• Austin SEO
    • TastyPlacement in the Press
    • Meet the Team
  • Blog
  • Services
    • SEO Services
      • WordPress SEO Service
      • Magento SEO Services
      • Conversion Rate Optimization
      • Why Google Certification Matters
    • PPC & Adwords
      • Adwords & PPC Management
      • Remarketing Services
      • Display Ad Management
      • Facebook Ad Management
      • Pinterest Ad Management
      • Google Ad Grants Management for Non-Profits
      • Adwords App Install Ad Management
      • Product Listing Ad Management
    • Analytics & Data
      • Analytics and Monitoring
      • Google Tag Manager Experts
      • Data Studio Development & Consulting
    • Social Media & Local Marketing
      • Social Media Marketing
      • Local SEO
    • Web Development
      • Mobile Website Design
      • WordPress Development
  • Case Studies
    • SEO Case Studies
      • SEO Case Study: We Beat Lowes, Then We Beat Home Depot
      • SEO Case Study: Total Domination in Houston for Medical Provider
    • Analytics Case Studies
      • Case Study: Updated Design Yields 43% Increase in Conversion Rate
      • Case Study: PPC Optimization Yields Tripled Conversion Rate
    • Social Media Case Studies
      • Social Media Case Study: Hundreds of New Customers From Core Facebook Campaign
  • Portfolios
    • Display Ad Portfolio
    • Design Portfolio
    • Infographic Portfolio
    • SEO Testimonials
  • Contact
    • New Customers: Get to Know Us
    • Customer Service & Support
    • Referral Program
    • SEO Training Seminars
    • Job: Paid Search/PPC/Adwords Analyst
    • Job: Local Digital Marketing Specialist
    • Job: SEO/Marketing Junior Analyst
    • Privacy Policy & Terms of Use
  • Menu Menu
Pubcon Austin 2013

How to Get “Show Map of” Tag to Appear in Google Results

August 20, 2009/21 Comments/in SEO/by Michael David

[This Article is Deprecated due to changes in Google’s search results pages]

Today we’ll be covering a very advanced topic, but it’s so powerful and beneficial comment it’s just too good to be ignored. TastyPlacement has been able to get a lot of use out of this tool

How to Get the Coveted “Show Map of” Tag

I learned this device from a power blogger in the search engine optimization business, and through some research reading Google’s Webmaster documentation. What the trick does is it enables a show map tag to appear within a Google result.

So what’s different about this Google result? if you look closely, you’ll see a cross with an invitation to show the map of the business’s location. This extra line in the search result can distinguish the result from other results on the page. And, as always, distinguishing factors in search results yield higher click rates.

Also, when a user clicks on the cross a map of the location is expanded to reveal a map of the location, the full address, and phone number. Again, this will yield a high increase in visitor conversions.

So How to Get the Tag?

The way to get the shell map tag is easy, but it’s a bit technical. First of all, the show map tag will obviously be of more value to a local business. In fact, a company has to have a Google local listing (a listing in the map section) as a prerequisite to displaying the show map tag.

Step One: Geo Sitemap

But a Google local listing alone will not activate the show map tag. Once the Google local listing is set up, one must also install what’s called a KML geo site map. A geo site map is a very small file, only a few lines long, which contains specially formatted information about the location of the business.

Here’s some sample data, a generic KML file:

<kml xmlns="http://www.opengis.net/kml/2.2"
xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
<Document>
<name>Company Name</name>
<atom:author>
<atom:name>Author Name (may be company name)</atom:name>
</atom:author>
<atom:link href="http://www.domain.com/" />
<Placemark>
<name>Name Of Location</name>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<address>
<a href="http://www.domain.com/">Company Name</a><br />
Address: [street city, state zip]<br />
Phone: [phone]
</address>
<p>A small company description.</p>
]]>
</description>
<Point><coordinates>latitude,longitude</coordinates></Point>
</Placemark>
</Document>
</kml>

Now, you’ll notice from the sample code above that the coordinates tag requires you to know the latitude and longitude of your business address as it appears in your Google local listing. You can obtain the latitude and longitude values, as well as generate a very simple but technically acceptable KML site map by going to one of my favorite new sites, http://mygeoposition.com/. You simply type in your address and click the KML tab to get the latitude and longitude numbers. Place those numbers in the coordinates tag, modify the file to include your name information, and you’re done.

