5 Actionable Tactics To Boost Your Local Search Ranking on Google
Have you ever wondered why your business doesn’t show up on Google even if you include your suburb name?
Google has been trying their best to optimise their local search results to make the results more relevant to the local users. With GPS and location history, most search queries that we make on Google are now localised and there’s no need to include the suburb or city name.
For example, if you live in Melbourne and you search for “Plumber Melbourne”, you are likely to get the same search result as you search for “Plumber”.
What is local search results anyway?
So, what exactly is local search results and how to rank higher in your suburb? Stay with me.
I’m sure this looks familiar to you. This is what we call the Google Local Search, also known as the local pack.
Back in a few years ago, Google used to display 7 packs and it now trimmed down to 3 packs only, which means these spots are much more valuable and competitive now.
Why does it matter?
If you are reading this post, it’s very likely that you don’t run an internationally corporate which you target customers with all over the world. To make this article more relevant to most of the reader, let’s say you own a local business.
The local search result is the most efficient and free way to rank your business on the first page of Google
Here’s why:
- It’s free unlike running a paid ad, for instance, Google Adwords campaign.
- It has a higher conversion rate because the users are local as well and they might be just next to you
- It’s fast, you can be ranked in the top spot within 24–48 hours
- It has a much larger exposure and CTR (click-through-rate)
- It shows your phone number and address, nothing’s better than having direct contact with your business
- It doesn’t require a website (That is not a recommendation)
That should be enough to convince you to pay attention to your local ranking in your own suburb.
Here’s exactly what you can do to make your ranking higher in Google Local Search in your suburb
1. Make sure you have a Google My Business account
Make sure your Google My Business listing has quality reviews. Always encourage your customers to leave you a positive review after they finish purchasing. If you don’t have a listing yet, go to Google My Business and submit your business to Google to start getting all the free benefits that you’ve been missing.
I will be writing a new post for a complete beginner guide for creating a Google My Business account. Join our Mastermind Newsletter to keep updated.
2. Choose the right category
If you already have a Google My Business account, you’ll notice that there are hundreds of categories you can choose for your business. Choosing the most relevant category for your primary category is critical to ranking in the local search results. If you sell clothes, specific what kind of clothing, don’t just select clothing. Your primary category must be the most relevant category and the core service or product that you sell.
Choosing the most relevant category for your primary category is critical to ranking in the local search results. If you sell clothes, specific what kind of clothing, don’t just select clothing. Your primary category must be the most relevant category and the core service or product that you sell.
3. Standardise your business details (NAP)
NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone. This is a big mistake a lot of local businesses make including ourselves. Make sure you have consistent business details throughout the internet, including all citations, Google My Business account, and your website.
Google loves consistency. When it comes to business details, Google wants to see the same business details of your business on all of the sites that it crawls. For instance, your YellowPages listing, TrueLocal, Google My Business, Facebook, Twitter, and your website must have the same (NAP) Business Name, Address, Phone number.
Do not have “ABC Plumber” as your business name on YellowPages and have “ABC Plumbing Service Melbourne” on your Google My Business listing. This confuses Google and might result in a penalty.
Other details to keep in mind as well for consistent business details are opening hours, website address, categories, and keywords.
4. Put a Google map on your website
If you want to appear local, claim you are a local.
Embed a Google map of your business to your website, will help Google to identify where your business is.
5. Get reviews (Positive)
Make sure your Google My Business listing has numbers of quality reviews. The more positive reviews you have, the more trust Google has in you, so do your potential clients.
Always encourage your customers to leave you a positive review after they finish purchasing.
Positive reviews will also give you a better CTR (Click Through Rate), which is another factor in the Google ranking algorithm to determine whether this listing is attractive to a real human.
Okay, I get it.
Sometimes asking for a review face-to-face is awkward. Especially if you are a dentist that just put someone through the worst time in his/her life, but there are many tools and tactics you can use to gain more positive reviews.
Sometimes asking for a review face-to-face is awkward, especially if you are a dentist that just put someone through the worst time in his/her life, but there are many tools and tactics you can utilise to gain more positive reviews without the awkward conversion.
For instance, you can simply include a direct Google review link in your email that will take them directly to the review page. Here’s is an example of a direct review link:
www.websitepeople.com.au/reviews
This simplifies the process of go to Google and finding your business and the review button and so. You can ask your webmaster to generate these links for you, but the point is to keep it short and simple.
Some business owners might know how much it affects your business and online reputation when there’s a one-star review, but they don’t seem to know it also affects their business when there are not enough reviews.
If you run a service-based business, Humming Bird might be the service you can try to implement.
It helps you send out automated emails at a suitable time, and it qualifies reviews before publishing the to the media. In other words, if a customer claims a dissatisfaction in the automated survey, then the review request will not be sent, instead, a call back request will be sent.
It’s a great way to test the water temperature first before letting the unhappy customer an undeletable 1-star review.
Conclusion
The reason why Google is putting so much effort and money to optimise our Google local search experience is because they want to create an equal opportunity for all businesses and organisation of all size to be found on Google. Small businesses can’t afford to spend money on paid ads nor hiring SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) company to boost their ranking. The local search result is the most practical and easy way to preeminence the big companies.
Small businesses can’t afford to spend money on paid ads nor hiring an SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) company to boost their rankings. The local search result is the most practical and the easiest way to outrank the big companies.
Do you struggle to rank on Google in your local suburb?
Have you tried other tactics that boost your ranking?
I look forward to seeing your comment below and I will jump in and reply.
I hope this article is helpful. If you found this helpful, be sure to share this with your friends.
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This article is a republishing of an article we previously posted on our website.
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Will Chan