Would GP hurt ranking outside the immediate GEO?

Hi, working with a co. that has broad ecom distribution. Was thinking of doing google places to get them some juice in the immediate area they are physically located.. but I am wondering if that would hurt their ranking outside that area?

Any ideas?

That's a great question. To do well in GP local, you're going to need the listing, citations and clear NAP on the website in Schema format plus a KML file and geositemap uploaded to WMT (Webmaster Tools). You should also geo-tag the site. All of that stuff makes the site really relevant locally, so it just may make it less relevant nationally. I guess it depends on the keywords, too.

If you think there's enough business to be found locally that it's worth it you could try this:

1) Create a landing page that's optimized for the local-ness of the business. See here to get some hints as to what should be on that landing page: http://www.davidmihm.com/local-search-ranking-factors.shtml

I would make that page at a URL like http://www.sitedomain.com/city-state/ (ie: /new-york-ny/)

Geo-tag that page, put the citation in schema format, create a KML file and link directly to it on that page, place a couple of reviews in schema format on that page, etc. Of course, I could write a book on all the other things that should be done for local, but that should give you a good start.

2. Leave the local-ness off the rest of the site.

3. When creating links with geo modifiers, send them to the landing page

4. Send non-geo links to other pages, etc. as you normally would.

*** This is ALL theory above LOL I do Local SEO only, so splitting them up like you've asked is uncharted territory for me.

Excellent advice, Magicbeanz. I was struggling as to what to do with the KML file. I have a client who is currently in one location, but wants to expand. So I think instead of submitting KML to WMT, I would just link to it as you suggested, so that is does not apply sitewide.

Is that the same strategy for multi-location sites, i.e. create local pages and link to different KML (and not submit a single KML to sitemap).

Could you please explain the following:
"place a couple of reviews in schema format on that page"

Thanks

I would still submit the geositemap to the WMT. May as well do both. It's easy. Go here to create both files: http://www.geositemapgenerator.com/

Remember the geositemap is just an XML file, not unlike a full site sitemap.xml. It's called GEO just to let you know that it's pointing to a KML file. You can call it strawberryicecream.xml and submit it to WMT with the same effect, just as long as it's pointing to the KML.

tip: be sure to use the generator in a private browser and completely close it down before creating another as the site remembers your previous additions and mixes everything in one sitemap / KML so things get mixed up.

When you have other locations, you'll need a NEW KML for that new location but you can reuse the same geositemap by just manually adding the location for the new KML in the XML file and re-submitting the .xml file.

For putting reviews in Schema format on the site, just use Schema Creator by Raven - it's put out by Raven tools and it's great. Make note of the CSS Classes being used so you can restyle the reviews if you like. That's what I do.