Improving Your Google Local Business Placement – Don’t Be Fleeced

I have just this week had a prospect tell me that she had paid a firm $1,200 to move up organically in the Google Local Business listings. Wow, that’s a lot of money to spend on moving up in results when there is really very little information available on the Web on how to garner better placement in Google Local Business Listings.

Let me back track a bit. First, what I am speaking about are the listings that appear on Google Maps as the push pin locations on the maps and then the listings of businesses that appear next to a map for some searches at the top of the organic results on Google.com. It used to be that these listings were called simply Google Maps Listings, but now Google calls them Google Local Businesses.

There is very little information on the Web about how to improve your placement on this Google service. In fact my own article that is nearly two years old is about the only real information that pops up on how to improve placement. That being said, it is important to know that Google Local Business is undergoing a major overhaul. Google has purchased a new system by buying out a company and has been introducing new aspects of the Local Business Center in the past several months. One of the newest introductions was Local Business Favorites Places. For this service Google selects you based on reviews and reader feedback.

Of additional interest is that Google tried to buy Yelp! and was rebuffed. Yelp! reviews have fueled some of the reviews listed on Google Local Business/Google Maps. I would imagine that as part of the overhaul that Google will roll out its own business review service now that the deal with Yelp! has fallen through.

I had two clients just this last week ask me to be a paid consultant for improvement in Google Local Business. Both I told they should not spend money until it is clear what is needed to garner placement. Too many changes are being enacted on Google Local and there is literally no information available on what to do to improve your listing placement. In fact much has been said that it is not about the quality of your listing but rather your proximity to the center of the city that is being searched. Others swear that it is the number of reviews on Yelp!

I would recommend that if a firm states they can improve your Local Business Center placement that you nail them down to the details before you get separated from your cash. I would make sure to ask for recent client results from the last two months as Google appears to still be tweaking results based on some unknown formula. Make sure you get value based on the current changes that impact placement not based on what used to work.