Google Places

Do you need to maintain your google Places listing? In a word yes, you do. When you have a really great Google Places listing your phone will ring � if it stops ringing check your statistics for some of your keywords and see what has changed in your results. It is not always clear why your rankings change, and we are at the mercy of the mighty Google, at times. Yes, there can be problems with Google�s system, because things seem to be constantly changing with Google Places, as Google improve and tweak their systems. But there can be valid reasons why your listing has changed or dropped in ranking which might not be immediately apparent to you as the business owner. You could have a really good listing and appear on page 1 for some terms, but if Google suddenly spot something that they consider to be amiss with your listing this can quickly change. So what could be wrong � here are my tips on what to check if your listing is not where you wish it to be:-

Problems with your chosen category
Incorrect location marker
Keywords in your description
No reviews
Insufficient other information about your business on the web (aka citations)
Multiple listings for the same address

So you may feel that you have listed your business perfectly, you might even have achieved that coveted page 1 slot, but please do be aware that without regular maintenance this can very quickly change.

Choosing a Category Listing
Many local business owners who try to do their own listings on Google places have some difficulty with choosing the correct categories.

Google make it clear that you should really choose one of their categories for the first of the categories that you list.

This could be a really critical decision when listing your business

So how do you choose this crucial first category?

I would start by typing in what you think is your main business type, into the space for the first category, and as you type Google will start to offer some suggestions to you.

For example if you start to type in dentist you will get the suggestion not only dentist, but also cosmetic dentist, paediatric dentist, dental clinic etc etc. Now if none of these suit your needs, then try changing the main word, until you find something that does suit your needs, and what terms you think people will use when searching for you.

So when you have decided upon your first category you can now select up to 4 more categories, which you can make up for yourself.

There is some debate and conflicting viewpoints about whether you should choose your own categories or whether you should stick to Google�s suggested ones.

If you have done your keyword research properly, and know which words and phrases are being used to find your business, products and services, then it will be easier to make this decision.

You will be able to judge which words and phrases will be best to choose according to how many people really are searching for those terms.

I hope this helps a little in determining your categories for your listing!