Budget 2012-13: बजट के मुख्‍य अंश

Rail Budget 2012-13

127: बिहार के मुख्यमंत्री नीतीश कुमार ने आम बजट को पूरी तरह निराशाजनक बताते हुए कहा कि इसमें बिहार की घोर उपेक्षा की गई है.
126: शिरोमणि अकाली दल ने साल 2012-13 के आम बजट को निराशाजनक बताया है और कहा है कि इसमें आम आदमी के लिए कुछ नहीं है.
125: बजट से बाजार निराश. शेयर बाजार में गिरावट का रुख.
124: प्रणब मुखर्जी ने पूरी तरह से देश की जनता को निराश किया हैः शहनवाज हुसैन.
123: सीताराम येचुरी ने कहा कि इस बजट से आम जनता के ऊपर बोझ बढ़ेगा. यह बजट डायरेक्‍शनलेश बजट है.
122: रक्षा खर्च में 17 प्रतिशत की बढ़ोतरी कर इसे 1,93,407 करोड़ रुपये करने का प्रस्ताव किया गया.
121: टैक्स कंसल्टेंट दिनेश वर्मा के अनुसार अब आम आदमी को इंश्योरेंस प्रीमियम और मकान खरीदने में ज्यादा पैसा खर्चना होगा.
120: पीएम ने कहा, गठबंधन सरकार में मुश्किल फैसले लेने होते हैं.
119: ये आर्थिक तरक्की का बजट है-पीएम.
118: पीएम ने पेट्रोलियम पदार्थों के महंगे होने के संकेत दिए.
117: इस बजट से सरकारी घाटा कम होगाः मनमोहन सिंह.
116: बजट से महंगाई कम होगीः मनमोहन सिंह.
115: मुश्किल आर्थिक वर्ष के अंत में प्रणबदा ने मजबूत बजट दियाः पी चिदंबरम.
114: मुश्किल वक्त में यह बेहतरीन बजट हैः कपिल सिब्बल.
113: मोबाइल और गहने महंगे नहीं होंगे.
112: टीवी और फ्रिज महंगा होगा.
111: मोबाइल बिल महंगा होगा.
110: रेस्टोरेंट में खाना और हवाई सफर महंगा होगा.
109: जानकारों के अनुसार इस बजट में सर्विस टैक्स के दायरे में किया बदलाव बड़ा कदम.
108: प्रणब मुखर्जी ने बजट भाषण के अंत में कहा कि भारत एक महान घटनाक्रम के मुहाने पर खड़ा है.
107: ब्रांडेड कपड़े महंगे हो गए.
106: सोया प्रोडक्ट सस्ते होंगे.
105: LCD और LED सस्ता होगा.
104: गुटखा, तंबाकू, सिगरेट और बीड़ी सब महंगा.
103: सोना और प्लैटिनम महंगा होगा.
102: माचिस और नमक सस्ता होगा.
101: आयतित सोना मंहगा होगा.
100: HIV और कैंसर की दवा सस्ती होगी.
99: विदेशी सौर ऊर्जा यूनिटें सस्ती होगी.
98: विदेशी साइकिलें महंगी होंगी.
97: एक्साइज ड्यूटी बढ़ने से बड़ी कारें महंगी होंगी.
96: मोबाइल फोन महंगे नहीं होंगे. बड़ी कारें महंगी.
95: एक्साइज ड्यूटी 22 फीसदी से बढ़ाकर 24 फीसदी.
94: 10 हजार तक की बचत ब्याज पर टैक्स नहीं.
93: सर्विस टैक्स 10 से बढ़ाकर 12 फीसदी.
92: सर्विस टैक्स का दायरा बढ़ेगा.
91: टैक्स में छूट से सरकार को 4500 करोड़ का घाटा.
90: सिक्योरिटी ट्रांजैक्शन टैक्स 20 फीसदी घटा.
89: 10 लाख से ऊपर आय पर 30 फीसदी टैक्स.
88: 5 लाख से 10 लाख तक की आय पर 20 फीसदी टैक्स.
87: 2 लाख से 5 लाख तक की आय पर 10 फीसदी टैक्स.
86: आयकर पर छूट की सीमा 1.80 लाख से बढ़ाकर 2 लाख की गई.
85: वित्त मंत्री की जिंदगी आसान नहीं है.
84: डिफेंस पर 1.95 लाख करोड़ खर्च होगा.
