Here's how you can get your location to appear properly in Google Maps searches.
- put your full address, starting with your or your businesse's name, somewhere on your site
- a page called "contact" is fine
- on each page in the footer is even better
- find yourself in a Google Maps search and "ownerize" your listing with google (I'll cover this later)
- list your own address, with cross-street if possible, in whatever business listings, comments on blog posts, and user forums come up when you do a google search that your business should come up for
- add photos of your business to Google Maps or other online tools, marked with your address
Here's how to prevent your business from showing up properly in Google Maps:
- use an address description that confuses Google Maps when you search it
- your address string should take Google Maps to your address, on the correct side of the street, and you can use Maps to test this
- keep the address and name of your business too separate
- put your address in a Flash document - it should be in a visible part of the HTML
Once you've got an incorrect listing on Google Maps, it can be hard to change it. So make sure to establish your location right from the get-go, and don't be afraid to make new points on the map if the old ones are wrong - it's easier than trying to move them and whichever is flossed-out more will get clicked on. I'll cover flossing out your google maps listing another time.
