5 Ways to Use Google Places for Business

For any small to medium sized business, the Internet offers a number of free services that can help with expanding and diversifying a customer base. One of the most effective ways to reach out to more people and improve the overall search engine optimization (SEO) of your business’ web presence is by taking advantage of Google Places for Business. This is a service that will completely change how easily new and existing customers are able to find your business, both online and off. Here are 5 ways you can use Google Places for Business to generate leads.

1-Establish a Fully Optimized Listing for Your Business to Crush the Competition

A fully optimized business listing with Google Places is most beneficial for building your customer base. This is where your business can step in and set up a fully optimized listing to immediately gain an advantage over all your competitors who have yet to establish a firm presence. All it takes to optimize your Google Places page is to include all the relevant information about your business (hours, location, contact number, website link, etc.) along with photos of your location and as many reviews as possible from your customers. By simply including all of this on your listing and actually having the listing itself online, your business will be positioning itself to show up first in the search results ahead of everyone else.

2-Take Advantage of Targeted Marketing to Bring in Local Customers

With a Google Places listing for your business, you’ll be linking directly to all of your local customers. For example, if your  business is based somewhere in the city of Vancouver, and someone in the city makes a search on Google for something directly related to your product or service your offer, Google responds to these search terms (“coffee in Vancouver,” “books in Vancouver,” etc.) with relevant local listings that will be displayed in the results and the link to the Google Maps application. This can significantly help your business with building your local Vancouver SEO ranking.

3-Use the Review Functionality to Attract Attention Online

Another way Google Places allows your business to win is with the review functionality offered on the main page of your listing. There, your customers can post about their experiences with your business by writing a full description of their thoughts about it and even giving it an overall rating. They can also share or recommend your listing to their friends. You’ll be able to build a reputation that will make your listing very attractive to anyone searching online for what you offer.

4-Use an Optimized Page to Drive More Visitors to Your Main Website

Depending on the nature of your business, your main website might be a hub of information that can instantly turn a prospect into an actual customer. A Google Places listing is one more route that you can use as an avenue to drive relevant, targeted traffic to your website and build your customer base. With an optimized page on Google Places, your business can use its main listing as both the attention-getting headline and the method of enticement, showing off all of your previous customer reviews and location pictures so that a potential customer feels interested enough to click that external link and visit your main website.

5 – Establish a Listing With a Resource Nearly Everyone Online is Using

The Internet has an abundance of local listing catalogues that are all trying to compete with Google’s established framework, but the fact remains that the vast majority of people searching the web for businesses use Google Places in combination with Maps to find whatever product/service they’re looking for. Focusing on your Google Places listing is the easiest way to capitalize on a service that by far has the largest user base out of all its competitors. That user base represents countless customer leads that your business has to gain just by making itself noticed on the Google platform.

Whether you’re a business looking for the best SEO Vancouver has to offer, or you’re a business based elsewhere in the world looking to do the same in your local region, Google Places is the platform for you.