How can I improve my google places ranking?

[dantmurphy]

I am currently registered with google places for 'video conferencing in Melbourne australia' however I don't show up on page 1 of the places sesrch results for this search term. How can I improve it. I do note that my office address is in a residential area and not Melbourne CBD. Thanks Dan

[Daylan]

Hey Dan,

There was a great article by David Mihm about this and the factors that various industry types felt were a key influence in not only Places pages but local search in general, that might be a good resource for you. 
NAP consistency (name, address, phone number) appears to be the most important factor. The physical street address and how that relates to the location of the person doing the search, so your residential address on the listing is likely an issue if you're trying to rank for CBD.

It also seems that the authority (on both topics and location) of your actual website - when properly linked up to your place page - plays a big role too. So make sure your site is associated/and features info about the categories and location your trying to be found for. Make sure your categories are the most appropriate for your market - adwords tool would be good to establish this.

Good luck.

[dantmurphy]

Thanks David great answer!