Regular Google users have been seeing design changes that give many of Google’s products—including Gmail and Maps—a unified, streamlined look. In that spirit, Google Places has also gotten a redesign, and even if you don’t use Google’s other offerings, you should be aware of the changes to this valuable business tool.

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Search Engine Watch’s Rob D. Young discusses these changes in Google Revamps Places Design, Removes Off-Site Reviews. As the title suggests, the biggest change is that Google is no longer importing reviews from outside sites.

This move has likely upset many small businesses that have a lot of good reviews spread across multiple review sites. Google provided a valuable service in aggregating those reviews onto a business’ Places page. Those reviews are, of course, still listed on the original site, but any business that relied heavily on its Places page to showcase its happy customers may have “lost” hundreds of reviews.

Individual review sites, on the other hand, probably welcome the change. They’ve been unhappy with Google, as a competitor, using their sites to improve its own business. In fact, several large review sites had already blocked Google from streaming their data, so a lot of data had disappeared from Places pages even before the new policy on reviews took effect.

It’s possible the Google Places redesign was, as least partly, a response to calls for an antitrust investigation into the company. But, as Young points out, Google’s statement about wanting to integrate “information that’s been buried on Place pages into your web search experience across all Google platforms” sounds more like a unification strategy rather than concern for what the FTC might do.

In either case, the new look is cleaner and displays better on mobile devices, so it’s likely to be another win for Google.

Creating and optimizing a Google Places page is only one small part of your overall SEO strategy. It’s unlikely to give you huge ranking benefits on its own, but few online activities do. You still need to do them. The important thing is to link your various online activities together, creating a cohesive presence.

Palm Beach personal injury lawyer with Clark, Fountain, La Vista, Prather, Keen & Littky-Rubin have contributed resources for the development of this content.

In Improve Your Organic Rankings With Google Places, Part 3, Dave Davies discusses how much effect you can reasonably expect from your page, and which components may have the biggest impact. He also cautions that the boost supplied by a Places page may depend partly on your industry. In a highly competitive space, it may not do much, other than help you build a strong foundation for continuing SEO efforts. If you have little competition, it could make a big difference.

A few things to remember:

• Images matter: Google may pull images from other sites that mention your business if you don’t have any on your page. Control what searchers see by including a few high quality, relevant pictures.
• Location matters: And sometimes that’s a problem. In large cities, Google tends to limit the area from which they pull results. If your address is outside that area, you may not show in local results, no matter how good your page is.
• Reviews matter: They help your ranking and humans love them, so encourage customers to post reviews on review sites or even your own site.

Google Places is still a relatively new addition to your SEO toolbox, but one worth investing in. Get your page and optimize it now, so you’re ready no matter how much weight Google gives it in the future. Just be sure you update it as needed. An outdated Places page could be worse than no Places page.

So, you’ve claimed your Places page and filled in your business name and location. What’s next? Making your law firm’s listing as complete as possible comes next, in order to help Google determine your page’s relevance. Many of the basic information fields are required, so you can’t skip them, but make sure you fill them in correctly, along with all the optional fields.

A Kentucky auto accident attorney with Bullock & Coffman has assisted the CaseDetails editorial team in identifying topics of importance to readers of this blog.

Dave Davies does a good job of explaining what Google wants in Improve Your Organic Rankings With Google Places, Part 2.

Location: Either include your full address, so customers can find you, or specify a service area where you’re willing to travel.

Description: Use as many relevant keywords as possible while keeping it readable.

Hours: Customers need to know your office hours. If you change your hours, such as extending them for a holiday, make sure you update your Places page.

Payment options: Let potential customers know what to expect before they retain your services.

Photos and videos: Remember, pictures can entice searchers to click on your listing. Just make sure they’re appealing and relevant. As your click-through rate increases, so will Google’s trust in your business. You might also consider creating a YouTube channel for your business and linking to it from your Places page. People love video, and it often ranks well in the search engines, too.

Your website: Yes, your business website is an important part of your Places page. The field isn’t required, but why wouldn’t you want to send visitors to your website for even more useful information? Make sure your site is as optimized as your Places listing, or the discrepancy could lower your ranking.

Your Places page is just as important as your other online activities. The larger your presence on the Internet, the higher you’re likely to rank in the search engines.

If you haven’t claimed your Google Places listing yet, it’s time to do so, especially if you’re a law firm wanting local clientele. According to Google, over 20 percent of searches include a location modifier, and now that its search results include Places results in the organic listings—rather than in a separate section—it’s more important than ever to make sure you’re listed.

