We've made it to 400!
In honor of our first Daily Golden Nugget we're going to revisit Google Places today. We've not spoken about it in a while, so it's time to get back to our favorite topic again.
Today's Nugget is a parallel conversation to yesterday's topic. We're going to search for "jewelry stores in Chicago" using Google Maps. Yesterday's discussion was the same search phrase in the regular Google Search.
Navigating our search over to maps.google.com, we see results showing the center of Chicago with Chicago Harbor and Lake Michigan. Google understands that the word "Chicago" is very specific and the results clearly state "jewelry stores near Chicago, IL" even though we didn't type in "IL."
The map shows dozens of little salmon colored dots for many jewelers in the Chicago area. The top ten results are indicated with bubble pointers labeled A through J.
Other than being in Chicago, there's one thing in common between the top 10 listings: They all have a verified Google Places listing. Each of those Places listings include an owner supplied description, store categories, store hours, a website, and even photos.
An account with Google Places will help you get noticed on Google Maps, and it will help your website appear in the SERP listing even if you don't have your address in the footer of every page.
Yesterday we gave you the example of the Rogers & Hollands Jewelers website which doesn't have an address listed anywhere on their site. They didn't show up for local search results in Chicago, even though there are 20 store locations in and around Chicago.
Marchall Pierce & Company is one of the jewelers we see in our Maps in today's Maps example. They have 2 store locations in Chicago. A quick look at their website and we also don't see their address on the footer of every page. They do include their address on the Contact Us page, but nowhere else. They have a verified Google Places listing which seems to have made all the difference for them.
Let's check back in with Rogers & Hollands Jewelers. Our results have them listed as the last store on page 9 of the Maps SERP. Their Google Places listing wasn't owner-verified at the time we wrote this Nugget. All the information on the places page was gathered by Google.
Websites for Marchall Pierce and Rogers & Hollands have a few similar qualities, but it's pretty clear how easily a 2 location jeweler was able to beat a 20 location jeweler simply by setting up their Google Places listing.
Visit http://places.google.com today and set up your own Google Places account. Google Maps can drive visitors directly to your doorstep, literally.
