Monthly archive: November, 2011

How to Verify Your Business or Brand’s Google Plus Page

November 18, 2011, by No comments yet

By: Ryan Miller

Earlier this week, I mentioned that you need to claim your local business Google Plus Page to maintain brand ownership, as there is currently no security measure in place in which you must prove you are the authorized admin of a Plus Page.  However, there is a process currently in place to create a verified link between your website and your Plus Page to prove ownership.  While this is no substitute for the verification system currently established on Google Places, it is a first step toward retaining control of your brand, business and message.

To start the link verification process, login to your Google account, go to the Plus Page you want to verify and click the edit button for the About section.  Once you’ve done that, click the recommended link option on the righthand side and add your website’s link.

Next, you’ll need add a link on your website pointing back to your Plus Page that Google can verify.  To begin that process, go to the Google Badge configuration page and in the text box add the unique number for your Plus Page.  This is the long string of numbers in your Plus Page URL. 

Once you add the number, you’ll be given an option for the icon or badge you would like to add to your website.  You can also forego this badge, if you simply want to create a behind-the-scenes link between your website and Plus Page, though it is recommended that you add a user-facing link to your promote your page.

Once you’ve selected the icon or badge, and made any textual customization changes, you will need to update your website.  At the bottom of the badge configuration page you’ll see some HTML that you will have to add to your website:

As directed in the code box, add the first section to your website’s Header and the second section of coding into the body of your website with your other social media link icons. 

This will now establish a link connection between your Plus Page and your website. 

For some high profile brands and businesses Google will, at their discretion and manual selection, add a checkmark image next to the brand name to signify that the account is verified.  You can read more about this verification checkmark on Google’s Support page.

Verifying your new Plus Page is quick and relatively easy, and will help ensure that you keep control of your brand’s message.  Additionally, it will provide a ranking signal to Google and Google+ to show your brand higher in the search results if users are looking for your business and qualify you for Direct Connect, which will allow users to reach your business directly by adding a “+” before the brand name when doing a search.

Ryan Miller is the SEO Manager for Advance Digital, and provides best practice techniques for improving your online business visibility. You can follow him on Twitter @cromiller and add him to your circles on Google+.

Claiming Google+ Pages for Local Businesses: The How and Why

November 15, 2011, by No comments yet

By: Ryan Miller

Yesterday, we walked you through how to build a new Google+ Page. Today, we’re going to show you the specifics of how to claim a Google+ Page for your local business and more importantly why it is crucial that you do this.

Claiming Your Page

Before you are able to create and/or claim any Google+ Pages, you’ll need to have a personal Google+ account setup.  This account (for now) will be the sole account that will have admin rights to your local business’ Google+ Page so choose the account wisely.  Once you have your personal profile setup, head over to Create a Page.

Next, choose the Local Business or Place option on the left hand side:

Next, add in your local telephone number for the physical location you want to claim.

If your business already exists within Google Places, you should see your business listing pop up.  Select the location you want to claim, and from here you’ll be able to confirm some your business information.

If you business is not listed yet, you will be prompted to add the correct business information  

In addition to adding or verifying your address (which, if you have claimed your Google Places Profile already, should be accurate) you’ll be able to select a Main Category for your business and the appropriate audience for your business.

The current Main Categories your business can be added to are:

  • Home and Construction
  • Education and Culture
  • Entertainment and Recreation
  • Banking and Finance
  • Food
  • Gas and Automotive
  • Health and Beauty
  • Insurance
  • Lodging
  • Manufacturing, Mining, Utilities, Agriculture
  • Professional Services
  • Shipping and Mailing
  • Stores and Shopping
  • Storage

The audience categories are:

  • Any Google+ User
  • Users 18 and Older
  • Users 21 and Older
  • Alcohol Related

At the moment, only businesses that are appropriate for any Google+ user can create a page.  A message alerting you that “our product is not available for you yet. Please come back later” will greet you should you choose any of the other options.

Finally, you’ll be prompted to customize your page with a profile photo.  This should be your business logo or picture of your physical location, something that will be instantly recognizable to your customers. 

With your Google+ Page now officially created, you’ll want to edit the page to include details about your business such as your main website URL, store hours, a summary of your services, photos and videos.  This can all be accomplished by going to the “About” tab on your live profile and clicking the edit button.You are now ready to start sending out the URL for your profile out to current and potential customers. 

Why Should You Claim this Page?

You may have noticed during the walk through above that you never had to verify that you are in fact the owner of the business.  Unlike Google Places, there is no process for verification via telephone or postcard to prove that you are who you say you are.  The only thing security during the process is a checkbox saying that you agree to the Pages Terms and are authorized to create the page.

As an exmple, I’ll return to my favorite Thai restaurant, Pad Thai and claim their Google+ Page: 

In about 30 seconds, I was the proud admin of a business’ Google+ Page that I had no authority to control.  That is how long it could take for you to lose control of your business in Google+. This is not a scare tactic, but an honest example of the current lack of security in Google+ and why it is so vital for you as a business owner to own your social profiles. (…and don’t worry, I deleted my ownership of the Pad Thai page right after taking the screenshot.)

So even if you do not have the time or resources to actively manage and update a Google+ Page at the moment, take the time to  at least claim the listing and optimize it with your business information.  This way your business online identy will be protected and you’ll have one more option for web users to find your business.

Ryan Miller is the SEO Manager for Advance Digital, and uses his favorite businesses to show you how to improve yours. You can follow him on Twitter @cromiller and add him to your circles on Google+.

