For long-term viability your business must show up on Google Maps. If your business doesn’t show up here and has little to no online presence, customers will be skeptical of it. Don’t let this scare you though. Google Maps is a quick, easy way to get online.
What Google Maps Marketing is and how to use It
Simply put, this is how you optimize your business’ presence in Google Maps. Your goal here is to simply rank higher in search so you can get more business. This is important because approximately 3.5 billion people use it daily – accounting for 85% of mobile searches, 76% of whom will visit your business in person within a day.
There are numerous factors Google Maps considers when deciding how to rank websites. The most obvious ones are your geographic distance from the person who’s conducting the search and whether your business is relevant. They’ll also consider how complete and accurate your listing is – this may even be a deciding factor of whether you appear in a search. Good reviews are also very helpful here.
How to set up Your Google my Business Listing to Improve your Local SEO
This is easier than you may think. You simply need to:
- Sign into Google and go to Google.com/business
- Locate your business’ listing or if you don’t have one, create one
- Fill out all the information that’s requested of you there, including providing your correct address, listing your business hours and workdays, providing your website URL and what you offer there, adding a contact and making sure you select a category
- Verify your account
- Add some high-quality photos
- Get good reviews
- Mention your business in Google My Business and other directories and local search ads
- Utilize paid advertising
- Pay attention to your analytics to develop other local SEO strategies
A Look at Customer Reviews
Many of today’s businesses have created ways to get positive reviews from their customers. Whether they ask for them directly or create a sign that does this for them, you want to get as many of these for your website as possible – even going so far as to offer a free product in exchange for one. Of course, you’ll also get a few bad reviews along the way. Make sure you’re calm when you handle these. Even if it isn’t your fault, you should apologize, accept responsibility, and go out of your way to make things right. This is your opportunity to show you’re a professional while mitigating any damage.
Why Photos are an Important Part of Maps Marketing
Take a moment to look at “photo views and photo quantity” to see how your photos are doing in comparison to your competition. Doing so will also give you ideas for other photos you can take and include here. Remember, people react positively to appealing photos, which is why taking time to capture great pictures of your business is never a waste.
Post on Google as Your Business
Unfortunately, many businesses don’t fully utilize this feature. Sometimes this is because they don’t realize they can publish their offers, products, services, and events directly to Google search and Google maps. When used in conjunction with paid advertising you’ll appear at the top of Google’s search page more often, giving you more likelihood of being seen.
Conclusion
While maps SEO isn’t difficult, it can easily take up time that you could be spending on other parts of your business. This is why you should employ help from a professional so you can ensure that your local SEO is done correctly and doesn’t get in the way of your other tasks. For this reason, we highly recommend getting in touch with the Affordable SEO Company today.