Local results will be displayed in Google Maps and Search when someone searches for a place or business near them. You can search on your smartphone for “Italian restaurant”, and you will likely find local results. Google will show you nearby restaurants that you would like to visit. GMB Ranking for Your Business is crucial to get local leads for your business.
It is possible that your business does not show up in search results for local searches. You can increase the number of users who find your business through local search results by making sure that your Business Profile information is complete, accurate, and engaging.
Local results are more relevant than any other search. It is easier to find the right search terms for businesses that have complete and accurate information.
Prominence is the degree of a business’s popularity. Some places are more prominent offline, so search results attempt to reflect this in local ranking. Local search results are likely to show prominent results for famous landmarks, museums and well-known brand names.
Google also has information about a business from the internet, such as links, articles and directories. This information is called “prominence”. Local search rankings are influenced by review scores and Google review count. Positive ratings and reviews can help improve your local search ranking. Search engine optimization (SEO), best practices also apply to your business’s position in search results.
Your GMB Maps Listing
Your Google Maps listing can be a powerful marketing tool for you business. This listing can help your business get found by new customers, make you stand out from the rest, and bring in more clients. These benefits can only be achieved if your listing is well-visible. Google does not automatically rank your business for searches in a specific area.
Google Maps considers many factors when ranking business listings. This guide will show you strategies and tactics to help your Google Maps listing rank higher in search results.
Google Maps is the most popular navigation app according to research. It is crucial that your Google Maps listing appears first in relevant searches, as consumers don’t tend to look beyond the first few results when searching for a place to visit.
Research shows that consumers search for keywords aka “discovery” more often than they search for business names aka “direct” in Google Maps. It is important to ensure that your listing appears high on Google Maps for the terms your potential customers search.
Claim your listing to get your business higher in Google Maps. You can only provide the basic information when creating your listing. But, when you claim it, you can add more information about your business. The higher a listing ranks on Google Maps, the more detailed information you provide. You can’t complete any other steps in this guide if you haven’t claimed your listing.
GMB Ranking for Your Business
Now that you have a Google Maps listing for your business and a Google My Business account linked, you can optimize it to rank higher in local search results. As I said earlier, the more information a listing contains, the higher it will rank among search results. Log in to Google My Business to add additional information to your listing. You will find a dashboard on the left with several tabs.
Click on the “Info” tab to see your name, category address, service area (if relevant), hours, special hour, phone number, website and product descriptions. These tips will help you optimize these Google My Business sections to get a higher rank on Google Maps.
Google Maps ranks trust-worthy businesses. One measure of trustworthiness is consistency across the internet about your business. Let’s say your business is called North Shore Wellness Center. You should make sure that your business name is correct (creative business names ideas here). In your Google My Business dashboard, make sure it is the exact same name. Make sure your name is the same across all of you online properties, such as your website, Yelp listing and Facebook profile. Address information is the same (e.g., “St” vs. “Street”)
Use call tracking to track your primary business number, and your main phone number as your secondary. You will see most of your calls through the tracked number so you can monitor the effectiveness of your listing. However, Google can match your main number to the number on your website.
Google doesn’t like toll-free numbers (800 or 877), as these numbers are often used for spam. You can use a local phone number that includes the area code of where you are located. This will allow you to rank higher on Google Maps and will verify that your business is in the area.
Google Maps business listings let users know if a business is currently open, closed, opening soon, or going out of business. It also shows whether the business is closed temporarily during a pandemic such as COVID-19. This will improve your rank by signaling to Google that your hours are current and trustworthy. This will prevent customers from going to your store and finding it closed or closed. This can lead to negative reviews which could hurt your Google Maps ranking.
Make sure to update your holiday hours so that you don’t get an “hours may differ” label on the listing.