83: 2012-13 में 14 लाख 90 हजार करोड़ खर्चेंगे.
82: बजट अनुमान से 15 फीसदी ज्यादा टैक्स वसूला.
81: NRHM में 20 हजार 822 करोड़ खर्च होंगे.
80: इसी सत्र में काले धन पर श्वेत पत्र लाएगी सरकार.
79: गांवों में सड़कों के लिए 24 हजार करोड़.
78: विकलांग पेंशन 200 से बढ़ाकर 300 रुपया.
77: पेयजल और सैनिटेशन के लिए 14 हजार करोड़.
76: एम्स जैसे 7 और मेडिकल कॉलेजों की स्थापना.
75: मिड डे मील के लिए 11 हजार 937 करोड़.
74: शहरी क्षेत्रों में स्वास्थ क्षेत्र में ज्यादा फंड.
73: रिटेल में एफडीआई का फैसला का अटका है.
72: पिछड़े इलाकों में विकास योजनाओं में ज्यादा फंड.
71: ग्रामीण पेयजल योजनाओं में 27 फीसदी की बढ़ोतरी.
70: दिसंबर 2012 तक नया PDS.
69: अनाज भंडारण के लिए नए गोदाम बनाए जाएंगे.
68: एससी और एसटी विकास योजनाओं में 18 फीसदी की बढ़ोतरी.
67: समय पर कर्ज चुकाने वाले किसानों को 3 प्रतिशत की छूट.
66: खाद्य सुरक्षा कानून के लिए पैसा जुटाया जाएगा.
65: किसान क्रेडिट कार्ड एटीएम की तरह इस्तेमाल हो सकेगा.
64: किसानों को दिया जाने वाला कर्ज 5 लाख 75 हजार करोड़.
63: धान किसानों के लिए 1000 करोड़ की मदद.
62: सिंचाई के लिए 300 करोड़ ज्यादा मिलेंगे.
61: बुनकरों के लिए तकनीकी मदद दी जाएगी.
60: 9 हजार किमी नई सड़क बनाने का लक्ष्य.
59: पूर्वोत्तर में कपड़ा उद्योग के लिए 500 करोड़.
58: अगले 5 सालों में यूरिया में आत्मनिर्भर बन जाएंगे.
57: अगले 5 सालों में यूरिया का आयात नहीं करना पड़ेगा.
56: सस्ते मकान बनाने के लिए विदेशी कर्ज को मंजूरी.
55: एयरलाइंस के लिए विदेशी कर्ज की सीमा बढ़ाई गई.
54: नई सड़क परियोजना के लिए 14 फीसदी अधिक फंड.
53: इंफ्रास्ट्रक्चर के कई नए सेक्टरों में विदेशी निवेश.
52: टैक्स फ्री बॉन्ड के जरिए 60 हजार करोड़ जुटाए जाएंगे.
51: रक्षा उत्पादन में विदेशी निवेश को बढ़ावा.
50: बुनियादी ढांचे में काफी सुधार की जरुरत.
49: डायरेक्ट टैक्स कोड लागू होने में देरी.
48: सहकारी बैंकों को सरकारी मदद.
47: एलपीजी और केरोसिन सब्सिडी के नए तरीकों पर विचार.
46: अगस्त 2012 में लागू होगा GST.
45: शेयर बाजार में छोटे निवेशकों केलिए नई स्कीम.
44: शेयर बाजार निवेशकों के लिए नई स्कीम.
43: खाद सब्सिडी को समझदारी से इस्तेमाल करना होगा.
42: सब्सिडी घटाना सरकार की प्राथमिकता होगी.
41: टैक्स राजस्व घटने से सरकार का बजट गड़बड़ाया.
40: हमने 5 बिंदुओं पर ध्यान दिया है.
39: 2012-13 में विकास दर 7.6 फीसदी रहेगी.
38: अनाज के भंडारण में हमने प्रगति की है.
37: कई क्षेत्रों में सुधार के संकेत.
36: निर्यात 22 फीसदी की दर से बढ़े.
35: दिसंबर में खाद्य महंगाई दर में कमी आई.
34: इस साल विकास दर 6.9 फीसदी रहेगी.
33: भारत की आर्थिक स्थिति मजबूत है.
32: विकास दर में कमी आई है-प्रणब.
31: बजट पेश करने के दौरान लोकसभा में हंगामा.
30: लोकसभा में आम बजट पेश कर रहे हैं प्रणब मुखर्जी.
