Adding this information requires getting the latitude and longitude of each location. An application at itouchmap.com makes this a simple operation. One option is to put in the address and it will spit out the latitude and longitude.

Problem #1 – the two most popular local pubs didn’t have their address prominently displayed on their websites. In one case the address was there, but way down on the page. In the second case the address was not on the Home page – but on a inner page.

Problem #2 – In both cases the addresses was not found in Google maps. They were using a local variant of the street address ‘Island Hyway S.’. Google shows the same road as ‘Island Hyway W.’ (Which is strange since it is to the East of the ‘Inland Island Hyway’. )

To be fair to Google Maps – it will actually find the right address if you enter the closest town. However, it displays the address as ‘Island Hyway W.’.

Should you be a slave to Google Maps? (MapQuest couldn’t find the address at all.) I guess it depends on whether you want you want only local people to find you?

Like the old map search results, the Places results are placed near the top of the page. The map overlay has been enlarged and placed in the right column, previously reserved for Adwords (PPC). Surprisingly, the map overlays the PPC, so as you scroll down the page – the top PPC listings are hidden ‘behind’ the map.

The Places listings are much ‘richer’ than the normal results. If an image was included in the Places listing, it will be displayed along with the number of reviews, and address.

The Places position is to a large extent based on geographic location and your distance from that location. Which, if you are in the right location, can lead to some interesting results. For example a search a search for ‘accommodation Vancouver Island’ produces a map center around the geographic center of the island. This completely eliminates Victoria, the largest city on Vancouver Island.

Other blogs are reporting significant changes in the SERP based on the Places results. For example, the Barry Hotel, a small Bed and Breakfast on Sussex Place in London has top ten SERP in a search for “accommodation london england”. Higher than many 5 star London hotels.

For many terms the standard methods of on page SEO are no longer enough to secure a top SERP. The Places listing can take up to seven of the top ten positions. The exact relationship between Places position and SERP isn’t immediately obvious. While businesses like the Barry Hotel that rank well in Places, and have a good Page Rank may be getting a boost in their SERP, none of the top ten SERP positions for “rental cabins vancouver island” appear in the Places listing.

Getting Optimum Results
Of course, the best results for your business would to be in the top results for both the Places and SERP. The first thing to do is make sure your Places listing is up to date. Once that is done, start optimizing the web pages for Places. This is a much slower process than you are used to with SEO.

Five things to check are:

• The business address is correct and on every page.
• The business address is the same in all external references. eg Is it ‘Sreet’ in one place and ‘Avenue’ in another
• Get listed in local online directories
• Get reviews

For a more complete list of ideas on Google Places ranking see David Mihm’s article on Local Search Ranking Factors.

One of the keyword phrases I was targeting was ‘internet marketing’. Plugging that into the Google Keyword Tool and you get a list of the top 150 related search terms. You also have the option of turning on the data for ‘Average Est. CPC’ as reported by Google Adwords. Turn that on and things get confusing.

The most popular search term, not surprisingly as ‘internet marketing’. The search volume for December was 1,830,000 and the CPC was $6.50 – which should put you in one of the top three positions.

However, that term was not the most expensive. That distinction goes to ‘internet marketing and advertising company’ for $14.10. Infact, according to Google, the five most expensive terms related to ‘internet marketing’ all has less than 10,000 in search volume.

The expensive and highly targeted keyword phrases such as ‘internet marketing and advertising company’ are relying on the query string to filter the potential clients to a few thousand. However, a better strategy may be to build a target ad and get a larger exposure at a lower price.

My only advice is to do your homework before you launch your Adwords campaign. Look for value opportunities. (For searches related to ‘internet marketing’ the best terms cost less than $7.00.) And, of course test and measure.

The introduction of ‘Personalized Search’ to everyone searching on Google has made a top position on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) hard to to get – but easier to maintain. Personalized search has been available for people logged into their Google account since 2007. This video by Maile Oyhe covers some of the benefits of personalized search.

At the beginning of December Google made ‘Personalized Search’ available to the public. They did this by setting a cookie on your computer which lets them track your search habits. For more information on ‘Personalized Search’ visit the Google Blog.

What does this mean for you SEO and SERP?

If you have a great site with lots of good information you can expect to either maintain your position or move up in position. Now that Google is tracking all the search traffic to your site it is inconceivable that they would not use that information in their ranking algorithms. The Personalized Search means your site will move up in SERP when a person searches for the same term again. However, if you site ranks well for a lot of Personalized Searches, I would expect a boost in the SERP for all searches.

