Ways to boost local business in competitive markets with the search: –
- Optimized GMB listings and location pages are essential. Learn the best tactics and strategies to boost local business in competitive markets.
- Local search marketing is key for any location, but when faced with a competitive market, it is critical that they have strategies in place to help them stand out.
- The closer the user is to a location, the more likely it is to be classified.
- However, in denser areas, a location will face more competition.
- By accelerating efforts around Google My Business (GMB) and location page management, the relevance and prominence of a location can increase a business’s ranking, resulting in greater local visibility, especially in marketplaces. competitive.
- It will break down the strategies for both GMB and location pages to drive more local business.
- Google states that “local results are primarily based on relevance, distance, and prominence.”
- Relevance is how applicable the result is to what someone is looking for.
- Distance analyzes how far away the search results are for the location term.
- Prominence refers to the reputation of a location in its local market.
- Taking into account factors like articles, links, directories, review count, review score, and SEO.
- A company can only have a direct impact on relevance and prominence.
- The distance is determined by where the user is located and for which it cannot be optimized.
- Maximizing Google My Business in competitive markets.
Having a successful listing at GMB requires taking advantage of all the different capabilities and features on offer.
Maximizing the use of each will allow the company to increase its presence in the local market.
Check out these opportunities to improve local listings.
1. Profiles:
- Google recommends that profiles be “accurate, complete and attractive.
- Begin by accessing the Information tab within the GMB profile.
- Take advantage of all the different features in this section.
- All attributes must be updated for the list to reflect current business operations.
- Make sure to also add the links to the website, for reservations, menu, or even appointments.
- The hours of operation are also found within this tab and it is essential to maintain accurate hours every day of the year.
- Special hours can also be added for holidays, events, or during a specific period of time.
- Be sure to periodically review and update your listings so that they remain accurate, complete, and engaging.
2. Google Posts:
- Another way to make your profile more attractive is through Google posts.
- Posts are a great way to keep your listings up to date and promote key deals.
- It is also a way for a business to share a quick update.
- Google Post content can also affect rankings.
- For more details on Google posts, you can review How to create Google My Business posts that get results.
3. Reviews:
- Reviews tend to be an overlooked area of GMB, but Google clearly states in its prominence description that “Google’s review count and review score influence local search ranking.”
- Keeping a score as high as possible will be key while looking to increase the volume of reviews.
- The more reviews they have, the better the list will perform.
- Look at review volume and competitor scores to get a baseline of where the location should be.
- Receiving constant reviews is essential. Implementing a strategy for requesting reviews can be helpful in increasing the volume and score of reviews.
- Google has a way of creating a short URL for them to share with customers to leave a review.
- They not only want feedback, but they also want to respond.
- Leaving an engaging, high-quality response that is unique to each client is the best approach.
4. High-quality photos and videos:
- Photos and videos are a great way to make the profile more attractive and let the customer know what to expect when visiting the location.
- Photos that match a product or service query will help an ad stand out as well.
- Adding photos of new menu items, completed projects, items for sale, storefront or storefront design will increase user engagement with the profile.
- Constantly add new photos to keep your profile fresh and attractive.
- Maximization of location pages in competitive markets:
- Location pages are critical to any local search strategy, but how your information is presented and structured will determine your performance on Google.
- This is where prominence is largely taken into account.
- Google states: “Prominence is also based on the information that Google has about a business, from all over the web, such as links, articles and directories.”
- Furthermore, “position in web results is also a factor, so search engine optimization (SEO) best practices apply.”
- Many location pages typically only contain the business name, address, phone number, hours of operation, and a short description with a stock photo.
- By enlisting the strategies, one will allow the location to stand out in a crowded and competitive market.
5. Hyperlocal content:
- Hyperlocal content is a great way to create unique content that stands out locally.
- They don’t have to create lengthy and time-consuming content.
- The content on a location page can often be standard or rather generic.
- By taking the following two different approaches, they can highlight what is unique about anything outside of the location and what is uniquely specific to the interior of the location.
- External content ideas could include mention of specific neighbourhoods, nearby roads, schools or universities, museums, stadiums, or other key landmarks.
- Internal content ideas could include any event or promotion specifically offered at that location, such as a kids’ night, matinee deal, televisions for a big game or show, live music, even a list of working staff members. therewith biographies and any other. information that makes that location unique.
- This allows a page to provide engaging content that helps increase relevance and prominence.
6. Scheme marking:
- Another great SEO tactic to implement is schema markup.
- By adding schema markup to a location page, you allow microdata to be included in a rich snippet by “adding context and showing the attributes that Google loves.”
- These snippets help a business stand out more prominently in the SERPs.
- Schema Markup is not a ranking factor, but a sensible tactic to make your location page more prominent.
- If the links stand out more in the SERPs and generate more engagement, that could affect rankings as a result, as the result is also becoming more relevant.
7. Link signals:
- Links are key to any SEO strategy.
- Links to the location page from another site go to PageRank.
- The number of quality links to someone else’s site will determine how relevant a location is.
- Creating citations across multiple directories has been a consistent way of creating links relevant to local SEO.
- The focus should also be on building local links through a site that is considered a local authority, such as a local newspaper, the city chamber of commerce, or the city website.
8. Fundamental elements of the Web:
- With a recent major update from Google, Core Web Vitals is now a ranking factor.
- Businesses should seek to optimize their page experience.
- Google provides a tool to see the performance of the page and then they can act on anything that is affecting the performance of Core Web Vitals.
- In competitive markets, companies may not follow GMB rules.
- Keyword stuffing in a business name is the most common tactic used that is against the rules.
- If they see a local business that doesn’t follow the rules, they can report it to Google; this is what they can do.
- By optimizing GMB listings and location pages, the business can expect to generate more business locally.
- By understanding how relevance, distance, and prominence influence an outcome, they can more effectively strategize about how to affect ranking.
- The more they can do well and the more unique local marketing efforts can do, the more likely they are to locate themselves locally in a highly competitive market.