GETTING STARTED WITH LOCAL SEARCH

ByTedJanusz

when you would let your fingers do the walkingthrough the Yellow Pages? Today, 97 percentof consumers search for local businesses online using "local search."
o you remember
Here is a test you may want to try: Assume that you are a consumer in your city or town
looking for parking information.
Go to Google and type
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"parking" along with the name of your city or town. Where does your parking facility appear in the
search engine results?

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Your parking facility can be among the first search engine results on the screen ifyou create a free Google Places listing.
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What is Google Places?

To help us define Google Places,

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let's say you are

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cago looking for information on parking facilities. You go to Google (which has a 66 percent
market share in the United States among Internet search engines) and type "parking Chicago."

Scrolling down the first

screen, you can see the results Google provides: there are seven Google Places listings. When you click the "Place page" iink for any of the listed parking facilities, you get another page with more information about that facility. For example, if you click the "Place page" link under Standard Parking, you get a
Google Places page that contains awealth of information

Why isThis lmportant?

The top three Google results get almost B0 percent of the

TED JANUSZ is a professional speaker

on the topic of "Social Media for

clicks, according to a Cornell University study. Almost 90 percent of clicks come from the first page of Google results, according to an Enquisite study.

about the facility.

l'm In. NowWhat?

Just go to www.google.com/1oca1/add/businessCenter to sign up. Once you have claimed your free loca1 listing on Google

Baby Boomers," author, and marketing consultant. He is the author of the Soc/a/

Why Get a Google Places Listing?

When you sign up for a Google Places listing for your facility: & Mobile phone users lookingfor parkingfacilities can find this information fast without using a computer. (Smartphones now outsell personal computers.)

Media Marketing
Guide for Parking

Professionals,whtch is a free publication for lPl members and

can be downloaded from www.parking. org. He can be reached atterl@
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Your parking patrons can find your physical address, a map, phone number, directions, public transit op-

tions from the facility, and a lot more information quickly and easily.

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com or 614.440.7487.

Adding reviews to your Google Places listing can heip it move up in the search engine rankings.

will check your current listings and help you claim them with other major search engines, includingYahoo and Bing. You can also set up free listings at other directory sites such as www.SuperPages.com. Free local search is the best Web marketing strategy you've never heard of. Locai search can give your parking facility excellent visibility at the precise moment your patrons are looking for parking. And it's free-what do vou have to lose?
Places, visit www.Getlisted.org, which

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