Why doesn’t your business rank in local search on Google and other search engines? Well, the answers might surprise you a bit. Continue reading to optimize your business for local searches on Google! Having your business rank on Google’s local pack effectively brings traffic to your website. Furthermore, Business listings always show up before organic search results. They also include an interactive map allowing users to gauge how close they are to them immediately. To be featured in local packs, you must first take the proper steps to beat your competitors. Getting your company to keep ranking in the local park consistently can be challenging, especially when your competitors have been around longer than you. Throughout this article, we will share and discuss our findings on what has the most impact on getting your business to rank in the local pack. We’ll also show you how to apply them to your business.

Claim and Maintain your Google My Business Listing

Indeed, without a Google My Business (GMB) listing, you’ll never appear on Google’s local packs. That’s right. The answer to the question “why doesn’t your business rank in local search” may very well be that you have a subpar Google My Business listing. Google displays sites in the local three-pack entirely from GMB listings. That also means that Google generates them differently than organic search results. Ranking well in organic results does not mean your business will rank well in the local packs. For a more in-depth look at how Google My Business can factor into your search result rankings, check out our blog post on GMB and how it contributes to SEO.

Claim Your Business on Google My Business: This will be the first and most important step you will want to rank in local packs.
Ensure There Are No Missing Fields in Your Listing: Forgetting to ensure that areas such as your name, address, phone number, or hours in your listing will negatively impact your chance of ranking in the local packs. It also makes it difficult for potential customers to contact you.
Encourage Your Customer to Review Your Business: Though Yelp strongly discourages businesses from asking their customers to review them, Google encourages it. That is, Google encourages it so long as it’s done organically. Google, however, does not want you to offer customers benefits like free services in exchange for a positive review. Suppose customers take the time to review your business, be sure to reply to their responses. Doing so can strengthen your GMB listing and increase the likelihood of ranking in local packs.

Make Sure Your Google My Business Listings are 100% Accurate.

Ensure there are no inconsistencies between your Google My Business listing and information on your page or other listing sites. For example, let’s say you list your business “Fresno DUI Lawyer: Ken Smith Attorney at Law” in your GMB. But, the URL and name on your website are actually “Ken Smith Attorney at Law,” Google will often see all those extra words in your GMB listing as spam keywords. If Google thinks you’re spamming and attempting to manipulate search results, it will negatively impact your chance of ranking in Local Packs.

Local Citations Boost your Credibility

Now that your Google My Business listing is updated, it is time to focus on other local listing sites. Listing your business on websites like the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Yelp, Angie’s List, and other home service-oriented listing sites can improve your authority in your local area and increase your chances of ranking in local packs.

Your User’s Location Has a Major Impact On Local Pack Results

We have all heard the old saying, “Location, location, location,” and it has never been more relevant than now. A user searching can significantly impact what will appear in the local pack. Google has determined the city “centroids” and will alter the local pack ranking based on how far away a user is from the city centroid. Google places the centroid at the exact location of the city’s name on the map. If you want to determine how far your business is from the city centroid, zoom in on where the city name is on the Google map. Then, click on a company and generate directions from that business to your business. Doing so shows you how many miles from the city centroid your business is.

Contact Goldstein Brossard for Help With Local Search Optimization!

With the other tools of Google My Business under your belt, you can make tremendous strides towards consistently ranking in local packs and dominating that valuable space on search results for your business. Of course, it is not impossible to do on your own. But, as a business owner, seeking the help of a professional SEO company like ours could greatly benefit your business. So, I want more answers to the question, “why doesn’t your business rank in local search?” Then, contact us here at Goldstein Brossard to learn more about how we can help you rank better in local searches!

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