The down side of course is if you are not already ranking well, you are going to have a harder time getting noticed. Google hasn’t indicated how many of the top SERP positions will be filled by sites where there is a personal bias. For example, someone always looks at the same five restaurants – will all five migrate to the top positions?

How do you attract the person who’s search has been ‘Personalized’ for terms you are targeting?

The basics still apply – great content and good SERP. You may have only 9 positions available on the first page – get into those top 9. Once, you have attracted a visitor, make sure you have enough material to keep them coming back.

Make the ‘Personalized Search’ work for you. Don’t assume that just because your visitor is getting search results that favour your site you can relax. Keep the site updated and interesting. Once you get that favourable position – you don’t want to lose it.

It is by no means complete – but it is a start. And, the blogs in particular will lead you to even more information.

Site Analysis

Google Analytics:

(FREE) Use to track a wide variety of website metrics. It also allows you to customize reports and add tracking code to anything that can be detected by Javascript. For example button clicks and mouseovers.

Google Webmaster Tools:

(FREE) Google Webmaster tools give you information on how the search engines view your website including key indicators such as the most common keywords. They will also tell you if Google has problems crawling your site. And, in some case, if your site has bee hacked.

Bing Webmaster Tools:

(FREE) Not as extensive as the Google Webmaster Tools – but Bing is committed to improving their online tools.

Yahoo Site Explorer:

(FREE) The most accurate listing of what sites are linking to you and your competition

Misc. Tools

Google Keyword Tools:

(FREE) Originally designed for Adwords users, it is a great tools to check out search volumes on keywords you are using and for ideas on alternate key words

Wordtracker:

(COMMERCIAL) A provides extensive tools and reports on keyword search information.

Google Trends:

(FREE) Track search trends since 2004. Can be filtered by country, state or province, and, in some cases by city.

Readability:

(FREE) Studies have shown websites should be readable by someone at a grade 8 level OR LESS. This site lets you measure the readability of your website.

Information Sources

Copy Blogger:

(NON TECHNICAL) Invaluable tips on writting copy – not only for your website but for all you advertising.

SeoMoz:

(TECHNICAL) Contains some non technical information on SEO. Start with The Beginners Checklist for Learning SEO or The Beginners Checklist for Small Business SEO

comScore:

(NON TECHNICAL) Spot trends in marketing bot on and off line

comScore:

(NON TECHNICAL) Blizzard Internet is an excellent source of White Papers on online marketing.

Enquiro:

(NON TECHNICAL) With a focus on B-to-B marketing, this is an excellent source of information on how people use internet search. As well as their blog Enguiro’s White Papers are an excellent read.

Books Worth Reading

Seth Godin

Godin is the guru of online marketing.

• Purple Cow Like a purple cow – your website needs to stand out to be noticed.
• Unleashing the Idea Virus: Stop Marketing at People! Turn Your Ideas Into Epidemics

Peter Drucker

All Drucker’s books are worth reading – here are two

• Innovation And Entrepreneurship
• The Practice Of Management

Other Authors

A short sample of other books worth reading

• Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability and Science of Customer Centricity by Avinash Kaushik – A bit technical – but a great source of information on Web Analytics.
• e-Riches 2.0: Next Generation Marketing Strategies for Making Millions Online by Scott Fox – Useful information for anyone marketing online. Include a great section on Social Media.

I have Google’s search page as the ‘Home’ page on my web browser. Today (Oct 29, 2009) I was surprised to see Asterix in place of the regular logo. Not thinking too much of it – I just went about my regular daily routine. Later, while listening to the CBC, I heard today was the 50th anniversary of the first Asterix cartoon.

For those of you who have never had the pleasure of reading an Asterix comic you can get reprints of their adventures at the Asterix website. Originally in French, the stories tell how the tiny Gaul, Asterix, with Obelix and his other friends and with the help of the Druid Getafix, took on the might of the Roman army are available in many languages.

While the story of Asterix may be seen as an analogy of small business versus big business – something quite different came to my mind.

Google is by far the biggest company operating entirely on the Internet. Bigger than even Amazon and eBay. One of the problems facing companies of that size is how to put a human face on the business. One way is by doing small things, like acknowledging small events – such as Asterix’s birthday.

Did Google get it completely right? I am not sure. By the time I checked Google’s French site it was already Oct. 30. – but the UK site had the standard logo.

However, if a HUGE corporation, such as Google, can put on a friendly face – certainly your business website can do the same.

