Choosing Your Google+ Local - Google Places - Google Maps Categorie - #7 Out of Ten Top Ranking Practices

Ten Best Practices for Setting Up Google+ Local aka Google Places Listings to Maximize Ranking

Everything search shows Places Listing under short tail

We have now reached Number seven of our most important rules for high rankings on Google Places and/or Google+ Local:  Determining which categories to pick when you create the listing.  Don't trust your own judgement for this.  You must carefully evaluate the choices.  You may consider yourself to be a bicycle retailer, but if no one looks for that, and everyone is looking for bike shop, you want to be sure you list bike shop. 

I have already created a lengthy post on how to select a Google Places category.  I just checked and it is still correct in every aspect.  A quick recap.
    ▪    User your Google keyword tool to find the best categories
    ▪    Use the Google search bar.  Try different words and see what they suggest
    ▪    Make sure that there are Google Places results for that category in the Everything Search

This last one bears a bit more direction.  Google is forever changing the Everything results.  Last year they had a big push to mix up the media.  So you saw a lot of videos, press releases and articles showing up on page 1.  You still see some, but not as much as last year. 

After the major changes in 2012, you now see that many "long tail" local business categories are no longer showing any "Places" results in the Everything search.  So where last year you would likely have had Places results for Amana Washer Repair and certainly for Amana repair, this year there is none.  These categories will show up if you go to the Places Search.  Therefore it bears rechecking your categories in light of this tightening of listings.  Remember the Everything search is still by far the most critical search.