GoogleMaps has taken on a very difficult task.

With so much information on the web and with so many varying components and inconsistencies in the way information is presented, the task of compiling and identifying local businesses is Gargantuan. Google has been storing information for several years from an array of sources; telephone registration, advertising, utilities, phone books, and blogs. Each different source has provided local addresses and other local information. In collecting this data Google has decided to try its hand in providing a more local resource directory. They want searchers to be able to find the local restaurants, doctors, dentists, plumbers, pest controllers. But in amassing such data they must sift out the inconsistencies, inaccuracies, and the old with the new.

The Map Merger

Address Similarities:

Maps in Google often merge because of too much similarity to another listing.  Two doctors sharing the same building for similar practices (i.e. pediatricians), will have the same address, minus a suite number.  These doctors have a high probability for being merged.  Even if one is on the 1st floor and the other on the 51st floor.

Business Name Similarities:

Other local listings may be merged because the business name is too similar. Let’s take “Tulsa Pest Control” and “Tulsa Pest Control Deals”. In this case Google makes a  judgment call based on the information they have.  If “Tulsa Pest Control” is registered with the BBB, Structural Pest Control Board, and the local chamber of commerce and “Tulsa Pest Control Deals” is not then Google will most likely merge it to “Tulsa Pest Control”.  However, there are other factors that could sway this the wrong direction.  Claimed listings, online spam, or the most recent content.

Same Business Name Different Locations:

A company with mulitple locations may see their listings merge.  Key factors in merging these local listings are the website address and the phone number.  If you have one phone number for all of your locations then you are at a high risk of being merged.  Sharing the same website will also push you closer to a merger.

How to unmerge Google local listings.

Step 1: Claim the listing

Unclaimed Listing

If the listing is unclaimed then fix the listing and then claim the listing. You can tell by the portion that says, “Edit this place – Business Owner?” that the listing is unclaimed.

Claimed Local Listing – Owner Verified

If the listing is claimed then first fix it in your Google Places. You can tell it’s claimed by the owner-verified check at that top.  If you have not claimed the listing and it says owner verified then you will want to claim the listing for yourself.  Simply click on the text “Owner Verified” and it will take you to Google places.  You can create your profile there and claim your listings.

Step 2: Correcting the information elsewhere

Because Google is relying on other sources for their listings you must go to those other sources. The best way to unmerge the listing is go to the primary source of all local listings: InfoUSA If you two businesses with similar addresses then enter in both businesses.  BE WARNED: This is a sure fire way to increase your phone calls! But they are not the phone calls you want as InfoUSA will sell your information to businesses that solicit other businesses.  So your calls will increase, but mainly because of solicitors. Overall the best fix is going to the root of local business listings.

BUT…

But this may not fix all of your woes.  Changing it at the source may not delete previous errors.  If Kudzu.com picked up the old address they are not going to purge their system with the new info.  They simply keep adding to the pile.  So if your incorrect information keeps getting feed back into google’s bots, google will continue to add and merge.  This may make your work a little more tedious.  You may need to search out and destroy all of the bad addresses for your business on the net.  You may need to pick up a phone and call Kudzu.com to have the information corrected or removed.

Another example, the Las Vegas phone book has an old address published for Bulwark Exterminating in Las Vegas.  To correct this I need to contact the Las Vegas yellow pages.  Affiliate Marketers may also cause mergers and confusion in the maps. If this happens to you, don’t be fooled, they caused it! They can fix it. The simplest fix is to tell them to remove their listing all together from google maps.  I don’t think Google intended for the maps to be filled with affiliate marketers, …despite what shows in the search. This may be a scary thought for you as you don’t want to loose potential business from their spam listings.  But continuing to allow them to list in the maps means you are paying for a listings that you should be able to achieve yourself for free. Further, you are adding to and promoting the growth of the internet marketing cesspool. Let’s keep it clean for everyone’s sake.

Step 3: Wait for it.

