In the midst of juggling website design, search engine optimization (SEO) and copywriting the way we always do, the folks over at First Wish Solutions has noticed a trend in the changes our search giant Google has been making to its search engine results page (SERP) recently, which I am sure you guys have noticed too. This move is very much in line with Google’s increasing socialization and openness, and is part of a broader effort to obtain updated and fresh local data. For some time now, Google has been moving towards a universal blended search. For our non-techie readers, a universal blended search is one that combines results drawn from Google’s news, videos, images, local and book search engines. Think of it as a mini search engine within a search engine. Here’s a diagram to help you better understand a universal blended search:
Photo credits: Search Engine Land
The recent prevalence of Google Maps on search engine results pages (SERP) has greatly revolutionized and altered the way users search for information online. Now, what does this mean for businesses in Singapore? To start off, I am glad to point out that this definitely spells good news for smaller companies who are seeking to increase their visibility and exposure on the internet landscape. Smaller companies usually tend to be disadvantaged when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), due to their site’s vintage (or rather lack of), or perhaps even the absence of a website, and tend to lose out to the big guys in the industry. However, with the increasing prevalence of Google Maps in search results, the game may well tip in favour of the smaller companies.
Google Maps – A brief history
Let’s start off by first looking at a brief history of Google Maps, and the changes and developments it has undergone. Google Maps was originally launched in Europe in 2005 to provide a more complete search for U.K. users. Below is a timeline detailing the more noteworthy developments and changes that have been made to Google Maps:
-
July 2006: Google started including Google Maps business listings in the form of Local OneBoxes in Google’s search engine results pages (SERP)
-
May 16, 2007: Google unveils universal search results, which included more Map information on SERPs
-
January 22, 2008: Google expanded the Local OneBox which consisted of 3 business listings to include 10 business listings
-
February 20, 2008: Google Maps offered users the choice of refining their searches by either the “User Rating” or “Neighbourhood” option
-
March 18, 2008: Google allows end users to edit current business listings, as well as to add new ones
-
March 19, 2008: Google offers businesses unlimited business category options in the Local Business Center
-
July 15, 2008: Walking directions to a company’s storefront were added to Maps
-
August 4, 2008: “Street View” of a company’s storefront was launched in Japan and Australia
Since then, Google Maps has been further modified from the 10-pack local listing, to the current 7-pack local listings, or “pack of seven”, as the industry fondly refers to them.
Now that you have a rough idea of the history of Google Maps, let’s move on to how it works. When potential customers search Google for information on local businesses, information regarding your company will be drawn out, and displayed in the form of a map. Google Maps listings are usually displayed above the organic web pages and document results, drawing more eyeballs and increasing the visibility of those companies listed. Related business information such as operating hours, contact information, detailed map showing your company’s location, as well as a "Street View" option showing photos of your storefront will also be made accessible to customers.
Have I mentioned that companies do not need to own a website in order for their businesses to be listed on Google Maps? For such companies, Google Maps can also function as a point of contact between customers and the company, by fulfilling the role of a virtual platform and allowing companies to upload relevant business information. Customers can also upload reviews about the company, as well as contact them via Google Maps. All these factors make Google Maps a powerful and comprehensive search tool, and like it or not, it is here to stay.
How to optimize your website for Google Maps
Now that we have established how Google Maps function and how it is increasingly gaining importance in search engine results pages (SERP), here are a few ways to optimize your website so as to take advantage of the increased visibility offered to your business on a golden platter, especially if you are the owner of a small company.
Business Name
What most businesses fail to realize is the importance of the business name when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO). Most businesses these days fail to consider valuable keywords when they come up with a business name, and are instead focused on brainstorming for a creative-sounding name. This has resulted in the names of most businesses rarely containing important keywords that users type into search engines when trying to locate a specific type of business.
Tip #1: Change your business name to include a few of the top keywords that users type into search engines when searching for your type of business in your area. Don’t be mistaken, I am definitely not asking you to change the name of your business here, but you could informally change your business name to include keywords related to your industry on your website and all major online directories. Mentioning the area of business your company specializes in would greatly aid Google in picking up your business listings.
Tip #2: Take it one step further by adding in keywords related to the nature of your business in your Title tags, Meta tags and H1 headings, which will most definitely be picked up by search engine spiders.
Relevant business details
Stating relevant business details such as your company’s address, phone number and operating hours clearly on your site’s homepage also aids in boosting the ranking of your business listing. Such information indicates to Google that your business is legitimate, and not a case of scam or spam.