Dave Davies has written a series of posts to help you make the most of your Places listing, and in Improve Your Organic Rankings With Google Places, Part 1, he covers how to set up your Places listing and which information is most important to include.

Claim your Places page

Log into Google Places using your Google Account.

Enter your basic information, including business name, address and hours.

Verify your listing; SMS is quickest, but you can also choose email or postcard.

Optimize your Places page

As with all SEO efforts, you’ll want to appeal to both Google and humans.

For Google

The more information you put into your Places page, the more data Google has to use in determining your page’s rank. A complete Places page also implies to Google that you’re a legitimate business with real product and service offerings.

Impress Google by filling in as much optional information as you can. Include your areas of practice in the optional fields.

For Humans

A high ranking does little good if visitors don’t click on your listing. Improve your click-through rate with a good description and pictures. Make sure pictures are representative of your business and visually appealing. Google often uses these pictures in SERP, where they may entice searchers to click.

Keep visitors interested with an easy-to-read description and additional information about your products, services, hours of operation and contact information.

We’ll explore more ways to improve your Places page in future posts.

Information and data within this post gathered in association with New York family lawyer Berkman Bottger Newman & Rodd, LLP

If you’re looking to improve site traffic and pull in customers to your firm, harnessing traffic from local search for mobile may be the key.

According to Greg Sterling’s article “Google’s Eric Schmidt: ‘2011 All About Mobile,’” Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said that Google will be putting a heavy focus on local mobile search in 2011.

Why focus on mobile?

Google reports that mobile search volume is up 130% year-over-year. People have access to the Internet anytime, anywhere. They’re using their phones to get the information they need when they need it.

How can this help with local search?

An increasing amount of mobile search is local. In fact, in another article “Microsoft: 53 Percent of Mobile Searches Have Local Intent,” Sterling states that one in three Google mobile queries and 53% of Bing mobile queries are local. People are using their phones to find products and services in their area.

How does this apply to law firms?

People are searching for everything from their phones. The woman who wants to plan her will might be researching estate planning attorneys on the train to work. A man whose wife was hurt in an accident might be searching for a personal injury lawyer from the hospital.

How can I get mobile keyword data?

Until recently, businesses were hesitant to jump into local mobile search campaigns. There wasn’t a way to collect data such as average CPC and competition level on mobile search, making it a bigger risk.

This all changed when Google announced a new Mobile Keyword Tool designed to help marketers develop keyword lists that better target mobile searchers. The Mobile Keyword Tool can be accessed via your Google Adwords account, in the “Advanced Options” tab.

In his article, “Why Google’s New Keyword Data May Actually Make 2011 ‘Year of Mobile Marketing,’” Brian Klais explains the new tool allows marketers to get keyword information for mobile search, which can be filtered just like the desktop search data. Klais offers a quick tutorial for the new tool in his article.

The search landscape is changing and mobile user demand will continue to grow. This is a good time to start working on a local search plan for mobile. Thanks to Google’s new tool, you now have the ability to collect the data you need to move forward with your firm’s campaign.

Keep checking in at CaseDetails.com for more information on local search for mobile, and check out our Local Search in 7 Days series.

Arizona bankruptcy lawyers of Clint W. Smith, P.C. have contributed resources for the development of this content.

In day 6 of Local Search in 7 Days we talked about the importance of local directories and reviews. Today, we’ll conclude this series, based on Danny Dover’s SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday on Local Search, by discussing common local search mistakes regarding Google Places pages.

As we discussed in Day 4, a Google Places page is a great way to reach potential clients for your law firm and increase your website’s search engine rankings. Many people try to manipulate the Google Places page to improve their local search rankings. These mistakes are a waste of time and could actually hinder your progress.

Here are four of the biggest local search mistakes to avoid:

Placing location keywords in your Places page categories – Google’s algorithm doesn’t count these keywords when determining your rankings. Adding them does nothing for your rankings and just crowds your page.

• Creating multiple Google Places pages for the same physical address – This is against Google policy. Google has the right to suspend access to your page if you violate policy. Create one page per physical address and be sure to include all the necessary information on it. If your firm has offices in several cities, create a page for the one with the largest local customer base.

• Torment your customers in order to receive negative reviews – This may seem like an obvious one to you. Who wants negative reviews? But until recently there was a loophole in Google’s algorithm that allowed negative reviews to improve search rankings. A company discovered this loophole and used it to their advantage. They purposely abused customers for years and their rankings soared. Google fixed the algorithm in late 2010. Now, negative reviews work against you.