Google will not make or show adjustments immediately. Some updates will take place very quickly.  Within hours or a couple of days.  But most will take much longer. Give it 3 to 12 weeks.  But these 3 steps should solve your merging problems.  If they do not then move on to Step 4.

Step 4: Last Resort: Create a new listing.

If Step 1-3 do not fix your problem after 3 to 12 weeks then you may attempt to create a new listing all together.  Make sure that you still follow Step 2 so that other sources are mimicking your business information.  Unfortunately without these outside references your business listing will not stick.

Just to sum it up…

Unmerging Local Listings is not easy and it will take time, but it will work.

If you need help please feel free to email me < >.  I have had to unmerge several of Bulwark’s listings.  There are also a few other tidbits I could provide you with… Like fighting off “Black Hat Mergers” but I don’t want to explain these tactics publicly as I don’t want spammers using them.

Make it a Great Day!

Insect Control eliminates pest that can destroy your home and damage your solace . Get rid of ants. Get rid of cockroaches . Get rid of all your pests with our Sapulpa pest control services. Bulwark is the most reviewed Sapulpa exterminator in all of Sapulpa, OK. Serving the entire Tulsa metro area with hundreds of Tulsa homes trusting our family for pest control.
Your local Sapulpa exterminators that are highly recommended on Google. Call and Experience the difference!

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How to unmerge Google listings.

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Bug Control cures pest that can damage your home and wreck your tranquil dwelling . Get rid of roaches . Get rid of ants. Get rid of all your pests with our Sapulpa pest control services. Bulwark is the most reviewed Sapulpa exterminator in all of Sapulpa, OK. Serving the entire Tulsa metro area with hundreds of Tulsa homes trusting our family for pest control.
Family pest control company for all you Sapulpa, OK pest control needs. Call our family pest control service today!

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Protected: How to unmerge Google listings.

Google changes their layout on the search page and adds an 11th contender. Count it:

Most believe that this is to increase revenue. But does it not also devalue the top 10 spots as well? If the goal is only to get on the first page then that 11th spot for a cheaper click is better then the 10th spot. So will it mean more revenue? I don’t believe that Google will sell themselves short. It may not mean any more revenue but it won’t mean any less. It could just mean more information. Information is king. Google thrives off of information.

The added options on the left do make the new layout more interesting and perhaps divides up the pie a little more. Having an image that ranks well for your target search just increased in value. Having a video for your keyword search just increased your chance of getting noticed. Having a blog or news spot, (news is relative, and I am shocked at what is deemed “news worthy” in the pest control industry)… none the less, if you can get Google to post your content in any one of these off shoots then it is going to improve your online marketing efforts.

And hey, I don’t mind picking up the 11th man spot on the sponsored side. Better to be 11th on the first page then 1st on the second page.

Insect Control controls pest that can bother your home and damage your spotless environment . Get rid of insects . Get rid of spiders . Get rid of all your pests with our Sapulpa pest control services. Bulwark is the most reviewed Sapulpa exterminator in all of Sapulpa, OK. Serving the entire Tulsa metro area with hundreds of Tulsa homes trusting our family for pest control.
The most reviewed Sapulpa pest control service. Call today for local Sapulpa pest control service!

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Google adds 11th Sponsored Spot

Let your customers do the talking… or searching.

Shout Out!

Love it. Google has provided it’s fans with the ultimate weapon to combat Bing’s commercials. And Google is doing it for zero costs. Let your customers do the shouting… or in this case the searching. Some companies may be afraid to give their clients a megaphone. But if your customers love you then let them shout it! Raw and uncontrolled. By the way, every customer out there has a megaphone sitting on their desktop, some just have not discovered it yet.

Bug Control eliminates pest that can damage your home and spoil your serene atmosphere . Get rid of bugs. Get rid of pests . Get rid of all your pests with our Sapulpa pest control services. Bulwark is the most reviewed Sapulpa exterminator in all of Sapulpa, OK. Serving the entire Tulsa metro area with hundreds of Tulsa homes trusting our family for pest control.
The most reviewed Sapulpa pest control service. Call and Experience the difference!

