If you want to improve your ranking on Google My Business (GMB), there are several steps you can take. First, make sure your GMB listing is on Google Maps and that you have verified and claimed your business card. Adding high-quality photos to your business listings will also help boost your ranking. Additionally, post regularly on your company profile to announce offers, events, and other important information.
Another reason to rank on Google Maps is that the first three Google Maps listings will also be shown in normal Google Search results, if applicable. With 46% of Google searches having local intent, appearing in the “Local 3” package can greatly increase the visibility of your business. To ensure that your listing is accurate and up-to-date, be consistent with your name and address. Google has some requirements and restrictions when creating GMB posts that you should keep in mind.
The recommended size for images is 750 x 750 pixels, with nothing smaller than 250 pixels allowed. You can only post JPG or PNG files at this time, and the length of your post descriptions is limited to 300 words or 1500 characters in total. When your post appears on the Google My Business Local Knowledge Panel, only the first 100 characters are displayed. To rank higher on Google Maps, choose the main and additional categories in the GMB dashboard.
It's important to understand that improving your local ranking on Google is a function of understanding the factors that influence your local ranking. After verifying your GMB listing, provide Google with any and all data about your business that you can. This will help Google show your company listing when someone is looking for a business like yours, thus boosting your rankings. Creating backlinks is an often overlooked strategy for achieving higher rankings on Google Maps. The more backlinks you have to your website, the higher you will rank on Google Maps.
This will reinforce your identity and reliability to search engines, ensuring that they place you in a higher position than your local competition. When researching local keywords, use tools like Google's Keyword Planner and Semrush to help you out. This is a three-step approach that can help you with your local keyword research: identify local keywords; optimize for local keywords; and track local keyword performance. You can even go further and add optional elements such as a virtual tour using photos and videos to provide a 360-degree tour of your store. As I mentioned earlier, the more information your ad provides, the higher the ranking in the results. But when Google Maps lowered its front-page rankings from showing the top 7 local businesses to now showing the top 3, this created an immediate premium on rankings for letters A, B or C.This will help you rank higher on Google Maps and will also verify for users that your company is in that area.
There are no conclusive studies, but many local marketers think that regularly publishing relevant posts that contain keywords you want to rank for can increase local rankings. In addition to taking action directly on your company's listing, there are some optimizations you can make on your website to improve GMB ranking. And the more location authority you have in your company's category, the higher you'll rank on Google Maps. Whether you're a small local business or a company with hundreds of locations, these powerful tips will help you position yourself better on Google Maps and grow your local business. To get started, verify and claim your GMB listing, provide accurate information about your business, create high-quality backlinks to boost rankings, optimize for local keywords, add optional elements such as virtual tours, and post regularly with relevant keywords.
