I remember that when I was 4 years old, my father got a job with the Detroit Yellow Pages.Ai?? At the time, this was a dream job of sorts for my father.Ai?? Lots of money was being spent on Yellow Pages advertisements.Ai?? It was a huge business with limitless opportunity.Ai?? Over the years, his job took him all over the world, and I got to live in Bangkok and other areas with him as part of his job.

Here is a picture of the building in Detroit where he started his career:

I would often go with my father to this building when he needed to drop into work on Saturdays.Ai?? From what I remember, this building was always bustling with a ton of activity.Ai?? When a deadline was approaching for publishing the Yellow Pages, teams of artists, salespeople, copywriters, and others would be working 7 days a week in this building.Ai?? People were always buzzing about doing this or that all the time.

Here is a recent picture of the front door of the building:

Here is another recent picture of the outside of the building:

Here is a recent picture from inside the building:

And a few more:

When my father joined the Yellow Pages, the company doubled his salary.Ai?? At the time, it was no different than getting a job at a place like Facebook today.Ai?? It was a place with a lot of opportunity and where people could get ahead.Ai?? For decades, people relied on the Yellow Pages to find out information about businessesai??i??and to some extent still do.

Businesses would often spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for full-page advertisements in the Yellow Pages.Ai?? The iconic yellow book supported families like mineai??i??and countless printers and others.Ai?? Businesses relied on the Yellow Pages to be found.Ai?? The product worked for decades.

For years, motorists going through Detroit could see the iconic sign of the Detroit Yellow Pages above the freeway.Ai?? I read recently that the sign was being removed prior to the building being converted into a homeless shelter:

This article for me is symbolicai??i??it represents ai???out with the oldai??? and the destruction of one form of media as another takes its place.

Hereai??i??s a picture of someone working out at one of the two swim-in-place pools at the Google headquarters:

Hereai??i??s another of someone getting a massage at the Google headquarters (something everyone there can get):

And here are some pictures of the inside of the Google headquarters:

Google is extremely interested in giving people the best and the most relevant results possible.Ai?? Thus, if you are in a certain location and doing a search for a certain type of business, it can provide you results that will direct you to that business most effectively.Ai?? With Google Places, Google is effectively taking control of what used to be the Yellow Pagesai??i??only digitally.

Google Places is a huge opportunity for businesses to get found online and get repeat businessai??i??and it is something that no storefront business can afford to ignore (You cannot have a Google Places page if you operate your business out of your home).

The biggest weakness of the web for finding things has traditionally been local search.Ai?? With Google Places, Google is attempting to change that.Ai?? Google Places uses images, maps, and other location data to give users location-specific results.

Previously, Google would generally only return local results when you did a search that contained a geographic location in it such as ai???drug store Los Angeles.ai???Ai?? Now, however, Google will return a local result whether you are asking for it or not (using geo-targeting).Ai?? Thus, if you search for a drug store while located in Los Angeles, this is the sort of result that you will get:

Here is a similar search result when I looked for an attorney in Los Angeles:

You can see here that Google only reserves the first two spaces for its organic listings and then takes up most of the rest of the page with local listings, a.k.a. ai???Google Places,ai??? that are geared towards local businesses.Ai?? Google also does not always have two organic listings above its Google Places results.Ai?? Sometimes, it has 2 above and 5 below.Ai?? Other times, it has 1 above and 4 below.Ai?? Some other times, it has none above and 10 below.

Google Places now has more space on the page than the organic listings for local-business-related searches.Ai?? Storefront businesses need to understand how to get into Google Places and get ranked once they are there.

Google Places arguably gives users more relevant listingsai??i??and thus a listing on Google Places is more likely to be clicked than an organic listing if someone is looking for a particular business.

Another important point about Google Places is that it seems to be subject to a certain amount of ongoing experimentation by Google.Ai?? For example, Google does not show Google Places listings for all location-based business searches.Ai?? It likely does this because it wants to give users an experience with local results and just pure organic results as well as avoid ai???blindnessai??? to its local results.Ai?? Google does something similar with its pay-per-click advertisements; for example, pay-per-click ads are not displayed in all searches.

