Ranking top at local listing (Google)

[JD_Bocson]

Hello everyone.

Can anyone help me in reaching top on the local listings section on Google?

I've looked in to SEO but that seems to be aimed at a website being ranked top and not the local listings so I have turned to you guys/girls hope you don't mind

Whenever I search 'plumber timbuktoo' the same company always comes up top on the local listings section and my company's suffering because we are around 10 places from the top, so by the time a customer works through all the numbers, we're very lucky to receive a call.

If anyone could direct me to a website I could look at or tell me what measures I need to put in place in order to acheive my rank I would be extremely grateful.

Thank you.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

What have you done so far to your listing? Have you got identical name address and telephone number on your listing as your website?

NB By 'identical' I mean just that, not a single digit different, 100% identical to the layout of telephone numbers and postcode, no additional information, 100% identical.

What local citations do you have? Have you optimised your title and content? added optimised images?

What have you done to come out top?

AND, what has the other guy done

 

[JD_Bocson]

Ah a fellow Welshman, nice to see

Well I have my own website which is pretty good. It's not identical, I've changed the address recently because I thought that it worked off location so I used an address which is centre of the town to where I'm working out of. I'll have to get in contact with the gentleman who created the website for me.

As for my listing I've just signed up to it, I wasn't aware it was Google until today. I thought it was intergrated with Yell.com (silly boy see)

I've began to add images of previous jobs to the Google page, also as much information that I can of which will bump me up the page.

I didn't realise until the last week how crucial Google is these days just to make the phone ring.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

I'd love to help you, BUT...

I'm an Osprey and you are the wrong side of the Loughor brdige see

Seriously there are lots you can do. read what I said, and get your address matching yell, and all the other directories. oh and Yell are a delivery partner for Google in as much as they feed their data directly into Google. We have a site that does the same, we upload data directly to Google and they accept it as verified.

 

[JD_Bocson]

Hahaha.. Who said I supported the Scarlets though? If it means gaining another customer I promise to turn up in a Ospreys jersey if you ever need any plumbing services. That's the distance I go for my customers haha.

Ah right I see, I have the Google profile matched with my Yell details but as for the website I will have to change them. Google are sending me a postcard with a code to the address I provided.

I guess I have to stand fast until that code arrives?

 

[Codefixer]

Google are sending me a postcard with a code to the address I provided.

That's the first step.

Nowadays it's called GoogleMyBusiness, and to be honest it's a mess.

Maybe you'll get lucky and once you've verified your listing you'll appear in the search results at the top. Like WelshGuy said there is plenty of online reading material advising you to make sure your profile is 100%, get reviews and so on.

My experience is that the system is too complicated for small businesses and time consuming if it doesn't go right. Amongst other things there are duplicate penalties, businesses have the wrong type of page, support is hard to get hold of, and so on.

 

[JD_Bocson]

I've started to put the companys details on a load of business listing websites using the same details over and over, also using the towns I want to expand to as well. I don't know if that will help but worth a shot I suppose.

I've had a chat with the IT guy who deals with my page and he's told me he will get the mobile site sorted within 2 weeks or so.

Any tips will be welcomed.

Thanks.

 

[LowPrices.uk]

Get your GoogleMyBusiness listing sorted out.

Make a video about your services, and call it "Your Dependable Plumber in [placename]", upload to YouTube.

Create a new page on your website called your-dependable-plumber-in-placename.htm and add this video.

See also:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244719

http://www.webref.eu/search-engine-optimisation.php

Rgds

 

[JD_Bocson]

Get your GoogleMyBusiness listing sorted out.

Make a video about your services, and call it "Your Dependable Plumber in [placename]", upload to YouTube.

Create a new page on your website called your-dependable-plumber-in-placename.htm and add this video.

Rgds

Thanks for the advice. I've created a video using bog standard software off the net with real photos from jobs in recent times. it's the labelling of this video that is critical I'm guessing?

I want to cover three different towns so do I upload the same video three times but with the title of the towns to suit each video?

Thanks again.

 

[JD_Bocson]

I've uploaded my video to YouTube now. Would be grateful if you could watch it and tell me if there's anything I could do to improve the chances of gaining rank in the local listings.

 

[Tom @ Click Miners]

Get some "local" links. If you are based in Hackney try to get link from hackney Juniors Rugby Club and similar sites. Show Google you are in fact local.

Not sure if it was mentioned - wrap up your business name and address with structured data.

 

[magentostore]

As per my experience I would suggest you to create local listing not only google but other sites as well like Yelp, Hotfrog, AOL and other local listing websites.
That will help you to get rank better.