Core Metrics of Ranking A Local Business

Is it the same as ranking an article in SERP and trying to rank a local business in search engines? Definitely not, there is a huge difference between ranking a post, a website, and a local business. The basic difference is an article or a website is not a physical thing but a local business is a physical shop, that you try to rank. There are many metrics of ranking a local business.

The concept is the same but it is executed differently-Jay

Can you believe that 90% of web traffic does not land on your website while searching for local stuff? Most of the time, it is easy to rank local businesses, if all the SEO metrics did correctly. Let’s find out which are the core metrics of ranking a local business.

Google My Business:

GMB (Google My Business) is a free tool provided by Google, where you can list your local business that will help it to rank in the local searches. It is not difficult, but if you are totally new to SEO and local SEO, it’s always better to take the help of an expert.

You can search for Google My Business, you need to create an account with GMB which is totally free. GMB dashboard looks something like this:

Some of the main features of GMB are shown in the above screenshot. They are pretty self-explanatory but one can understand the importance of GMB when it comes to ranking your local business.

Posts:

You can create small posts regarding your business on a daily basis, and inform your customers about the latest happenings. If there is a sale or a discount, you can inform all your customers through the posts in the GMB. It is visible for seven days, so it gives good visibility to your business. Not only this, if there is a sale or any other important information, but it will also be visible on Google Maps if someone searches for the related query.

Info:

You need to provide detailed information about your local business like the working hours, area, and a specific category under which your business can be tagged. You can also provide important information like phone number, email address, products, and so on which get visible in Google.

Insights:

Google provides all the information about your GMB through insights. It gives you information like how people are finding you from map or Google search, how many calls or clicks you received on your website, how many people requested the direction on Google Map. This information is quite helpful to make any changes if it needs to.

Reviews:

We all know the importance of good reviews, to get the customers to your business. So it is most important to manage these reviews very carefully. Even if you get some negative reviews, try to solve it or improve your services.

Photos:

Photos give a visual appeal to your business and help people to know better your business. But it has SEO importance also, the more photos you add to your GMB, a better possibility to rank you better in the search engines.

Products & Services:

Here is the best opportunity to promote your business by adding products and services. If you sell a digital or physical product you can promote it here.

If you provide any kind of services, add that too here.

Website:

Google provides you a one-page website, with all the details of NAP, i.e. Name, Address, and Phone number of your business. It is not a very good website, but if you are starting with GMB, this website should be ok for you. Though not recommended. It is always better to have a full-fledged website for your online business.

Citations & Business Directories:

Citations are local web directories that help your business to get exposure and reach out to thousands of people.

NAP consistency is a must for citations, NAP=Name, Address, and Phone number. If there is any difference between this information, it will be difficult to get ranked for local queries.

You need to put the whole address without any change even in the comma or space between the words. There are many citation directories including social media platforms like Facebook, Bing, GMB, and every other place where you need to put your address online.

You can search for a List of Citations and you will find a number of places where you can submit your business information. One example could by MOZ’ citation by Category

You can search by category and add your business information to important directories. It can be a time-consuming task, so if you are short of time, you can hire an SEO to do the job. Not only he has the expertise, but he also the tools to do the task perfectly and effortlessly.

Conclusion:

Google My Business is a great tool for getting ranked for local SEO. The majority of people, today search Google for the products & services they need.

If you are listed in GMB, automatically their queries will show your business and it will help to grow your business.

NAP and Google Rankings are two major factors, that you should be careful about. Name, Address & Phone number must be the same at every citation or in every business directory. It will help you to rank your business.

Google Rankings can play a major role in the growth of your business, so always encourage your customers to drop a good review. The more good reviews you will have, the more customers you will attract.

Even if there is a negative or bad review, try to find out the reason why there is a negative review. Answer politely, and this will show that you care about your brand and want to improve your services. this will definitely help in the long run.

Last but not the least, Google promotes your business for free when you list your business in the GMB. When anyone searches for a particular query, Google shows them related products and services nearby. So Google helps tremendously to local businesses.

So have you listed your business in GMB? if yes then great but if you have not listed your business still in the Google My Business, take the help of an SEO expert and get your business listed.