Do Geo Sitemaps help with Google Local Search?

[DiscoStu]

I've seen the option to submit a Geo Sitemap in webmaster tools. Does that help with local search? If I have a business that I want to show up for localized search term, how does Geo Sitemaps help with that? Trying to learn the ins & outs of local search so any help would be appreciated...

[bill]

According to the Webmasters/Site owners Help [google.com] this will apply to Google Maps and Google Earth. It would probably help to go with the GeoRSS as that might be picked up by other services.

[Robert Charlton]

DiscoStu - Please forgive hasty answer in advance, just to introduce some basics.

There are several aspects to local results. Among these... not necessarily all... one is optimizing your site for organic searches that include geo terms... and another is optimizing for Google Local and Google Maps.

Here's a thread where I'd posted about onpage targeting and optimization for plain vanilla organic search with placename modifiers....

Any Wordtracker Experts Here?
[webmasterworld.com...]

Here's a thread which covers a lot of ground, where we discussed optimization specifically for Google Local....

How To Get My Business To Show Up As A Map In Google SERPs
[webmasterworld.com...]

It's conceivable that Geo Sitemaps might interact with both of the above, but I suspect the data in Geo Sitemaps is more related to Google Earth type searches than to straight Google search type issues. I think you're asking about Google search.

[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 5:19 am (utc) on Nov. 3, 2008]

[AhmedF]

Google loves KML.

[Silvery]

I think it could help quite a bit if you have content that's not already appearing in Google Maps. For instance, if you're looking to add a geo sitemap because you have business locations you want to get better ranked, I think this is not going to be helpful since those biz locations are already appearing in Google Maps.

However, if you had content such as something like automated teller machines (ATMs), adding all your machine locations into Google Maps might just be helpful.

[martijn]

by having a sitemap, containing a reference to a kml file it will create trust with google.
The webmaster central is a way to validate that you own the specific URL. Adding kml files and include them in your sitemap will tell Google that you have a relation with this business listings.

My approach would be to go with the Local Business Center (prefered is manual entry ) AND kml files to create maximum trust with Google for this location.

[edited by: eelixduppy at 3:28 pm (utc) on Nov. 19, 2008]
[edit reason] no personal URLs, see TOS [/edit]