What Is Google Maps SEO?
Google Maps SEO is nan process of optimizing your business's listing successful Google Maps to amended its rankings successful section hunt results.
When group participate a hunt query for a specified locale, Google often displays a representation on pinch a database of applicable businesses. Google will besides do this if it believes nan hunt intent is local.
For example, nan query “food adjacent me” returns results arsenic a local pack pinch 3 business listings and a map.
Why Is SEO for Google Maps Important?
Ranking successful Google Maps is important if your business relies connected section customers.
- Improves section hunt rankings: One facet Google bases its section results connected is really good your Google Business Profile (GBP)—formerly called Google My Business—matches what personification is searching for. Filling retired and optimizing your floor plan tin summation your business's section hunt visibility.
- Increases website traffic: Appearing successful Google Maps tin thrust much postulation to your site. People are 70% much likely to sojourn a business pinch a GBP.
- Builds trust: A Google Maps listing tin build spot and credibility pinch searchers. People are 2.7 times much apt to see your business reputable if they spot your GBP connected Google Maps.
- Showcases cardinal business information: A GBP allows you to show important information. Such arsenic your business address, website, telephone number, and different details. These thief imaginable customers understand what you do, erstwhile you’re open, and what benignant of reviews you get.
Here’s an illustration of a Google Business Profile pinch cardinal business information:
What Factors Affect Local Rankings?
Google's section hunt results are wished by 3 main factors: relevance, distance, and prominence.
Relevance
Relevance refers to really good your business listing matches nan user’s search intent. Google wants to show listings that are astir applicable to what nan personification is looking for.
Complete your GBP pinch elaborate accusation astir your business, products, and services.
For example, a landscaping business could update nan following:
- Hours: Specify operating hours, including typical hours for holidays
- Business category: Choose nan astir applicable class (in this case, “Landscaper”)
- Description: Write an engaging explanation of your services and unsocial trading points
- Services: List each services, specified arsenic section care, plot design, etc.
- Image and videos: Upload images of equipment, before-and-after shots, and nan squad astatine work. Add videos showcasing your services and tours of completed projects.
Distance
Distance refers to really acold your business is from nan location indicated successful a search.
For example, presume you ain a Thai edifice successful Boston. When a personification searches "Thai successful Boston," Google calculates nan region betwixt nan user's location. And your business's beingness location.
There isn’t overmuch you tin do astir this factor. Only alteration your listing's location if you move nan business.
Prominence
Prominence refers to really well-known your business is. Google considers factors specified arsenic ratings, number of reviews, and online business information.
For example, Thai Basil ranks first successful nan section battalion for "Thai successful Boston.”
The edifice has complete 800 reviews, which is much than doubly nan number of reviews than nan 2nd listing. And a 4.0 mean rating. Google intelligibly sees it arsenic well-known.
If you unfastened a competing Thai edifice successful nan aforesaid area, you apt won’t rank successful nan section battalion until you’ve reached a akin level of prominence.
Here are a fewer things you tin do to improve your section prominence:
- Fill retired your GBP completely. Including name, address, and telephone number (NAP), operating hours, amenities, work and merchandise offerings, and more.
- Encourage customers to time off Google reviews
- Follow on-page SEO champion practices for your site
- Create helpful, localized contented connected your site
- Get NAP citations connected societal media profiles and business directories
- Earn backlinks by reaching retired to different section businesses, contacting section newspapers, and supporting/sponsoring section events
11 Tips for Ranking Higher successful Google Maps
Ranking higher successful Google Maps improves your business's hunt visibility. And tin thief you pull much section customers.
1. Add aliases Claim Your Business connected Google Maps
To amended your Google Map SEO, create your GBP. Or declare nan unverified floor plan Google created.
Search Google for your business sanction to spot if a floor plan exists. If it does, you’ll spot it connected nan right-hand broadside of nan hunt motor results page (SERP).
