How To Rank in Google Maps
Serious question: What did we even do before Google Maps?!
Something about the Yellow Pages? Printing off or writing down directions? Taking advice from the gas station attendant? Literal, physical maps?!
Yes, folks, we are certainly in a golden era of navigation. With a few taps on our smartphone, we can get directions from Yosemite to Yellowstone without having to dust off the crinkly atlas that’s been resting in your glove compartment for the past decade!
While Google Maps has undoubtedly changed the game for navigation, more importantly, it’s helped draw more attention to local businesses over the years. Google has played a huge role in exposure and online visibility for companies of all sizes and industries.
From improving SEO rankings to enhancing local optimization tactics, ensuring your business is being properly represented and showcased within Google Maps has become an absolute necessity for a successful digital marketing strategy. Much of this evolving population of Google Maps is due to consumers focusing on regional listings when conducting their searches.
Research indicates that “near me” or "close by" type searches have increased by more than 900% in recent years, and 78% of location-based mobile searches ultimately result in a purchase or converted lead. The bottom line? The higher your business and website rank in Google Maps, the more leads, conversions, and revenue you can expect to generate!
So now that you understand why ranking high in Google Maps is important, it’s time to learn how you can improve your Google Maps rankings.
Here’s a quick cheat sheet to help get your business and website to rank in Google Maps!
#1 | Add, Claim, & Optimize Google Maps & Google My Business
To start ranking in Google Maps, one needs to first add and claim their business. If there isn’t already a listing posted for your business on Google Maps, the process to add it is simple and only takes a few minutes.
Once you’ve officially claimed your business on Google Maps, you can move forward with adding all the essential information (business hours, contact information, etc.) that helps optimize it and improve its rankings within Google Maps.
In addition to your Google Maps profile, claiming and completing your Google My Business profile is just as important when it comes to ranking. Your GMB profile gives you more opportunities to optimize and flesh out important business information.
Google will cross-reference the details within your GMB and Google Maps profiles to ensure authenticity and accuracy.
Here are a few examples of essential information for Google Maps and GMB profiles:
- Address, phone number, and website
- Description of your business, products, or services
- Hours of operation
- Appropriate categories specific to your business, and industry
- Custom photos and imagery of your business
- Target keywords implemented into your content
Emphasizing local search optimization tactics within your various Google profiles will only work toward improving your overall Google Maps rankings.
#2 | Custom & Consistent Content Management
It’s important to remember that content is key for Google Maps ranking. It’s safe to say that a dormant Google Maps listing that hasn’t been updated or edited in years won’t climb up the rankings, let alone come off as uncredible to all who come upon it.
Posting regular updates and custom content management to your Google Maps and GMB profiles shows Google’s algorithms that your business is active and credible. Which does wonders for increasing its visibility on local Google Maps search results!
Custom photography, online reviews, blog articles, social media links; Consistently posting all of these forms of custom content management works toward expanding your online presence.
And when incorporated with relevant, locally-focused target keywords and appropriate internal and external links, Google can easily crawl, assess, and index your posted content, ultimately improving your company’s standing within its map rankings.
#3 | Track Metrics & Adjust Accordingly
Once you’ve got your Google Maps and GMB profiles up and running and you’re consistently posting quality, custom content across each platform, the trick to working your way up the Google Maps rankings is tracking performance metrics and adjusting accordingly.
Tracking how your GMB and Google Maps profiles perform gives you total insight into what optimization factors are proving successful, as well as any evident areas of improvement. You can select date ranges and see firsthand how people engage with your listings.
You can also gain access to Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that highlight intricate performance metrics, such as:
- Search metrics that display how and when your Google Maps profile shows up for specific searches
- Number of unique users who have viewed or visited your listing
- Click-through ratios, lead generation figures, and overall conversion rates
- Bookings or sales generated as a result of Google Maps listing
- Total number of profile visitors who requested and generated directions to your place of business
Having all this performance insight and more will enlighten you on how successful your Google Maps optimization tactics are while also letting you test and tweak any strategies and still obtain real-time results.
Rank Higher in Google Maps With Triton Commerce!
There are so many digital marketing factors that play into your Google Maps ranking that it’s hard to sit down and plot them all out. Fortunately for you, that’s what we do best!
At Triton Commerce, we work directly with our clients to create custom digital marketing strategies that are specifically engineered to improve your Google Maps and SEO rankings while converting more leads in the process.
If you’re looking to boost your local search engine result rankings, contact us today to schedule a consultation with our team of SEO specialists!