Google Places For Business Setup

iLove Marketing

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Contents Page

1. Executive Summary (Page 1)

2. Stages (Pages 2 - 3)

3. Creating Your Listing (Pages 3 - 8)

4. Optimising Your Google Places for Businesses (Page 8 - 15)

4.1. Adding Photos (Pages 9 - 11)
4.2. Adding Description To Listing (Pages 11 - 12)
4.3. On Page Optimisation (Page 12)
4.4. Optimisation Of NAP (Page 12)
4.5. Optimisation Of Meta Title (Page 13)
4.6. Google Plus Optimisation (Page 14)
4.7. Back-links + Social Signals (Page 15)
4.8. Future Documentation (Page 15)

5. Products & Services (Page 16)

5.1. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) (Page 16)
5.2. LinkedIn (Page 16)
5.3. Google Accounts (Page 16)
5.4. Facebook (Page 16)

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Who We Are
iLove Marketing is an online marketing company based in Nottingham specialising in Search Engine
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Executive Summary

Page |1

This report outlines the phased introduction of Google Places For Business pages for each business coach in
the UK, making use of the ActionCOACH.com website in its application. It is suggested that Google Places
For Business accounts are set up for every coach using their ActionCOACH.com individual category page
within the Google Places listing.
It is possible to have many different Places For Business listings from the same domain so long as they
appear for different pages and each page has its own identity including own NAP (Name, Address, Phone
Number regional specific). As most of these category pages already have addresses of the coach on them,
they make ideal pages to link the Google Places For Business to.
It has been noted that certain coaches already have Google Places For Business setup, however this report
also suggests ways to optimise coach profiles so that they appear in the search engine results for certain
highly searched for phrases such as Business Coach (Area) in order to generate more leads.
Using the collective strength of all coaches and areas this will allow the entire UK ActionCOACH brand to
generate more leads as a whole but primarily will generate more leads of individual coaches through
occupying a prime space on the Google rankings for very important phrases.
Time is of the essence with this project due to the fact that a Google Places For Business listing can take up
to 6-7 months to become live in the search results from the time it has been submitted to the time it is
verified.
The end goal of this report is to achieve two page 1 positions for local Business Coach (Area) searches for
every coach. These will be present in the form of an organic Google listing coming from the
ActionCOACH.com website and also a Google Places For Business listing position. This is turn with other
online marketing efforts will help to increase leads and conversions for coaches online whilst allowing
individual coaches the opportunity to capitalise on their own local potential leads.
The report is completely flexible to coaches needs and is merely presented as a guideline to follow for the
best possible creation and optimisation of Google Places For Business accounts.

iLove Marketing

Telephone: 01949 833016

Email: support@ilove-marketing.com

Stages

Page |2

The first step to setting up your Google Places For Business account is to setup an email with Google
(Gmail). This email address does not have to be shown on your Google Places For Business listing, however
it is necessary to start up your account. If you already have a Google email account then you can use that
one for your Places For Business.
It is very important that if you already have a Google + Profile account, then you use that account to create
your Google Places For Business listing, as this enables you to attach your Google Profile with your Google
Places For Business listing using methods as explained later on in this document.

Stages:
Start off by typing in the URL www.google.co.uk/business/placesforbusiness into the address bar shown in
Figure 1.

Figure 1 Google Places For Business

If you dont already have a Google Places For Business account then click the option that states Get Started
For Free shown in Figure 2. If you already have a Google Account you can skip this section by signing in and
going directly to the Creating Your Listing section.

Figure 2 Get Started For Free

Then click on the sign up icon to set up your new Google account shown in Figure 3, this will take you to a
new page where you simply fill in your details (but remember this is the email you will be using for Google
Places).

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Creating Your Listing

Page |3

Figure 3 Signing Up For A Google account

After creating your Google account you will then be able to go back to Google Places as shown below:

Go Back To Google Places

Creating Your Listing

The wizard for creating your Google Places For Business listing is simple and is mainly just a case of
following the steps shown in the top left hand corner and the first step includes accepting Googles terms
and conditions shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5 Accepting Googles Terms

The second step includes searching for your business in the top left hand corner shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6 Search for a Business

iLove Marketing

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Creating Your Listing

Page |4

At this stage simply type in ActionCOACH and click the magnification icon shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7 Searching for ActionCOACH Then Clicking Search

Google will then bring up a list of ActionCOACH businesses but if you dont already have a Google Places
listing none of these should relate to your ActionCOACH business and therefore at this stage you will need
to click No, these are not my businesses this is illustrated in Figure 8.

