If you want to rank your business locally, this usually means getting listed in Google’s coveted “map pack.” Every day, millions of people use Google to search for local businesses, and Google displays a map pack with three recommended local companies. If you can rank your company in this map pack, it’s a great way to tap into a massive source of leads for your business.
How do you do this? With strategic thinking, and best long term practices. Today, we’ll get into some more advanced Google Business Profile practices that you can implement to get your business ranking in the top three results for your local area.
If you’re new to Google Business Profile, we recommend you check out our previous article where we break down how to properly set up your Google Business Profile.
#1: Reviews Help You Rank Your Business Locally
Reviews are a huge factor to consider when trying to rank your business locally. Google uses reviews as an indicator of how reputable and trustworthy your business is. Not only do good reviews help your business rank higher, but they also create trust with potential customers. Asking for reviews is a great, easy way to get your business profile ranking higher, since many customers are likely happy with your service, but forget to leave a review afterwards.
Start by making it a habit to text customers after doing business with them. Ask them to share their experience, and include a link to leave a review of your business. If you need to know how to send a review link here’s Google’s tutorial.
The next step to ranking your business locally is to manage your reviews. It’s important to reply to every review, positive or negative. This alerts Google to the fact that you are responsive and communicate with clients. People will be more likely to reach out to you if they expect you to respond quickly. Thank customers for their patronage, and personalize the response in a way that lets them know you remember them and care about them.
When trying to rank your business locally, replying to negative reviews is also especially important. Be tactful, polite, and helpful so that other visitors on your page will see that you are civil and peaceful when you interact with upset customers. If a review is illegitimate (you didn’t actually do business with them), make this known in your reply, and follow the review removal process laid out by Google.
Pro Tip: Don’t try to game the system when trying to rank your business locally in the map pack with bogus reviews! You can get heavily penalized for having friends and family leave reviews on your business. Also, you can’t incentivize reviews, (i.e. offer discounts or coupons for leaving a review).
#2: Keep NAP info Consistent to Rank Higher
Google is looking for indicators of authenticity, and it helps to have social media profiles, be on aggregator sites, and local sites like your Chamber of Commerce.
Putting your NAP info (Name, Address, Phone #) on other sites will confirm that your business is legitimate and well known in the community. Posting consistent business information on aggregator sites like Angi’s List and Yelp, or important local sites like your local Chamber of Commerce website will help significantly with ranking your Google Business Profile on the map pack.
When you fill out your information on aggregator sites, make sure your info matches verbatim. Despite being very smart, Google may not recognize multiple entries as having the same info if there is a spelling discrepancy.
#3: Post relevant content on your Google Business Profile
When Google is trying to rank profiles on Google Maps, it tries to find which profiles are updated and maintained the most to determine which businesses are the most active and likely to respond to requests from users. Here are several ways you can maintain your profile and keep it active to gain an edge when trying to rank your business locally.
1. Update holiday hours
Although it may not seem critical, updating your holiday hours is a good way to let Google know that you care about your business profile, and are being considerate to customers.
2. Upload photos of products and finished jobs
Uploading new photos frequently has a twofold benefit. First, it lets Google know that you are actively engaged in your profile and still doing business with customers. Second, it gives viewers a chance to see what you sell, or look at examples of your work. This can be a huge help for building trust with prospects.
Pro Tip: Make sure there’s plenty of light when you take your photos. It’s never a good idea to upload dark or grainy photos to your business page.
3. Business Updates and Product Offers
Another great way to keep active on your profile and inform viewers is to post updates and offers on your Google Business Profile. Post updates such as a change of location, big sale, special event, or other important updates to help keep customers informed and let Google know you’re actively engaged in your local market.
Products on your business profile are a great way to show users what you sell, while increasing your prominence on Google Maps. Include a photo, product name, price, category, and description to display an offer on your page. If you are a service based company, you can still use the product feature without violating Google’s guidelines. Just create a product on your profile that represents a service you provide. If the cost of a service varies, you can include a price range, or choose not to display a price.
4. Post Blog Content
Another great way to rank your business locally is by posting helpful content for consumers. If you write blog content relating to your industry, you may post to your company website, or social media, but it’s also a great idea to upload your blog posts to your Google Business Profile. Google will rank your profile higher if you post high quality, relevant content regularly.
#4 Optimize your Website to Rank Your Business Locally
In this article we won’t be getting into too much detail on search optimizing your website, but there is a strong correlation between having a high ranking website on searches, and a high ranking business profile. If you have a company website, here are a few tips to help make your business profile and website synergize:
Embed Google Maps on your website
If you have a physical location, ask your web developer to embed Google Maps on the footer of your website and include your business location. If you don’t have a store that people can visit, or you operate out of your home, you can still include a map, and feature a service area. If you don’t have a web developer, and need to embed Google Maps yourself, here’s Google Support’s tutorial on how to do so.
Make sure your site contains key search terms
Google looks at the language on your site to verify what service/product you are selling, and where. Include language on your site that mentions where you are located, and what service or product you offer. If you are a plumber based in Peoria, Arizona, and your website contains a couple instances of “plumbing service in Peoria” Google will know what service you are providing, and where.
Include your NAP (name, address, and phone number)
Use the header and/or footer of your website to display your business name, address, and phone number. If the information is identical to that which you use everywhere else, Google will view your consistency as a sign of data integrity.
There are dozens of strategies and techniques you can use to rank your business locally, but as a general rule, if you stay active on your business profile, respond to your customers promptly, and keep your website up to date, you’ll be well on your way to ranking in the map pack for local searches.
If you have any questions, let us know. If you need help setting up your Google Business Profile just give us a call. We’re happy to help you rank your business locally.
