Tips to Rank High on Google's Place Listing.

Why is it important to claim your business listing on the web especially with Google?  Google is the leading search engine and it is a household word.  Anything we don’t know and want to find out, we say “Google it”.
Claiming your business listing gives you control over how the search engines index you and prevents spammers from hijacking them. It will also improve your search engine rankings and bring you more traffic / customers to your business. Otherwise people can’t find your business on the web.
A few months ago in  October 2010, Google gradually rolled out a new local search results format which combined organic results with information  from Google Places, thereby integrating the two into one combined listing.
Small businesses depending on search engine traffic to thrive and grow, will need to note the key changes that occurred as a result of the new integrated local search results:
1. the map has been  pushed to the right hand side, effectively pushing down sponsored results even further below  the fold,  thus making it  even more important to secure the #1 ranked paid search result.
2. Previously if your business had two mentions on the 1st page of Google (say your home page and your inner page), you will note that you now have only one mention.
3. Searchers will find that this integrated result present a much richer information , including a snapshot of your  website (thanks to Google instant previews), your business address, phone number, selected reviews, and star ratings. Ultimately while this makes information easier to access, it does give the searcher more opportunities to just use Google places  and  completion of the details of this business listing can be a website for the business while a more comprehensive one be set up. 
One of the most telling changes has come about for business owners who had strong organic optimization but poor Google Places optimization, and vice-versa. In our tests and research, the new algorithm closely weights both organic and place page ranking factors, with a higher weighting on prior organic optimization.
This has brought about two key complaints amongst business owners interviewed:
1. Good Organic, but Poor Places Optimization. “I used to have top organic rankings even above local results at times, but now my organic listing has not integrated with my place page listing, forcing my results down the 1st page to around the 7th-9th position.”
2. Poor Organic, but Good Places Optimization. “ I used to have a great ranking in the 7-pack of Google maps results, but since the change I have been pushed back to the 2nd page and beyond.”


Here are some important steps to remedy both situations and gain the newly coveted integrated local search ranking you seek:
1. Build more local links that mention your business name, address, phone number, and URL. These may range from links that are also citations for local search, or they may be unstructured references such as those in guest posts, YouTube videos, and tweets. Aim to get these links from other local sites such as local bloggers, businesses, directories, or your chamber of commerce.
2. Make sure your place page URL matches your website URL exactly. In our research, changing tracking URLs such as domain.com/city which might have been used to separately track maps traffic back to the original domain.com seems to jump-start the integration process.
3. Check the accuracy of your existing citations. Make sure your citations have accurate Name, Address, and Phone number data and ensure that the same is represented on your website. Check to see if your business has fragmented data using the tool at GetListed.org.
4. Make updates to your place page. As simple as this sounds, editing the main areas of your Google Place Page can often jump-start the integration process. In our experience, editing the text areas such as the description of your business seems to have a better effect than editing or adding images and videos.
5. Just because directories don't rank anymore doesn't make them less useful. Since the new integrated results depend on strong organic and local search optimization, getting links from respected local, niche, or industry specific directories is still important. Just take any claims that being included in such as directory will propel you to the top with a grain of salt, as all it takes is a basic listing (often free) to deliver the desired results.


In order to implement these measures, a business has to have a full time qualified internet marketer or hire an internet marketing company that specializes in local online search marketing to provide these service which are very affordable compared to traditional type marketing or advertizing.