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Let the searches do the talking

Google is evolving and it’s Business center has morphed into GOOGLE PLACES. Perhaps Google Places is the appropriate term as Google is excluding business without a physical place.  As one blogger put it, “They are more concerned about the piece of dirt.” and so far that is hard to argue that point as Google maps will only show businesses with a physical location within the city proper.

Google Sponsored Tag – Show Service Area – Found on google maps for Houston Exterminator

But Google is evolving.  I asked about reviews on Google and why they had been removed, my google guy’s response was that they will return, but he can’t really tell what’s going on until Google rolls out their next update.  Well back in December I say a preview of what the maps would like if they showed listings by service area.  That was the same month I saw the yellow coupon tags displayed in the maps. Those yellow tags spawned the sponsored listings.  Pure speculation but that rep may have just leaked that Google is finally going to show local business listings by service area. It would make sense as that the reviews would disappear to be verified, quantified, weighed, and IP locations pin pointed if they are to roll out Service Areas. As of right now their Service Areas is only a loosey link at the bottom of the Google business bubble… “Show Service Area”

Google Sponsor Tags

Today those yellow tags come with a price.  Sponsored tags.  Google sponsored tags cost $25 a month, for the test phase at least.  At $25 last month I got 34 actions, and 19 clicks to my website.  Perhaps just from curious onlookers, but perhaps those were clicks that would normally cost me $2.  If that’s the case then the sponsored tag worked.  But if they end up like the phone books and want to charge me more and more and more, and the market becomes more and more saturated, and then they can’t show more more detailed numbers, then it will be hard to keep spending that money.  Especially when it is unclear if the Impressions are just from Google Search and Google Maps, or if the impressions are from all pages on the internet that show that map, like my contact page. The strength of the internet is so many regards is the honest openness to numbers.  And numbers are the ultimate law.

Actions to Impressions (ATI)

So far the numbers Google provides are impressions and actions.  Actions to Impressions (ATI) would be similiar to Click Through Rate (CTR) except a click to the website is only one of the calculations.  ATI is a good feeler as to what is happening but I am under the impression that a lot more people are just picking up the phone and dialing, especially when that phone call is only a click on your IPhone. (Mobile calls would be a great addition to that action list). I would love to put a call tracking number into my LBL but due to the complexities of compiling a ton of location data that is seemly incongruent the telephone number of your listing has become a key, if not the key, identifier as to who you are on the web, and who is referencing you. In Google maps each and every instance of your name associated with an address, and phone number is being weighed with or without a link and without your website.  We will call these Instances so as not to be confused with citations or references, both of which have HTML codes.  Instances on the other hand are not meta tag mark ups with an open and close tag, they are simply each and every time your business name is associated with a physical location.  This would include tweets with locations, GEO tagged photos with your business name, the restaurant down the street that references your party on their blog containing their address at the bottom of each page, or even better yet, a review on a competitor’s map listing mentioning how much better or worse you are.  That one review will link, loosely, but none the less, link you to your competitor’s address.

Pest Control controls pest that can damage your home and damage your solace . Get rid of ants. Get rid of roaches . Get rid of all your pests with our Sapulpa pest control services. Bulwark is the most reviewed Sapulpa exterminator in all of Sapulpa, OK. Serving the entire Tulsa metro area with hundreds of Tulsa homes trusting our family for pest control.
The most reviewed Sapulpa pest control service. Call and Experience the difference!

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Google Sponsor Tags – Actions to Impressions (ATI)

Google is evolving and it’s Business center has morphed into GOOGLE PLACES. Perhaps Google Places is the appropriate term as Google is excluding business without a physical place.  As one blogger put it, “They are more concerned about the piece of dirt.” and so far that point is accurate as Google maps will only show businesses with a physical location within the city proper for competitive search terms.

