As a local business, it’s important to make sure that you’re visible to your community! Ranking higher on google map will help you in a great way to be found online.
People are increasingly turning to the internet to find businesses, and if you’re not showing up in local search results, you could be missing out on potential customers. After all, Google My Business says that 4 out of 5 consumers use search engines to find local information.
That’s where local SEO comes in. Local SEO is all about making your business visible to people in your local area who are searching for businesses like yours. This means optimizing your website and your Google My Business listing for relevant keywords, as well as making sure your contact information and hours are up to date.
By taking the time to optimize for local SEO, you can ensure that your business is visible to the people who are most likely to become customers. And that can result in more foot traffic, more phone calls, and more sales. So if you’re not already giving local SEO some attention, now is the time to start.
Here are few important factors you need to be aware of to improve the local ranking of your business on Google.
1. Well Optimized Google Business Profile or GMB
The first step in performing local SEO for your business is creating a GMB account and claiming your business on Google Maps.
If you’ve ever searched for a local business on Google, you’ve likely seen a Google My Business listing. These listings appear on the right-hand side of the search results page and Include important information about the business, such as the address, phone number, hours of operation, and reviews.
Claiming and optimizing your Google My Business listing is essential for any business that wants to be found online.
Google My Business listings are free, and there are many benefits to claiming yours. In addition to making it easier for customers to find your business, a claimed listing also allows you to control the information that appears about your business.
You can add photos, post updates, and respond to customer reviews. Claiming your listing also helps you to appear in Local Services Ads, which are paid advertisements that appear at the top of the search results page.
Google search algorithms analyze and determine where and how your business is displayed to local customers using GMB signals like proximity, contact details, categories, and updated content.
If you are wondering how to create and verify a Google Business Page, don’t worry! It is quick and easy. Simply go to google.com/business and follow the instructions. Once your listing is created and verified, you can begin optimizing your Google business profile for maximum visibility.
2. On Page Signals
As your website is analyzed for local rankings, several on-page factors are taken into account. The main factors that affect page optimization are the content of the pages, the title and meta tags, the URL structure, keyword relevancy, and internal linking.
One of the most important on page factors is the title tag. The title tag is the text that appears in the search engine results pages (SERPs) when your website comes up for a particular keyword. The title should be relevant to the page content and include the keyword that you are targeting.
To determine where your site belongs, search engines will check for the use of highly relevant keywords that are positioned strategically. Relevance is essential for local SEO because the appropriate keywords can raise your site’s placement in niche markets for your business.
The meta tags are important on page factors. Meta tags are HTML tags that provide information about a web page, such as its description and keywords. Meta tags do not appear on the actual web page but are read by search engines when they index a page.
The URL structure is another important on page factor. A URL is the address of a web page on the internet. A well-structured URL will help search engines understand what the page is about. and how it fits into your website. A good URL structure uses keywords and is easy to read and understand.
Important information like name, address, and phone number (NAP) should be present on pages to help with on-page ranking considerations. This data is used by Google to calculate crucial proximity factors that affect your rankings.
Internal linking is also an important on page factor. Internal links are links from one page on your website to another. They help search engines understand the structure of your website and how one piece of content relates to another. Additionally, they help website visitors navigate through your site.
On page optimization is a complex process, but it’s essential if you want your website to rank higher in search engine results pages and drive more traffic to your site. By focusing on these on page factors, you can improve your website’s ranking and visibility in search engine results pages.
3. Get Positive Online Reviews
Online reviews are one of the most important ranking factors for local businesses on Google Maps.
Numerous studies have shown that reviews are a key factor that determines whether customers choose to do business with a company. Before making a purchase, customers usually always study the information that is readily available about a company.
Positive online reviews support the legitimacy, reliability, and trustworthiness of your company. Positive online reviews will influence local search ranking elements, in addition to having a substantial influence on how prospective customers make decisions.
Furthermore, positive reviews can lead to increased word-of-mouth marketing and repeat business. In addition, reviews help to improve click-through rates and organic search rankings.
In short, reviews are essential for any business that wants to rank highly on Google Maps. Fortunately, there are a few simple steps that businesses can take to encourage customers to leave reviews.
For example, businesses can include links to their Google listing in email signatures and on their website. They can also send follow-up emails after a purchase or service is completed.
By taking these simple steps, businesses can encourage more customers to leave reviews and improve their chances of ranking highly on Google Maps.
Note: Try to get reviews in different platforms like Facebook, Yelp, TripAdvisor etc. because your customer may use one of these platforms to check on your business.
4. Optimize Your Website for Mobile Searches
In recent years, there has been a monumental shift in the way people use the internet. Where once desktop computers were the primary source of online traffic, most of today’s web traffic comes from mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.
In fact, according to a recent study, over 60% of all web traffic now comes from mobile devices, and 75% of local searches become store visitors!
This means that if your website is not optimized for mobile search, you are missing out on a huge portion of your potential audience. Additionally, mobile users are more likely to be searching for local information and have different needs and expectations than desktop users.
