Hi Kalena
I have come across a company that guarantees placement in the top 7 of Google local business results within 60 days or they give the money back. Does this sound kosher to you?
They charge a one-time set up fee of $50 and $49 a month. Is there a way that you could tell me to do that? I know they submit to a lot of search engines. Is this a fraud? The company is Geo Listing Service out of Las Vegas.
Thank you for your help.
Best,
Lois
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Hi Lois
It’s just a scam. You can get a site listed in Google Local for free by making sure your business is listed in Google Maps.
More info here:
Google Maps Local Business Help
Just to wind ’em up, ask this Vegas mob why you should pay for a service that’s provided free by Google and watch them back-pedal. Better still, share the results with us in the comments!
Hi, unfortunatly, I can not agree on that. I am searching for a way to list my Taxi Transfer business on google maps for a year or so and the only way I have found in my country (Croatia), is to pay yellow pages magazine over 200 USD and they guarantee this listings, which is unafair to us who live in Croatia
If you want you can check: if you enter “Taxi Zadar” for example, you get several companies and it states that the info is from this magazine. If I follow the link you have provided, Croatia is not listed among other countries
@ Johnnie – sorry to hear that. It may be that Croatia businesses could use some assistance in getting listed on Google Maps and legitimately seek paid assistance. But the majority of companies, they can do it for themselves and the *geo listing* service in question is a rip off.
I have tried to fool it, by going to gmaps germany… and then the add new listing appeared…
then I tried to move the pinpoint all over to Zadar in Croatia, but after that whe I tried to enter some info it states: sorry we are not able to provide listing here yet
from my point of view this is discrimination, because the guys who sell this yellow pages work like insurance sellers, they call you on phone and want to make a meeting because they have bigger packages to offer and the cheapest like the one of 200 USD does not include a link to your page probably only adress…
Is there a way to file a complaint to google about that ? probably not, because they make some money this way
by the way, Kalena, I am a former student/graduate of the first SEO course 101 (you probably dont remember) and just to let you know, my business went after completing your course Rocket sky high !
So I have to run a very busy internet business that covers my own (Taxi Transfers) and in the same time I have to optimize other company webpages that have recognized my success… So if I dont watch my Kids or Teach Aerobics then Iam in front of my computer…
Thank you for the knowledge !
Kalena,
This is one of the first things I tell my customers. It is one of the easiest… and FREE things someone in the US can do! I wrote out the directions on how to add a business to Google on my website because it is so important. A great thing about being listed with Google is you can promote your business with online coupons and there are options to write a review about the business too.
Great Q & A.
Kalena, Before you accuse a company of being a scam it would be prudent to do your do diligence. The Google maps is in fact a free service. How ever if a company is not listed on the first page of the search engine that listing is virtually worthless. Getting a company listed on the first page above the competition is an art that requires a tremendous amount of time, software and knowledge. You can cut your own hair for free too.
Kalina: I do a lot of local work and maps work. What you say is true and frankly what Mike, above, says is true, if the business is in large market with a lot of competitors. The other competitive situation could be a smaller market but very savvy competitors. The other issue, which Mike’s firm must perform on is “which phrases” will they get you highly ranked for. If its a less popular relevant local search phrase….well….that isn’t terrific. There can be large differences in search traffic for variations in the particular phrase.
So, it depends. Definitely if you aren’t in the 7 pac, Maps provides next to ZERO Value.
Quite a number of issues to consider. OTOH…YES google maps is a free service
(caveat) it isn’t available in full adoptation in every nation.
@Johnnie – Didn’t realize you were a graduate – great to hear you were able to apply the knowledge to grow your business! Regarding the maps issue, the Google Webmaster Help Forum is a great place to ask questions about things like this: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/webmasters?hl=en
@Mike – Let me guess. You’re the company offering the geolisting service? Thanks for stopping by. I’ve just got one question. If your service is so valuable, why does your site have a Google PR0? Oh and I believe it’s *Due Diligence*, not *do diligence*.
@Dave – Sure, I can understand a situation where a specialist in Google Maps listings *may* be valuable. But in this case, the question submitter was asking me if this geo listing “service” was a good alternative to making her site more search engine compatible using traditional SEO methods. It isn’t.
@Christina – thanks for your input. In case you missed it, Christine’s post about how to put your business on Google Maps is here: http://www.here2helpservices.com/BusTips/googlemaps.html
There is a good chance the company you mention is a scam but you can’t come to that conclusion from what you said except maybe the low price.
Saying google local is free is just like saying normal google is free. To get in top 7 pack is not easy for non-company name searches. 7 pack SEO is a real business.
Well, this is interesting. No-one should pay for a Google Maps listing; as a caveat, getting into the 7pack without a Maps listing may be much harder, so paying to have this listing in addition to other SEO work may be less than a complete rip-off.
Sorry to hear that Google Croatia has such a lack of features, best of luck Johnnie – keep trying!
I didn’t know that getting a 1st page listing required a tremendous amount of software. Must be a “Do Diligence” thing?
A word of caution with free listings on Google Maps – the listing incorporates reviews, which can be a risk factor if not monitored: I had a client that monitored their own listing (or not, as it turned out) for their high quality restaurant cafe, and the snippet from the review started “Over-priced and poor service…”. Some simple RM (reputation Management) can hep with that sort of thing, adding newer reviews to push the bad ones of the the front page/top of listing.
There’s always, of course, more than one way to skin the geolisting cat – just make sure you’re not the cat!
I agree with Phil. I don’t know about software either. I do a lot of work to get a strong maps presence. If there are two competitors in a market for an important phrase, both “should” be in maps. (“should” -assuming there are no screw-ups.) If there are 20 competitors…it would be worth paying for expertise applied to getting a strong maps presence, within the 7pac definitely. #1 is well worth it, if the business/industry is dependant on search for sales.
G Maps is a moving target. The algo’s have changed with regard to how they weigh what is important. Its not as well developed as is google’s algo for regular search and is subject to further changes as time moves forward.
Reviews are a dicey topic. Google is increasing their visibility within Maps. They can be helpful, harmful, and the local SEO world (and others) are working to “manage” them to the advantage of their clients.
I wouldn’t advise any business to pay to get INTO Google Maps. It might be worthwhile though to pay for expertise to get to a high ranking and definitely within the 7pac.
I’ll give an example where paying for expertise could be of value.
I saw a situation where a business was located in a suburb of a significant city. The business had a nice 7 pac ranking when the search phrase included the following suburban town. If you used a couple of other nearby suburban town names and the business service in a search…the business in question also showed in those 7 pacs.
The business did not show in the 7 pac when you searched for service. It was in google maps for that phrase but not in the 7pac.
Alternatively, another suburban located competitor showed in the 7pac for service. It showed in the 7pac for searches for other nearby suburban names/business service.
This second business (with a suburban address also showed in the 7pac for a search with service.
I’d rather be the second business. I’d advise the first business to pay for expertise to get seen in the 7pac for searches for service. If the 2nd business could do it..why not the first business?
Clarification on above. The second business was showing in 7pacs for searches that included city name/service. The first business could be found in Google Maps for city name/service but not in the 7 pac. I’d rather be the 2nd business. (sorry)