Houston Pest Control

Google Sponsored Tag – Show Service Area – Found on google maps for Houston Exterminator

But Google is evolving.  I asked about reviews on Google and why they had been removed, my google guy’s response was that they will return, but he can’t really tell what’s going on until Google rolls out their next update.  Well back in December I say a preview of what the maps would like if they showed listings by service area.  That was the same month I saw the yellow coupon tags displayed in the maps. Those yellow tags spawned the sponsored listings.  Pure speculation but that rep may have just leaked that Google is finally going to show local business listings by service area. It would make sense as that the reviews would disappear to be verified, quantified, weighed, and IP locations pin pointed, if they are to roll out Service Areas. As of right now the Service Area info entered into Google Places  is only a crummy link at the bottom of the Google business bubble… “Show Service Area”

Google Sponsor Tags

Today those yellow tags come with a price.  Sponsored tags.  Google sponsored tags cost $25 a month, for the test phase at least.  At $25 last month I got 34 actions, and 19 clicks to my website.  Perhaps just from curious onlookers, but perhaps those were clicks that would normally cost me $2.  If that’s the case then the sponsored tag worked.  But if they end up like the phone books and want to charge me more and more and more, and the market becomes more and more saturated, and then they can’t show more more detailed numbers, then it will be hard to keep spending that money.  Especially when it is unclear if the Impressions are just from Google Search and Google Maps, or if the impressions are from all pages on the internet that show that map, like my contact page. The strength of the internet is so many regards is the honest openness to numbers.  And numbers are the ultimate law.

Actions to Impressions (ATI)

So far the numbers Google provides are impressions and actions.  Actions to Impressions (ATI) would be similiar to Click Through Rate (CTR) except a click to the website is only one of the calculations.  ATI is a good feeler as to what is happening but I am under the impression that a lot more people are just picking up the phone and dialing, especially when that phone call is only a click on your IPhone. (Mobile calls would be a great addition to that action list). I would love to put a call tracking number into my LBL but due to the complexities of compiling a ton of location data that is seemly incongruent the telephone number of your listing has become a key, if not the key, identifier as to who you are on the web, and who is referencing you. In Google maps each and every instance of your name associated with an address, and phone number is being weighed with or without a link and without your website.  We will call these Instances so as not to be confused with citations or references, both of which have HTML codes.  Instances on the other hand are not meta tag mark ups with an open and close tag, they are simply each and every time your business name is associated with a physical location.  This would include tweets with locations, GEO tagged photos with your business name, the restaurant down the street that references your party on their blog containing their address at the bottom of each page, or even better yet, a review on a competitor’s map listing mentioning how much better or worse you are.  That one review will link, loosely, but none the less, link you to your competitor’s address.

Pest Control cures pest that can destroy your house and ruin your comfort . Get rid of pests . Get rid of insects . Get rid of all your pests with our Sapulpa pest control services. Bulwark is the most reviewed Sapulpa exterminator in all of Sapulpa, OK. Serving the entire Tulsa metro area with hundreds of Tulsa homes trusting our family for pest control.
Your local Sapulpa exterminators that are highly recommended on Google. Get scheduled for a Sapulpa pest control treatment today!

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Google Sponsored Tags – Actions to Impressions (ATI)

Google’s Rage Pank updated last week

Google Update Page Rank

Google updated their system last week.  Websites across the board were given their new report card, or PageRank.  PageRank was used to score a website’s authority and trust-ability.  Both of these factors are part of the ranking algorithm of the Mega-tron of search engines, Google. Today Page Rank is a little green indicator that reminds me of the blinking lights of a Star Wars cockpit… it’s a movie, the blinking lights are only there for effect. Yet, link builders still obsess about page rank.  Sapulpa guys still loose sleep over PR sculpting.  And the bugs are still crawling through your walls since you haven’t called Bulwark.  =)

Page Rank is a Sapulpa Pest

The once ever so important PR is now a fly buzzing around the heads of the Sapulpa cesspools.  Do a search for “Phoenix Pest Control” and you will find in the results that the page with a PR=5, Truly Nolan is not on the top, and not even on the first page. Granted it is their home page and that page is not entirely optimized for a “Phoenix AZ” search.  Bulwark’s more specific page designed around the keywords of pest control, phoenix, AZ has a PR=4, it also doesn’t rank on the top of the results. So what does PR really do for Sapulpa? I mean really? Great I give my Sapulpa team a pat on the back for having a dozen or so pages on my website with PR=3.  Now show me the money!  I’ve got a hand full of PR=N/A pages ahead of me regardless of a whooping PR=4!