So a website that is not optimized for mobile search will quickly lose visitors and search engine ranking.
Mobile devices have smaller screens and slower processors, so it’s important to design your site accordingly. Make sure that your pages load quickly and that your content is easy to read on a small screen.
Also, take advantage of touch-based features such as click-to-call buttons and GPS-based mapping. By optimizing your website for mobile devices, you’ll ensure that your visitors have a positive experience regardless of how they access your site.
5. Build Quality Back Links
Backlinks are incoming links to a website. When a web page links to any other page, it’s called a “backlink.”. Backlinks are also called incoming links, inbound links, inward links, and in links.
Backlinking is the process of getting external pages to link to your website. Google uses the number of backlinks that a website has as one of its most important ranking factors. Other search engines also place importance on the number of backlinks that a website has.
Backlinks are important because they are basically like votes for your website. The more backlinks that your website has, the more popular it will be with search engines. Backlinks can play an important role in SEO because they help search engines determine the quality and popularity of a website.
Backlinks from high-quality websites are especially valuable because they indicate that your website is also high quality. Backlinks from low-quality websites can harm your ranking and visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). That’s why it’s important to build high-quality backlinks from reputable websites.
6. Create Dedicated Location Pages on Your Website
Location pages are an essential part of any website, providing visitors with important information about a company’s physical location.
By including key details such as the address, phone number, and hours of operation, location pages help customers find the businesses they’re looking for.
And for businesses with multiple locations, location pages can be a valuable tool for promoting each individual location. In addition, location pages can also help to boost the visibility of a website in search engine results, making it more likely that potential customers will see it when they are looking for products or services that the business offers.
By optimizing location pages for SEO and including high-quality content, businesses can attract more online visitors and drive more foot traffic to their stores.
Note: It is important that you create unique content for each location page.
7. Create Dedicated Product / Service Pages
One of the most important ranking factors for local businesses is Google My Business (GMB) listings. In order to rank higher on GMB, local businesses need to have dedicated product/service pages.
This is because GMB listings are closely linked to websites, and dedicated product/service pages help to show Google that the website is relevant and authoritative.
Additionally, product/service pages help to improve click-through rates (CTRs) from GMB listings. This is because they provide more information about what the business has to offer, making it more likely that users will click through to the website. Finally, product/service pages can help to build backlinks, since other websites are more likely to link to a page that contains detailed information about a specific product or service.
These pages should be packed with relevant keywords and include detailed descriptions of what you offer. In addition, be sure to include plenty of high-quality images and videos. The more information you can provide, the better.
Google loves pages that are rich in content and that offer a great user experience. By creating dedicated product or service pages, you can show Google that your site is worthy of a top spot in the search results. As a result, you’ll see a tremendous boost in both traffic and sales.
In conclusion, dedicating pages on a website to products and services can be a hugely effective way of ranking higher on GMB and improving the visibility of a local business.
9. Build Local Citations
local citation is any mention of your business on the web – it’s basically like your business’s digital footprint, and includes things like your business name, address, and phone number (NAP).
It’s like free advertising and can help improve your visibility and organic search results. Local citations are those citations that mention your business in relation to a specific locality or city.
For example, if you’re a plumber based in Los Angeles, then a local citation would be something like “Joe’s Plumbing – Best Plumbers in LA.” Citations help Google understand the online authority of your business and, as a result, can help improve your rankings in search results. In addition, citations can also help customers find your business more easily online.
So why are local citations important? Well, for starters, Google uses them when determining your business’s ranking in search results – so the more accurate and consistent your local citations are, the higher you’re likely to rank!
But that’s not all – potential customers also use them to find businesses like yours, so having up-to-date and accurate information is crucial if you want people to be able to find and contact you!
10. Use The Power Of Social Media
Social media can play a big role in how well your website ranks in search engines like Google. That’s because Google takes into account the number of social signals when determining where to rank a website.
When users search for your business on Google, they will not only see your website but also your social media profiles. This can help you to stand out from the competition and attract more attention to your business.
So, if you have a strong social media presence, that can help your website rank higher on Google. But it’s not just about the number of social signals. It’s also about the quality of those signals. So, it’s not enough to just have a lot of likes and shares. You also want to make sure that those likes and shares are coming from real people who are actually interested in your product or service.
There are a few ways to do this. First, you want to make sure that your content is high quality and informative. This will help to ensure that the people who like and share your content are actually interested in what you have to say.
Second, you want to be active on social media, engaging with your audience and responding to comments and questions. This will show Google that you’re serious about interacting with your customers and that you’re providing valuable information.
Finally, you want to make sure that you’re using relevant keywords on social media. This will help Google understand what your content is about and how it relates to the products or the services you offer. By following these tips, you can help improve your website’s ranking on Google and attract more customers to your business.
By following these simple steps, you can help your business rank higher on Google and attract more customers in the process. Have you tried any of these methods to improve your local ranking? What results have you seen? Let me know in the comments!