Google Places is a free listing Google provides all businesses. Since Google is the number one search engine most people use, it’s prime online marketing real-estate. When consumers search for your type of business, your goal is to appear on the first page of Google’s search results. You may say “I have a great website, why do I need Google Places?” Having a well optimized Google Places page will help your business “get found” easily, much more so than with a website alone.  So, go ahead and claim your Google Places page!

Create a Google Account

You need to have a Google Account in order to claim your Place page. You can use this account for all sorts of free Google services too.

Find your business

The first thing you want to do is find your business.

1. Go to Google.com and type in your business name

2. Click … Continue Reading

Google Places is in constant change – what else is new! They continually test new ways to provide specific information about a place in the SERPs (search engine results pages).  This past week all the buzz is Google Places new look. Blog posts from the experts on local search include Mike Blumenthal, Optilocal, Phil Rozek, and many others giving us a better understanding of what’s going on. After performing local searches in Chrome and Internet Explorer, here’s a snapshot of what I’ve been seeing:

A new look in the SERPs

• The infamous red pins are now grey. If you hover your mouse over the grey pins they turn red.
• The map is vertically larger with more pin locations displayed – some little red dots.
• A new panel to the right displays with much more information when you click on the right arrow – Place page photos with more details and

… Continue Reading