If you like to study the Google results for certain keywords in your community you may have noticed that there have been some changes to the landscape.  Many results pages that include the keyword of a local community or city now have a large map at the top of the results and three local businesses listed.  This has dramatically pushed down the organic listings for many local keywords that real estate agents target which makes it imperative that your business be listed in Google Maps.

With the new layout, as you can see below, it pushes down the organic search engine results a few more inches and placing quite a bit of importance on Google Maps and Local results. 

In the above image, three different sections are marked.  Number one indicates where sponsored ads are being run via Google AdWords.  Many times Google will show two advertisements at the top of the page and the rest of the advertisements are shown to the far right.  The number two position is Google OneBox results.  Scroll up to compare how it used to look for community or city searches and you will be surprised to note that it has almost tripled in size. The third section is where regular organic Google results start to show up.

How to Rank in Google Maps & Local OneBox Searches

Ranking your website in Google's organic listings can be confusing and difficult for most of us but at least there are many guides and helpful hints to show you the way.   Ranking in Google Maps however is more treacherous to navigate through because the service is so new and changing. 

First, you need to be signed up with Google Maps and get your site verified. It's very easy to sign up. Simply sign in using your Google account and if you don't have a Google account, it's easy to sign up for one of those as well. Justin from Christian Real Estate Network provides a possible solution if your office has already signed up using their office location by applying for a mail box from the UPS Store.

Second, make sure your physical address is also posted in other places around the Internet to let Google know you are on the up and up. Here are a few local search directories that you should be included in:

Other Important Local Directories:

CitySearch
InsiderPages
Live Search Local
Local.com
SuperPages 
TrueLocal
Yahoo Local
Yelp 

Third, make sure your business listing has a few reviews and/or testimonials through the local directory services. 

To read the full article that goes over these important tips, please visit our corporate blAAwg. :)

- Kristina