Google’s local map pack has been a mystery to many local business owners and there is no definitive guide on how a local business can rank in the 3- pack and attract more clients.
Yes, you will definitely find a lot of assumptions and commonly practiced strategies on the web around this topic however nothing that is powerful to really move the needle so we at Egochi, a Milwaukee SEO company, decided to give you all something that is bankable and that really works.
We tried and tested the top strategies to improve map rankings and are going to share the ones that actually worked.
What is a local map pack?
Local map pack also called Google local 3-pack, is the list of three local businesses that appear in the local organic search results. These appear whenever a user searches for local service providers in a particular niche on Google search engine.
Local map packs are triggered when a user performs a Google search using keywords like “service” near me, “city”+ “service” and variations of the same.
Understanding the Map Pack Basics
Before we begin, I want to ensure that you know the basics of the local map pack optimization. This involves ensuring all basic business information is filled into your Google My Business profile including your business name, phone number, address.
Once done add images, posts, videos, timings and every little information that your GMB profile is requesting needs to be filled with accurate business information.
Tips to Boost Your Local Map Pack Ranking
1. Get Local Guide Reviews
We all know that business reviews are very important and yes, we agree however over the years Google has created it’s own reviewer army known as Google Local Guides and the Big G highly relies on them.
So much so, that if a local guide submits a review for your business it is definitely going to have a positive impact on your map rankings. Another related factor would be to be a high-level local guide posting a review, every local guide is assigned a level that is assigned based on the guide’s contributions.
If a “level 10 local guide” posts a positive review to your business it would definitely have a strong impact on your rankings and prove to be the game-changer for the business in the map pack.
2. Local Citations
It is very common to build citations around your business however what we saw was that local citations had more positive impact in the map rankings as compared to the general citations.
This basically means, focus more on getting your business name, address, phone number (N.A.P) into the local business directories.
Every city has multiple local business directories as well as local niche directory sites, thus get your business listed on these sites as soon as possible.
3. Build Links to the GMB Website
Every GMB has it’s own website, just however over to the left-hand side of your GMB account and you should see a tab that says the website.
Click on it and it would take you to your Google My Business website. If you have not built it, then you better get started and build it right away.
Now, once you have built it, it would provide you with the unique URL for your GMB website. That’s the URL, you need to start an effective link building campaign and get some quality links to it.
If you need help with link building then we got some link building strategies for you.
This would send a positive signal and grow your map rankings.
4. Use Keywords
This is a simple tip, however, it makes a strong impact on the map rankings. You need to synchronize all platforms and make sure all of them pass the right signal.
In order to do so, make sure your website, your Google my business description and few client reviews all have your target keyword in them. If possible add the keyword next to your business name.
Try to add the keyword right in the beginning for all platforms and make them bold.
5. Generate Local Traffic using YouTube Ads
The above steps have helped you build a strong Google My Business profile and we need to ensure Google sees it that way.
All strong brands have one thing in common, a smooth flow of visitors and we need to generate just that for the GMB profile.
This can be done, simply by copying your GMB URL and using it to generate a YouTube Ad Campaign. This will send out decent local traffic to your GMB listing and will grow user engagement on it.
Check out: Complete Guide on YouTube Advertising
This is something that Google loves, user engagement is definitely a strong ranking factor and will definitely boost the local map rankings.
Conclusion,
I hope you all find these tips helpful and benefit from it, if you do, please share your story with us in the comments below. Also, if you have a strategy for me, please don’t be a stranger and do share the same.
I will love to hear from you, lastly, if you have any further questions to ask me, I will try my level best to answer them all.