Figure 8 No These Are Not My Businesses

After you have clicked No, these are not my business you will be taken to a new screen, whereby you can
enter your business details manually including business name and address. These details must be the same
details that are listed on your individual coachs category page on ActionCOACH.com i.e.
http://www.actioncoach.com/andyhemming. If these details are somehow too different this will severely
affect the listings ability to rank or even be listed on Googles search engine, consistency it the key here.
Therefore with this in mind we only suggest minor tweaks listed below to your name and address which will
not affect this.
Here, the business name is very important when it comes to ranking for specific keywords and that is why it
is important to place the area within it. Based purely on the number of searches coaches should be looking
to rank for phrases such as business coach (area) with their Places page but it is not wise to place to place

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Creating Your Listing

Page |5

obvious keywords or to veer off the brand name too much. If this is done then it could have a negative
effect and Google could suspend the page believing you are trying to game the system.
It is suggested therefore that business coaching is added to the end of ActionCOACH as this still makes
sense as a company name and could pull through both coach and coaching phrases. By adding (Area) in
there i.e. Nottingham will give the listing added priority for local searches.
A maximum of 40 characters are allowed in the business name section, so there will be little space to add
anything else after this i.e. a personal name. In terms of area it is highly recommended that a city is used
rather than a county as after analysing local searches it is clear that people search by city rather than
county in this instance.
The business address is also a ranking factor and it is recommended that ActionCOACH Business Coaching
is placed just before your business street address to help with rankings.
An example of a suggested Google Places For Business name is:
ActionCOACH Business Coaching (Area)
An example of a suggested Google Places For Business Address is:
ActionCOACH Business Coaching, (Street Address), (City), (County), (Postcode), (Telephone)
An example of the business name and business address is shown below in Figure 9 below

Figure 9 Suggested Style For Business Name & Address

The other part of this stage which is very important is the category section shown below in Figure 10 and
this is where you type what sector you are in.

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Creating Your Listing

Page |6

Figure 10 Category Section

The problem here is that you need to have a category that Google can find through predictive text, we have
identified a few options but the strongest we found for this section which best matches the ActionCOACH
business is Training Provider. In the category section therefore we recommend you start typing Training
Provider and Google should automatically provide a drop down of this option for you to click. If you put in
your own category then you run the risk of your listing not being activated.
In the lower section of this stage you have the option to state whether you deliver your products and
services to people at their location. We recommend that you do not tick this option even though it may be
true as we have always found that it is easier for Google to figure out your proximity to certain locations
rather than stating them yourselves. It is likely if you tick this box you may alter one of the proximity
algorithms associated with Google Places accounts.

Figure 11 Dont Tick The Box

Once you have completed this section you are then sent to a page where it will ask you to verify your listing
via postcard, at this stage you need to click verify by postcard shown in Figure 12, Google will then send a
postcard to the address you entered on the previous form in order to verify you have access to that
particular location thus proving you are a legitimate business.
This postcard will take 1-2 weeks to arrive and when it does you will need to log into your Places For
Business account at http://www.google.co.uk/business/placesforbusiness/ to enter a unique pin number,
which is listed on the back of the postcard.

iLove Marketing

Telephone: 01949 833016

Email: support@ilove-marketing.com

Creating Your Listing

Page |7

Figure 12 Verify By Postcard

This postcard will look very similar to the one shown below in Figure 13

Figure 13 Postcard Example

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Optimising Your Google Places For Business

Page |8

The listing wont be activated or be listed in result in the search results until you verify the listing via
postcard, so it is crucial this stage is undertaken in its entirety.

Figure 14 Unverified Until Pin Entered

Optimising Your Google Places For Business

Proximity to certain locations is just one of the ranking factors considered when it comes to ranking in
Google local. As shown by Moz.com in Figure 15 there can be up to 8 ranking factors and these all need to
be optimised to help beat competitor listings.

Figure 15 Google Places For Business Ranking Factors

Once you have setup your Google Places For Business listing you can then begin to further optimise it for
Google search terms by clicking Edit Information shown in Figure 16.

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Email: support@ilove-marketing.com

Optimising Your Google Places For Business

Page |9

Figure 16 Optimising Your Listing

Adding Photos
One of the ranking factors that Google looks for is personalisation and this can be done through simply
adding a selection of photos to your listing using the tool shown below in Figure 17. These photos also help
the chances of a click through on the listing. To add photos simply click on the edit tab or the + icon with a
camera.

Figure 17 Adding Photos

Then, either drag photos from your computer into the box or click on select photos from your computer
shown in Figure 18.

Figure 18 Selecting Photos

It is recommended that you have a professional headshot as the primary photo you upload in order to
attract clients, an example of this is shown in Figure 19.

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Optimising Your Google Places For Business

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Figure 19 Professional Photo

It is then suggested that you add more pictures (the more the better here), these can be pictures of offices,
seminars etc.
It is important to bear in mind that the pictures you decide to upload are originally saved to your computer
with keywords in them. For example it is a good example to save a picture with the keyword business
coach inside it such as business coach, business coach photo, business coach seminar or other related
phrases shown in Figure 20. This will further help the listing rank in Google searches for such terms.