In nan profile, you tin update important accusation astir your business, including your:
- Name
- Address
- Phone number
- Operating hours
- And more
You tin besides upload images and schedule posts.
To commencement nan process, spell to the GBP page and click “Manage now.”
Further reading: How to Add Your Business to Google
2. Optimize Your Google Business Profile
Once you’ve completed nan claiming process, it’s clip to optimize your GBP.
While you tin do this straight successful your profile, our Listing Management instrumentality makes nan process faster and easier.
Add your business accusation to nan tool. And it will automatically update your GBP and galore different directory listings astatine nan aforesaid time. Including Bing, Facebook, Yelp, Alexa, and more.
To start, unfastened Listing Management and participate your business name. Once you've recovered your business, click connected it.
Next, you'll spot immoderate information astir your listings crossed each directories—not conscionable Google Maps.
Scroll to nan conception called "Fix these to amended and grow your coverage." You’ll spot “Google Business Profile” listed successful nan directory file if location are immoderate issues.
Click nan "Continue setup" button. This includes connecting your GBP to Listing Management.
When you’ve vanished nan configuration, you'll get astatine nan dashboard to negociate your GBP.
Update and optimize your floor plan by doing nan following:
- Enter meticulous business information: This includes your address, telephone number, website, operating hours, and parking
- Choose a superior business category: Choose nan class that fits your business best
- Write a business description: Write a compelling business explanation that highlights why customers should take you
- Upload images and videos: Showcase your products, services, and nan interior and exterior of your business
- Use nan Posts feature: Share updates, promotions, events, and different applicable accusation astir your business
3. Post Content to Your Profile
Use nan Posts characteristic successful GBP to support your floor plan fresh. And pull much customers.
For example, here’s really a section bookstore could leverage nan contented feature:
- Promote caller arrivals: Share posts astir caller book releases, bestsellers, and unit picks
- Announce events: Post specifications astir upcoming events specified arsenic book signings, writer talks, and reference groups
- Highlight promotions: Announce upcoming sales, discounts, and typical offers
- Share seasonal recommendations: Suggest book recommendations centered astir existent seasons and holidays
As different example, Dunkin’ uses posts to item deals for customers:
4. Manage and Respond to Reviews
Managing and responding to negative and affirmative reviews connected your GBP helps you support your online reputation.
Here’s an illustration of what a reappraisal looks for illustration connected your profile:
Best practices for managing and responding to Google reviews include:
- Monitor regularly: Set up notifications truthful you're alerted whenever a caller reappraisal is posted. Regular monitoring allows you to respond promptly. And reside immoderate issues that arise.
- Respond to everything: Respond to each reviews, bully aliases bad. Thank customers for affirmative feedback. And reside immoderate issues raised successful antagonistic reviews.
- Be professional: Use a master reside erstwhile responding. Be courteous to nan reviewer’s praises aliases concerns.
- Personalize: Show you worth nan reviewer’s feedback by utilizing their sanction if provided. And referencing specifications from their review.
- Be concise: Keep your responses clear and concise. Avoid penning lengthy responses that whitethorn beryllium overwhelming for readers.
Since reviews are a Google Maps ranking factor, it’s important to get much of them. Encourage your satisfied customers to time off reviews by asking them successful person. Or including a nexus successful your emails aliases connected receipts.
Find nan nexus that will return group straight to your Google Maps listing successful your GBP dashboard.
Click “Ask for reviews.”
A container will look pinch a unsocial nexus conscionable for your listing. Copy it and stock it pinch your customers.
5. Optimize Your Site for Local Search
Optimizing your website for section hunt is basal for attracting customers successful your area.
- Use section keywords: Include your metropolis aliases vicinity successful your content, meta tags, and headings arsenic portion of your Google Maps SEO strategy. This helps Google spot your business arsenic applicable to section searches.
- Create location pages: Create a dedicated page for each location, moreover if you only person one. Tailor nan contented to nan location, specified arsenic address, telephone number, business hours, and customer testimonials.
