R.O.I. MEDIA

We at R.O.I. Media are pleased to announce the launch of our new Google Places listing value added service, for new and existing clients. The announcement coincides with the company’s ever aggressive adaptation to Google’s shifting algorithms, ensuring that our clients not only gain their desired ranking increase, but maintain it in the face of Google’s continuous evolution.

According to Google itself, “97 percent of consumers search for local businesses online.” This is a staggering figure, and one which has far reaching ramifications for the marketing industry. Gone is the former concept of hit-and-miss marketing through mediums such as junk mail. The internet now allows businesses to promote their company based on the demographics and needs of their specific target market – therefore leading to higher conversions from increasingly valid traffic.

But, what is Google Places really and how can it add value to your business?

In short, Google Places allows a business to display details pertaining to its physical location and services when browsers search for related businesses on Google Maps. Input the words ‘pizza Cape Town’ and see what happens – you’ll quickly note the Google Places entries. This presents a largely untapped potential for, not only increased conversions through relevant searches, but also from carefully placed keywords. As Google Places is, naturally, a Google product the entries get priority during searches – meaning that expert keyword insertion can lead to top rankings for formally near untouchable keywords when pursuing organic methods.

According to Vic Gundotra, Vice President of Engineering for Google Maps mobile division, “more than 100 million people a month are now using Google Maps for mobile”. The rapid expansion of mobile browsing has not gone unnoticed by digital marketing experts like R.O.I. Media, and taking full advantage of this growing trend by adapting mobile compatible apps is certainly one of the top priorities going forward.

In short, your website might have been unable to rank for ‘best pizza Cape Town’, but your Google Places entry just may. While it’s true that Google Places only allows a brief entry in terms of actual information, it’s also true that interested browsers are able to connect to your business site easily enough should they want additional details. The idea here is to catch their attention quickly and direct them to your establishment, rather than leaving quality conversions to your competitors.

Separating fact from fiction

R.O.I. managing director Allen Jaffe is no stranger to optimisation advancements. Recognised as one of the foremost search engine optimisation (SEO) experts in the global market today, Allen has his finger on the pulse in terms of both currently accepted and contentious advancements within the industry.

“Google has the majority market share with more than 12 billion searches per month, and we’re not likely to see a dip there. Google Places is currently providing results and making companies easily accessible with great summarised reviews” says the R.O.I. founder. “It’s still a controversial topic at this point, but Google Places is consuming organic real estate, and the entries are placed in a highly strategic location. Google is constantly evolving and the latest evidence of this is the Places product, which is providing local listings to great effect.”

“There’s no doubt that Google Places will usurp rankings from organic SEO, and R.O.I. will always evolve with the landscape of search techniques. Another pivotal detail is that 67 percent of Google’s searches on weekends are done via mobile devices, and Google Maps and Google Places have evolved to take advantage of that fact. I’m proud to announce that R.O.I. will now be offering a single free listing as a value added service to all new and existing clients.”

Allen went on to say that the Google product would become another aspect of the company’s overall SEO strategy.

As a client of R.O.I., if you’re interested in taking advantage of the product’s enticing mobile search viability as well as coupon generation, reviews, location details, images and ranking boosts – contact your Account Manager today.