In recent years, digital marketers have gradually understood the importance of a strong online marketing effort that includes local SEO and Google Maps (or Google My Business). It is known that since 2014, Google has started using an algorithm update for local searches on Google Maps, where when we search for a place, Google will recommend a place based on our location as a user.
For example, when you do a Google search for “bakeries,” you will get 3 lists of bakeries based on your location or those close to your location and 4 organic lists. So even if you have a very good website, you will be in 8th or 9th position.
Optimizing Google Maps for Local SEO is now more important than ever. At least that is the discussion of world SEO experts. This happened following the increasingly common ground of Google Map and Google My Business in online business.
Clearly, this is because the majority of potential customers still use Google to find local businesses near them – businesses where they will spend their hard-earned money. In fact, 80% of searches with “local intent” result in conversions.
What is a local SEO?
Local SEO is a term to describe a series of strategies to increase a business's visibility in search engines. Of course, for organic local searches. This could be when a user types in a keyword associated with a place name. Like; “Jasa SEO Jakarta” or “SEO services nearby”
In short, local SEO is an effort to ensure that your business appears in search engine results (such as Google) when people search for products or services in a particular area.
For example, if you have a flower shop in Surabaya, then someone searches for "flower shop in Surabaya" on Google, then local SEO will help your shop appear in the search results.
Should Google Maps be optimized?
The reason why every local business should pay attention to ranking on Google Maps is simple: the business' brand visibility potential.
On the local keyword type search results page, Google's algorithm will bring up Google Maps for the answer options they provide to the user. This visibility will definitely attract traffic to your business. You already know when it leads to traffic!
So, it is not surprising that how to optimize Google Maps is important for business. We all already know that the giant search engine, Google, remains the most popular today.
Google Maps marketing uses a number of strategies and tactics to help your business become one of the top three positions in the local map pack. See image above. There are 3 business options in Google Maps that appear on the top search page.
How important is Google Maps for business?
One study found that almost 70% of smartphone users said; they most often use Google Maps. Additionally, of the 3.5 billion searches that occur on Google every day, an increasing number are considered to have local intent. According to Google, 83% of people who visit a store say they use an online search before entering.
Therefore, any serious business found in this day and age, needs to harness the power behind Google Maps marketing. This is why we for SEO services at Garuda Website also focus most of our time on local SEO. This aims to get our clients to rank well in Google Maps AND organic search results.
Before you can rank on Google Maps, make sure you have set up and optimized your Google My Business profile first.
11 Ways to Use Local SEO and Google Maps for Your Business
The number of people who will visit your website will certainly be less than the number of people who click directly on location-based lists and organic lists. Therefore, you must always optimize your position on the map and directory.
Here are some best practices that you should follow to implement Google Maps Marketing Strategy and Local SEO strategy.
1. It's Important To Maintain A Physical Address For Your Business
Google says there is an increase in the number of searches with the keyword "near me" or "near me", for example restaurants near me. Therefore, regardless of your business type, remember that it is very important to maintain your company's local address to rank your business on Google based on map/location. The distance from the user's location is very important in this search.
This is why adding a location name after your business name is related to local SEO which helps in increasing search rankings on Google.
2. Set up a Google My Business Account for Local SEO
Google My Business (GMB) accounts play a major role in Google Maps Marketing and local SEO. In fact, your GMB determines and influences your online presence on Google Maps, search, and G+. You must ensure that all information listed on your GMB page is accurate and complete.
Adding an image of your business along with a video and business opening date can also help your business gain greater visibility. It is also important to choose the most appropriate primary and secondary category to list your business under.
3. Optimize Your Business Description Writing
There are several features that you can apply to your GMB listing to ensure it produces good results. Your GMB profile should have unique content that has all the information your customers might need such as phone number, messaging options, business hours of operation (weekdays and holidays) and full address
4. Concentrate On Your Business NAP
Your business NAP i.e. Name, Address and Telephone Number must be consistent on your GMB page as well as on your website. Also, make sure that your business NAP appears exactly the same across your website, directory listings, and social media profiles.
5. Have a separate website page for each of your products or services
If you sell more than one product, it's a good idea if you have separate website pages for each type of product you have to optimize for keywords on each page.
In other words, instead of optimizing one page with lots of keywords, you can optimize each page of your website with relevant keywords. This will also make it easier for customers to find the product they want to buy from your website!
6. Make sure your website URL contains keywords
Adding your website URL to a Google Maps listing can be an effective way to drive traffic to your website pages. However, generating high traffic is not enough, you also need to reach a target audience that suits your business. One of the best ways to do this is to add keywords to your website's URL
7. Create Effective Schema Markup
Schema markup helps optimize your listings for search engines. This helps search engines understand your business by speaking their language. Luckily, it takes minimal effort to structure your list based on schema markup.
There are tools like Microdata Generator where you just enter your details and they will automatically generate a code that you can paste in your website's back-end.
8. Embed Google Maps on Your Website
You must include Google Maps or your business location on the “contact us” page on your website. This technique is a proven way to increase the Local SEO value of your website. This needs to be combined with Local Schema to give Google complete visibility into what business is being run.
9. Make Sure Your Website & Blog is Super Fast
Recently there has been a lot of talk about website speed and implementing AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) to ensure that the experience on mobile and desktop is super fast.
10. Update Your GMB posts Regularly
Google allows you to add posts in your GMB listing which will appear in the description column. Posts on Google My Business have call-to-action buttons, therefore GMB can be an important tool for directing traffic to your website.
11. Building Brands
Google and other search engines not only value user-tailored content (in this case content adaptable for local audiences) and they continue to show preference for websites and brands that users already know about. Therefore, it is important to track how many users are searching for your brand with Google Analytics and Google Search Console.
Conclusion
While this covers the basics of Google My Business optimization, it is clearly not enough. You still need to make comprehensive Local SEO optimization efforts and make continuous improvements; “is what really separates the wheat from the chaff.”
Periodically, test different optimizations in your industry and market. Next, monitor the results. When in doubt, do whatever is in your customer's best interest. They must always come first.
By investing in Google Maps marketing, you will be able to drive local potential customers to your business consistently. It's not just for the products & services you offer, many business owners have found Google Maps and local SEO marketing to be very beneficial and beneficial for their business. Have you started implementing these best practices? Let us know in the comments below.