- Optimize meta tags: Use section keywords successful title tags and meta descriptions to thief amended your site's hunt visibility
- Optimize for mobile devices: Many group hunt locally connected their phones, truthful your tract needs to usage a responsive creation to show decently connected mobile devices
- Include your NAP connected each pages: Add your business name, address, and telephone number successful nan footer of your tract truthful it appears connected each pages. It’s besides adjuvant for visitors to spot nan NAP successful nan assemblage of cardinal pages for illustration location and contact.
- Create section content: Publish contented that’s applicable to your section audience. Write astir section events, news, and updates astir your business.
- Ensure bully findability and crawlability: Link your astir important pages successful your site’s main navigation truthful some section customers and hunt bots tin easy find them
Use nan Semrush Site Audit instrumentality to place issues affecting your site’s crawlability. Find and reside problems preventing your tract from ranking for section searches.
Open nan tool, participate your domain, and click “Start Audit.”
Enter a task sanction (optional). Then, click “Create project.”
To group up your audit, take really galore pages you want to check.
For example, you tin audit up to 100 pages per period pinch a free account. And up to 20,000 pinch a Semrush Pro aliases Guru subscription.
Next, prime a crawl source. “Website” is nan default.
Then, click nan “Start Site Audit” button.
When nan audit is finished, you’ll spot an overview of your site’s health.
To spot issues pinch crawling and indexing, click “View details” successful nan container branded “Crawlability.”
Now, you’ll spot a study of issues affecting crawlability and indexability. Like 5xx errors. Or slow pages.
Clicking connected nan orangish horizontal bars adjacent to each rumor will show you nan pages that request attention. Fix these issues to optimize your tract for section search.
Core Web Vitals metrics, which measurement load time, interactivity, and ocular stability, are besides important to monitor.
Check your site’s capacity by clicking “View details” successful nan container branded “Core Web Vitals.”
This tells you nan position of your pages and provides humanities data.
The “Metrics” conception is wherever you’ll spot various capacity scores. And recommendations to amended them. Like eliminating render-blocking resources. And reducing nan effect of third-party code.
6. Ensure Your NAP Is Consistent Across Listings
Since Google whitethorn usage your NAP citations to verify your business information, guarantee consistency crossed nan web.
If you aren’t utilizing a instrumentality for illustration Listing Management, you’ll request to do this manually crossed platforms.
If you haven’t already, create an relationship connected each applicable directories. Then, cheque that your name, address, and telephone number are correct crossed platforms.
Examples include:
- GBP
- Bing Places
- Yelp
- Apple Maps
- Local enclosure of commerce
If you’re utilizing Listing Management, you’ll only request to update your NAP and business accusation once. It past automatically updates aliases adds it to each disposable listings connected your behalf.
Further reading: 9 Local Business Listing Management Tools to Boost Foot Traffic
7. Build Relevant Local Backlinks
Backlinks are links connected different websites that constituent backmost to yours.
A Semrush study confirmed that nan much applicable sites that nexus to you, nan much apt your tract is to rank higher overall.
Backlinks are important for SEO because Google treats them likewise to votes of confidence. In general, nan much backlinks your tract has, nan much Google sees it arsenic trustworthy.
That’s why it’s basal to adhd link building to your Google Maps SEO strategy.
- Submit to directories: Submit your business to section online directories. Such arsenic Yelp and section enclosure of commerce sites.
- Reach retired locally: Provide section news websites pinch announcements and stories
- Build relationships: Connect pinch section bloggers successful your industry
- Sponsor events: Sponsor section events and inquire for a backlink connected their site
- Partner up: Cross-promote different section businesses connected your sites
- Create section content: Tailor contented to your section audience, specified arsenic section guides, infographics, aliases videos
- Publish property releases: Write and administer property releases astir newsworthy events aliases milestones related to your business
Use nan Semrush Backlink Audit instrumentality to way and analyse backlinks to your site.
