Businesses targeting geographical areas benefit greatly from a listing in Google Maps or Google Places, which has morphed into Google Plus.  Many businesses I have worked with have received phone calls from people saying they are “with Google” and their Google listing will expire if they don’t renew, or that they are not listed in Google at all.  So how much does a Google maps listing cost? Should you reach for your credit card to pay Google $400 for a listing?

Getting listed in Google Maps is free.  Any business can create their listing in Google and it will never expire.  The people who claim they are “with Google” don’t really work for Google at all.  (If you can get anyone on the phone from Google that’s not in their Adwords department, pat yourself on the back!).  They are independent companies attempting to sell a service, but intentionally lead you to believe they are part of Google.  They may have some certification from Google, such as an Adwords certified reseller, but they are separate entities.

A client of mine called me and asked if he could conference me into a call he received from somebody claiming to be “with Google”.  The person on the line said my client wasn’t listed in Google Maps and he could fix that for $400.  When I asked him if we worked for Google, he said he was “with Google”.  I asked him again if he worked directly for Google or another company and he finally said he worked for a company other than Google.

I have received many calls from clients after they have been contacted by companies claiming to be “with Google” trying to convince them to pay up to $400 to get listed in Google, even when my clients had active Google Maps listings on the top of page 1 for their target keywords.  Fortunately, my clients knew to call me before forking over their hard earned money.

If you are working with an SEO agency, a Google Maps listing should be included with a local SEO package.  If you are going it alone or don’t have the budget for organic search rankings and traffic to your website, create the listing yourself.  It only takes 15 minutes.  Be sure to include all the relevant contact information exactly as it appears on your website.

I trust this post has saved you some money.   To get a Free SEO checkup for your website Contact Us today or call 678-520-9925.

Learn more about Jeff Tormey  Check me out on Google Plus.

Have you ever wondered how many local searches per month are on Google?

The Comscore Search report for June 2012 shows Google had 11.44 billion searches.  Google has said about 20% of all search is local, indicating  approximately 2,280,000,000 searches in the U.S. on Google were local in nature.

Including all of the search engines and assuming  the same percentage of local intent, about 20%, there were 3,424,080,000 billion searches with local intent just in June 2012.  With the popularity of mobile devices, the number is growing every month.  We have found 15-20% of traffic is from mobile devices, meaning there are about 684,960,000 searches are made using mobile devices each month.

To see if you would show up, Google a keyword about your product or service assuming you have never heard of your company.  Try adding a local modifyer, such as “dog trainer Dallas” instead of just “dog trainer” and wee what the results look like.

If you cannot find you company on page 1, getting listed on Google Plus is a good first step.  Create a business page and link it to your website.  Depending on your niche and how competitive it is, you may need to optimize your site for the search engines and begin a link building and social media campaign to make it to page 1.

About SEOGuruAtlanta.com

SEOGuruAtlanta.com  is an Atlanta SEO company helping local businesses and national brands create leadership position online to attract more visitors, more prospects and more customers to their clients websites.

Call for a free website analysis at 678-520-9925 or contact us at jeff@SEOGuruAtlanta.com.

Guns Under 500 launched a new website http://www.gunsunder500.com featuring the Best Handguns for Home Defense  the Best Concealed Carry Handguns and the Cheapest Handguns for Home Defense.  This site also carries rifles, ammunition and accessories.  Their specialty are the “Zombie” guns, such as the Best Shotguns for Home Defense and the Cheapest Shotguns for Home Defense.

This is a hilarious SPOOF video using footage from Matt Cutts, Head of Webspam at Google, weekly videos.  (Everything is made to sound the opposite of what is true… this is a spoof).

Now you know how to rank #1 in Google for anykeyword and make a lot of money.

Great article by  Joshua Odmark   Read the whole article here:  http://searchengineland.com/top-10-reasons-your-website-should-go-mobile-32566

Here is the summary:

1. Google has a separate index for mobile content.

2. Your regular website is not going to cut it on mobile devices.

3. 1/5 of Americans access the mobile web each day (that’s 20% !).

4. Mobile web will overtake the desktop within 5 years.

5. $1.6 billion purchased from mobile devices in 2009.

6. 93% of U.S. adults own a cell phone (most are now or will be smart phones).

7. 5% of the top 500 online retailers have a mobile website/iPhone app.

8. Mobile advertising spending will surpass $6.5 billion in 2012.

9. Users average 13 hours online per week, up from 7 in 2002.

10. There are an estimated 2 billion cell phones worldwide.

If you don’t have a mobile site, we can help you with a simple landing page that is touch-to-call, email and SMS text enabled.  Here is a sample of our mobile sites:  http://seoguruatlanta.com/mobile/  .  We also offer more customized sites that include social media, maps and more.  Contact us today to get started at 678-520-9925 or jeff@SEOGuruAtlanta.com