Google Local

Google Local, sometimes called Google Places, Google Plus Local, etc., are the listings on the Goolge search results page that contain a little bubble-like flag that has a letter like “A” “B” “C” in it. There are usually between 1 and 7 of these on the first page of almost any search that contains a city name. Example: “Dentist Brooklyn NY.”

Ideally, you, or your clients, will want to be in the “A” slot of the first page of the search results. That’s where the majority of searchers will click. Getting there takes a bit of work, and time, unless you are very lucky. I’m going to cover the methods and secrets for ranking high below.

These are the steps to use to get to the top of Google Local:

1. Have a great website with good on-page and off-page SEO.
2. Claim your business page on Google Local, and fill out all requested information completely and correctly.
3. Sign up for Social Rating sites like Yelp, Citysearch, MerchantCircle, Foursquare, Facebook, etc. and/or choose and purchase a package on UBL.org.
4. Get as many 5 star ratings on as many Social Rating sites as possible.

UBL is a  simple one-stop interface for getting your business listed in as many places as possible, as quickly as possible, without having to do it all yourself.

Whitespark is a citation finder. Use Whitespark to find all your competition’s citations, so that you can match them and beat them by getting even more and better citations.

Using these 2 sites with great on-page and off-page SEO, and lots of high ranking reviews will result in high rankings in the Google local listing. High rankings in Google local listings will mean more people finding and calling your business.