Most people don’t know it, but Google Maps listing is a powerful marketing tool for businesses. It helps you get discovered by new prospects, stand out from the crowd, beat competitors, and make more sales for FREE.
That’s right.
For F-R-E-E!
However, these benefits can only be attained if your business listing ranks high and has high visibility. Otherwise, it’s a fruitless endeavour. Your business might be listed on Google Maps, but that doesn’t mean that Google will rank it high for relevant searches.
I know it may sound harsh, but proximity is only one of the ranking factors of Google Maps. In fact, there are many more. This article will show you five winning strategies that will skyrocket your Google Map listing in search results so that you will reap every benefit.
Let’s get into it!
How to Rank High on Google Maps: Five Secret Techniques
Getting your business listing to rank high on Google Maps is slightly challenging, although anyone can do it. Like how there are off-page and on-page optimisations for traditional website SEO, there are also off-listing and on-listing optimisations for business listing SEO. That said, before optimising your listing, you need to add your business to Google Maps in the first place.
Here’s a handy guide to doing that.
After adding your business to Google Maps, it’s time to get it to rank higher by following these tactics:
Tactic 1. Claim Your Business Listing
Since you’ve created your Google Maps business listing, you need to claim it. The reason for this is that when creating a Google Maps listing, the only information you can provide is:
- Name
- Category
- Location
Once you claim your listing, you can offer more details regarding your business. The more information your listing has, the better it will rank on Google Maps.
Before claiming your Google Maps business and adding the extra information, you need to create a free Google My Business account. Then select the option Claim this business or Own this business to claim your listing.
Tactic 2. Add Plenty of Information
Now that you have your own Google Maps business listing and Google My Business account linked to it, you need to add as much information as possible to rank higher in search results.
The more information your listing has and offers to prospective customers, the higher Google will rank it. To add extra information to your listing, log in to your Google My Business account and access the dashboard. Then, select the info tab and add information regarding your name, address, business category, service area (if local), hours, phone number, products, attributes, and description, among others.
Some effective tips you can use to optimise your Google Maps listing for better ranking:
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Use a Consistent Name and Address
Google Maps ranks the businesses it deems trustworthy. To do this, it measures the consistency of information of businesses on the web. So, the name of your business on Google Maps should be exactly the same as it appears on your official company website. Otherwise, Google Maps won’t consider your information consistent across the web and will rank you low. Additionally, strive to use the same business name on all socials and other directories.
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Use an Actual Phone Number
Google doesn’t like random numbers because it considers them spam. Instead, you should use a local telephone number with a code of your location. This will help you increase your Google Maps ranking.
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Include Both Your Main and Tracked Number
Your main number can be secondary. You should use your tracked number as your primary business phone number if you use call tracking. Doing so, you get most of your calls that come in through the tracked line, something that lets you see the efficacy of your business listing. At the same time, your main number remains in your listing so that Google can match it with the one shown on your official website and other online listings.
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Keep Working Hours Updated
Google Maps informs users whether a business is open, closed, opening or closing soon, or terminated. So, updating your working hours and days indicates that your business is trustworthy, which is great for rankings. Additionally, updating working hours will prevent consumers from contacting you outside of them or coming to your store while you’re closed, preventing negative reviews (which harm your Google Maps ranking).
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Add a Business Description
An informative and accurate business description lets you orient prospective customers and offers plenty of information about your products or services.
That said, bear in mind that you need to write a business description in line with your brand’s image and voice to better connect with your customers. You don’t want to represent your company differently because it will confuse them.
You should properly SEO optimise your business description by including relevant keywords and using SEO techniques to help Google Maps rank your listing even higher. Aim to optimise your business name and your products or services. When searchers look for a specific product or service, Google will recommend your business as the best provider.
Tactic 3. Add Photos
Google loves it when you upload photos to your business listing. Photos signal that you’re actively promoting your business, and it’s worthy of ranking higher in search results, as it can probably offer actual solutions to Google Map users/visitors.
Tactic 4. Post Regularly to Your Business Listing
A great technique to increase your Google Maps ranking is to post updates to your listing regularly. For example, if your company is a restaurant, you can add pictures from your fabulous courses. Alternatively, if you offer writing services, perhaps adding a catalogue of prices, or sample articles, could make the difference and help you rank high. In addition, when consumers use search engines, they have search intent, meaning that through Google Maps posts, you can show offers to a ready-to-convert audience.
Tactic 5. Get Google Reviews
Reviews, reviews, and reviews! Just think about it: If Google’s ranking algorithm knows customers love your business and services, it wouldn’t have any issue ranking you high.
So, how to get more Google reviews?
Easy.
You have to produce exceptional work or deliver high-end products every time. Asking your customers for feedback after delivering their orders is a good idea, too. Be proactive when asking for reviews and be ready to respond to them to show proper communication and understanding. Besides, responding to reviews encourages other customers to add their own and reduces the damage of negative reviews.
Conclusion
In this article, you acquired knowledge of how to create a Google Maps business listing and update it. At the same time, you learned the importance of optimising your business’ description with relevant keywords to rank as high as possible on Google Maps. Likewise, you saw that Google would consider your business trustworthy and promote it even more when you provide consistent information about your company across the web.
SEO is not for everyone. It requires a deep understanding of the ins and outs of digital marketing. But, if you’re not experienced in SEO, you may have a problem. If you don’t want to spend your days reading and experimenting with SEO and keywords, perhaps you should contact a professional SEO solution, like Strategically. This way, you let the SEO experts do all the work for you.
