Friday, May 20, 2016

Boost your Local Listing on Google with These Tips

In the last couple of years, local SEO has become a much bigger focus of SEO service providers and companies that manage their own online marketing as Google has put greater emphasis on local searches and results.  When a user searches for a particular product or service on Google, the results contain a number of local listings for businesses in the area that provide the product or service being searched for.  Studies have also shown that as many as 80 percent of local searches are done on mobile devices and mobile users respond to the Call to Action at a much higher rate.


If you want your company to take advantage of the opportunities provided by local search, make sure you create or edit your Google My Business listing with the following tips.

Fill out your profile completely with accurate information: Filling out your Google listing as much as possible with accurate information about your company, products or services, address, and contact information will help you rank better in the local search results.  You should also make sure to choose the most accurate category for your business.

Verify your business: Google typically does business verification by mailing a postcard with a verification pin number to your listed address to ensure that your business actually occupies the address that you have listed.

Provide your business hours: This is very important because mobile users doing local searches are likely to actually visit your business and listing your business hours will let them know when they can.
Manage your reviews: Anyone with a Google account can leave a review of your business that shows on your local listing and many users look at the reviews when making a decision.  Responding to both positive and negative reviews shows that you value your customers’ feedback and positive reviews can boost the ranking of your local listing.

Add photos to your listing: Including pictures of your location, staff, and products will help users become more acquainted with what your business is about before making a decision.

As Google local listings become a more important aspect of search engine marketing (SEM), it is beneficial to create and maintain your Google My Business account to ensure that your company appears in the local search results for your products and services.  For more information, you can read our full length blog, Tips to Boost your Business Listing on Google, or talk to the SEO professionals of Proceed Innovative about our local SEO services.

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