Clients are not showing up on Google Places (Maps)

[DonnaDuncan]

Hi JP,

Dr. Tenley Lawton shows up as the 7th local search result when I search for "Plastic Surgeon Newport Beach CA".  Because she's the 7th search result, you have to use the slider on the results window to scroll down to see her first-page listing.

The Ranch at Laguna Beach, CA shows up as my first local result when searching for "golf course Laguna Beach, CA".

So I'm not seeing what you're seeing. What search terms are you using? Where are you searching from?

[maxcarnage]

Donna,

I was much more concerned with where the client(s) (or is fail to) show up on the Maps page. Do you know if there's anything I can do about that?

[DonnaDuncan]

You mean you want them to show up outside of the geography in which their business is located? For example, you want Dr. Lawton's business to show up in Huntington Beach or Irvine?

[maxcarnage]

No Donna, I am specifically trying to get them on the map for their local area. For instance, when you look on the Maps tab, you see a number of the competitors (some of them in the same building) but for some reason Dr. Lawton does not show up. Any ideas as to why this may be?

[DonnaDuncan]

Here's why I'm confused JP. As I said above, when I look at the maps tab, I DO see your clients listed. Dr. Lawson is listed as the 7th ranking entry on the map. (See attachment.) The Ranch at Laguna Beach ranks #1.

So I'm not seeing what you're seeing.

DqpjcEb

[MiriamEllis]

Hi J.P.,

I confirm what Donna is seeing. Searching Google Maps, I see your client coming up when I search for 'newport beach plastic surgeon'. Both Donna and I are making a best guess at your search term, so if you're using a different search term, please share it. I'll gladly take another look, but for what I did look up, your client is coming up at position 8 in the Maps pack and if I click on that, is being clearly shown with the red teardrop marker.

Now, what isn't happening is that the client's name doesn't appear in the 'permanent' black text on the map, unlike Cruise Plastic Surgery and Milind K. Albe MD at the automatic resolution of the map - which may be what you are asking about. If you narrow in, however, it does. So, I don't believe there is anything to be concerned about here. Please, feel free to provide further details about the keywords you are searching for or anything else that might help us better understand any concerns you're feeling about the results. Happy to check it out with you!

[maxcarnage]

Miriam,

Is there any way for us to improve her position in the listings themselves, so Dr. Lawton appears closer to the number one result and objectively, starts to appear in the 'permanent' black text on the map?

[maxcarnage]

I also wanted to ask you if her appearance (or failure to appear) is related to geo-positioning, specifically the 'centroid'. As I recall, years ago, a business's appearance on the Map corresponded to its proximity to whatever Google determined to be the central point of the city. I don't know if this is still a factor in ranking on the Maps and more importantly, showing up as one of those listings that appears in black, when you look at the map without zooming in.

Beyond that, is there any other ways for a business to improve its positioning on both the maps listing and the top map results portion of the search results page for a given search term?

[MiriamEllis]

Hi J.P.,

You are correct that city centroids were once considered a strong ranking factor. This was then edged out by the concept of industry centroids, but this in turn has given way largely to the concept of user centroids. Recommend you read the history of the centroid here:

https://moz.com/blog/mastering-serving-the-user-as-centroid

My answer beyond this is in two parts:

1. To discover whether your client can move up in the local pack rankings you must a) audit her business and b) do competitive analysis to discover if any competitors can be surpassed. Your audit of your client's marketing should include an assessment of their website, citations, reviews and social engagement.

2. Whether this will lead to your client appearing in black text at a lower resolution of the map is not known. I have never seen a thorough study of how Google determines which locations show at the lowest resolutions there, so this would be something you'd want to be sure you weren't promising to the client. In our sample 'newport beach plastic surgeon' the only 2 businesses receiving this treatment at the automatic zoom level are those ranking top 2 in the maps pack, but whether this is the case for every such search, I honestly don't know. If you could get your client to be #1 or #2, perhaps this would lead to them replacing one of the 2 businesses in black text, but I am not 100% sure of that and would need to look at a larger data set to begin drawing such a conclusion. Interesting topic!

Of course, the ideal is always to get the client as high in the local pack rankings/maps pack rankings as possible, but the difficulty in achieving this relates directly to how tough/strong his unique competitors are and how much motivation/funding your client has to make efforts to move up. And, these days, it's really important to bring into the discussion the fact that your client's customers are not likely to see the same rankings that he does or that you do, given the user-as-centroid phenomenon. Sometimes, in a really competitive field, going after hyperlocal or long tail keywords may enable them to earn traffic that they simply can't get from the main searches because the field is already too crowded with strong competitors.

Hope these are helpful thoughts.

[DonnaDuncan]

I just want to add, in case you haven't seen it, the latest local search ranking factors. I'd pay close attention to the top 30 difference-making factors in competitive markets when you're going through your audit.