Ranking Google Places

[helloworld]

Ok. So long story short. I had a client come to me for SEO. I offer Places as added value but not part of the overall strategy and I don't charge for it. Though client is somewhat obsessed with it and possibly he should be probably irrelevant to this thread.

He had previously ranked for 2 of 1 word searches terms but the prior company had (according to him) had done something to knock them off.

I re-wrote content on his places and wihtin a couple of days he got his ranking back for these terms and he was happy. At some stage after this he asked about linkbuilding. We discussed yellowpages and it was agreed that we would get him a link on that site.

Now I have nfi if it is related but post that happening he lost his rankings again. I've gone through as many references as possible to get him back on first page but struggling and need help....

Any suggestions?

 

[James]

If his places account has been over optimized/ spammy practices, Google can take action to take it down. I have seen this happen to people before.

Over Optimized can involve:

1. Fake reviews (Have seen Google cracking down on this one recently)
2. Too many keywords in the title of the business name (not related to the business)

 

[helloworld]

If his places account has been over optimized/ spammy practices, Google can take action to take it down. I have seen this happen to people before.

Over Optimized can involve:

1. Fake reviews (Have seen Google cracking down on this one recently)
2. Too many keywords in the title of the business name (not related to the business)

Hmmm he did get a good review recently. I have no idea where it came from though. Otherwise the actual copy is fine.

Any recourse to get him back to first page or is it a permanent sin bin?

 

[theseoconsultant]

Hmmm he did get a good review recently. I have no idea where it came from though. Otherwise the actual copy is fine.

Any recourse to get him back to first page or is it a permanent sin bin?

With my limited experience with Google Places; I would imagine that it would be the same process as what it would be with normal SEO. Once your knocked off; you have to clean your efforts up and "start from scratch"... it does take time (as you would know).

 

[helloworld]

With my limited experience with Google Places; I would imagine that it would be the same process as what it would be with normal SEO. Once your knocked off; you have to clean your efforts up and "start from scratch"... it does take time (as you would know).

Are you suggesting we delete his account?

 

[James]

Depends on several factors for example:

1. Was the review he received from a linked account? Or an account which has been giving out "several" good reviews.

I have done some big places roll outs in the past where you deal with any where from 50 listings to 750+ listings.

It also depends on factors like how many reviews do they have if it is only 1 review, it could be worth starting fresh...