Local SEO: 5 Steps to Rank Your Local Business on Google Maps

If you own a local brick and mortar business, then you may want to consider investing a little time into local SEO (also known as Google Maps SEO).

Sometimes when you do a Google search for a local business, Google will display a map with potential locations that match your query.

For example, here’s a screenshot of what shows up when I search for “frozen yogurt”:

According to a study conducted by Juris Digital, around 31% of searchers clicked on the Google maps result and the remaining clicks went to paid ads and other organic search results. Showing up on Google maps can greatly increase the number of targeted visitors coming to your website.

So how do you show up on Google maps?

Basically, you will have to get links to your website from other websites, citations in online business directories and reviews on review sites. Here are 5 simple steps you can follow so that your business will show up on Google maps when someone searches in Google.

1. Optimize your website by including the right keywords on your web pages

The first step to ranking your local business on Google maps is to find out what keywords people are using to find businesses like yours and then include those keywords in the right places on your site.

Do keyword research to find out what phrases people are using to search for your business. You can brainstorm possible keywords and then plug them into Google Keyword Planner to see what keyword phrases people are using to find businesses like yours.

For example, if you run a dance studio teaching salsa dancing, are people searching for “salsa lessons” or “salsa classes” or some other phrase? Google’s keyword tool will give you an estimate of the search volume for each of those phrases as well as possibly provide some keyword ideas that you may not have thought of.

Once you’ve decided on what keywords you want to rank for, you need to include those keywords in the right places on your website.

– Add keywords to the title tag for your site

My friends use to own Take the Lead studio and their old title tag was “Take the Lead Studio”. However, this title is bad for SEO because it doesn’t tell Google what the business is about.

We later changed the title tag to “Philadelphia Salsa Lessons and Dance Classes – Learn to Salsa” which allowed them to rank for several variations of keywords that people were searching for.

As a result, they started ranking for salsa related keywords and their search engine traffic nearly tripled.

– You might also want to consider including location keywords like your city in your title tag, but doing so might not be necessary. Do a quick search in Google to see who is currently ranking and see if those sites have their location listed in their title tag.

– Make sure your city and state are listed on every page on your website so that people can find your website when they do a location based search. Usually, many local businesses simply include their full address in the website footer.

– Embedding a Google map in your site footer with your business location marked can also help.

2. Register your business with Google My Business

Once you’ve taken care of all the on site stuff, make sure you register your business with Google My Business. You can call the phone number on their page or simply click the button and follow the prompts.

When you enter your information, Google will send a postcard to your physical address with a code that you can use to verify ownership of your business.

Take time to write a compelling business description that makes people want to click your listing and visit your website. Look at your competitors to see what they’ve written for their business descriptions and plan your own accordingly.

Be sure to enter as much information as possible as well as upload lots of high quality photos. Having a lot of interesting photos can improve your visibility on Google maps and the number of people that click through and visit your site.

Another important thing to do is check your Google My Business listing periodically to make sure the information is accurate and stays up to date. People can suggest edits to your business to Google so it’s important to check your Google My Business page even if you don’t make any changes on your own.

3. How to get citations

Citations are mentions of your business online and you usually get citations by submitting your business information to online business directories, like Yelp and Super Pages.

Submit your business information to business directories to get citations for your business. Moz suggestions you submit your local business to these 13 citations sites, but if you are looking for more citations, here’s a list of over 50 local business directories that you can submit your business to:

http://www.localseoguide.com/best-local-business-directories-seo/

Another way to find more citation sources it to use Whitespark’s Local Citation Finder, which analyzes your top 3 competitors to find out where they are getting their citations from or check out their list of top citation sources by country.

4. Get reviews

Another important ranking factor is reviews on sites like Yelp and Google reviews. Some business like restaurants get lots of reviews naturally, but other business like lawyers and dentists may have to be more proactive in getting people to leave reviews.

Reviews are also important because they help build trust with potential customers. According to a survey conducted by Bright Local, 73% of customers trust businesses more with positive reviews and most customers also trust reviews as much as personal recommendations.

So how do you get people to leave reviews?

One of the easiest ways is to simply ask satisfied customers to leave reviews. Bright Local conducted a survey and found that over 70% of people would be willing to leave a review if asked.

It’s important to note that different review sites have different policies about soliciting reviews. Google encourages business owners to ask for reviews, but Yelp prefers that businesses don’t ask for reviews.

Linking to review sites from your own website and social media accounts, like your Facebook page, can be another way to encourage customers to visit review sites.

Be sure that you aren’t incentivizing people to leave good reviews and that review are honest.

Finally, providing a great product or outstanding service can induce some people to leave reviews. Try to over deliver when possible and build a business that people will want to talk about and share.

5. Get links from other sites

Finally, you should try to get links from other sites on an ongoing basis if possible. There are tons of ways to get links from other sites, so I’ll just cover a few possibilities.

If you have a newsworthy business or are participating in a newsworthy event, consider using press releases to let the local media know about your business. A new restaurant opening is usually considered newsworthy because local people want to know about new places to eat.

Make a list of local publications and news shows and find the correct journalist that covers your niche. Send a personalized email to each journalist and let them know about your business or news pitch.

Local bloggers sometimes write reviews for businesses nearby, so you might be able to reach out to them to get featured on their blog. Search for bloggers who have reviewed similar businesses or your competitors.

One of the best ways to look for link opportunities is to find out who is linking to your top competitors and approach those websites to get links (if relevant). Use a backlink checker to find your competitors backlinks and then go through each one to see what sites are linking to your competitors and determine if you can also get links from that site.

You can find backlink checker tools by searching for “backlink tool” in Google.

Other tips and factors in ranking well

Asides from the above factors, Google also pays attention to how many people click on your search engine listing and how they interact with your website. Be sure that your website creates a good user experience and that it is relevant to what people are searching for.