Step Two: Register KML File in Google Webmasters Account

Next, the file must be registered in a verified Google Webmaster account. If you don’t have a Google Webmaster account already, it’s an absolute must for any website owner and offers tremendous search engine optimization benefits. Registering your Geo site map in your Google Webmaster account will activate the show map tag anywhere your result shows in a Google search.

Additional benefits

In addition, the show map tag will also display on Google adwords advertisements, which can be a further boost to that program’s effectiveness.

Your KML site map will also generate a location marker in the Google Earth program. In fact, KML technology has its origins with Google Earth.

There has also been some mention, although not a universal consensus, but a Geo site map can improve the rankings within the map display in Google local results.

Good luck from TastyPlacement

Tags: Google, Local SEO
Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
You might also like
Google 7-Pack Replaces 10-Pack
From the Wordpress SEO book Should You Disallow Old Link Structures With Robots.TXT?
Are Site-wide H1 Tags in WordPress Good or Bad?
Google Hides “Dead” Girl on Google Maps: “This Image Is No Longer Available”
Before You Move Your Business
Footer Links: Bad for Google Rankings, Bad for Clients
21 replies
  1. Brent Hathaway
    Brent Hathaway says:
    August 28, 2009 at 9:30 am

    Just what I needed – very cool stuff about the kml files.
    I will also point out to those using the mygeoposition.com site – it creates a file with commas and spaces in the name. You will need to rename that file.

    Reply
  2. Exotic Cars
    Exotic Cars says:
    October 6, 2009 at 1:36 pm

    Thanks guys, exactly what I searched for. Implemented on my parent’s site…

    Reply
  3. Gill Fisher
    Gill Fisher says:
    October 9, 2009 at 7:30 am

    This is the best composed article I have read anywhere. You could get a job as a journalst anywhere. Only two things you left out – 1. specific instructions about how to register the KML site with Google. 2. Will ht eKML map affect international listing for global companies that do not wish to be identified with a local are. But you are a brilliant wirter sir. A+.

    Reply
  4. Eric Rihlmann
    Eric Rihlmann says:
    October 20, 2009 at 1:44 pm

    After opening my newly created KML file in Google earth, I found that the order of the coordinates need to be flipped from lat long to long lat.

    Reply
  5. Eric Rihlmann
    Eric Rihlmann says:
    October 20, 2009 at 1:46 pm

    Gill,

    For refer to the following post for instructions on how to submit the KML file in Google Webmaster.

    http://www.newshoemedia.com/blog/web-design/scripts/tutorial-kml-geo-sitemaps

    Reply
  6. Tyler Herne
    Tyler Herne says:
    February 15, 2012 at 6:09 pm

    Excellent web site. A lot of useful information here. I am sending it to several friends ans also sharing in delicious. And certainly, thanks for your effort!

    Reply
  7. René Meijer
    René Meijer says:
    March 14, 2012 at 4:55 am

    How do i remove the show map of results? I have a website with an incorrect map result. Generates Google from other data?

    Reply
    • Michael David
      Michael David says:
      March 27, 2012 at 9:04 am

      First step: verify your business listing with Google Places for Business here: http://www.google.com/placesforbusiness
      If google is merging data or mangling your data, you can use the Google Places troubleshooter, here: http://support.google.com/places/bin/static.py?hl=en&ts=1386120&page=ts.cs

      Reply
  8. Fire
    Fire says:
    March 25, 2012 at 12:40 am

    When I try to register the kml file in google webmaster, I get the error “Unsupported file format”. Can anyone help, please?

    Reply
    • Michael David
      Michael David says:
      March 27, 2012 at 9:00 am

      Here is some further explanation. See this file: http://tastyplacement.com/geo-sitemap.xml — this is an xml file that you CAN register in Google Webmasters. If you notice, all this xml file has in it is a reference to the KML file. That’s how you register a KML file with webmasters.

      Reply
  9. tomch
    tomch says:
    April 13, 2012 at 1:17 pm

    Thanks for explaining the steps for google maps.

