There is this guy in my city whose site always come in top 3 (google local) when I enter the keywords in the search engine. That site has been under construction for years but shows a link to another website and contact details. How can such a site be on top? What can i do to beat that guy in local seo? Thanks, Ashish
may be he has pbn pointing to him, need to do an audit of the site.....dont understand why he dont put the landing page directly on the site
The domain must still have authority. You can report the listing via mapmaker and google will review it. Generally if the website doesn't exist or does a redirect they will temporarily suspend the listing. Generally they will attempt to notify the business owner but either way bringing attention to the listing may kick them out of the snack pack. That would be where I would start.
You say "shows a link"... that means this isn't a redirect but a live website that displays a link to the parent domain. Thus, it is being treated as a live site. The fact that you mentioned it shows up on inside Google's 3-pack results means that it has a verified Google listing. Based on the limited information you have shown, here are my conclusions: 1. The verified Google listing has consistent citations for the business. Despite having a different parent domain and perhaps similar business license to it, it is still being treated by Google as an independent entity. 2. It has good on-page and off-page SEO. 3. Competition isn't doing things correctly (see 1 and 2) hence why it can rise to the top. Thus, to beat him, you simply have to execute the basics in local SEO: good on-page (META data, schema, correct keyword diversity, etc.), good off-page (links from related domains AND links from sites which are based in the same city) and have consistent business citations on major platforms. Another key here is to stop thinking there is a "trick". Treat his site as its own domain, not as a subsidiary of the parent domain and only then you will do SEO with guns blazing. Have fun. Source: 5+ years of doing local SEO on dozens of niches plus helped built local businesses do exactly this (build locations on dozens of other cities without having a physical location).
How can one say an under construction page has good on page seo? No it does not have good on page seo. In fact it has hardly any content on the page. Little bit of content with flash on it. Which says this page is under construction and little text in flash explaining the service and a email id. 1 keyword in h1 with same color as the background. 1 link to a site which is now a parking page. I wonder why Google will not rank dead websites or websites that are into blackhat but has no problem ranking them 1st in Google local.
Sorry, I mistook what you said "under construction" as a site that isn't complete yet, not as a site with the UNDER CONSTRUCTION plugin activated. If he is ranking solely on Google Places though, the factor is more on the citations, number of reviews, ratings and other major factors for maps. Unfortunately, it doesn't take into account the quality of the website.