Position and Page Rank Correlation = N/A

#1 www.phoenixpest.com/ PR=1
#2 blueskipest.com/ PR=3
Local business results for pest control near Phoenix, AZ – Google’s Map Section
#3 phoenixpestcontrol.org/ PR=2
#4 www.sextonpestcontrol.com/ PR=3
#5 www.superpages.com/yellowpages/…Pest+Control/…/T-Phoenix/ PR=N/A
#6 www.servicemagic.com › PR=N/A
#7 www.phoenixscorpioncontrol.com/ PR=N/A
#8 www.bulwarkpestcontrol.com/phoenixpestcontrol.php – PR=4
#9 www.responsiblepest.com/PR=2

Page Rank is Dead.

From my perspective, which is only limited by how I rank in the search engines, PageRank is DEAD.  And as of last week’s update, www.Twitter.com lost all of it’s PageRank.  Twitter PR=0.  Hey, if twitter can get away with a PR of zero then so can I.

Twitter Quote of Matt Cutts :

@mattcutts says”I know being a SERP I shouldn’t say this but Don’t worry about the searches” -Easy for u to say. Yes u SHOULD say it. #pubcon
Reply: @Thos003 glad I said it then

We can pretty much update that to: “DON’T WORRY ABOUT THE PAGERANK.”

Just swat that PR fly and move away from the Sapulpa cesspool.

Pest Control helps reduce pest that can harm your residence and wreck your comfort . Get rid of home invaders . Get rid of spiders . Get rid of all your pests with our Sapulpa pest control services. Bulwark is the most reviewed Sapulpa exterminator in all of Sapulpa, OK. Serving the entire Tulsa metro area with hundreds of Tulsa homes trusting our family for pest control.
Family pest control company for all you Sapulpa, OK pest control needs. Call and Experience the difference!

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PR? What’s the hype? What a pest!

Let the Local Service Area Tournament Begin!

New to your LBL as of TODAY: Service Areas and Location Settings!

My Fist Reaction:

WOW!!!!! YEAH!!!! SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!! … it’s about TIME!

Every chance I had to communicate with someone from google maps I squeek the wheel of, “so when are you going to offer service areas?”  Annoying? Yes. But necessary.  ….So Thanks for listening.

So what does this really mean?

Hopefully this will mean that we are not competing for map positions in all of our service areas.  Whether that is the case or not is a different story.  I believe that they came up the most accurate reason to provide a result by a service area.  “Do customers come to you or do you go to the customer?”

Restaurants, shopping centers, UPS stores, all have customers that go to them.  Pest control companies, plumbers, pool guys, all go the their customers.  That is the perfect qualifier or whether or not you should be in a service area class or a location class.  Minus the fact that some restaurants will offer both delivery and sit down.  But do you want to be a delivery company or a dine in.  Your call.  For my business this new classification is wonderful. Bravo, google.

So how is this going to work?  How are they going to determine who is best fit in the service area?  I would assume that traffic to the businesses website will play a factor.  Searches on that business by IP address will play a factor.  And yes, I imagine that your location will still play a factor.  Especially when all else is equal.

The good news for Google is that all of the Sapulpa experts out there will stop telling companies to spam the maps with fake addresses to be considered local.  The bad news for local smaller companies will be that they are once again put on a platform where they are competing in a division A game, not in a location driven division C game.  The good news for the users is that hopefully the users will get more qualified choices instead of Pop Shop’s ABC.  And as Google sees it, the happier the users are with their experience the better off Google will be.

