Google says, “One out five Google searches is related to location.” Considering that a very high number of SERPs (search engine result pages) will display a map with a list of locations next to it, it behooves every business to take control of their renamed “Google Places” page.

On these pages and in countless recommendations to clients, we have, for years, stressed the importance of using the Google Maps Local Business Center (remember, we talked about using coupons, and Click-to-Call phone numbers) to take control of and optimize what Google displays next to a map when Google users do a search related to location (aka “geographically qualified search”) for your business or a product or service you may sell. As of April 20, 2010, the poorly-named Local Business Center is now named “Google Places.”

As usual for Google, the newly named Google Places comes with several new features. Unfortunately and as usual for Google, the search users and clients they serve in rural, lower-populated areas, cannot take advantage all of the new features. I understand the business decisions by Google to concentrate where they get the most return by targeting large population areas with the most potential customers. That said, I sometimes wonder if some of the people at Google don’t overlook that many areas with small populations and what they have to offer are destinations for those in metropolitan areas. I digress.

Some of the newest Google Places features:

Service areas: You can now show which geographic areas you serve. And if you run a business without a storefront or office location, you can now make your address private.

Others include:

• A new, simple way to advertise: For just $25 per month, businesses in select cities can make their listings stand out on Google.com and Google Maps with Tags. (Select cities are the keywords here, so this won’t be available to many.)
• Business photo shoots: In addition to uploading their own photos, businesses in select cities can now request a free photo shoot of the interior of their business. (Again, select cities are the keywords here.)
• Customized QR codes
• Favorite Places:

You may read all about it here in Google Pages announcement.

The bottomline is that you should, as before, enhance your listing with the map when it is displayed in Google’s SERPs. Now it is easier and you can do much more with your new Google Places page.

If you haven’t taken advantage of this, all it costs is a little time, and you will get start getting more self-qualified traffic from searches related to location. Sign up today!

Today, the importance of having (and using) a blog on many business websites, takes on new importance. Google’s blog post Relevance meets the real-time web says, “we’re introducing new features that bring your search results to life with a dynamic stream of real-time content from across the web. Now, immediately after conducting a search, you can see live updates from people on popular sites like Twitter and FriendFeed, as well as headlines from news and blog posts published just seconds before. When they are relevant, we’ll rank these latest results to show the freshest information right on the search results page.”

What this means to you is your content, when presented properly, has a chance of being found in Google shortly after it is posted. Take another look at how well you are using your blog. If you are not using Twitter and or other social media, maybe now is the time to look at using those tools as part of your online presence.

As more and more users embrace the use of mobile devices for searching, this opens amazing opportunities for those delivering content wisely.

There will definitely more coming about this.

Talking about Pay-Per-Click, Google AdWords mostly, search results and landing pages is pretty much a daily thing around our office. Accordingly, it makes sense to talk about it here.

Recently I had the opportunity, thanks to Andy Lewis, to be a part of a Webinar for “The National e-Commerce Extension Initiative” named “Maximizing Your Pay-Per-Click Campaign.”  The PowerPoint presentation and links to related resources may be found at www.webwisedesign.com/adwordswebinar/. We concentrated on Google AdWords. Why? It is my humble opinion that for most, a limited advertising budget is a reality. Google is the 500-pound Gorilla, and if you are going to feed web advertising money to anyone, it should be Google with over 72% of U.S. searches reported for February, 2009 according to Hitwise.

Last week I met with several representatives of one our largest clients, and discussed mostly AdWords and Analytics for the better part of the afternoon. In both cases we talked about Keywords, Ad Copy, Landing Pages at length. Why? Having high placements in Google AdWords or Google organic search results is directly related to those three powerful terms. They rule this world as surely as many of the Triumvarites of history.

The importance of Keywords, Ad Copy, Landing Pages, is a simple concept, while not difficult, that is complex in implementation when done correctly. The good news is, you don’t have to spend in inordinate amount of time working on your AdWords campaigns to get some immediate results. Very simply, just make sure your keywords are in your ad copy and on your landing pages (prominently). If you do that, you will see your Click-Through-Rate, aka CTR, improve as well as your placement.

If you, or your search professional, spend the time on your landing pages to write keyword-relevant “Titles,” meta “Descriptions,” Headings, and content including the keywords that potential visitors would using when searching for your product, service, or information, and you write quality ads, as well as conducting ad-variant testing, you will be rewarded with increased, targeted, self-qualified traffic. Serious keyword research, a knowledge of how Google likes your pages coded, and knowing how to write and place that code is part of what will take your AdWords campaign to another level. Of course a thorough knowledge of AdWords and your analytics program is necessary as well if you want optimum results. To that end, unless you have a lot of spare time, working with a search professional who has experience and successes on their resume is essential.

One of the cool benefits, is that, the time you, or your search professional, spend on your “landing pages” will eventually manifest itself as higher rankings in Google’s search result pages, aka SERPs. Google sells relevance. Make sure your site search strategy, both PPC and organic, includes relevant keywords, ad copy, and landing pages.

Keywords, Ad Copy, Landing Pages - The Triumvarite!