Citations from business directories / local directories and internet yellow pages is the most important factor to Google Maps as well as local search rankings.

Please check a list of Local Meta Search Engines and Local Business Data Providers at our Google Maps SEO page.

For other local search, visit our Google Maps Algorithm page, Google Maps Optimization (Google Maps SEO) page, Live Search Map and Yahoo Local page.

Considering the search engine’s perspective – local search is there to get people to a physical location, PO box doesn’t help. Better yet, it has a negative impact on your ranking in Google Maps. Including your PO Box on contact page doesn’t hurt, but your “contact us” page should include your physical address.

For other local search, visit our Google Maps Algorithm page, Google Maps Optimization (Google Maps SEO) page, Live Search Map and Yahoo Local page.

Including a toll free number on your “contact us” page doesn’t hurt , but the “contact us” page should always include a local phone number. Remember search engine’s perspective – local search is there to get people to a physical location. Including your local phone number helps boosting up your website rankings in Google Maps as well as other local search maps such as Yahoo Local (Yahoo Maps) and Local Search Maps (MSN Maps).

For other local search, visit our Google Maps Algorithm page, Google Maps Optimization (Google Maps SEO) page, Live Search Map and Yahoo Local page.

You should have a local phone number in Local Business Listings (LBL). It doesn’t hurt to add the toll free number to LBL, but if you use a toll free number without a local phone number in LBL, it will have a negative impact on your raking in Google Maps.

For other local search, visit our Google Maps Algorithm page, Google Maps Optimization (Google Maps SEO) page, Live Search Map and Yahoo Local page.

Having multiple Local Business Listings (LBLs) with the same address has the negative impact of splitting the strength of your listings. We recommend you to delete the other LBLs with the same address. If they’re franchises, like “Subway”, they would be OK.

For other local search, visit our Google Maps Algorithm page, Google Maps Optimization (Google Maps SEO) page, Live Search Map and Yahoo Local page.

Google PageRank (PR) affects Google Maps ranking? The answer is “no”, but we found a slight impact of high PageRank. Definately, if your home page has a high PageRank, you get better rankings in Google Maps, but Google Maps algorithms are more complicated, and if you do like we stated in our Google Masp SEO page, you can get your website listed within the Google 10 packs, even if you have a poor PR. The method also works on Yahoo Local SEO and Live Search Maps SEO.

This kills kills rankings quicker than most factors, especially your listings in multiple cities. For a while, it was okay, but Google will find it out.

For other local search, visit our Google Maps Algorithm page, Google Maps Optimization (Google Maps SEO) page, Live Search Map and Yahoo Local page.

There’s no such thing as a negative rating. The range is between 0 and 5, but these are all degrees of positivity. The more customer ratings you have the better higher rankings you can has in Google Maps. Think about it. If Google allows you to rank down your competitors’ websites, it would be such a mess.

For other local search, visit our Google Maps Algorithm page, Google Maps Optimization (Google Maps SEO) page, Live Search Map and Yahoo Local page.