Google Places Optimization Tip

Google Places or Google+ Business Page

As of the writing of this post, Google+ Business Pages and Google Places(or is it Google+ Places) are two separate Google services. The later is the one you want to have if you have a physical location and you want people to see your business listing on the Google Map and on mobile devices that use the map search feature. So if you don’t have a Google Places listing, you don’t show up on the map.

Google Places is Free

If you don’t have a listing, go to Google, create a free gmail account. When logged in, search for “Google Places for Business” . Click the link, and sign in and follow the directions. It is pretty self explanatory.

Local/Mobile Optimization Sheet

Before you create your listing, I would subscribe to our mailing list to Download our Google Places Optimization Sheet. The Google Local Info Form is a tool to organize your info, so the process of creating and/or claiming your listing will be streamlined. It is simply a Word Doc you can write on that asks you for all the info that you will need to successfully fill out not only a Google Places listing, but a Bing Local Business Center listing and Yahoo Local listing as well. I have all my Local SEO clients fill one of these out so I have their info on hand, and can just copy and paste. It also prevents having inconsistent info about your business out on the web.

Google Verification By Snail Mail

If after you have entered all the info, and Google does not let you verify by phone, but will only let you verify via snail mail, when you fill out the form, be sure to put “attn: person(Google Local)”.

Google now requires verification of ownership for Google+ Business pages. I have only verified these via snail mail, and the mailer that Google sends for service is way to much like the Google Local verification mailer. Be sure when you do the snail mail verification for Google+ Business pages put attn:person(G+bizpg). This way you won’t accidentally go into the Google Local dashboard and put in the wrong verification pin.

Be patient when waiting for the verification mailer. Don’t click the send mailer button multiple times.

If you have been trying to verify your Google+ business page for a while, but to no avail, I suggest reading this post about claiming your Google Local listing.