29: लोकसभा की कार्यवाही शुरू.
28: कैबिनेट ने बजट को मंजूरी दी.
27: कुछ ही पल में लोकसभा में पेश होगा आम बजट 2012-13.
26: जानकारों का मानना है कि ईपीएफ ब्याज दर में कटौती बजट में कड़े कदम की ओर इशारे कर रहे हैं.
25: आम बजट पर कैबिनेट की बैठक जारी.
24: बजट को लेकर 10.15 कैबिनेट की बैठक.
23: वित्त मंत्री प्रणब मुखर्जी संसद भवन पहुंचे.
22: बजट के दस्तावेज संसद लाए गए.
21: नॉर्थ ब्लॉक पहुंचे वित्त मंत्री प्रणब मुखर्जी.
20: आम बजट पेश किए जाने के दौरान लोकसभा में मौजूद नहीं रहेंगे डीएमके के मंत्री.
19: अपने घर से वित्त मंत्रालय के लिए रवाना हुए प्रणब मुखर्जी.
18: इस कारोबारी साल की पहली छमाही में एक्सपोर्ट में 40 फीसदी का इज़ाफा, आयात 30 फीसदी तक बढ़े.
17: भारत की गिनती दुनिया की बेहतरीन अर्थव्यवस्थाओं में, 2007-2012 में देश की क्रेडिट रेटिंग में करीब 3 फीसदी की बढ़ोतरी.
16: सेवा क्षेत्र में विकास दर तेज़ रहने का अनुमान, सेवा क्षेत्र में 9.4 फीसदी रह सकता है विकास.
15: आर्थिक सर्वे में औद्योगिक विकास दर 4 से 5 फीसदी रहने की जताई गई उम्मीद, सुधार पर दिया जोर.
14: रिटेल में एफडीआई को मंजूरी देने से होगा इंफ्रास्ट्रक्चर का विकास, आर्थिक सर्वे ने की मल्टीब्रांड में एफडीआई की वकालत.
13: प्रणब दा ने जताई चिंता, उन्होंने कहा कि गठबंधन की राजनीति ने डीजल, एलपीजी की कीमतों से लेकर रिटेल में एफडीआई तक पर डाला असर.
12: वित्त मंत्री प्रणब मुखर्जी ने संसद में पेश किया आर्थिक सर्वेक्षण, टैक्स के स्रोत बढ़ाने के दिए संकेत.
11: वित्तीय घाटा बेकाबू होने से सांसत में फंसी है सरकार, जीडीपी विकास दर में भी लगातार हो रही है गिरावट.
10: ईपीएफ ब्याज दर 9.50 प्रतिशत से घटाकर 8.25 करने का फैसला.
9: बजट से पहले सरकार ने साढ़े चार करोड़ से ज्यादा लोगों को दिया तगड़ा झटका, ईपीएफ ब्याज दर में 1.25 प्रतिशत की कटौती.
8: वित्त राज्य मंत्री पलानि मनिक्कम बजट सत्र से रह सकते हैं गायब, मछुआरों की मौत के मामले में थिरुनेलवेल्ली पहुंचे.
7: संसदीय समिति ने की है बचत की सीमा भी दो लाख 50 हज़ार रुपये करने की सिफारिश, अभी 1 लाख रूपये तक है छूट.
6: टैक्स पर अभी 1 लाख 80 हज़ार रूपये पर है छूट, महिलाओं के लिए तय रकम एक लाख 90 हज़ार रूपये.
5: डायरेक्ट टैक्स कोड पर संसदीय समिति ने जगाई है उम्मीद, बेसिक लिमिट 3 लाख रूपये करने की सिफारिश.
4: आम बजट में इनकम टैक्स का सबसे बड़ा सवाल, नौकरीपेशा लोगों को टैक्स दर में बड़ी छूट की उम्मीद.
3: महंगाई की मार झेल रही देश की आबादी की प्रणब दा पर टिकी उम्मीद, बजट में कैसे मिलेगी राहत.
2: प्रणब का ब्रीफकेस खुलने के बाद पता चलेगा सरकार का इरादा, बढ़ेगा टैक्स का बोझ या मिलेगी राहत की सौगात.
1: संसद में आज खुलेगा दादा का पिटारा, वित्त मंत्री प्रणब मुखर्जी पेश करेंगे 2012-13 का आम बजट.