When nan audit is done, you’ll spot an overview dashboard that looks for illustration this:
Within nan tool, you can:
- See your wide backlink health
- Discover toxic links that could beryllium harmful to your site
- Get insights astir your backlinks and really to stay healthy
- Contact tract owners to inquire them to region links
- Build a disavow database to inquire Google to disregard links to your site
8. Add Local Business Schema
Schema is simply a type of system information you tin usage to springiness Google further discourse astir your business. You spot nan information successful nan HTML root of your homepage.
LocalBusiness Schema allows you to people up adjuvant business information. Like your NAP, website, and opening hours. Your business whitethorn past look much prominently aliases pinch rich | snippets successful hunt results.
9. Target Long-Tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords are highly circumstantial phrases that thin to person little hunt volume. Compared to shorter, broader keywords (also known arsenic “head terms”).
For example, “landscaper” is simply a caput term. And “landscaper that plants fescue grass” is simply a long-tail keyword.
Long-tail keywords besides thin to person higher conversion rates because searchers are much apt to beryllium willing successful a circumstantial merchandise aliases service.
Targeting long-tail keywords is beneficial for representation SEO for respective reasons:
- Less competitive: It whitethorn beryllium easier to rank for long-tail keywords if you target a circumstantial geographic area.
- More specific: Since they’re much specific, they thin to pull group who are further on successful nan buying process
- Highly targeted: They tin thief you target section customers much efficaciously by including location-specific words successful nan phrase. This tin thief you pull customers looking for businesses for illustration yours successful their area.
Find long-tail, applicable keywords to target by utilizing our Keyword Magic Tool.
Enter a caput word to start. Then, prime nan state your business operates in, and click “Search.”
You’ll past spot an overview of related keywords. And different ways to select and constrictive your focus.
To select for long-tail keywords, click nan “Advanced filters” drop-down.
Enter “3” arsenic nan minimum number of words and time off nan maximum empty. Three words isn’t a rule, but it’s a bully starting constituent for uncovering highly circumstantial keywords.
Click “Apply.”
Then, click nan “Include keywords” drop-down to select those long-tail keywords to only see your geographic area.
Enter nan city, state, neighborhood, and immoderate different section parameter successful nan box. Click “Apply.”
You’ll now spot a database of local, long-tail keywords to see targeting for your business.
To constrictive your attraction moreover further, you whitethorn determine to select by different variables. Like keyword trouble and intent.
10. Embed Google Maps connected Your Site
Embedding a Google Map connected your site—such arsenic your location aliases interaction page—can thief group find your business and amended nan personification experience.
It tin besides thief Google understand nan geographical discourse of your business.
As an example, Molly Maid embeds a Google Map connected their Northwest Seattle location page to show what area they serve:
11. Use Paid Ads to Boost Engagement
Google Local Services Ads thief your business pull customers. And cod leads via bookings and telephone calls.
These ads look astatine nan apical of nan Google SERP. They tin show your business name, ratings, number of reviews, opening hours, and more.
A fewer champion practices for creating these ads include:
- Fill retired your profile: Fully complete your floor plan pinch meticulous accusation and applicable business categories
- Set a realistic budget: Align your fund pinch your business goals. Adjust based connected your ads’ performance.
- Define your work areas: Ensure your ads only scope group successful nan areas you serve
- Share visuals: Include images and videos to pull attraction and showcase your services
- Use advertisement scheduling: Schedule your ads to tally only during nan hours erstwhile you judge your target assemblage is apt searching
For example, these paid ads look erstwhile searching “HVAC Boston”:
Further reading: Google Local Services Ads: What They Are & How to Set Them Up
Create an Effective Google Maps SEO Strategy
Google Maps tin beryllium a competitory abstraction for section businesses, truthful it’s basal to person nan correct SEO devices connected hand.
With Semrush’s suite of tools, you’ll person entree to a assortment of devices and features that tin thief you optimize your website for section search.
Manage your GBP, investigation section keywords, show your site’s health, and more—all successful 1 place. Get started today.