Why your business needs a Google local business listing

As a small business owner, you should know how important your Google search rankings are. You probably have done at least some kind of SEO to increase your ranking and improve the traffic to your business’s website, but that might not be enough. Since Google searches don’t always cover geographic location, simply showing up in a search isn’t enough to generate the kind of local business that you will need. For that, you will need a Google local business listing.

What is a Google Local Listing?

A Google local business listing is a search engine result that shows users businesses that are local to them. For example, if you wanted to see if a store has a location near you, you would enter the name of the store along with the name of your city. If that store had a local listing, it would appear near the top of the search results page. This is usually accomplished by having a Google+ page for your business, which will allow it to show up near the top of the page for a local search, but there are other things you can do to improve your traffic organically and ensure that potential clients near you find your business before anybody else.

Getting the Most out of Google Local Business Listings

The first thing to do when you want a Google local business listing is to create an account with Google My Business. This will get your business out there and make it easier for locals to find. If your business already has a listing that you cannot access, claim and verify it immediately. Next, fill our your business’s profile with all the relevant information such as your location, your hours of operation, payment options and anything else that a potential client would want to know. Make sure that all of this information is totally accurate and that the profile is 100 percent complete.

Once you have a Google local listing, your next step is optimization. Find other sites where you can add your business’s information, and make sure that you have as much duplicate content as you can. By “duplicate content,” we mean things such as your business’s name, its address, hours of operation and everything else that you included in your Google My Business account. You can also encourage your customers to write reviews of your business on sites such as Yelp, Tripadvisor, and anywhere else your business is listed. This doesn’t mean writing fake reviews, however; that is a dishonest tactic and most savvy web users will be able to see right through it. Reviews will come in time, so make sure you reach out to your customers on social media to ensure that they are treated well and satisfied with your service.

Getting your business listing correctly on all search engines shouldn’t be an afterthought – the businesses that succeed will be the ones that make it integral to their strategy from the start. If you need help in ensuring your business is listed correctly then please call us on 01392 241653 or contact us through the website here for a no obligation conversation.