on a single page that Google be given very clear signals about their distinctiveness. This has little bearing rank but prevents Google from confusing two locations. -- Mike Blumenthal Getting Places optimization right is necessary to be entered into the proverbial search race, but it's never going to be enough to win it. The more competitive the query, the more important offsite, onsite and review optimization matter. -- Adam Dorfman At this point, the basics of a strong local presence still appear to be a powerful website, violation-free Place Page, citations and reviews. Because I tend to work predominantly with smaller local businesses, my experience has been that basic good practices are capable of achieving dominance in verticals and locales of low-to-moderate competition. The more competitive the industry and location, the more tactics need to be successfully employed for dominance. Branching out into greater use of link building and social media participation may be necessary in such cases, and as use of Local Search continues to grow, may become necessary for nearly all local businesses. Google is clearly moving now at a rapid pace towards greater and greater emphasis on social behavior in Local. -- Miriam Ellis Tip 2: Inconsistent NAP information in Google Places is usually the number kiss of death. You must make sure your have a single Google Places listing per location and make sure your NAP information is uniform across the web. Duplicate listings in Goolge Places will split your citation and review power by how