Figure 20 Making Sure Photo File Names Include Keywords

You can change which picture is set to be your primary photo at any point simply through clicking edit on
the photos section and then hovering over the photo you would like to be your primary one and then
clicking the text Set as your profile photo displayed in Figure 21 below.

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Optimising Your Google Places For Business

P a g e | 11

Figure 21 Setting Profile Picture

Adding Description To Listing

A very important part of the Google Places optimisation process is the description section and this forms
part of the place page signals section, shown in the pie chart shown earlier. It is very important that this
section makes the very best use of keywords such as business coach and business coaching to appear top
for business coach type phrases. It is also a good idea to include other relevant phrases such as executive
and management training within the context of the description. The description can be edited by clicking
the pencil shown in Figure 22.

Figure 22 Editing The Description

A suggested description is shown below in Figure 23.

Figure 23 Suggested Description

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Optimising Your Google Places For Business

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On Page Optimisation
The page you are linking to from your Google Places For Listing account i.e. ActionCOACH.com/NealeLewis
is very important when it comes to the ranking of your places for business listing. There are a few different
ways to optimise the page for the listing and these are as follows:

Optimisation of NAP
NAP stands for Name Address and Phone Number and these items should be 100% consistent both on your
ActionCOACH.com individual coach page and your Google Places for business listing. If the address is not on
your ActionCOACH.com individual coach page then it must be added in order to increase optimisation of
the listing. Any other useful information should be included on both the listing and your webpage i.e. email
addresses, fax etc to maintain consistency.

Optimisation Of Meta Title

The Meta title of the page should be consistent with keywords mentioned within the Google Places for
business listing, especially the business name and description. An example of a Meta Title is shown below in
Figure 24.

Figure 24 Example Of A Meta Title

It is recommended that the Meta Titles follow a similar format to that shown below
Business Coach (Area) (Name), ActionCOACH
A META title similar to this will be sufficient to help support the Google Places listing, whilst also enough to
bring through local traffic from the organic search results too. This will eventually lead to coaches being
able to control 2 positions on page one for Business Coach (Area) phrases.

Optimisation Of Meta Description

Like the Meta Title the Meta Description on the webpage associated with the Google Places For Business
listing needs to be optimised in order to help the rankings.

The suggested Meta description format is shown below

Business coach in (Area), (Coaches Name) of ActionCOACH is an accredited executive and management
training provider to the (region) helping businesses to achieve success.

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Optimising Your Google Places For Business

P a g e | 13

Content On The Page

The keywords targeted in the Google Places For Business account also have to be listed on the webpage it is
associated with a few times, this is especially crucial in the first paragraph of the webpage.

Proximity
The address of the business and its proximity to certain towns can also affect your Google listing, although
this is often a factor that cant be helped. If however you have two or more addresses it is important that
you pick the address closest to the area you would like to rank for.

Google Plus Optimisation

Google Places for Business listings can now be connected to Google + Profile accounts and this is why we
recommend that you use your Google Profile account (if you have one) when creating a Google Places for
Business listing. This will help with the Social Signals part of the pie chart. To setup your Google Profile
simply go to http://profiles.google.com and follow the steps provided by the wizard.
To optimise your Google + profile so that it is completely aligned with the Google Places For Business Listing
click the user icon in the top right hand corner shown in Figure 25.

Figure 25 Click User Icon

Then, click view profile and you will be taken to your profile page displayed in Figure 26.

Figure 26 Click View Profile

Now you need to edit your profile so click the About section shown in Figure 27.

Figure 27 Click About

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Optimising Your Google Places For Business

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Clicking the About section will bring up the following screen displayed in Figure 28. The most important
section of the profile to edit is the story section circled, so click edit on this section.

Figure 28 Editing Your Google Plus Profile

Once in this section make sure keywords such as business coach and coaching are included in both the
tagline and introduction sections. Make sure other sections of your Google profile are also in alignment
with your Google Places For Business listing, especially the work section.

Back-links + Social Signals

One of the ranking factors for Google Places listings is high quality back-links from reputable and social
sources. A Google Places For Business account will not need too many high quality backlinks pointing to it
to rank well in Google. It is crucially important that these back-links are high quality and do not look like
they are trying to game the system in any way. They must look natural and be from a related resource at all
times. A simple backlink from your ActionCOACH.com individual coachs page will be helpful towards your
listings rankings.

Future Documentation
This document has taken you through how to set up Google Places for Business. Future Google
documentation will cover Google Plus Profile Optimisation, Google Plus Building Circles, Google Plus
Authorship, Communities and Places Integration, and YouTube Channel Setup and Integration. The future
documentation will detail how to use Google for direct and indirect marketing campaigns with the primary
goal of generating leads to your business.

End of Document

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P a g e | 16

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