SEO advice: url canonicalization

Before I start collecting feedback on the Bigdaddy data center, I want to talk a little bit about canonicalization, www vs. non-www, redirects, duplicate urls, 302 “hijacking,” etc. so that we’re all on the same page.

Q: What is a canonical url? Do you have to use such a weird word, anyway?
A: Sorry that it’s a strange word; that’s what we call it around Google. Canonicalization is the process of picking the best url when there are several choices, and it usually refers to home pages. For example, most people would consider these the same urls:

• www.example.com
• example.com/
• www.example.com/index.html
• example.com/home.asp

But technically all of these urls are different. A web server could return completely different content for all the urls above. When Google “canonicalizes” a url, we try to pick the url that seems like the best representative from that set.

Q: So how do I make sure that Google picks the url that I want?
A: One thing that helps is to pick the url that you want and use that url consistently across your entire site. For example, don’t make half of your links go to http://example.com/ and the other half go to http://www.example.com/ . Instead, pick the url you prefer and always use that format for your internal links.

Q: Is there anything else I can do?
A: Yes. Suppose you want your default url to be http://www.example.com/ . You can make your webserver so that if someone requests http://example.com/, it does a 301 (permanent) redirect to http://www.example.com/ . That helps Google know which url you prefer to be canonical. Adding a 301 redirect can be an especially good idea if your site changes often (e.g. dynamic content, a blog, etc.).

Q: If I want to get rid of domain.com but keep www.domain.com, should I use the url removal tool to remove domain.com?
A: No, definitely don’t do this. If you remove one of the www vs. non-www hostnames, it can end up removing your whole domain for six months. Definitely don’t do this. If you did use the url removal tool to remove your entire domain when you actually only wanted to remove the www or non-www version of your domain, do a reinclusion request and mention that you removed your entire domain by accident using the url removal tool and that you’d like it reincluded.

Q: I noticed that you don’t do a 301 redirect on your site from the non-www to the www version, Matt. Why not? Are you stupid in the head?
A: Actually, it’s on purpose. I noticed that several months ago but decided not to change it on my end or ask anyone at Google to fix it. I may add a 301 eventually, but for now it’s a helpful test case.

Q: So when you say www vs. non-www, you’re talking about a type of canonicalization. Are there other ways that urls get canonicalized?
A: Yes, there can be a lot, but most people never notice (or need to notice) them. Search engines can do things like keeping or removing trailing slashes, trying to convert urls with upper case to lower case, or removing session IDs from bulletin board or other software (many bulletin board software packages will work fine if you omit the session ID).

Q: Let’s talk about the inurl: operator. Why does everyone think that if inurl:mydomain.com shows results that aren’t from mydomain.com, it must be hijacked?
A: Many months ago, if you saw someresult.com/search2.php?url=mydomain.com, that would sometimes have content from mydomain. That could happen when the someresult.com url was a 302 redirect to mydomain.com and we decided to show a result from someresult.com. Since then, we’ve changed our heuristics to make showing the source url for 302 redirects much more rare. We are moving to a framework for handling redirects in which we will almost always show the destination url. Yahoo handles 302 redirects by usually showing the destination url, and we are in the middle of transitioning to a similar set of heuristics. Note that Yahoo reserves the right to have exceptions on redirect handling, and Google does too. Based on our analysis, we will show the source url for a 302 redirect less than half a percent of the time (basically, when we have strong reason to think the source url is correct).

