Google Maps Marketing
Undoubtedly the most efficient but perhaps the most overlooked method of driving potential customers to your business is by incorporating Google maps in your marketing strategy. Studies of Google searches reveal that when users conduct online searches, they do not necessarily buy online but often head to the most accessible local store soon thereafter. To locate the business, these savvy users usually turn to Google Maps, an app that enjoys widespread popularity with smartphone users. These trends suggest that it is very important for local businesses to first claim their business listing and then focus on marketing themselves using Google Maps. These actions will boost your search rankings and with the increase in online visibility, the conversions will also surge. Some of the most effective tips for leveraging Google Maps to boost your local business:
Fully Fill Out the Business Details on the Google Business Page
Undoubtedly the simplest way of enhancing your Google search rankings is to ensure that you have filled up all the information on the listing of your business on Google. You need to access Google My Business profile and add all optional information such as the names of the towns you serve, business categories, as well as your business hours. This will provide valuable inputs for users searching for businesses of a specific category in a town of their choice that is open during a time that is convenient to them. You should also use this opportunity to check once again that the information provided by you such as the contact phone numbers, the business locations, as well as other important contact information is correct.
Include Images
Another very effective tactic, you should consider including in your Google Maps marketing strategy is the use of images. It is well established that regardless of the type of your business, by adding appealing photos, you can help to draw the attention of users to your business listing better so that the chances of their using Google Maps increases. For those wondering how the SEO can improve because images don’t have any crawlable text, it should be kept in mind that you can and should include the most important keywords in the metadata of the images. This method has the advantage of being able to improve your page rankings without making the keywords visible to users. Remember, photos taken of your store or office using a mobile device already have the metadata included in them but you can add more relevant keywords as well as location tags in the alt text.
Harvest Google Reviews
It is quite likely that for many popular products and services user searches may yield some results that include your competitors in the proximity as well. In this kind of situation, the business with the highest star rating from the maximum number of customers will get the highest rank. In addition to impacting your ranking, customer reviews help to boost your visibility when users search for local businesses by relevance and also by customer ratings. Rather than manually asking customers to review your products, you can consider using a tool like Podium Reviews to send out automated invitations to customers requesting them to review your products. You can then also respond to the reviews to manage negative comments and improve customer loyalty.
Use Relevant Keywords for Better Search Discoverability
Just like you insert important keywords in the metadata, you can also include relevant and useful keywords in the content that you craft to describe your business. It can be useful to insert identified keywords that you wish to rank for; however, the trick is to infuse them naturally so that the description remains natural and easy to read. Keywords can also be inserted in all places, where you are asked to fill in the information, including sections under the heads of categories and labels. According to Searchenginejournal, Google maps marketing is nothing but optimizing the presence of your business on Google Maps. The question of what is SEO in marketing is best answered by observing the impact of including relevant keywords in the customer-facing content used in Google Maps marketing.
Local Search Advertisements on Google
While Google Maps marketing does not cost money, you should think of boosting your online presence even more by using online advertisements to generate customer traffic. By spending a reasonable amount, you can manually enhance your local search engine results rankings that can complement your organic search efforts. Whenever relevant, by advertising in Google’s local search, you will be able to drive the listing of your business to the top of the search results of Google Maps, both on mobiles and desktops, even if your business is not as good as that of the competition that is relying solely on Google Maps. According to Google, businesses using local search ads are assured of getting more traffic to the store, as well as clicks and phone calls that can convert better into sales. The advertising model is a variation of the conventional PPC system, so you should find out how effective it is for you before investing a lot of money.
Verify Your Local Business
A simple yet very effective way of maximizing the potential of your Google maps marketing strategy is verifying your business. Because Google wants users to deal only with authentic businesses so that they are not scammed, Google Maps will rank verified results higher than those they do not know much about. Google provides multiple ways for verifying your business; mail, email, and phone. If you choose to use the mail option, they will send you a postcard with a code to your business address, which you can input in your account so complete the process. Verification of your account is simple and makes your business look more credible to users. However, as an SEO strategy, you need to pair it with other ranking methods to bet its full benefit.
Conclusion
With more than 154 million users using Google Maps, you can strategically use Google Maps marketing to raise the visibility of your local business, generate more traffic to your store, and boost conversions. Using Google Maps marketing can very easily and without much investment give you the edge; you need to score over the competition.
