The small business audience is turning to Google to find local businesses more than ever. Millions of daily searches performed on Google each day and over 30% are for local related terms. When is the last time you searched as a customer on Google for your business category? Take a second to do it now. Don’t search for your business name but for your service with the city name. As an example don’t search for “Mama Allotta’s Pizzeria,” but rather “Aurora, IL Pizza.”
Where did you rank in the pack of Google Place or map listing? The goal is to grab the ‘A’ spot. Ranking higher may not seem like much but the first spot grabs most of the clicks and the drop in click through rate on lower spots is drastic. Thousands of dollars on business is up for grabs and you can increase your listing position.
10 Important Factors for Higher Google Place Rankings:
1) Claim Your Business: If you have not already claimed your listing, do this now. After it is verified you will be able to change and add information. Verified businesses tend to rank higher.
2) Local Address: Don’t use a corporate address that is not located in the city you are targeting. Use the exact location of your business.
3) Correct Category: Select tags for the category that describe your business. Keep the terms more generic and simple. Also use related terms for other services your business uses.
4) Title: Use your main category tags in your business title. Example: “Ralph’s Auto Repair and Oil Change” or “Louie’s Pizza and Pasta.”
5) City Center: The closer you are to the geographic city center results in a higher initial listing. Unfortunately nothing can be done to fix this for optimization, except move but no need to go that crazy.
6) Description: Fill out the description page fully with information customers need and would want to know. Talk about what you provide or sell and use the same relevant category tags.
7) Photos: Photos and videos will help convert Google Place visitors into real sales. Add photos of your exterior, interior, products and services.
8) Reviews: More positive reviews can lead to a higher placement. Ask customer to add reviews about your business. Just a few positive reviews can have a positive impact.
9) Phone: Use a phone number with a local area code. Be sure you use the number that matches yellow pages and other directories.
10) Website: Your main website needs to have matching data such as address and phone that is on your Google Place listing. Make both the address and phone are shown on the main page and not hidden on a separate contact page.
While there are a rumored 200 plus tiny factors that make up a high ranking listing, our work has shown these to be the top 10 most important factors. We can help you correctly optimize these factors to get your site to the coveted ‘A’ spot.