How to Get a Google Places Listing

You need to claim the business on Google.Ai?? You can do that here: http://www.google.com/localbusinesscenter (You can also do this on Yahoo! and Bing at http://www.local.yahoo.com and https://ssl.bing.com/listings, respectively)

When this is done, it is important to make sure that the plavix 75mg clopidogrel prices. listing does not have any misspellings and grammatical or other errors.Ai?? In addition, it is extremely important that the business be categorized properly, have proper hours listed, and the location be placed correctly.

If you do not claim your business on Google Places, you still may be listed there.Ai?? However, the problem with this is that you will then be what Google says you are.Ai?? In order to ensure that it has the best information possible, Google takes information from various directories and other places and puts it in your Google Places page.Ai?? Thus, if some website states that your automobile repair shop is a used car dealer (instead of an auto repair shop) then this is how you could be portrayed.Ai?? Thus, it is extremely important that you have an accurate Google Places page.

Once a business has been claimed, you can add photos, real-time updates, videos, coupons, and so forth.Ai?? Offering coupons as part of your search can be extremely helpful and draw customers canadian pharm without the script. to a business.Ai?? The availability of these coupons can then be highlighted in the listings and drive users to your website.

Here is a picture of a Google Places page for one of our companies:

How to Get High Google Places Listings

One of the most important things that a business should be concerned about with Google Places is having a high search result in Google Places.Ai?? Just as businesses compete to get high listings for their products and services in organic listings, companies also compete to get good search engine rankings in Google Places.

There are several ways in which a business can improve where it sits in the Google Places results.

• Most businesses can boost their Google Places listing by linking to its listing from its website (if it is a popular website) and vice versa.
• Get other links to your Google Places pages.
• Get tons of citations for your business.Ai?? A citation is a mention of your business name and address on other sites.Ai?? For example, a listing of your business in online yellow pages would count as a citation.Ai?? Similarly, a local business association listing would also count as a citation.Ai?? The reason that citations are important to Google is that they give the search engine a good indication that your business is real.Ai?? The more online listings that Google sees to your business, the more links these represent.Ai?? Citations show that you are part of a community and not just some outside company trying to crowd the search engine results unfairly.Ai?? For the most part, companies with the most authority from citations pointing towards their sites will get the best listings.
• Get lots of online reviews.Ai?? The more reviews your business has, the more likely it is that it exists.Ai?? Further, the more reviews your business has, the more likely it is to be part of the business community.Ai?? Google likes to see lots of reviews, and hence, these can assist you in getting higher rankings in Google Places.
• Have a complete listing.Ai?? You need to make sure that your site is 100% filled in for Google Places and local.Ai?? Remember: You cannot use post office boxes or a home address for Google Places.

Google Places is the Future of Search

In late 2010, Google attempted to buy the ai???local dealsai??? site Groupon for $6 billion.Ai?? If there were ever any questions about the level of interest that Google has in the local space, this answered it.Ai?? syp.bit’s codein, tadalafil tabs aus malaysia. Google is extremely interested in local because it represents a massive business opportunity for Google to essentially replace the massive space that the Yellow Pages once had in the market for directing users to local businesses.

According to Google, over 20% of searches and one-third of mobile searches have local intent.Ai?? As the use of mobile Internet access grows, the number of local searches that people initiate will increase as well.

Stories written by Harrison Barnes
Harrison Barnes is the Chief Technology Officer of Business Breakthroughs International and leading the company's Internet Marketing Division. Harrison operates nearly 500 web properties of his own, driving millions of leads to his businesses and generating tens of millions of dollars in revenue every single year. For the last decade, he has been intensely studying, developing, and practicing innovative Internet marketing strategies. Harrison has pioneered white-hat techniques for search engine optimization that have become standards in the industry. Harrison’s websites frequently rank first in search results for very competitive key words. He has built the nation’s most selective legal recruiting firm by having attorneys come to him, and he did this with virtually no paid advertising. Just one of his websites gets the equivalent of $486,000 in free organic search results each month. Harrison Barnes is one of the greatest innovators in Internet marketing. Every day, Harrison and his team continue to prove that they are the world’s leading authority on Internet marketing, and they are now providing Internet marketing services to BBI clients. Contact BBI at www.BusinessBreakthroughs.com or call 706-854-4498 Follow Harrison Barnes on Google+

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