DISQUS

Leah · 8 months ago

What if I'm a film producer, for example, who is almost always looking for resources in other cities? If Google defaults to my IP address, will I have to work harder to get the info I want? Or will it still be just as effective to type in the name of city with the service?

ducttape · 8 months ago

Leah - if you put a city name into your search it will give you the results for that city - if you don't then it will give you some local to your IP, but it's just the 10 local in a box, you still get the same global results too.

shoupe · 8 months ago

Wow, I can't believe I haven't noticed this before. Thanks for the info.

Leah, it looks like the only thing that has changed is that it gives you local results on the map portion of your search results. Everything else is still the same.

But I wonder if all the organic search results will one day be somewhat dependent on your location.

Crestwood · 8 months ago

Great tip. Google seems to be fickle with how they keep and display reviews. One week (or day) a certain painter in Kansas City will have 11 reviews, the next only 4 (or 8, or whatever). Where did the others go? Better to have reviews left on many different sites, all on InsiderPages or just stay with Google?
G Frustration or not - Local is key.

ducttape · 8 months ago

I think I would look to get reviews from a variety of sites as Google pulls them from other sites too. Not sure why the results change but probably has to do with how they get the data. I've noticed that at times it will say 5 reviews and then there are none?

VBP OutSourcing · 8 months ago

I also agree about having reviews add extra weight to the local searches, but I cannot find definitive proof on this one. The local pages is in my opinion more of the important tasks you can have on the SEO front.

ducttape · 8 months ago

There really isn't any way to prove that reviews add weight, because they are just one of many factors, but you rarely see the top results without reviews.

And yes, local is so important for the local biz.

Vanessa, Phantom CTO · 8 months ago

Good call on noticing the ip targeting for local businesses that are B2C. Local search is gaining more and more visibility and bares repeating to more and more small business owners that people are going to Google to find who is in their area.

Matthew · 8 months ago

John,

I'm not surprised they did this. I have been preaching to sm biz for long time now on the importance to these free local listings offered by Google.

I have been testing with quite a few merchants on how to get your local listing in the top 10 too, it basically comes down to reviews and links. Treat the listing like a mini site. Add those photo's and videos too.

If you can grab a few links back to your local listing and then gather some reviews from some clients, you should be able to make sure you show in the top 10 (unless it really competitive).

I made a 2 video(s) showing people how to do this (it's over a year old, but most of it is still relevant).

Video 1: How to set-up google local listing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVpi7YqExTY

Video 2: SEO strategies for google local listing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeagukRclY4

ducttape · 8 months ago

Thanks Matthew - good stuff

Rob Weaver · 8 months ago

I did this a months ago for my business (small consulting firm) and it still shows as "flagged" when I look at it. There's no information on the Google site that I can find that even tells me what "flagged" means, let alone how to resolve the issue.

Ben · 8 months ago

How come some businesses show up in the local Google maps section when they aren't local or even in the area??

Is it the result of adding other keywords to their Local Business Profile OR a function of their IP address OR optimizations on their website or all of the above??

How can one deal with an IP address set by their ISP in an out of area location??

Brandi · 8 months ago

Great post John! Thanks for the information. Enjoy your posts.

Stop n Text · 8 months ago

We are number 1 for mobile marketing in NJ

Catering Miami · 8 months ago

This has nothing to do with your IP...

It has to do with "keywords".

e.g. catering Miami
I just made it onto Google maps, after 3 months of trying and trying...
As soon as I changed the profile, I am there...lol.
Happy days, 50+ clicks today and counting

ducttape · 8 months ago

Afraid you've missed the point - glad you got in the 10 box but type in Catering when you are in Miami without the word Miami and you will get the same ten box as if you type in Miami Catering - that is based on the IP address.

Mindy S. · 8 months ago

Great tip John. My family’s restaurant is currently ranked #3 on the Google search for restaurants in our town. While people typically don’t come in and say that they have seen us on Google for instance, it is good to know that we show up ahead of all of the chain restaurants at the mall.

I think that it is all-to-easy for small business owners to miss out on free advertising opportunities like this. Every person that sees your business name counts. Thanks for posting this tip!

Kris Bovay · 8 months ago

Thanks John. I just went in to set up. Unfortunately the phone verification option did not work for me - they called my number but wouldn't accept the code. So I'll wait for the postcard to be mailed in a couple of weeks. I'll see how it works for my business.

JackHumphrey · 8 months ago

I know of about 200 hyperlocal sites in our network that need to take this advice most seriously!

stankor · 5 months ago

Great article. I've noticed that when I'm logged into gmail, I get results based on the profile location that I registered. Also, when I'm logged into gmail, I tend to get the local results more often than when I'm not logged in. It is exciting to see this change and it's an event that I believe foretells what is to come.