Google Local Business Results

Google has been adding Local Business Results to the top of search results pages since 2007. On November 17th, 2008, when I typed in "marketing gilbert, az," Away Marketing came up in the number one slot (see below). It is also coming up high for various other search terms, including "marketing az" and "web design gilbert, az" These results are actually pulled from the listings in Google Maps. If you don't know, due to their phone-friendly nature, Google Maps is becoming a large player in the local search industry.

Now that this prime real estate is more available to local companies, the question is how to take advantage of it. While these results may seem arbitrary, remember that nothing with computers is arbitrary. You should also realize that Away Marketing is a relatively new company that has floated to the top in a sea of tough competitors in the advertising field. Also realize that your position on the page could change at the drop of a hat because of something Google does on their end.

Since these results are pulled from Google Maps, the first place to go to optimize your position is Google Local to check out your profile (or create a new one). While Google has not released a definitive explanation for how these rankings are done, we can gather clues based on how our competitors are positioned. All of the clues seem to point to a few common factors:

1. Proximity to city center. The closer your business address is listed to what Google recognizes as the center of the city, the higher you are likely to rank. To identify the Google center, do a search for the name of the city you are targeting in Google Maps. Google Maps will drop an icon right on the center of town.

2. Completeness of profile. The more complete your profile, the more likely you are to get a high rank. Also, since Google searches all local directories, it's a good idea to have very complete, consistent profiles in all the major local directories (do a search for yellow pages, and start filling out profiles). I have noticed that Google tends to favor BBB listings.

3. Reviews. A review or two on Google Maps is likely to give your placement a boost as well. Google also pulls reviews from many other sites, so you may already have reviews there. The way I feel about reviews is that you can almost always use more. Make sure they're good reviews, though. Phony reviews are easy to spot and they ruin the integrity of the review system.

A final note: Google Maps results are becoming more and more visible. Don't get left behind on this one.

Visibility for Local Arizona Service Businesses

If you own a service business in Arizona, you are likely looking for ways to increase your exposure to the public and get more leads. A common question is where to buy ad space to maximize your exposure. One helpful indicator in determing where to buy ad space is usage volume statistics on local directories in Arizona. Interestingly, Dex dominates local searches in Arizona, much more so than in other areas, where Dex is a minor player. Notice in the graph below that Dex (DexKnows.com and Yellow.com) gets about 1/3 of local directory searches:



Note, however, that AOL Yellow Pages uses Yellowpages.com results, so it's bound to get a little more traffic than advertised here, and there are countless other directories that couldn't be included in this survey because their traffic volume was too low, or the information is unavailable for other reasons (Yahoo!, Google, and Mapquest all get a large portion of local search volume that couldn't be measured here).

It's also important to remember that the greater majority of searchers just go to Google and type in what they are looking for. That's why it's important to have a good Google AdWords campaign, and nowadays, it's important to have a really good listing with Google Maps, since Google is running its Maps results at the top of the page for local search queries now.

Graph provided by Google Trends.

"AZ" beats "Arizona"

In my never-ending quest to find the right keywords to get maximum search engine exposure, I noticed an interesting trend: "az" has overtaken "arizona." Back in 2004, the term "arizona" was typed into Google about 150% more often than the keyword "az," meaning that if you had optimized your website and your search ad campaign with the term "arizona," you'd get way more hits. However, earlier in 2008, "AZ" surpassed "Arizona" as the dominant term, and its share continues to increase. Apparently people have realized that the two terms are equal, and they've gone to the more efficient abbreviation "AZ" as they've become more and more proficient with Google searches.

What does this mean for the future of search? I would say that you should definitely focus on "AZ" as a keyword over "Arizona," but continue optimizing for "Arizona" as well. For example, if you are a realtor who is hoping to sell homes in Queen Creek, Arizona, use the term "Queen Creek, AZ." The difference is subtle, but it may get you a few more hits. In all reality, though, Google knows that "AZ" and "Arizona" are pretty much equal, so I wouldn't expect a huge difference. If, however, you are setting up a Google AdWords campaign, make sure you use broad search, or if you use exact search, use both "az" and "arizona."

Information from Google Trends