Getlisted is a free tool that aims to open up the influencers behind Google Local/Places. Its currently focused on the US market but has a tool in Beta for the UK.
For those of you who dont already know about this. Google Local (now known as Google Places) takes what was a pull-out map and listing that adorned the top of the first page for lots of local keyword searches i.e. ‘web design leeds’ and integrates this information directly into the organic listings. Google Places identifies a places listing through the use of a Google Maps style pointer next to each listing.
These are important as they now take over many local SERPS.
The good news is its free to add your business – this is also a bad thing as theyre going to get masively competative very quickly.
You’re probably asking so how do i get a top place in Google Places? Well that brings me back to Get Listed. Unlike traditional SEO which is link and anchor text focused, Google Places is Citation focused. This means Google actively seeks out mentions of your brand on review sites, blogs and more and collates them into a position score which in turn sets your position. The Get Listed system seeks out such sources and gives you an oportunity to introduce them to your customers for impartial citation.
Obviously some people are trying to game the system however these are pretty easy to spot (singler user, single login, same ip across multiple users) and the related systems are working hard to clean them up.
Give it a go.
Local search should ideally be part of any SEO campaign, especially if you are a business that services a local area or specific location.
Really a nice post to see. Nice to see that this service is free to add your business in to it. Thanks for the post…
That’s a very useful link Mark, I’ll definitely be recommending this to my clients as a great place to find their local web listings.