May 04, 2017

How to Get Your Local Business on Google?

Online visibility is very important if you want to maintain growth for your local business both online and offline. In order to be seen by your target audience online, you should make your website optimized for search engines, particularly Google. Now more than ever, your priority should be to get your local business on Google to maximize your online presence. Here are some steps on how to get started.

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How to Get Your Local Business on Google : eAskme
How to Get Your Local Business on Google : eAskme
 
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Create a Google My Business Page

You should start by creating Google My Business page to get your business listed on Google. Even if you are already advertising on Google, you must claim a Google My Business page and maintain it with up to date information. This page will provide searchers with an easy way to find your business information on Search, Google+ and Maps. Google My Business is free and easily manageable. It also gives you the power to present your local business as positively as you want.

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Build High Quality, NAP Consistent Local Citations

Citations on niche directories and business directories such as the Yellow Pages and Yelpcan make a significant difference in terms of search engine rankings and business visibility. A business citation is any mention of its name, address and phone number on other web pages. Citations are credible information sources about your business, which increase the confidence that search engines will have on your business. The more citations from quality sources that Google sees on the web, the higher they will rank your Google My Business listing in the local search results pages.

The typical format of a citation is Name, Address and Phone, thus the acronym, NAP. Most NAPs have backlinks to your website. Having NAP consistent citations is crucial because your business can shift locations or change the website URL at any time. It can also shut down a specific store or modify its NAP. Your online visibility, therefore, can suffer if you forget to correct existing listings, such as managing duplicates, updating out of date information, and so on.

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The number of citations will be useless in increasing visibility if they are of a poor-quality standard. It is important that you build quality citations which are authoritative, accurate and NAP consistent.

NAP consistent citations can be particularly helpful if your local business does not have a website. Google can crawl the internet to find your business using NAP. If your business deals in a less popular niche, therefore, the popular ones will not be allowed to overrun it.

Ensure the Accuracy of Your Location Targeting

You should ensure that your target area is neither too small nor too big. A brick and mortar business specifically needs a happy medium to entice customers to travel to buy your products, regardless of distance. You can do so with the Advanced Search feature in AdWords, which will help you target a specific radius. You should ensure that your business is consistently and accurately recognized and represented across signage, online platforms and stationery by making sure your local business address is precise and accurate.

Make Contact Information Prevalent with Location and Call Extensions

You can extend the presence of ads using relevant advertisement extensions in AdWords. The extensions can also help you to motivate your leads to visit because of the easy accessibility of your location and phone number. You can also utilize other ad extensions, such as Callout and Site link to draw attention to discounts and special offers. Adding location extensions is possible by linking Google My Business and AdWords accounts. A prompt typically appears on AdWords to enable you carry out the link.

Create Call-Only Campaigns

There is a huge potential in using AdWords in the online advertising strategy of your local business. However, Call-only Campaigns is one of the latest features by Google and is more suitable for a local business, and it capitalizes on AdWords. Potential customers can use phone calls to make reservations or make enquiries about a product. Call-only Campaigns are targeted for mobile devices, in which online visitors search and call, without having to go through a landing page barrier. Calls produce more business leads than website clicks.

You can use the tips above to get your local business prominently visible on Google. Creating local citations can be a tedious and boring task, however it’s essential that you don’t overlook them if you want to see real results. If you don’t have the time to create local citations, rather than putting it off, I would highly recommend outsourcing this task to a high-quality local citation building service like that offered by Linkredible. You can also capitalize on their team of experts to find the most appropriate citation sources for your business too. A quality local citation building service can help to clean your citations to ensure NAP consistency and compliance with Google’s quality guidelines, which will guarantee high visibility.

Local businesses are facing great physical and online competition. Therefore, they must remain competitive by taking advantage of all the available resources at their disposal. Your business can benefit from getting your local business on Google. You can outsource this task to a professional service to ensure you maximize this potential.