Adding Content to your Google Places Page

Last month I blogged about setting up a Google Places Page, so now that you have done this, where to now?

A little thought needs to be put into the content for your listing. Google has some small restrictions on the content that you may upload so you should understand the Google quality guidelines, or your listing may be suspended or removed. The Google quality guidelines are in place to ensure the legitimacy and quality of local listings.

Here is a summary of the guidelines and a few tips to help you on your way.

Ownership

Google states that only business owners and authorized representatives may verify business listings.

This means the listings should only be verified by you, or a third party representing your business, such as an internet marketing agency.

Business Name

Your business name should be listed exactly how it appears in the real world and your business name should be listed by itself i.e. don’t place keywords, phone numbers or URLs in this section.

Physical Location

Your location should be the physical business location, don't use a PO Box or alternate mailing address.

Having consistent information across all your digital listings is an important factor. If you have a listings on directory sites such as TrueLocal, make sure your information is the same in Google Places, and in all your online listings.

URL & Phone

Provide a URL for your business location; if you have multiple listings try to use a unique URL for each listing. If you only have one website but multiple locations you can setup individual pages on your domain for each business location and use these for your listings. These pages should be dedicated to each business location and should not be used re-direct traffic to your main site. Do not duplicate your website content to other domains in order to create unique business URLs as Google rankings are negatively affected by duplicate content.

Although Google states that you don’t need a website to have Google Places Page, having a page may be a ranking factor that could help boost your listing higher on the search results page, I would highly recommend any business that does not have a website to create one.

Google states that you “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.”

Businesses with lots of sites or branches (say a franchise) will need to have a local phone number for each listing on Google Places. This number can be a mobile phone number or a land-line (land-line is preferable) but avoid 1800 or 1300 numbers, as these are typically national phone numbers Google does not like them to be used for local listings. Once a phone number is linked to a Places Page it cannot be used again, unless the listing is removed, so a direct local phone number at your business location is preferential to all other options.


Other Content

Fill out all available sections of your Places Page if you can. Adding photos, video, and other information can set you apart from your competition.

Custom Attributes & Description

The custom attributes section allows you to add additional information about your business. The information in this section should be useful to your customers, such as if parking is available. Don’t duplicate any of the information that is used in any of the other sections.

Photos

You can currently upload up to 10 photos to your Places Page. These photos can show your business at work or products that you offer. Upload photos that will help attract customers to your site (as long as they are relevent to your business). According to the Google guidelines these images may not be pornographic, offensive, or copyright material. Uploading such images will result in your listing being removed.

Your First Picture

The first picture will appear next to your listing so it is a good place to put your company logo.  Upload this picture first and check how it appears in the listing. This first picture will be thumb-nailed next to your listing in the search results. If the thumbnail image is not scaling correctly next to your listing in the search results you may need to adjust your logo in an image editing program by placing the logo onto a larger background so that the logo falls within the boundaries of the thumbnail.

Upload other relevant photos into the remaining spots and you are good to go.

Use Your Places Page

Using your page also helps to show Google that your listing is legitimate.

Encourage customers to comment on your Places Page in the Reviews section, and you should also reply to your customer reviews. Read the review posting guidelines.

Ad any details of coupons/sales etc to you page as well as giving incentive to customers to visit your website/business, this also helps add legitimacy to your listing with Google. Read the Google Places coupon guidelines.

You should read the Google Places Policies: Quality guidelines and content policy to check all the rules you need to avoid breaking.