Plus this puts Google in a whole new realm of Local Business.  Yahoo doesn’t offer this and their maps are littered with bad information even after offering a “featured/paid listing”.  Bing doesn’t offer this.  Google is King of the internet local world. I can’t wait to see when Google offers their own mobile-map-app that allows rating and check-in.  I have no doubt that they will be buying one soon or creating one of their own soon enough.

Pest Control exterminates pest that can harm your residence and hurt your serene atmosphere . Get rid of pests . Get rid of roaches . Get rid of all your pests with our Sapulpa pest control services. Bulwark is the most reviewed Sapulpa exterminator in all of Sapulpa, OK. Serving the entire Tulsa metro area with hundreds of Tulsa homes trusting our family for pest control.
Family pest control services for all you Sapulpa, OK exterminating needs. Call today for local Sapulpa pest control service!

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Google Maps LBL Offers Service Area and Location Setting

Social Content is now hitting the first page of Google… in Beta.

My Social Circle – My Social Content

Searching the net today for my placement and competitor comparison I found a spammer, so I logged in to vote the guy down. Of course, I have often wondered what that little voting button really does for me. Well, I don’t believe it does much to try and vote spammers off the first page of google. It seems totally ridiculous that a wordpress blog with no content and a huge banner image stating “Rent this Domain” ranks on the first page simply because of an exact match. But that’s off topic. So here is the big news….

My Social Circle – My Social Content

Ranking number 10 on the first page of google is “Social Content”. Your Social circle and social content are created by users you have associated with in your gmail account.  Or users in your twitter account that you’ve associated with your profile.  You can login into your social network and see where the data is coming from.

Your friends vote on pages they like.  If that page is associated to your search then those positive votes are shown on the first page of the SERPS.  Check out the image above for the google search results on “Pest Control Mesa“.  How nice.  My friends are making recommendations for me and I didn’t even have to ask them.

Side Note- Recently heard that 64% of housewives look to friends for recommendations on services…. not sure how accurate that is but it sounds pretty close. =)

So I pulled up my wife’s gmail account…. Did a search for “Pest Control Phoenix” and got this in my social section:

So how does this work?  Well since I happen to know the guy that created the top link, I also happen to know that he voted up that content.  So all those votes that you can add for a website that seemed worthless… ???

What does this mean for Sapulpa?

Fewer first page positions. The organics are down to 9 positions of organic content to fight for on the first page of google if the googler is logged in.  And just an FYI for the SEM team… Positions 7 through 10 get about the same number of clicks as all of your PPCs.  So yes, that number 10 spot still holds value.  My fellow partner in crime said, “So how do we get our results to show up there?”  The answer: “GET SOME FRIENDS.”

Google wants real users.  They want real people.  Google began by building the a machine that did all the work for them.  Now they have such a huge array of products that they use live “Human Testing.”  Login, plugin, and let google tap your brain through your little fingers.

Give them free stuff, like free cheese sitting on a mouse trap. Free email. Free blog space.  Free photo space.  And once they are plugged into the matrix we’ve got em.  And the beauty of it is that they won’t want to leave!

…..And that my little friend Pinky is how google is going to Rule the World.

Insect Control cures pest that can destroy your residence and destroy your tranquil dwelling . Get rid of bugs. Get rid of insects . Get rid of all your pests with our Sapulpa pest control services. Bulwark is the most reviewed Sapulpa exterminator in all of Sapulpa, OK. Serving the entire Tulsa metro area with hundreds of Tulsa homes trusting our family for pest control.
Small enough to care, but Big enough to do it right. Get scheduled for a Sapulpa pest control treatment today!

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My Social Circle/Content in Google Results

Insect Control eliminates pest that can harm your sanctuary and damage your spotless environment . Get rid of pests . Get rid of ants. Get rid of all your pests with our Sapulpa pest control services. Bulwark is the most reviewed Sapulpa exterminator in all of Sapulpa, OK. Serving the entire Tulsa metro area with hundreds of Tulsa homes trusting our family for pest control.
Local family pest control services. Call today for local Sapulpa pest control service!

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Reviews By A Google User…