My, my. After I just told my Local Search class they need a well-optimized website to get better results in Google Places, look what I find –  and in 7th place to boot.

There’s something new on the block in Google Places

It’s not real obvious and if Google wants to make a splash with it, they need to hire a better usability designer, but it is there just the same and could possibly make an impact on your bottom line if you are a local business hoping to capitalize on your 1st place position in the 7 pack.

(In case “7 pack” leaves you scratching your head in wonderment, that refers to those listings with the red pin for local search queries.)

This week’s winner of our Free Friday SEO audit that we give away on our Facebook page, is System Savvy Consulting, a professional organizer for businesses and homes.
As I looked over the site, I saw many of the same things missing that I see each week in other local business websites, so I decided to address the 7 essential elements that are necessary for all local business to incorporate into their websites if they have any hope of making it into Google’s 7 pak that comes up on the first page. (The 7 pak are the 7 local listings that Google gives preferential treatment to for local searches. They are identified with the red pin.)

“Free SEO Friday” audit for Marketing Plan Seminar

How can a local marketing consultant optimize her site to attract more customers and students for her marketing class? This is what I told her.

Normally on FREE SEO Friday at Kat & Mouse’s Facebook Page we do one free site audit, but today I’ve chosen two: Marketing Plan Retreats and Going Green Promos. (Notice how the winners also get an SEO-powerful, inbound link! 🙂

Why two? And why these two that seem so unrelated?

Most local businesses agree that word of mouth advertising and recommendations from friends are the best way to get new clients, and Google knows that too. So when Google dev1eloped their Places, they built reviews into the equation for determining which businesses should be given the highest rank. It’s not the only determining factor, but now more than ever, good – not just any – reviews are what you need to get on top and be seen in that lucky seven list of local businesses that show up on the first page for geo-targeted (local) business searches.

In the wake of an article entitled “Google search engine now detects bad businesses” that appeared on Macworld.com a few days ago, I feel compelled to share this story.

According to the article, Google will be penalizing businesses with poor reviews by either removing them from their results or pushing them below the fold, so to speak, so they aren’t as readily seen. This came after the NY Times ran a horror story about an online retailer who claimed his site’s popularity increased in direct proportion to the number of negative comments posted by angry customers. Increase it did, right along with his bad business practices.