For years, the goal of Search Engine Optimization was to get your Web site on the first page, and preferably in the top three listings, of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Yet, like everything else in the technology world, the “rules” have changed and there are new things to keep up with. You still want to be in the top three, but now there’s a more direct, visual and localized feature that makes your Search Engine Opimization even more valuable and more competitive: localized Google map listings.

By now, everyone is familiar with the tool commonly referred to as Google Maps and the phrase, “local business results” that appear when you use Google to search for a local business type, such as “Plumbers in San Antonio” or “San Antonio Lawyer.” These results appear after the sponsored links (which are paid for like ads) but before the regular website listings, with a letter that corresponds to a map placement right next to it. Increasingly, this is where people are looking, and this is where you want your business listing to appear. It’s visually the first thing you see, it has a link to your site, and generally includes your address and phone number so the user doesn’t even need to look it up. In short, it’s truly replacing the phone book, business directories and other printed media. It’s also increasingly out-competing the regular SERP listings for local searches.

So why is it so important that your business appear on the first page of Google Maps? What’s wrong with the second, third or fourth? From an Internet marketing perspective, the answer is pretty simple — people simply don’t look beyond the first page.

If your business isn’t on the first page of results when a potential customer is searching the Internet, they look somewhere else. Effectively, there’s only one page on the Internet, and that is Page 1. Moreover, Page 1 keeps evolving as search engines adjust to current search terms, consumer habits, and the increasingly intricate ways Web marketers try to fool the engines to get fake rankings.

“Google Maps” are the new Yellow Pages. Use of the Yellow Pages has been steadily decreasing over the past few years, and people are increasingly using the Internet to find the businesses and services they need. It’s a simple fact that’s been proven a million times — fingers are no longer doing the walking, they are doing the clicking. This shift in consumer habits has already led to the demise of many commercial telephone directories. Aside from the fact that phone books are unwieldy, poorly designed, environmentally unfriendly, and go out of date quickly, paid phone directory ad placements have become increasingly expensive and ineffective. In the not so distant future, general commercial phone directories will go the way of the dinosaur. Unfortunately, they may take a few businesses with them.

So, how do you get your business on the first page of Google Maps? The first step is to create a listing in the Google Maps index. This is a free listing that includes your location, phone number and other relevant information. It’s a relatively simple process that will get you a basic business listing that comes up for local searches. You don’t necessarily have to have a Web site. However, the goal isn’t simply to have a listing. Unless it’s on Page 1, it won’t do you much good. Using our earlier example, there are thousands of plumbers in most big cities. Only 10 of them will be on the first page of Google’s search results for plumbers. If you aren’t one of those 10, you’re missing a lot of the sales that are keeping those top 10 businesses in position.

If you want to ensure that your business shows up on the first page of Google Maps, your best bet is to hire a Search Engine Optimization expert, or SEO. There are literally thousands of factors that play into Google’s search algorithms for “organic” Web site search results. While the map and local business directories are a little less complicated, don’t let the easy listing process fool you. There are still hundreds of factors that determine ranking. For example, you aren’t required to have a Web presence to get the listing, but it helps. Likewise, the visual map placement is particularly useful for brick-and-mortar businesses, but you’re still competing with businesses with a Web presence. Which means that if you’re selling something that people can purchase from a competitor online (which is pretty much anything these days), it’s even more important to establish a strong Web presence to complement your curb appeal.

Similarly, there’s an art to writing Web-friendly or, more importantly, search-engine friendly listings. Condensing a description of a business into less than 30-40 words is trickier than it might seem, and cramming enough relevant information into a 10 words title is even trickier when you understand that it needs to be the right 10 words to attract search engine and readership attention. Never assume that just because someone is in the Web design business that they understand SEO, and don’t assume that every SEO has what it takes to get you to the top of the local directories. When you discuss your business with your SEO expert, make sure he or she has a good track record with Google Maps optimization specifically, and don’t be afraid to ask for sample results for other clients. Not all SEO’s have experience optimizing for Google Maps, so make sure you hire one that has the experience to get the results you want.

You can attempt to figure out Google’s complex, continually evolving algorithms yourself, or you can hire a professional who already understands them, how they work, and the myriad factors that determine which businesses appear first and which businesses get relegated to the backwoods of Google Maps. If you’re not on Page 1 when potential customers come clicking, it’s like buying a big, beautiful billboard and putting it in the Alaskan wilderness. No one is going to see it — and moose just don’t buy much.