    Reply
  10. john
    john says:
    April 13, 2012 at 1:18 pm

    good article. thanks for the info

    Reply
  11. Ritchie Hicks
    Ritchie Hicks says:
    May 3, 2012 at 6:03 am

    We’re having massive problems with about 200 domains previously owned by another company. All of the domains have completely the wrong business details linking underneath our organic search results (we’re in the UK and the company linked to in the “show map of” area is a USA based company). We can’t stop the details showing in the results, we’ve followed the troubleshooting guide above (which just tells us that the listing has been reviewed but nothing ever gets amended) and we’re now stuck with a load of sites with the wrong details attached to them.

    Google really need to come up with a better solution of removing the listings, as it seems that there is no easy way for the proper owner of a domains to say “hey Google – you’ve got this wrong”. All we’re told is that the original business owner can change the details which is useless as they are no longer trading. Such as mess.

    Reply
  12. Andrew Smail
    Andrew Smail says:
    May 4, 2012 at 4:19 pm

    Hi, I have been trying to add .kml file and keep getting an error:

    Invalid XML tag

    This tag was not recognized. Please fix it and resubmit.

    Parent tag: url
    Tag: geo

    Any ideas?

    Reply
  13. Syed Ahmed
    Syed Ahmed says:
    July 20, 2012 at 3:17 pm

    can you please explain the way to register “show map tag” on google web master . did not find any option for registration. Thank you

    Reply
  14. souvenir pernikahan
    souvenir pernikahan says:
    July 24, 2012 at 11:41 am

    Thanks you very much for your usefull tips, Fortunately I am optimizing of my site on local searchs.

    Reply
  15. Mark
    Mark says:
    July 26, 2012 at 7:20 am

    Many thanks for writing this tutorial, but is there an up to date version as my sitemap keeps coming up with warning errors in webmaster tools?

    Reply
  16. Web design of York
    Web design of York says:
    August 9, 2012 at 2:55 am

    Spent forever trying to figure this out my self. Thanks so much!

    Reply
  17. Ian B
    Ian B says:
    January 1, 2014 at 12:37 pm

    Would be such a great help if you could update this post so we can apply to Google 2013/2014 version.

    Reply
    • Michael David
      Michael David says:
      January 8, 2014 at 5:51 am

      Good point, but I am not sure it would still be relevant. -M

      Reply
  18. John Young
    John Young says:
    May 3, 2015 at 6:27 am

    Interesting and useful just need to get my head around using it properly

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Tutorials & Case Studies

  • Analytics
  • Backlink Strategies
  • Case Studies
  • Infographics
  • Internet Marketing
  • Local Maps and Local Listings
  • Magento
  • Mobile SEO
  • Our Book: SEO for Wordpress
  • PPC
  • Programming & PHP
  • SEO
  • SEO Power Tools
  • SEO Resources
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Updates & News
  • Web Design
  • WordPress

Our Most Recent Tutorials & Case Studies

  • Test Results: How to Stop Google Re-Writing Your Title Tags in the SERPs
  • Pro Tip: Track Your Website Goals in Google Analytics (and More)
  • How to Connect Google DataStudio to MySQL Database (cPanel Flavor)
  • UTM Codes/Tags: A Quick Guide to Tagging Ads Like a Pro
  • Social Media Case Study: Hundreds of New Customers From Core Facebook Campaign

Search

Archives & Tutorial Categories

  • Analytics
  • Backlink Strategies
  • Case Studies
  • Infographics
  • Internet Marketing
  • Local Maps and Local Listings
  • Magento
  • Mobile SEO
  • Our Book: SEO for Wordpress
  • PPC
  • Programming & PHP
  • SEO
  • SEO Power Tools
  • SEO Resources
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Updates & News
  • Web Design
  • WordPress

Austin SEO Company, TastyPlacement

TastyPlacement
4150 Freidrich Ln Ste C
Austin, TX 78744
Tel: (512) 535-2492

Google Maps: Get Directions or Read Our Awesome Reviews

Quick Navigation: Our Most Important Pages

  • Austin SEO [Home]
  • WordPress SEO Service
  • PPC Management
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Analytics and Monitoring
  • Remarketing Experts
  • Conversion Rate Optimization
© Copyright - TastyPlacement. Made in Austin, Texas
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Black Hat SEO in the US Senate Pubcon Austin 2013 Google 7-Pack Replaces 10-Pack
Scroll to top