Be on Google’s 1st Page with Local SEO

  • Be No. 1 on Google Rankings

“When looking something up on Google,
if its not on the first page of search results
then it doesn’t exist and my journey ends there.”
~ Unknown

Everyone wants to be on Google’s 1st Page! Today I will help you to better your Google ranking. All you have to do is read this page.

If your business gets most of it’s business from customers who live near you. You must get serious about local SEO and your Google My Business page.

What is Local SEO? Local SEO is an online marketing practice to make local businesses discoverable in search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, and even Yelp. It combines the power of on-page optimization, content, and link building to rank your business’s website on the front page of Google.

A Local Search is searching a Location and Service/Product eg ‘mechanic Eight Mile Plains’.

The Local Search result lists THREE Google My Business page listings under the paid Google Ads. This listing shows a Google Map link, the Business’ details, a link to the website, and a link for directions. Also has a star rating for Reviews for the business.

To Rank on Google’s 1st Page in a local search can be done for Free! It can make a difference in your results.

As Local Search Results Show;
  • That 98% of searchers choose a business that is on page 1 of the results they get.
  • 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations
  • 77% of smartphone users contact a business after looking for local Information

Google’s Free Local Listings pages first started in 2010. At that time I wrote a book on the best way to claim, verify and optimise those listings. However that book is out dated today!

Since 2010 Google’s Local Listings has changed to incorporate Google+. Which was to compete with Facebook, however never really got traction. And of course Google My Business.

The fact is that Google made a mess of a lot of these free business listings when it changed Google Local Listings from Google Local and Google+ to create Google My Business pages.

Focus on these FEW Things;

  • You may have to cleanup your business listing, make sure that you only have one listing for your business and it’s the one Google thinks is your business.
  • Claim the right listing, you need to make sure you take full advantage of all of the fields and linking options available to you.
  • Make sure you have the right business category and subcategories chosen for your business.
  • Make note of the exact way your business (NAP) name, address and phone number appear.
    – Exact wording is it Street or St?
    – Is it Service & Repairs or Service and Repairs.

    Whatever you show listed as the NAP on your Google My Business Page, you’ll want to use consistently across the web. That is on your own website aswell as across all online directories.

You need to focus on Reviews

Google places a lot of ranking weight on your Social Proof… That means your Reviews and what people are saying about you. Reviews have a star rating up to five and Google displays your average. As well as a large quantity of those Reviews.

Be Warned… Do Not Try and Trick Google

Make sure you have real reviews from real people. Never from the same device or IP address / same Internet connection.

My Tips to Get Google Reviews

To get your Google Review link to share with customers:

1. Use the PlaceID Lookup Tool – https://developers.google.com/places/place-id
2. Enter your business name in the “Enter a location” field at the top of the map.
3. Click your business name in the list that appears.
4. Copy your Place ID, which you’ll see beneath your business name.
5. Add your Place ID to the following URL to create your link:  https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=PASTE PLACE ID HERE

Review us on Google
6. Shorten that link with a link shortener.
We recommend these below tools to create your shorten link.
– Pretty Links @ https://prettylinks.com/
– Google Firebase Dynamic Links @ https://console.firebase.google.com/
– Bitly @ http://bitly.com/
7. Share this link with Customers to give your business a review. You can’t solicit a Review.

Note:

HOWEVER there is a way around this…

Contact Us and we’ll let you in on a strategy to get Reviews by asking for Feedback.

online-business-strategy-session-banner

You can incentivize people to give Feedback (in most industries). Which can lead to them leaving a business rating on your Google My Business listing or even Trip Advisor.

If your business gets most of it’s business from customers who live near you then get serious about local SEO. Also as a business owner you must have a Google My Business page – no matter your industry or your customers location to you.

Need Help? just message us at  m.me/EasyOnlineBizSolutions

Be on Google’s 1st Page with Local SEO!

Talk Soon,
Dave Cane