Posts tagged: local business

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+.

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+.

Is Your Company Using a Facebook Personal Profile Instead of a Business Page?

October 18, 2011, by No comments yet

By: Ryan Miller

Many businesses entering Facebook for the first time have erroneously set-up a personal profile for their business rather than a Fanpage.  Having a business established using a personal profile can hamper your ability to interact with your clients, but more importantly this is violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.  This violation can cause you to permanently lose access to your account and all the hard work that has been put into it.  If your business currently uses the personal profile, it is time to get it transferred to an official Business Page.

First, let’s confirm that your business is using a personal profile:


A very easy way to tell is if your page has the option to “add friend” at the top and if your business has information such as where it lives and when it was born.

You may be asking what the difference between a personal profile and a Business Page is, and how this can affect your business’ success on Facebook.  The primary reason is your ability to interact with your clients who are looking to become connected to you.  Historically, if you have a personal profile that client would have to “friend” you and then await your friend request before being able to follow your status updates.  While the newer “subscribe” feature has alleviated that somewhat, there is still a delay as they await to become your friend.  Secondly a personal profile can only have up to 5,000 friends, which would severely limit a larger company from growing, while a Business Page has no limitation on the number of fans it can have.    

There are two ways that you can go about establishing your new Business Page, either by creating a new Fanpage from scratch and building it up or converting your current personal profile to a Business Page.

Creating a Fanpage from Scratch

Using the currently existing personal profile, go to Create a Page, select Local Business or Place, and follow the process for making your new business.

Once your new Fanpage is created, you can go back to your original profile and add a link to your new business profile alerting people that new updates will occur on that page from there on out.  You can also invite the business’ “friends” to join the Fanpage.  

Once the new Fanpage is established you can go back and retroactively change the business’ profile information to someone human, preferably someone directly associated with the business such as the owner, so that the profile is within Facebook’s user terms.

This option is recommended for businesses that may not have a lot of fans/friends or have put much time and effort into establishing their page and want a “do over”.  Using this option would also retain a personal profile that you could use to create additional Fanpages in the future, as the conversion process (which will be discussed next) will permanently delete this personal profile.

Converting a Personal Profile to a Business Profile

For companies that have invested a lot of time into building up a personal profile for their business, Facebook has the option of converting your personal profile into a Business Page.  However before beginning this process, which will delete the personal profile as the Business Page is created, there are some very important first steps that you’ll want to take.

First, you’ll want to download and make a back-up copy of your personal profile, as not all of the data will survive the conversion such as wall posts, photo albums and profile information.  Content that will be part of this download includes personal profile information, photos, videos, wall posts, messages sent and received, and status updates.

Next, make a note to all of your personal profile’s fans that you are going through this conversion process so they understand they are going to change from “friends” to “fans”.

Now, it is time to go through the conversion process!  Remember that this conversion is *permanent* and there is no easy way to get the old personal profile back once its changed into a page. If you do not like what your page looks like after the conversion, there is an appeal process to get your old personal profile back, but there is no guarantee it will be honored so move forward only if you are 100% sure this is what you want to do. 

Whether you go through with the conversion or create a new Fanpage from scratch, establishing a Business Page, in addition to staying within Facebook’s terms, will allow you to more directly engage with your client base. You will be able to add “like” buttons to your website, properly fill in location data so that potential clients can find your business and give yourself the ability to create customized tabs make your page more enticing and to further your business’ goals.  Good luck with your new Fanpage!

Ryan Miller is the SEO Manager for Advance Internet, and an active user in social media. You can follow him on Twitter @cromiller and add him to your circles on Google+.