Local, regional or even international events that fit your businesses ‘brand’ should be a part of your website. Don’t over do it and don’t put something on your website because it is current. Depending on your product and target market you may want to promote something as local as a fund raising event for a local charity or as global as the Alliance for Climate Protection.

Keeping your website fresh with items that interest your clients is good business. If Google can do it with a French cartoon character – you can do it for even more relevant events.

For your website to succeed you first need to attract customers that have a need for your product. Then you must tell them how your product will ease their pain.

A corollary to easing a ‘pain’ is the ‘pain’ must exist NOW. A website for a service, such as a plumber, will only make a sale when the customer has need of at plumber.

For many service sites there is always the problem that the customer may not find the site WHEN they need it. Traditionally, the companies providing these services kept there name before the public by sponsoring community event and taking out advertising in the community papers and buying a spot in the ‘Yellow Pages’

In the age of the Internet — THIS STILL WORKS. However, there are other things you can do to enhance your name recognition within a community or geographic area:

• Make sure you appear on the first page of Google Local search
• Make sure you are on the first page of results for geo targeted Google/Yahoo/Bing searches
• Exchange banner ad links with targeted local businesses

Google Local Search shows up in two places, in a map search and in a general geo-targeted search. Placing well in the local search does not require a huge website. A search for ‘plumber in the bronx’ gives the first place position to Pat Sementa Plumbing Heating & Cooling — You would be hard pressed to find a simpler website. Before you can get to this spot, however, you must make sure you business is registered in Google Local Search. To help things along – put your address in the footer of each page on your website.

Getting to the first page on the search engines results page (SERP) is more of a challenge. On the bright side not too many small business sites are doing it. Therefore, even a modicum of search engine optimization (SEO) can yield suprising results. Even the basics such as a unique title tag and description can go a long way in getting that fist page SERP. Again, Pat Sementa Plumbing Heating & Cooling, is a prime example. This site has secured its SERP by default as there is no SEO.

This is an old idea that has received a new impetus with Googles recently announced link exchange. In our plumber example, the business owner may exchange business banner ads with a local site selling washing machines or installing kitchen counters. By targeting advertising to complimentary sites, you can get more exposure and name recognition.

If you were in SEO in 2005/06 you will remember the fallout from ‘Big Daddy’. Pages that had found ways to manipulate the search engine algorithms suddenly disappeared from the search engine results page (SERP).

‘Caffeine’ has the potential to duplicate the ‘blood bath’ that followed ‘Big Daddy’. By allowing better detection of page relevancy some of the ‘grey hat’ techques that are now showing up in the SERP can be expected to disappear. You can also expect Google to move aggressively forward with its personalized search.

Personalized search in particular will make it harder for small website owners trying to do their own SEO. Search results will vary from person to person. While SEO professionals will have access to tools that will minimize the variation, the average site owner may not even be aware of the problem.

The solution – great content.

We have said this before – and we will keep saying it — MAKE YOUR CONTENT KING !!

Great content will not only show up as being more relevant it will attract links. While you still need to do the basics ‘on page’ SEO, the most effective thing you can do is make sure your site has good, relevant content.

Th find out more on the ‘Caffeine’ release view Mike McDonald’s interview with Matt Cutts:

Wrong!!

According to studies reported by Google a half second delay in page load coresponds to a 1% reduction in search queries.

We used to recommend a 4 second load time as a benchmark, however, we are starting to revise that opinion. Not only is faster better, but many of the techniques used to make your page size smaller, and therefor faster, are the same needed for use on mobile devices.

Yahoo has an excellent article on best practises for web page design. If you find the material confusing ask your web designer to explain which ones she is using and where your site performance can be improved.

Of course it is in their best interest to support the community that pays its bills. However, what I really like is the general nature of much of the information. If I want to use Googles online research tools and then use that information to advertise with Yahoo or Bing or any other site I am free to do so. Nothing to join – no fees to pay.

The latest online tool to come to my attention is Goolge Ad Planner. Celebrating one year in existence – it has just recently been released to the public. Ad Planner is, by far the best free online tool (OK – perhaps the only free online tool.) for planning your ad campaign.

Login using you Google account and accept the terms of service and you will see the demographic information for Wikopedia.org. By entering a website into the search box the information on any website that Google has in its database.

However, the real fun starts when you select the "Search By Audience" tab. There you get to play with all the demographic search aids you will probably ever need. In this case I was looking for Males – 25 to 45, no children who are interested in Cycling and websites that accept advertising.

For more information on Ad Planner see

Avinash Kaushik post or his more recent post Paris Hilton Kim Kardashian Telling Stories With Data