Start Reviewing Google Places Analytics and Buy a Tag

Yesterday I posted news that dealers can start to post replies to comments that are placed on your Google Maps pages. Today I would like to encourage ADM members to start looking at the rich data that Google Maps/Places is now providing business owners on a monthly basis.

Google Places For Car Dealers

As you can see from the chart above, Google Places is now showing business owners the number of times their business listing is displayed and how many "actions" were taken. These actions can include clicking to your website, viewing directions, or reading your profile as shown below:

Google Places Analytics

The main message here is to observe just how many times a month your listing is showing in your market.

Based on the review of client accounts in active metro areas, a car dealer's Google Maps listing can have 10,000 - 20,000 impressions a month. This could make Google Maps a dealers #1 free resource for advertising impressions.

With that in mind, I would like to encourage all members to make sure that your Google Maps/Places listing has the following:

Complete descriptions of the services that you offer and the cars you sell.
Your dealership listed in 3-4 business categories.
You have three customer testimonial videos loaded. (service, new car, used car)
4-5 photos that show happy customers. Delete shots of your dealership, service bay,etc.
Use the Free Coupon Feature
Special promotional message which lasts 30 days.

Google Places Tags Advertising

Dealers can now highlight their Google Places listing with a yellow "tag" for $25 a month. I would recommend that all members of this forum sign-up for their free 30-day trial. Based on the volume of impressions your listing sees each month I think this is a wise investment..

Google Tags

It seems that new techniques are coming out each month to refine your digital marketing strategy and I hope you find these quick posts helpful for all "do-it-yourself" readers. If it gets too much to handle, don't let your digital marketing strategy weaken, just get some help.

Brian Pasch, CEO

PCG Digital Marketing

http://twitter.com/automotiveseo

http://facebook.com/pcgdigitalmarketing.com

Tags: google maps, google places, google tags

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Comment by Brian Pasch on August 16, 2010 at 2:28pm: @Robin
And once you see where people are driving from you can use that data for PPC targeting as well as SEO content building using that city name. This is one of the most under utilized free SEO strategy tools.

Comment by Robin Beebe on August 16, 2010 at 2:25pm: This is a great tool...been using it for a few years. Each week I log in to see how many people printed location map directions and coupons. It also gives a snapshot of the zip codes where driving direction requests came from. I get plenty of impressions and click-thrus!

Comment by Brian Pasch on August 6, 2010 at 3:12pm: @AJ
You are correct and I would like to see how traffic and click rates change as car dealers start to highlight their Google Maps listings.

Comment by Aj Maida on August 6, 2010 at 5:59am: That's some good stuff. I like the pic's of customers as opposed to the facility even with a facility as unique as ours. And $25.00 a month is kind of a no brainer!!!!

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