Tip #3: Have your full business address, phone number and other relevant details required for customers to locate you clearly displayed on your site, as well as in the HTML tags, so that the search engine spiders will be able to pick up and cache such information easily.
Tip #4: Add in location-specific keywords in your Title and Meta tags, as Google Maps is focused on delivering spatial related search results.
Business Categories
This is an important factor that is often overlooked by companies. The business categories that you place your business under can also contribute to your company’s listing on Google Maps. This helps optimize your listing for keywords related to your area of business.
Tip #5: Be wise and choose only the most relevant categories pertaining to your business. Choosing too many business categories may prove ineffective as at the end of the day, Google’s key focus is still on relevancy.
Get listed in other local business directories
Local search engines like Google Maps compile and display their Google Maps results by gathering details about local businesses by crawling and parsing data from other online websites, directories and databases. For example, Google Maps is partnered with Verizon while Yahoo! Local is partnered with AT&T.
Tip #6: Having listings with the local online business directories such as Hot Frog, OLX and Yellow Pages usually has the effect of propelling your listings and placing them higher on the list, translating to greater exposure and website traffic.
Our Adventures in Google Maps Wonderland
To the best of our knowledge, Google not only picks up listings from local business directories, but also from Yahoo Local and Bing Local as well. Recently, we noticed that our company, First Wish Solutions, had completely dropped off the charts on Google Maps. We were puzzled and upon delving further, discovered that the reason for this was because another company had used our phone number as theirs in their business listing. This was picked up by Google, and viewed as duplicates of the same company, under different names. The resultant action was that Google removed our business listing (along with that of the other company’s) from Google Maps as it was considered spam. Imagine our frustration and bewilderment at our listing disappearing when it was no fault of ours!
Instead of wallowing in self pity and indignation, we proceeded to remedy the situation and checked on the existence of the other company. Upon confirmation that there was no such company listed officially, we wrote in to Google to explain the situation at hand and to ask for our listing to be returned to Google Maps, as well as requested for the other company’s listing to be removed. All this may sound terribly simple, but to be honest, the actual process was rather time consuming and tedious. Eventually Google did do as we had requested, and we were glad to see our company’s listing back in the pack of seven. One valuable lesson that we did take away from this incident is that Google places a high level of significance on a company’s phone number, and it is often used as a yardstick of the company’s legitimacy.
I bet you thought that was the end of the story, no? Well, I would have loved to say that that was the end of our adventures (or should I say troubles) in Google Maps Wonderland, but sadly, that was not the end of it. Shortly after Google restored our business listing and removed the other company’s listing from Google Maps, it reverted to status quo. Now, doesn’t that remind you a lot of Alice in Wonderland and her recurring nightmares of strange creatures? I know this is completely off topic, but I really couldn’t help drawing parallels between both scenarios, since I recently caught the movie and loved it! (And I really couldn’t help but notice the serendipity of having watched the movie while taking a break from this predicament).
This time round, we tried calling up Google’s office in Singapore, and got the answering machine instead, which added onto our mounting frustration. According to Google’s help guidelines, neither Google nor us could do anything about it, unless we claimed the business listing as our own and edited the contact number. The community edit feature, i.e. a non business owner editing an error feature, is apparently available in the U.S. but not in Singapore.
Sometimes Google’s decisions and guidelines can be so arbitrary, and they hardly (if not, never) explain their reasoning behind certain actions and decisions. Don’t you think this sounds very much like the Red Queen? (For the benefit of those who haven’t caught the movie yet, the Red Queen is the villain in the tale. Her favourite and only means of settling difficulties, be it big or small, is to go, “Off with their heads!”) That was exactly how we felt when our business listing was removed; it was akin to being given the death sentence without knowing what wrong you did. The whole incident felt frustratingly surreal, and left a bad aftertaste in our mouths.
Despite Google Maps being around for quite some time now, it has only recently been incorporated into Google’s search engine results pages (SERP). As such, the system is not completely without glitches as of now, especially Google Singapore. This is due to the absence of many functions offered by Goggle U.S., which are not available in Singapore as of now. However, to ignore or overlook its increasing importance would be a grave and costly mistake, in view of the increasing prevalence of Google Maps on search engine results pages (SERP). As for our efforts in trying to get a reply from the ever elusive Cheshire Cat-like Google tech support personnel in helping us to remove the other listing with the identical business number, well, that’s another adventure for another day.