If your business relies on local audiences, Google Maps website ranking is one of the most important things you can do. A top-ranked position on Google Maps will increase your visibility, connect you with local customers, and drive foot traffic or online conversions. In order to rank highly on Google Maps, you need to optimize your business listing and your website for local SEO. This article will walk you through how to do just that.
A Google Maps listing that is complete and accurate is the first step to a high-ranking result. Make sure to fill out all of the fields, including hours of operation, a link to your website, and contact information. Additionally, choose a primary category that best describes your business and add secondary categories as necessary.
It’s also important to keep your listing updated, as search engines will look at whether you have the latest business information. Another essential element of a successful Google Maps business listing is high-quality images. Google will weigh these images heavily when determining your ranking.
In the past, submitting a complaint about a business listing that violates Google’s terms of service was the only way to get action taken on a spammy business listing. However, in the last year, Google has started to take a more proactive approach when it comes to managing spammy business listings. This means that, if you have a verified Google My Business account, you can report spammy listings by using Google’s business redressal form.
When consumers conduct a local search, they’re looking for specific products or services that are within a certain distance from their location. The results they receive are a combination of advertisements at the top, Google Maps with business cards of various businesses (like restaurants in this example), and organic search results below the maps. A good local search optimization strategy will help you get on the first page of the Google Maps results, and in some cases even the organic search results.
Google is able to provide results that are personalized to the consumer by leveraging a variety of factors, including location and search history. To improve your Google Maps rankings, make sure to use a comprehensive local SEO audit that includes analyzing keyword density, content optimization, and linking.
As a bonus, you can improve your Google Maps rank by taking advantage of structured data markup. This makes it easy for Google to understand the information on your website. This can be used to highlight important information like photos, dates, prices, and more.
Google’s search algorithms are getting increasingly complex and sophisticated. As such, it’s more important than ever to focus on a holistic local SEO strategy that incorporates multiple factors. In addition to optimizing your business listing, you should perform additional steps to support your Google Maps rank, such as embedding a map on your website and optimizing your site’s landing pages. If you’re ready to improve your Google Maps rankings, let us know!