Local Retailers Need to Understand Google Places

Google recently rolled out their new "Place Search". They have now combined their local and general search algorithms into Google.com's search results. When Google detects that the user is searching for some location they blend into the results Google Places local listings. It is obvious that Google sees a big upsurge of people using the search engines to find locations and local businesses.

The best way to demonstrate the change is through an example using two screen shots. The first screen shot I took a while ago using the search term "Green Bay plumber". Notice the Google Places 7 local listings all bundled together with 10 organic listings underneath them.

Now look at a screen shot for the same keyword search phrase (Green Bay plumber) taken today on Google. Notice the Google Place listings dominant the page area and the map is pushed to the upper right corner and can scroll down over sponsored listings. The 7 Google Places local listings are spread out more and may contain more information including links to reviews, as well as some 3rd party links to websites like Yelp, Insiderpages, Citysearch, TripAdvisor and more. Plus, now you see less Organic listings which are based on the web.

What is really important for local retailers to understand is the Google's local listings are not based off of your website, they are a result of Google Places. Organic listings are based off the web and your website. Optimizing your website has no impact on getting better placement in the Google Places.

The other thing to note is: Google Places weights very heavily the city or town your business is located in. So if you do business in surrounding areas but you don't have a location there you probably will not show up in the 7 Google Places listings. You best option is then turn to Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, bidding on the other local geographic areas you service. Although many small businesses have stopped most of their Yellow Page print advertising and put that money into their website I see in the near future retailers may be putting that money into Pay-Per-Click advertising for their surrounding service areas.

To learn more about Google Places and to claim your Google Local Business listing go here... http://www.google.com/lbc

STAINMASTER's new website

If you have noticed STAINMASTER® has recently launched a new website (see http://www.stainmaster.com/). They have added a lot of new features, including browsing samples swatches, get design tips and saving your favorites to My Vision Board. Definitely an improvement over their old website. Although, I wish they had not used black and greys for the overall color scheme.

Flooring dealers should take a look at the Stainmaster dealer locator. Many dealers are listed but not many have their website address (URL) included with their listing. You might want to check with your Invista territory manager to get your website listed.

Also, I am surprised when I do click on a link to retailer's websites how few say anything about having Stainmaster carpet and/or vinyl. It's a popular carpet search term by many online flooring consumers, so you should dedicate some space on your website to talk about STAINMASTER® Carpets.

Google Insights for Search for carpet, hardwood & laminate flooring for 2010

One of Google’s free web tools that I like to use from time to time is Google Insights for Search (http://www.google.com/insights/search/). This tool is meant to show you search trends over a given time period and region. You can glean some insights into what is growing in popularity among searchers, insights into seasonal changes in demand, and make some conclusions that might help you with your web marketing strategies.

Let’s look at some examples. Below are several snapshots I took while using Google Insights for Search for keyword terms: carpet, hardwood flooring and laminate flooring. I filtered the results to help focus on possible new buyers in the USA only, for 11 months in 2010. One image shot shows the Top 10 search terms and the other image snapshot shows the rising search terms for 2010 as compared to the previous time period. I did this for all three search phrases (carpet, hardwood flooring and laminate flooring). I have included my actual search phrase with negative keyword filters I used and a link so you can actually go see the results yourself on Google Insights for Search. (See Notes at bottom of post.)

1. Carpet (carpet -cleaning -cleaners -cleaner -red -beetle -flying -beetles)

Link: http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=carpet%20-cleaning%20-cleaners%20-cleaner%20-red%20-beetle%20-flying%20-beetles&geo=US&date=1%2F2010%2012m&cmpt=q

** Notice above how "Martha Stewart Carpet" has shown significant growth in 2010 versus on 2009. Do you think Home Depot has anything to do with that? I certainly do. Also, "Stainmaster carpet styles" has also shown siginificant growth. Is that due to Lowe's?  Note also in the top 10 searches for 2010 for the USA how many actual carpet manufacturer's brand names appear.

2. Hardwood Flooring (hardwood flooring -cleaning -tile -wood -installing -install -installation -lumber -laminate)

Link: http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=hardwood%20flooring%20-cleaning%20-tile%20-wood%20-installing%20-install%20-installation%20-lumber%20-laminate&geo=US&date=1%2F2010%2012m&cmpt=q

3. Laminate Flooring (laminate flooring -cleaning -tile -wood -installing -install -installation)

Link: http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=laminate%20flooring%20-cleaning%20-tile%20-wood%20-installing%20-install%20-installation&geo=US&date=1%2F2010%2012m&cmpt=q

Notes:

a. Google defines Rising Search as: "Rising searches are searches that have experienced significant growth in a given time period, with respect to the preceding time period."

b. Negative keywords are displayed with the minus sign (-) in front of the word. For example: -cleaners. You can use this to tell Google Insights not to include search phrases that include that word. This helps filter the results to what you want to focus on. In my above case, I want to try to find search insights for people possibly looking to buy, not install or clean their flooring.

4. I decided to add one more. Carpet search insights for only the past 90 days. This demonstrates how the results may change when you adjust the timeframe in Google Insights for Search. I also refined my search results by omitting a few more keywords.

Carpet (carpet -cleaning -cleaners -cleaner -red -beetle -flying -beetles -tile -clean -remove -flooring -tiles -magic)

http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=carpet%20-cleaning%20-cleaners%20-cleaner%20-red%20-beetle%20-flying%20-beetles%20-tile%20-clean%20-remove%20-flooring%20-tiles%20-magic&geo=US&date=today%203-m&cmpt=q

** stainmaster carpet - was already a very popular search phrase so it will not appear as high in the Rising Search results.

Using video to make your sales pitch

Home Depot's Total Carpet Solution video is an excellent video marketing example. In a matter of a couple of minutes carpet shoppers learn "Why buy carpet from Home Depot". The underlying powerful message is sure to capture the interest of their online visitors. Plus, the Home Depot carpet video conveys the message much better than they could with just text words on a web page. Most people won't read a lot of text but they will probably watch the short video. Add to this the video can be shared on blogs like this or on a Facebook page. Kudos to Home Depot for a great video.


Carpet retailers (as well as other types of retail businesses) and the various flooring buying groups should think about creating videos similar to this excellent Home Depot carpet video, post them on YouTube and embed them in their websites. With the inexpensive, easy to use, flip camcoders and HD point and shoot cameras there are a lot of  cost-effective ways today to create compelling online videos to help drive store traffic. So what are you waiting for?

What does your target audience want to see?

Having a website is not enough anymore. Competition is all over the Internet and you only have a few precious seconds to capture and hold your target audience’s attention before they click and leave forever. This means we better know our audience’s wants and needs and have a well thought out content strategy.

So often when I work with retail clients they express the things they like versus what is important to their audience. Instead of asking yourself “What do I want on my website?” ask “What does my target audience want on my website?”

Creating an ongoing content strategy should begin with defining what is it your audience will want to see. Too often websites are created and left stagnant. Updates to the websites are non-existent and visitors abandon the websites quickly. For 2011, the smartest thing a business could do on the Internet is to create a website content strategy based on the question: “What does my target audience want to see?” and make a commitment to regularly update their website. Start by scratching the question and possible answers down on paper. Maybe ask customers what they want on a website. Follow industry trends and who is getting your audience’s attention. Last, be sure to use website analytics to determine what web pages are working and not working.

After all, it is not about you, it’s about them. By satisfying their online needs you definitely will have a much greater chance of capturing more online customers.