Posts Tagged ‘Google Local Business Center’

Google Adwords Service Icons

November 12, 2009

Google Adwords has added service icons for use with Google Adwords connected to Local Business Center accounts.

Local Business Center Ads

Local Business Center Ads

Seventeen service icons are available for use including a “No category specified” icon.

The following sixteen business categories have service icons available for use with Google Adwords campaigns combined with Google Local Business center listings:

Movies, film, video
Bar, pub, liquor
Accommodations
Restaurant, dining
Café, coffee shop
Flowers, garden
Car dealer, rental, service
Grocery, department store
Shopping, boutique
Homewares, home repair, real estate
Phones, service providers
Bank, finance, currency exchange
Bank, finance, currency exchange (UK)
Hardware, repair
Hairdresser, barber, tailor
Bank, finance, currency exchange (Eur)

Are Google’s reasons for choosing these particular local categories governed by the same reasons they make most if not all of their other business decisions – data?

Google Adwords Icons

Google Adwords Icons

If so, then marketers this list of sixteen business types and their icons are the most searched for competitive local search marketing categories in Google at this particular time.

Google Service Icons

Google Service Icons

If these types of service listings  are indeed the most searched local cateogies, what can we expect to see next from Google?

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Posted in Google Local Business Center, Local Search Marketing, Marketer | Leave a Comment »

Google Local Business Center Testing Local Listing Ads

October 6, 2009

Greg Sterling reports on his blog and at Search Engine Land about Google’s announcing their new local advertising product called Local Listing Ads.

Google Local Listing Ads

Google Local Listing Ads

More about the features of Local Listings ads from Google’s Local Business Center:

Drive more sales
Over 80% of people look to Google for local information. Make sure your listing stands out.

See – and hear – the results
You’ll hear “this call brought to you by Google” with every call from your ad.

Free for 30 days
Try it out, risk free. You can cancel anytime.

Local targeting
We’ll make sure your ad only shows to people near your business, with no work for you.

Local Listing Ads are currently available only in San Francisco and San Diego, CA.

From a Google and Small Business Marketer’s perspective, I have to wonder what kind of resources – both human and financial – Google is putting into this new program to make it a success?

Who is running the Local Listings program within Google – a Google Maps or Google Adwords team, the “Local Business Center” team, a new team or a not yet formed team?

I think Google’s answer to this question lies the fate of the Google Local Listings advertising program.

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Posted in Google Local Business Center, Local Ad Targeting, Local Listing Ads, Search Marketing, Small Business, Small Business Marketing, Small Businesses | Leave a Comment »

Google Maps Search Results

August 14, 2009

I have noticed in my Google Local Business Center stats, my primary marketing site MarketngPrinciples.com receives a lot of generic search queries from across the US each month.

After seeing some of the keyword phrases my site is placing for in Google Maps, I decided to to try and replicate the same search results from different parts of the US while on a summer road trip.

I cleared my cookies and ran the searches from a classic Google home page without logging into my Google account.

To verify the authenticity of the Google Maps search results my Local Business Center stats showed my site recieving, I also ran the same keyword search queries from my son’s laptop.

Somewhat surprisingly, my business “Advanced Marketing Consultants” places first for more than a handful of what would otherwise be considered valuable search queries.

Results like the number one result out of 287,034 for “marketing consultants” below also explain why my Google Local Business Center analytics report at least once a month fielding driving direction searches from locations as far away as one hundred miles from my office location.

Google Maps Search

Google Maps Search

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Posted in Advanced Marketing Consultants, Analytics, Google Local Business Center, Google Maps, Google Maps Search, Marketing Consultants | Leave a Comment »

Google Local Business Center Unavailable

June 22, 2009

It seems I have been getting the following message from Google’s Local Business Center more often than not.

Google Local Business Center Unavailable

Google Local Business Center Unavailable

Looking forward to being able to login again to view my statistics.

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Posted in Google Local Business Center, Statistics | Leave a Comment »

Photos, Videos and Stats Active in Google Maps Local Business Listings

April 3, 2009

After what seems like years of waiting, a photo and video I add to my Google Local Business Center account have finally been added to my Google Maps listing.

Google Local Results

Google Local Results

From the outset, my listing has displayed the data I initially provided to Google including my Website, Hours, Payment Accepted, Description and Email.

Google Maps

Google Maps

However, the images I added shortly after the Local Business Center began accepting photos and videos didn’t appear in my business listing until recently.

My Local Business Listing now includes both the video and image I provided.

Local Business Center Photos Videos

Local Business Center Photos Videos

In addition to my Local Business Center listing displaying photos and videos, my account now provides monthly account impressions and views statistics.

Local Business Center Traffic Statistics

Local Business Center Traffic Statistics

Business owners who have active Google Local Business Center listings will be happy to find this new local traffic data available in their accounts.

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Posted in Google Local Business Center, Google Maps | Leave a Comment »