How important is Google Places and Google Maps for SEO? I recently received a letter from Google congratulating me on my company website being in the top 1% of all U.S. businesses for being tops in local business search. They sent along a cool window sticker with our custom QR barcode for the ultimate in geekdom. But how important is Google Places and Google Maps, and how do you capitalize on this from an SEO standing?

I have done lots of searching to find out how to rank with Google Local Business (Maps) and found the only answer that can not apply. I hear that this ranking is based on the same metrics as all other organics from Google. Only key, make sure your address is clearly visible by Google. Not so fast though. Our address was on our header and now on our footer, and I have scrubbed the entire internet for our company listing to make sure the address is 100% the same. (The only holdout is the BBB to remove the Inc. from the name.)

I thought, great, I will rank higher and for more phrases. Not true in the local business maps area. However, in the organic listing, we consistently rank 1-4 in 98% of our keywords. So how can we only appear in 2 local business listing for those same keywords? Something must be going right if we received this prestigious letter custom QR sticker, but I am left in the world wide wibble abyss as to ponder alone the errors of my SEO ways.

Until such answers come to me, we are going to do a media blitz to hype the event and thank our customers for making us among the top local businesses.

Here is the Q for the group. Has anyone noticed that promoting your addy on FB, Twitter, LinkedIn and in your blogs making any difference in ranking?

Thanks, Richard