A Canadian Guide To Google Local Business Citations

As I talked about in a previous post on the Top 10 Ranking Factors for Google Places, getting valuable local citations is the best way to dominate the rankings for Google’s Local Business listings. A citation is where your business name, address and phone number is mentioned (or cited) by another website. Since some Canadian businesses don’t have a website, Google is able to crawl any citations in content that mentions a business, even if a website is not linked from that page. However, having an incoming link from a citation source is preferable, as it is likely considered of higher value and the link can refer valuable traffic to your website. [Read more]

Getting Listed in Google Local Search for Vancouver

If your business website is targeting people who are searching in the city of Vancouver and other Lower Mainland municipalities then you need to be found on Google Local. If you are not currently listed on Google Local, then you are missing out on a valuable marketing opportunity.

Google Local listings are now displayed at the top of the regular search results for location-specific searches. They appear as a combination of a local Google Map with business locations identified on the map with business listings posted to the right (see graphic below). For most local business searches in Vancouver, the Google Local map and listings will appear before the regular search results, which is why you need your business to be listed in the Google Local listings.

To get your business properly listed in Google Local you need to add your business’s information to the Google Local Business Center. You have the option to provide your address, hours of operation, photos of your business, information on your products, and contact information. The more information you provide the better. [Read more]