How To Boost Your Google Maps Ranking: A Quick-Start Guide
Customers are now more likely to search for a business or product while they’re on the go. They’re also more likely to check out nearby businesses that they find information on. In fact, according to a research done by HubSpot, up to 72% of consumers who found a local product or service through online search visit the physical store if it’s located within a five-mile radius.
This is where Google Maps ranking can play a big role. By improving your business’s rank on Google Maps, your brand can stay on top of local user search results. In this article, we’ll talk about a few quick steps you can take to accomplish this, but before we start, we’d like to help you understand a core in Google Maps rankings: location authority.
What is Location Authority?
Simply put, location authority refers to your business’s or location’s ranking when compared to similar companies in your locality. A high location authority rating can allow your customers to find you by typing in certain keywords into their search bar. The goal is to optimize your location authority by making sure that all the relevant information regarding your business can be found on your online listing.
Okay, so how can I improve my Location Authority?
Google outlines some key points to consider regarding your business. First, manage your business on the Google My Business platform. Then, ensure that all information regarding your business is accurate, as these will be used to determine your business’s local ranking.
Businesses and locations are ranked by Google using three main factors: relevance, distance, and prominence. Keeping your business information updated can affect all these factors.
What else can I do to boost my rank on Google Maps more?
There are more ways you can pull your brand’s ranking up other than just managing your My Business profile. Here’s a little guide to get you started in the right direction:
1. Don’t neglect your website.
Keeping your website updated is one part of maintaining your business’s location authority. Ensure that your website has a “Contact Us” page and that it contains a Google Map widget of your location. Your website should also have relevant content, and your landing page should contain an optimized amount of relevant keywords. Since Google’s search engine crawls the website that you link to your location, this is a good way to boost your business rank on both Search and Maps.
2. Get others to talk about you.
Consider getting other people to start conversations about your product or service, whether through customer reviews or community influencers and other local websites that can link back to you. This can help your brand become more visible and seem more active, which can increase its prominence when a potential customer searches terms related to your business.
3. Consider a Listing Management service.
A lot of work goes into refining a business listing, and it might be a good idea to seek the help of experts who can aid your brand in pulling and keeping its Google Maps ranking up. iMapping offers listing management services that can help you optimize and refine your listing on Google Maps and other location platforms, which can potentially drive calls, visits, and purchases for your business.