How To Get 100% Free Advertising On Google

Did you know you can get ranked number 1 on Google for free using Google Local Business Center and Google Maps?

Google Local helps your advertisements show up in Google searches that are made in close proximity to your business which will help you get more traffic, leads and sales.

Let’s use Just Creative Design as an example; if someone who lives around Newcastle (where I freelance from) searches for ‘graphic designer newcastle’ my business comes up first in the local search results of which you can see in the image above and that position is 100% free through the use of Google Local.

In the image below you can see the free local google listing again but this time you can also see my paid advertising at the top (highlighted in yellow) which I have paid for through Google Adwords. I use Google Adwords to ensure that I get clicked first no matter what.

Anyway, keep reading to find out how to get to number 1 on google for free.

What You Need To Get Free Advertising On Google

Before you jump in and get your free advertising on Google you will need to have these things:

• An account with Google.
• A short description of your business for when a user clicks on your business name.
• The phone number(s), addresses and any other contact information you want to advertise. Remember that the phone number will show up on the results page.
• A logo and/or image(s) of your business and products.

How To Get Free Advertising On Google

1. Go to www.google.com/local and search for your business to verify that it is not already listed.
2. Go back to www.google.com/local and click “Put your business on Google Maps” found in the left side bar.
3. Follow the simple steps provided by Google. You will be asked to verify your business by phone or SMS. A good tip is to to not put your full address into Google but rather the largest town in your area. For example I live about 20 minutes outside of Newcastle in suburbia and not as many people would search for ‘graphic designer cardiff’ as they would ‘graphic designer newcastle’. I also do not want to show my home address on Google Maps as I freelance from home so this is a good way around it.
4. Come back in a few weeks and see if your listing is up. My listing took about 3 weeks to show up and started off in position D and somehow moved to position A… I am not sure how this is controlled but I won’t complain.
5. Well there we have it, you can now get free advertising on Google. You can track and edit your listing by going back to the Google Local page.

Further Tips

• You can also offer coupon codes on your Google Local listing - use this to your advantage!
• You can also add your products to Google Base, the product search engine.
• If you live in Australia, submit your site for free to True Local, the leading local search engine.
• If you live outside of Australia and know of some local submission sites please leave them in the comments below.
• You can learn about Search Engine Optimisation here.
• You may also want to swap to Gmail for your email, here is 10 reasons why to swap to Gmail.

Well there you have it, you can now get free advertising on Google. Good luck!