Q: Okay, how about supplemental results. Do supplemental results cause a penalty in Google?
A: Nope.

Q: I have some pages in the supplemental results that are old now. What should I do?
A: I wouldn’t spend much effort on them. If the pages have moved, I would make sure that there’s a 301 redirect to the new location of pages. If the pages are truly gone, I’d make sure that you serve a 404 on those pages. After that, I wouldn’t put any more effort in. When Google eventually recrawls those pages, it will pick up the changes, but because it can take longer for us to crawl supplemental results, you might not see that update for a while.

That’s about all I can think of for now. I’ll try to talk about some examples of 302′s and inurl: soon, to help make some of this more concrete.

301 Redirect

301 Redirect

301 redirect is the most efficient and Search Engine Friendly method for webpage redirection. It's not that hard to implement and it should preserve your search engine rankings for that particular page. If you have to change file names or move pages around, it's the safest option. The code "301" is interpreted as "moved permanently".

You can Test your redirection with Search Engine Friendly Redirect Checker

Below are a Couple of methods to implement URL Redirection

IIS Redirect

• In internet services manager, right click on the file or folder you wish to redirect
• Select the radio titled "a redirection to a URL".
• Enter the redirection page
• Check "The exact url entered above" and the "A permanent redirection for this resource"
• Click on 'Apply'

ColdFusion Redirect

<.cfheader statuscode="301" statustext="Moved permanently">
<.cfheader name="Location" value="http://www.new-url.com"> 

PHP Redirect

Header( "HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently" );
Header( "Location: http://www.new-url.com" );
?> 

ASP Redirect

<%@ Language=VBScript %>
<%
Response.Status="301 Moved Permanently"
Response.AddHeader "Location","http://www.new-url.com/"
%> 

ASP .NET Redirect

 

JSP (Java) Redirect

<%
response.setStatus(301);
response.setHeader( "Location", "http://www.new-url.com/" );
response.setHeader( "Connection", "close" );
%> 

CGI PERL Redirect

$q = new CGI;
print $q->redirect("http://www.new-url.com/"); 

Ruby on Rails Redirect

def old_action
headers["Status"] = "301 Moved Permanently"
redirect_to "http://www.new-url.com/"
end 

Redirect Old domain to New domain (htaccess redirect)

Create a .htaccess file with the below code, it will ensure that all your directories and pages of your old domain will get correctly redirected to your new domain.
The .htaccess file needs to be placed in the root directory of your old website (i.e the same directory where your index file is placed)

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.newdomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Please REPLACE www.newdomain.com in the above code with your actual domain name.

In addition to the redirect I would suggest that you contact every backlinking site to modify their backlink to point to your new website.

Note* This .htaccess method of redirection works ONLY on Linux servers having the Apache Mod-Rewrite moduled enabled.

Redirect to www (htaccess redirect)

Create a .htaccess file with the below code, it will ensure that all requests coming in to domain.com will get redirected to www.domain.com
The .htaccess file needs to be placed in the root directory of your old website (i.e the same directory where your index file is placed)

Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
rewritecond %{http_host} ^domain.com [nc]
rewriterule ^(.*)$ http://www.domain.com/$1 [r=301,nc]

Please REPLACE domain.com and www.newdomain.com with your actual domain name.

Note* This .htaccess method of redirection works ONLY on Linux servers having the Apache Mod-Rewrite moduled enabled.

How to Redirect HTML

Please refer to section titled 'How to Redirect with htaccess', if your site is hosted on a Linux Server and 'IIS Redirect', if your site is hosted on a Windows Server.

Improve your Google Places Listing

The Google Place page is a free service where a business is able to post a description of their business, the hours they are open, their business address, email address, and phone number, as well as the URL for their website. Consumers can use Google Places to locate a local business that fits their criteria quickly and easily. Let’s look at the top 10 Google Place tips.

