Two or three times a year, I'm fortunate to participate in an Advanced LocalU workshop with other Local SEOs. These events are aimed at helping in-house marketers and agencies to better understand the ever-changing landscape of Local Search. At least one Googler attends each of these workshops to answer questions and to help attendees to resolve problems they are having with Google Places. Earlier this month, we held an Advanced LocalU in New York City and these are a few of the tidbits of information that I found to be the most valuable and I'd like to pass them along to you.

Google's Sources of Business Information

We all know that Google gets information about businesses from various sources, but how much it trusts each source and what information it takes from each differs. Here's how it works:

1. Google moderators - this includes the moderators at Google Mapmaker, are the most trusted source of business listing info. They augment the algorithms and check on specific details that may not be well served by them.

2. Company Web site - Next, Google pays particular attention to the information provided by the business owner, both in the places listing and via the company Web site.

3.Trusted local directories - these are used to validate listing data and to provide Google with details about a company. Google also looks to them for category information.

4. Enhanced content providers - these are not quite as trusted, but Google looks to them for matching data and also for additional details about the business, such as hours and methods of payment that it may or may not already have.

5. User Input - Google also looks at user input to corroborate the data it already has and can also gain long tail information from it suc...