Google Places Ranking Factors 2012 - The Description Matters

Every local SMB in America should care about the minutia of Google Places Ranking Factor Secrets.  But not only do a very small percent pay any attention at all to Google Places, a small business who really wants to stay on top of the constant changes in local search might have to give up their day job.  Today we will take a look at another of the results coming out of the Bizible.com study of the ranking factors for Google Places - The Description does matter

We in the business of analyzing and optimizing Google Places have wondered whether the description was going to be downplayed as a ranking factor.  This wouldn't make sense in that Google's best information about what the owner believes his "place" in the world is, would be found in that short description.  Reminds one of a text version of the "elevator" speech. 

The new report out in mid March 2012 that you can read in detail here, found that you would move up almost an entire rank by including the category you cared about, or a synonym of that category, in the description.  Nothing was said about whether you could include two or three such category keywords in the description to up your results, but that would stand to reason. 

It would also appear that this is no guarantee of a boost, but merely a statistically valid potential increase in rank.  Still worth considering, for sure.  If you would rather sell your product or services instead of making a career of understanding the Goog, call me, Randy  310-910-1848

Find many other blog posts on the details of Google Places Ranking Factors here.