Local Business Listings (Google My Business)
Google My Business (GMB), Yahoo Local & Bing Local Listings are free promotional areas for businesses that can be used as an effective way to reach a very wide local audience. Today, for Google this Free area is known as the 3 Pack because Google currently shows 3 businesses for you’re search plus 1 paid advertisement. However, in order for you to get the most out of your Local Business Listing, it is important to have a strong, solid and complete listing.
Once you have claimed your Local Business Listing, there are a few features that you can take advantage of to make it promote your business on auto-pilot. While filling in as many details as possible about your business in the provided listing fields is important, it is also a good practice to include as much unique content in your listing as possible and to post important events, specials or changing store hours on a regular basis.
Including as much information and as many related keywords for your business niche will further optimize your listing, and broaden the range of its potential reach for local consumers. By not making yourself prominent in Google Places, Yahoo Local or Bing, you are making it much harder for potential customers in your local area to find you. Not only that, but you are missing out on an opportunity to effectively generate more phone calls or some additional foot traffic through your doors which will in turn increase sales.
The process of getting a good ranking for a Local Business Listing is simple, but it does require a bit of time and patience to rank high. Here are several things you should be doing.
– The first and most obvious thing that needs to be done is to make sure that you fill out all of the fields for your Local Business Listing so it has a 100% score. Just this step alone will put you in front of the bulk of your competitors.
– It is important that you select the right categories and also do proper keyword research. Carefully include a couple of keywords in your listing without “keyword stuffing” as this will help your listing show up for different search phrases.
– Adding as many images and, even better, video content can make the difference between getting to the top of the list and barley making the Map placing at all.
– Another important factor of a solid Local Business Listing is the number of quality citations (directory listings) it has. Having these citations on trusted sites will help give your listing a boost. Obtain as many listings from online directories such as Wikipedia, Yelp, Insider Pages, Super Pages, BBB, Manta, City Search, Yellow Pages and Hotfrog.
– Finally, get as many satisfied customers to review your business on your local business listings as possible. The more reviews you can collect, the higher your listing will rank in the listings over time. Many businesses have found that offering some type of incentive in exchange for a good review works very well.
Having a high search engine ranking for your Local Business Listing is just a matter of following good general SEO optimization and principals. It really boils down to having a complete and detailed listing.
Did you as many as 85% of all internet users made purchases online in the past six months? This is exactly why every business needs to tap into this market during these tough, economic times. You have to go where the money is being spent. Most consumers choose to take their business to a local company because it is generally more convenient and it is their way of supporting their economy.
By making yourself prominent in the Local Business Listings, you are making it much easier for potential customers in your local area to find you.
If you are a business owner in Raleigh, Wake Forest, Cary, Durham or Chapel Hill and are unhappy with your current local map rankings and would like to get into the 3 pack, and have a finely tuned Local Business Listing, please contact us at (919) 906-6785.
