One of the first steps to local search marketing is to add and claim your listing in Google Places. This process is fairly simple and you can add your business listing, but occasionally you’ll run into some roadblocks that can make it a little more difficult. One of these roadblocks might be that your listing is already claimed and titled as an “owner verified listing.” If you’re the business owner and you have not had anything to do with Google Places in the past this can be troubling, but there is really no need to worry as this can be corrected.

The first step you will want to do in this situation is verify that no one at your business has taken the initiative to claim the listing. If you’ve ask around and determined that the listing was not claimed by someone at your company and you do not already have an owner verified listing you will want to create one for your company.

Here are the general steps to follow to create an owner verified listing for your company:

It cannot be emphasized enough that you will want to be attentive to detail to ensure that all the information is correct, as the last thing you will want is to have duplicate listings for your business.

Now that you have the correct listing online, go the Google Places listing you want removed. Once you are there, you will then click on “edit this place” to report a problem.

This will bring up this screen:

Select the “Place has another listing” option and provide details in the comment area with the URL of the correct listing and your request to have the duplicate listing removed. You may have to repeat the report a problem if the duplicate listing is not resolved after a few weeks.

Alternatively, you can also utilize Google support for Places, which might address other issues you could be having in claiming your listing.

Good luck and happy listing!

Do you have a story or a tip to share for perfecting the process of creating a Google Places listing? If so, comment below!

Rex Liu

As an Internet Marketing Specialist, Rex works with the link central team to complete monthly assignments distributed by the Campaign Managers.

Rex came to Vertical Measures with a background in Financial Services. He completed in his undergraduate degree at Arizona State University in May 2006. While achieving his degree, Rex interned with an Engineering Firm in Mesa, AZ and assisted with student recruitment for the U.S. Department of State. Currently, he is also enrolled in the W.P. Carey MBA program at Arizona State University with an emphasis in Finance and International business.

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Do you own a local business? Do you want to get top rankings for your business when potential customers do a local search for your business?   If you answered yes to either question, you need links citations for your website.  And you’re in luck, because here are 10 great links citations you can get for your website right now.  And don’t worry; if you’re not sure why citations are so vital for local search marketing, I’m going to share that with you too.

What is a Link Citation?

A citation is any reference to your local business, including business name, address, telephone number or other relevant information that may or may not contain an actual link to your website.  That’s right–it doesn’t matter if there’s an actual link to your website or not–just the mention of your business within a local search frame of reference is enough to make it relevant for Google and other search engines to count it as a point toward helping you improve your local search marketing results.  In other words, citations help you get ranked for local search results.

Why You Want Links Citations for Your Website

In his article, Why Citation is the New Link,  David Mihm gives a complete picture of why citations are super relevant to your local business.  It boils down to this: If you want to rank in Google’s local search results, you need to do more than just claim your Google local business account.  And just building more links to your website isn’t necessarily going to help either.  What you need are citations.  From the big names in local directories to small niche directories, you want to add your business information to as many as you can find (or afford).

Where to Get Links Citations

There are many places to get relevant citations for your website to help it rank in the Google 10 pack for local search results.  Here are 10 citations you can get right now.

1. Best of the Web Local
2. Insider Pages
3. Super Pages
4. City Search
5. Hot Frog
6. Yellow Pages
7. Local.com
8. Yelp
9. Match Point
10. Zoom Info

Where to Get More Links Citations

First, look for niche directories where you can list your business.  For example, if you are a florist, you might look at places like this local flower shop directory.  Some get expensive with monthly recurring fees, so start with free ones and if you’re on a budget, choose paid local directories wisely.

Just like you might search your competitors’ backlinks to find linking opportunities, you can search your competitors’ citations to find citation opportunities for your local business.  How do you do this?  Go to http://maps.google.com and search for your competitors by name or category.  Then click on the individual business listing and click on the "Web Pages" tab.  There you’ll see all their citations (see picture below).  Then, go get ‘em!

And if you’re really intent on getting a few links to your website, here are 10 great links you can get in the next 50 minutes. But just remember, they’re not the same as citations…

Ralphm

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