the search results. When editing or creating this profile, it’s suggested you include as much information as possible, which is proven to help with rankings. Although name, phone number, and address are important, a business should go well beyond and create a profile with a personal touch. Some of that customization can be done with images, video and specific content about that location.
~Erik
We had our Google Ad Words reps in our offices last week for their ‘state of the search industry’ address, which is always interesting and helpful. Google’s client/agency support has always been miles ahead of Yahoo and MSN, but that’s a topic for another day. In Google’s presentation they had a slide illustrating the increase in long tail keyword usage and the huge decrease in one to two word keywords. At first I didn’t think anything of it as it makes sense and is something we have known from our own data for years, but then I remembered a blog I had read the night before from Matt McGee that describes the exact opposite.
~Erik
Although an advanced tactic, it’s no secret that a business can add their Facebook and Twitter pages to their Google Maps Places Page, but as of yesterday Google is now hyper linking these sites. Previously, Google would display these as a plain text URL and a searcher would have to copy and paste that URL into a browser, which would obviously never happen. Now, a new page is opened when each link is clicked.
~Erik