Interested in increasing your listing's rank in Google MyBusiness? If so, here are 7 things you need to know:
Ranking Factor #1: Your Address
If you are looking for high rankings for keywords that are related to a particular city or town, then your business' address should be in that city or town.
For instance, if you want your business to be found for local searches in Atlanta- then your business should have a physical address in Atlanta.
Ranking Factor #2: Business Category
Many people make the mistake of listing their Google MyBusiness page in the incorrect category. For instance, if you are a real estate agent then you should not be categorized as an attorney. While this seems obvious, there is also more to it... You can categorize your business in more than one category, an option that is often overlooked by businesses.
If you are a bed and breakfast, you want to categorize yourself both for hotel accommodations as well as a restaurant. This can make a significant difference in the amount of exposure your business receives!
Ranking Factor #3: Business Name Keywords
Including Keywords in your business listing's name will help you rank for the keyword searches that you are targeting. For instance, if I am looking for a Tree Removal Service then I would want my business name to include "System X Tree Removal Service" in the name.
Ranking Factor #4: Business Citations
Citations are commonly referred to as an acronym of "NAP" which stands for "Name, Address, Phone #" as that is the usual information that they include. Basically, think of the Yellow Pages and similar directory site which contain dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of citations. These mentions to your site are known as citations and they have a direct impact on your ranking. It's very similar to the effect that "backlinks" to your website have in organic search engine optimization.
Like backlinks, it's important to note that the higher the Domain Authority of the site that contains your citation, the more impact that it will make on your ranking. You want a lot of business citations, but obviously without listing them on websites that Google views as spam.
Ranking Factor #5: Consistent Data
Gone are the days when you could stuff keywords and various business names into multiple directory sites to help boost your rankings. Your NAP (business Name, Address, and Phone number) need to be consistent in every citation to avoid Google from interpreting your citations as spam.
Ranking Factor #6: Positive Reviews - Your Online Ratings/Reviews Matter
Starting in 2021, Google has explicitly stated that they want to offer the best consumer experience possible by providing answers or recommendations that their customers are going to enjoy. Therefore, it should be no surprise that if two competing businesses are in the same area of town that the one with higher ratings and more recent reviews would be the preferred location to rank for Google. If your customers are leaving you poor ratings, Google is far less likely to want to send customers to you because it would risk you not enjoying the recommendation and therefore not using Google any more.
Positive ratings and reviews are no longer just "nice to have." They are truly essential both for your customers as well as for Search Engine Optimization purposes. Luckily, System X Designs offers some clever and powerful ways to help you drive more positive reviews and ratings online while minimizing the number of negative reviews that ever hit your listings. Check out our Online Review Management Services for more information.
Ranking Factor #7: Location Proximity
Understanding that Google seeks to provide you the best possible experience, they are going to also try to find a business that you are looking for close to you. If you have a pizza restaurant and someone searches for "Pizza Restaurants near me" then your proximity to the person searching will largely dictate your ranking in the Google MyBusiness results. If the person searching is near your location, then you should rank very well. If the person searching is 25 miles away and there are 6 other pizza restaurants that are closer, then your ranking will obviously suffer.
