Today on The Journey we're going to talk about
how to improve local rankings on Google My Business.
Google My Business page, don't have one, get one.
This should be a number one priority for your business.
If you have a physical location, it's key to showing up
in local business searches because it doesn't matter
if someone is in Dallas, Texas and they need a coffee
and they find your coffee business that's in Tampa, Florida.
You need people who live, work, eat, breathe and spend time
near your physical location to be able to search
and find your business.
And thankfully, we're here to explain, well, mostly Emma
you're thankful for, on how to make changes
to start showing up in local business searches.
So Emma, what are local business searches?
Local business searches, we're gonna be talking about
Google algorithms, which Google algorithms are designed
to give people the most useful and relevant
info as possible.
I'm a huge fan.
Just as you don't want your Tampa coffee shop business
to show up in a search result for that person in Dallas,
Google doesn't want a Dallas searcher to see the results
for a business in Tampa, goes hand in hand.
So Google has designed its search algorithm
to show local results to searchers based on their location.
And these results show up in multiple ways.
Organic search results are unpaid listings that appear
on search engine result pages or SERPs,
because the website has strong SEO.
Paid search results are listings that appear in SERPs
as paid advertisements through search engine marketing.
Google My Business results on the other hand,
are featured rich search results that highlight businesses
that have Google My Business pages
and Google guaranteed listings are results
featured on search engine result pages,
that are part of the paid Google Guarantee program.
So if you want your business to show up
in local search rankings, which I know you do,
that's why you're here, you can start by optimizing
your Google My Business page to be more relevant,
be more prominent.
Here are a few ways to do that.
The first step to improve your businesses local ranking
using Google My Business is to create
or claim your business information.
And then from there you wanna enter complete data.
Yes, all of it,
Local results they favor the most
relevant results for each search.
Businesses with complete info and accurate info
are easier to match with the right searches.
Which makes total sense, right?
So just make sure you've taken all the information
about your business and have completed it
on the Google My Business page.
Plus then users will know what you do, where you are
what time of day they can visit you.
So that will be why you wanna provide information
such as physical address, phone number, the category
in which you fall under, and also any attributes.
You'll also wanna verify your business locations
so that they're more likely to show up
in local search results across Google products
like Maps and Search.
Also be sure to keep your hours accurate.
It seems like a no-brainer but I've gone across town
for a slice of pizza, and the Google My Business page
said the pizza door was open.
And let me tell you what it wasn't.
And I was devastated.
So be sure to keep that information as up to date
and as relevant as possible, if there are changes
to your business hours, make sure it's reflected there.
Update it regularly, including your open and close,
your special hours, holidays, that's another big one.
I'm always going to a Google My Business page
to ensure like, hey, you know
it's St Patrick's day, who's open.
So makes sure that's all accurate and it will give
your customers more confidence that your business
will be open when they arrive.
Unlike where I went to go get pizza.
Super frustrating, right?
And all you wanted was the pizza.
But another thing you can do when it comes
to optimizing your page is to manage and respond to reviews.
So respond to reviews that users leave about your business.
They took the time to give their two cents,
whether good or bad, but when you reply to reviews
it shows that you value your customers and their feedback.
High quality, positive reviews from your customers
can improve your business visibility
and increase the likelihood that a shopper
will visit that location, whether it be that same shopper
or someone just perusing on Google search
and ends up finding your business.
That's so true Nealey.
I always look to see if the business
is actually responding to their customers.
To me it's a quick indicator of what their customer service
is going to be like and I also can kinda get a sense
for the type of business it is, their voice, right?
Their brand.
So it's something I always spend time looking at
when checking out reviews.
Another tip, add photos.
Now I'm a huge visual person.
So when I'm choosing a new salon, or a new dentist,
or even where to take my car to get repaired
I wanna see photos of the business, the inside,
the goods, the services, tell the story of your business
and what a great way to do that with photos.
Plus accurate and appealing pictures may also show shoppers
that your business offers what they're searching for.
I know that's helped me out as a consumer in the past.
In addition to updating your Google My Business page,
here are a few more things that you can do
to help boost those rankings right now.
So optimize your home page's, meta title and description.
You use meta-tags to tell search engines
more about a webpage.
You also use them to tease the pages to searchers
as this is the information that they see when they view
your website and local business searches.
Optimize both the meta title and description
on your homepage to target for keywords, for your business,
and the city where you're located
And make sure all other SEO elements are in place.
While there are unique tactics to help your website improve
its local SEO, search engine optimization,
you can't forget about the other SEO elements.
I know having strong onsite as well as offsite
and technical SEO is key to getting your brand
to show up in a local business search
ahead of your competition.
So focus on creating search friendly on-site content
getting links back to your site
and meeting technical SEO requirements to improve
your local search rankings.
Another thing to consider is launching paid ads
or Google Guaranteed Placements.
All the other tips in this roundup are designed
to help you appear more prominently
in organic search results and Google My Business placements.
But you don't have to rely on just these methods alone.
If you're struggling to boost your organic
local search visibility, consider launching
these paid options, either through Google Ads
or Google Guaranteed Program to get your business
closer to the top of these search engine result pages.
So showing up in local business searches
should absolutely be a top priority.
If you're a brick and mortar business, and you're relying
on bringing customers nearby into your business,
use these tips to optimize your online presence
and help you show up when an interested customer
is ready to spend money with a business like yours.
Alright, that's a wrap.
You just learned how to improve your local ranking
on Google My Business.
Be sure to comment below and like this video.
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This is The Journey, we'll see you next time.