1. Rank better in the search engines once you create a Google Place page. Google gives those businesses preferential in the search engines at a local level. In just a couple of minutes you can have your Google Places page setup and you can enjoy the benefits for years to come.

2. If your business has more than one location you can set up a Google Places page for each location. You cannot use a post office box or Google may remove your listing.

3. You will want to add keywords to your Google Place page. You can have a 200 character description so make it count by using by choosing keywords that are relevant.

4. Whenever possible use standard categories when you are describing your business. You will be able to add five categories that are relevant to the products/services you offer. Using the standardized categories will help you to place better in the search engines.

5. Never add a keyword to the name of your business unless it’s actually part of your business name. For example, if your business name is Tiny Tina’s and you sell tutus’ but it’s not in your name then do not add it. However if your name it tiny Tina’s Tutus, then that is how it should appear. Google is smart enough to know when you are trying to trick the search engines.

6. Encourage customers that are happy with the service they received to add a review to your Google Places page. It’s a breeze for your customer to do so and it helps you immensely in your search engine rankings. One word of caution – do not offer your customers a prize or a reward for doing so. Google shuns such action and it could get you removed from Google Places.

7. Try to space the reviews out so there is a steady stream of them rather than a large grouping and then nothing. This could be picked up by the search engines as spam or as fraudulent reviews, which could cause Google to place you lower on the Google Places page.

8. Take the time to get your business listed in as many relevant business directories as possible. This helps to build your ranking and placement on Google and on Google Places since it legitimizes your business.

9. You are allowed to add up to 10 photos and 5 videos to your Google places page. Take advantage of this as it will help to boost your page ranking in Google Places. Potential customers are also drawn to this type of promotion.

10. Finally, take the time to monitor your Google Places analytics. You can find out what the top searchers are that potential customers are querying. You can learn how many clicks are happening, and you can find a host of information that is relevant to your business and how you market your business.

Ten SEO Tips for Optimizing Google Places with Organic Listings

n October 2010 Google started blending the organic website listings and the Google Places listing. Google called this “Place Search” and the results began appearing automatically when Google predicts a searcher is looking for local information.

Place Search is a major change to local search. Local oriented businesses owners must now focus attention on both quality organic placement while simultaneously increasing local Place Search ranking in order to achieve a high blended listing.

Luckily, the traditional organic search engine optimization (SEO) tactic’s we’ve used for websites also influences the ranking of Google Place Search listings. However, there are new SEO tactics we use specifically targeted to obtaining high blended listings in Place Search.

Below are ten Google Place Search SEO tips and tactics for improving blended rankings.

1. Owner-verify Your Place Page

This is step one. You (or your trusted SEO) must first claim your Google Places listing before you can optimize the Place Page content. You claim your Places listing by proving to Google you are the owner of the business. If you need to claim your Place Page you can find out everything you need to know at the Google Places Help page athttp://www.google.com/support/places/ .

2. Physical Address Consistency

Google Place Search gives weight to the consistency of your local business name, address and phone (NAP), so you must make sure the same NAP is used on your Place Page, website and local directories. Be sure to emphasize a local phone number with area code, never list only a toll free 800 number.

Warning: Google is always on the lookout for bogus listings and errors, and any inconsistencies about your NAP could hurt your rankings.

3. Choosing the Best Categories

Your business Place Page allows you to select up to five categories for your business. I have found that the keywords used in the category are the most important factor in getting your business to appear for search categories. Google will suggest categories as you type in the category fields. Use the suggested terms if they are appropriate for you business. You can create your own unique categories just by typing in the keywords. Use keywords your customers would use to find you. Don’t include the city in the category because your Place Page is by default associated with your NAP info.

4. Associate Your Website and Place Page

Google will consider your business website the most authoritative reference about your business, so you want Google Places to easily find your website so Google can use your website data to validate the accuracy of your Place Page profile. Your Place Page has a field for your website address, make sure this is complete and accurate. To help Google make the association, I include a link from the business website to the business Place Page. I include location and category/service keywords in the text of the link.

