Los Angeles Personal Trainer Proves How Hard Google Places Ranking Can Be

How do I say this gently.  Some SEM companies don't give you the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  They "guarantee" page 1 or number one ranking for Google Places, but when you read the small print, they are talking about 4 top rankings out of 20 keywords/city combinations, and they get to pick 10 of those. Anybody can or should be able to do that.

But let's take the case of my client who is undoubtedly the best personal trainer in Los Angeles.  She is located in the very posh neighborhood of Brentwood, CA.  To make matters more interesting Brentwood is a "village" in Los Angeles, and there is an incorporated city of Brentwood in Northern California.   Brentwood in West Los Angeles is right next to Santa Monica.  My client wants to rank in Brentwood, Santa Monica, West LA, and Los Angeles. 

Personal Trainer in any West Los Angeles city or neighborhood village is very competitive, so we are starting out with a tough challenge.  A quick check of Google's keyword tool and we find that there are some nice long tail variations that might be easier than the crown jewel Personal Trainer in Los Angeles or Los Angeles Personal Trainer:  personal fitness trainer, fitness instructor and others. 

Now you combine the core five top keywords with the core five cities for a total of top targets.  You may be able to guess the outcome of a decent campaign.  Keywords 3, 4 and 5 in cities 3, 4 & 5 in priority are ranked on page one.  I would have passed the guarantee test with 7 out of 25 being highly ranked. 

We did have page 1 ranking for her top choices until the Venice or Panda two changes.  We have fantastic content on her website, but obviously our back link effort was getting her the extra oomph she needed.  We are in the process of climbing back into position.  The honest truth that some won't tell you.  It can take a year to get the top ranking in a competitive Google Places keyword situation.  And then you have to fight to maintain it.