Google Postcard and Google Chocolates, PageLadder Gets Some Google Love

Almost every small business owner has been plagued the last few years with some sort of Google Maps/Places listing hassle. At PageLadder we are constantly requesting and receiving Google postcards to sort out issues with duplicates or non-existent Google Places listings. These postcards, as many know, are part of Google’s process of verifying a business at an address. The old days of phone verification are looking to be a thing of the past as Google rolls out Google+ for Business which will require every business to once again go through the postcard process it seems.

The difference with this next round of postcards is that they involve merging/verifying your new Google+ for Business account with your current Google Places/Maps or sometimes called Google+ Local listing. Makes me wonder exactly how many of these postcards Google sends per day? Although the old postcard method seems a bit outdated (why don’t they just send you a fax) it is time tested as the way to confirm a listing is managed by the legitimate owner.

If you have yet to setup and new Google+ for Business page and request it to be verified then you are quickly falling behind the pack. The reason to get on this now is because there have been mentions of Google rolling out vanity URLs that would look something like google.com/+PageLadder which would be pretty cool eh? We have already seen this on other platforms like Facebook and Twitter so it makes sense that Google would also want businesses to have a clean URL to send followers to. If you have a common business name you are going to want to jump on this process to verify your Google+ for Business page so you can claim that money URL.

If you think these postcards are a PITA because they never show up or take forever we couldn’t agree more here at PageLadder. Then when they finally show up you input the verification pin into the Google Places dashboard and your listing still doesn’t show up right away or ever. Although it can be a headache, if you stick with this process things will work out for your business. It helps to employee services like PageLadder’s Local SEO because we have our heads in this game everyday across multiple industry. That means we know which cords to pull to get your listing to the top of the Google Local listing results.

We do such a great job of this for our clients that Google sent us a special package containing Google chocolates made from fine Belgium chocolate:

OK, OK. Truth be told these Google chocolates are not because we are the best local search marketing experts in San Diego. These chocolates came to the PageLadder office with a package we ordered from Google over three months ago. If you think the Google Places postcards are a pain in the neck how about Google Engage for Agencies coming just three short months after completing their test.

With all that said if you need help with anything related to how your business and Google get along we are here to help. PageLadder is a resource for small to medium sized business owners that will make these always evolving processes a breeze. At PageLadder we strive to remain flexible so as Google makes changes we are able to adapt and deploy strategies for our clients that get them the search placement they desire for their business.