You can also include the same meta title and header keywords and even multi-media files on both your website and Place Page to further validate the association.

The important thing to know is that if Google can't associate your Place Page with your website, you probably won't get a blended listing. If you’re in a competitive market, you have an advantage if you have a good blended listing because searchers will see more info about your business on the limited search results pages.

5. Citations and Reviews

Many in the SEO industry believe that website citations and reviews are one of the most important factors for improving the actual ranking of your Place Search listing (as of 2011). A citation is SEO-speak for a link to your website from a reputable and usually well known web directory. Here is a list of important citation sources:

• Yelp
• Superpages
• Citysearch
• Yellowpages
• Infogroup
• Yahoo Local
• Localeze
• InsiderPages
• Niche Industry Sites (i.e. TripAdvisor, DealerRater)

Reminder: The consistency of your business name, address, phone (NAP) is very important with citations. Brand can also be important in citations if appropriate.

Many of the above citations sources will find your site on their own and you don’t have to do anything to get the citation. You should double check citations for accuracy in the NAP as mentioned above. There are automated services that do a good job of getting you into the important citation sources. I recommend Universal Business Listing at https://www.ubl.org.

6. More Reviews + Good Ratings = More Clicks

Google engineers publicly state that volume of reviews and rating values are not affecting rankings. However, many SEOs like myself believe that a higher quantity of reviews relative to your competitors may indicate your site is more popular, and possibly improve your ranking. Therefore, I recommend taking action to continually obtain more reviews in Google Places and other local review oriented sites like Yelp, Trip Advisor, etc.

Warning: Obtaining lots of reviews may help your ranking, but don’t take unnatural steps to get reviews or Google might label your links untrustworthy. Steady growth is best.

You don’t need only positive reviews, this can look unnaturally “stuffed.” Amazon has trained the surfing public to expect both positive and negative reviews. You can respond publicly as the owner to a bad review which is a very good thing to do.

Make it easy for your customers to give you a review. Put a link on your website directly to your Place Page. Brainstorm ways to obtain new customer reviews for your industry.

To look more natural, I recommend trying to obtain reviews from diverse sources. Focusing on Google or Yelp is good, but trying to find other review sources for your industry or location would look more natural and therefore help rankings.

7. Place Page Content

Make your business Place Page content shine with great copy and images. Write the content for your page with you customers in mind. What do you customer typically search for when using your product/service? What criteria do they use to select a business? Essentially use the Place Page to accentuate the features and benefits of your business to your customers. Google makes it easy to include photos, videos and links in your profile, so SEO logic says Google will favor businesses that use the tools they provide. So brainstorm ways to add great content to your Place Page and keep it fresh.

8. Social Media Links

Social media participation can create quality links, mentions and citations to your business which can improve your blended Place Search and organic rankings. I recommend you post regular updates to Facebook and Twitter that are related to your products, services or local area. Social media can be time consuming and not all businesses are interested in it, so at a minimum I recommend regular website blog updates with announcement of the update in Facebook and Twitter.

9. Physical Proximity to Location

Many SEOs claim your physical location must be within the city to get high rankings for your city. I have seen exceptions to this, and I believe the key is to have a strong organic SEO website. Aggressive organic SEO and following the Place Page SEO tactics described here can help your Place Page listing displace your competitors listings within the city borders.

10. Check Your Competitors Place Search and Place Page

Review your competitions Place Page profiles. If they rank higher than you, see if the competitor has citations that you can also obtain. Add photos and videos to make your page standout among your competitors.

Summary

Google is constantly changing and refining its search algorithms, and local search is one of the most dynamic and evolving areas of search. Local businesses owners must pay attention to organic placement and Google Place Search ranking in order to achieve a high blended local and organic listing.

The take-away of this article is that you understand these key factors to optimizing your Google Place Page profile.

• Understand that “Place Search” blends your local and organic listings
• Claim you Google Place Page
• Write great content and choose proper categories in your Place Page
• Aggressive website organic SEO is key to improving top blended rankings
• Google must be able to easily associate your Place Page profile to your website
• Citations, reviews and social media will help improve your blended rankings

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