• Providing different keyword rich business names to local sites – As we discussed in Day 4, the search engines like to see your information written the exact same way everywhere on the web. Changing your firm’s name for different sites by adding keywords to it will hinder your rankings, not improve them.

Be sure to avoid these local search mistakes with your Google Places page and other local pages to ensure optimal search rankings.

Following the Local Search in 7 Days series will give your law firm an advantage over your competition with the search engines. Remember, local search is constantly evolving. Keep checking in at CaseDetails.com for more information on what to do and what not to do for local search. You can also check out our SEO in 30 Days series for more details.

Information and data within this post gathered in association with Macomb personal injury attorneys at Boyer & Dawson, P.C.

In day 5 of Local Search in 7 Days, based on Danny Dover’s SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday on Local Search, we talked about the importance of link building. Today, we’ll be discussing local directories and local directory submissions.

Local directories are of growing importance to local search. Not only do they get your name out to potential clients, but they also link back to your website, giving you reputable inbound links.

In addition, most of the sites feature client ratings & reviews. A large percentage of local searchers consider ratings and reviews when making their decisions, so these reviews have become invaluable to local businesses. Google also uses good reviews as a way to increase your ranking.

One word of caution regarding local directory submissions: Don’t waste your money on gimmicks like “1,000’s of local directories for $12.99.” Instead, look for well-established data sources for local businesses.

Information and data contained in this post gathered in association with Philadelphia injury attorneys at Messa & Associates, P.C.

Here is a brief description of the 5 most commonly used local directories:

Yahoo Local – This is by far the most commonly used. In addition to your contact information, it features reviews & ratings, maps and driving directions. You can also add a firm summary, categories, products and services and languages spoken.

Yelp – Yelp focuses on reviews and ratings. They even reward consistent reviewers by making them members of the Yelp Elite Squad. Yelp lists your contact information and a map, but you don’t have the option to add more information.

Citysearch – Citysearch features the same information as Yahoo Local, including an owner message.

Insider Pages –Insider Pages features the same information as Citysearch, including a message. It also gives searchers two other law firm options at the center of your page.

Judy’s Book – Judy’s Book features the same information as Insider Pages, including giving other law firm options along the right margin of your page.

You may also be able to find niche data sources that specifically list legal services. The best way to find those would be to search for your competitors, go to their Google Places page and scroll down to “More about this place.” This will show you other sites where they are mentioned.

Take some time to work on these local directory submissions to improve your local search results.

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at what not to do with your Google Places page.

Keep checking in at CaseDetails.com for more information on local directories and check out our SEO in 30 Days series.

In day 4 of Local Search in 7 Days we talked about the importance of Google Places, Bing Local and Yahoo Local pages in the online promotion of your law firm locally. Today, we’ll continue our summary of Danny Dover’s SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday on Local Search with a discussion of link building for local search.

What is link building?
Link building is the process of putting links to your website on other sites. Read more about link building in our SEO in 30 Days series.

Why is link building important for local search?
Link building is important for two reasons. It brings traffic to your site (which could translate to leads for your law firm) and is a big factor in search engine rankings. The engines view inbound links as popularity votes from other sites. The more links you have, the more highly they’ll rank you.

Where should I try to put my links?
You should always look for relevant, reputable sites, that have meaning for your industry or potential clients. You want the right people to see the link.

With local search link building, you should focus on local websites such as:

• Local business directories
• Online publications
• Community websites
• Municipal sites
• Local help forums
• The Chamber of Commerce
• Affiliated businesses & clients

How do I get my link on a site?
This depends on the type of site.

• Online directory – You usually just have to submit your information.
• Online publications – Send a press release with your link at the bottom.
• Help forums – Post an article that links back to you.
• Affiliate businesses – If you have businesses you work with regularly, ask them to link to your site and offer to link to theirs in return.
• Clients – Many people have blogs and would be happy to link to your site on one of their posts. Think of it as old-fashioned word-of-mouth networking.

It’s important to keep up with your link building. Don’t just get links and leave them. Continue to look into new directories, post new articles and keep up with relevant sites.

Follow these simple steps for local search link building and you should see a marked increase in the search engine rankings and site traffic to your firm’s site.

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at local directory submissions and their importance in your local search campaign.

Keep checking in at CaseDetails.com for more information on link building for local search and check out our SEO in 30 Days series.

Information and data within this post gathered in association with Pensacola personal injury attorneys at Baker & Baker PL.