How to Set Up a Google+ Page

November 14, 2011, by No comments yet

Google recently launched their Google+ pages where businesses will be able to set up a page for their brand. As for now there is no option to have multiple admins for one page, Google+ only offers one admin (the creator of the page) access.

 Once you have set up your gmail account, on your home screen at the bottom right there will be a link to begin creating Google+ pages or you can click directly to https://plus.google.com/pages/create  

1. After clicking this link you will be taken to the category page, choose the correct category for your page. Add company name, website, agree to the page terms and click create! 

2. Customize you page’s public profile by adding a small tagline and a profile photo.

3.Here you can share your page to anyone who are already in your circles

4. After sharing your page to people in your circles you are taken to your home page where you can share and view what other people are sharing. You can also add a Google+ badge to your website which will help increase visibility. Google also provides a link to your page to share with your friends.

5.  After completing your profile go to your page and click about, this is where you will be able edit your information and add a description of who you are. You can also add photos and videos to add a little more depth to your page.


 

After setting up your Google+ page be sure to update it frequently, share content and promotions pertaining to your industry. This is just the beginning of what Google+ has in store for business pages, staying update to what they will be implementing in the future is important.

 

David Aziz is the Social Media Analyst for Advance Internet. You can follow him on Twitter@DaveAzizand see what he’s sharing using the +1 Button by adding him to your circles on Google+.


Ask these questions before choosing an SEO service partner

November 8, 2011, by No comments yet

by Sylvie Dale

We have a customer who is considering having our team do the search engine optimization work for his company. He is a very careful and deliberate individual and he wants to make sure that he makes the best possible decision for his company. Another service provider has offered some of the same services, so he asked us for more help in making the decision.

We can’t tell him who he should use without sounding kind of fat-headed, and ultimately the final decision must be his. However, we can arm him with some tough questions that we have fielded from savvy customers in the past. Any SEO service provider should be able answer these questions to the business’ satisfaction.

  1. What steps will you take, on-site and off-site, so that I will show up better in local searches?
  2. How many links on average will you build back to my site over the course of a year’s campaign?
  3. Please detail all the steps for how we will arrive at the keyword strategy for my SEO campaign.
  4. At what parts of the SEO campaign will you need my input and approval?
  5. What is your cancellation policy?
  6. How often will you report on my campaign results, and what will be included in the report?
  7. If I cancel my SEO campaign with you, what happens to my site, local listings and rankings?
  8. Can you guarantee that I will get a #1 ranking in Google within the first 3 months of my campaign?  (trick question – see below)

A reputable, honest search engine optimization service partner should have good answers for all of these questions, as they make up the basis for a successful campaign.

By the way, question 8 was a trick question. If the SEO company answers yes, they are at best, misinformed, and at worst, lying to you. No one can guarantee a #1 ranking in Google. To learn why not, read Google’s point of view on this issue (along with some more great questions to ask):

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35291

Sylvie Dale is the SEO Account Manager for Advance Digital, focusing on helping businesses have better local and organic search visibility using a focused, strategic approach. You can follow her on Twitter @sylectra and add her to your circles on Google+.

Google’s Latest Update for Places Profiles in Search Results Reinforces Importance of Optimized Listings

November 3, 2011, by No comments yet

By: Ryan Miller

Earlier this week, Google announced and rolled out two major updates in how they provide Places Profile data for businesses directly from the search result pages. One is targeted for search results for a specific business while the other is targeted for non-branded geo-targeted business searches, and both reinforce just how important it is to have a claimed Places Profile that has been optimized.

Let’s take a look first at how Google is updating results when doing a branded search for a business, that is, the search contains the actual business’ name.  We’ll do a search for my favorite Thai restaurant, Pad Thai in Highland Park, NJ:

 As you can see, the search for “Pad Thai Highland Park” is a detailed enough search to bring up the specific restaurant.  While the organic search results on the left hand do not appear affected, you’ll notice immediately that on the right hand where there previously was just a map and paid results, there is now information displayed about the restaurant being pulled directly from the Places Profile.

For comparison about what is being pulled, here is a view of Pad Thai’s profile: 

Almost all of the text details information and links to reviews are available directly from the Google’s search results, without having to click-through to the profile.  One thing to note in this example is that the photos of the food are not displayed in the right sidebar in the search results.  This is because the photos are being highlighted from the restaurant’s website, rather than having been uploaded directly to the Places Profile. If the business were to upload them directly, some of the photos would have shown in the right sidebar.  This is just one of several missed opportunities for the business, who it should be noted have yet to claim this listing.

The second update for non-branded locally-focused business searches.  Now, after eating some super spicy thai food, I need to cool down with a few glasses of beer, so let’s do a search for “New Brunswick bars”:

This search gives me several destinations in the area in the organic results and a map on the right hand side as usual.  However, if I roll over the instant previews arrow on one of the local listings, now after a second or two the right hand sidebar updates to show details from that specific Places Profile much like we saw when searching for a specific business:

Google has been putting more and more emphasis on their Places Profiles over the last few years, and it’s no surprise with 20% of all searches done on Google having local intent and 40% of all searches on mobile devices having local intent).  This latest update once again reinforces how vital it is for local businesses to claim and optimize their listings as part of an online marketing strategy, as users will now be able more easily compare multiple businesses all without even leaving the Google search results page.   Now get out there, get claimed and get optimized! [Google Inside Search]  

Ryan Miller is the SEO Manager for Advance Digital, and always on the lookout for great Thai restaurants and local dive bars. You can follow him on Twitter @cromiller and add him to your circles on Google+.