Being Found on Google, competitive advantage, lead generation, marketing best practices, organic SEO, paid search, pull marketing, Search Engine Optimization, search terms, SEM, SEO

XYZ Near Me

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Conversations I’ve had with clients and prospective clients recently about “local SEO” have prompted me to share the following reminder.

For “near me” terms, Google is going to focus on serving up “Google My Business Profiles/Google Search & Maps Listings” vs. an appropriate organization’s website. It makes great sense since “a near me” search is all about the searcher identifying an organization near them that offers the products, services, or solutions to problems they are seeking.

Ranking Organically (Without Paying For Advertising) For Relevant “Near Me” Terms

While some organization’s products and services lend themselves more to “near me” searching like “real estate agent near me,” “brunch restaurants new me,” “roofing companies near me,” “elder law attorney near me,” and “ice cream near me” — and those organizations definitely want and need to have a Google My Business Profile (GMB Profile) and ensure it ranks well — all organizations should have a regularly updated Profile in place to support overall, broader geographic ranking.

We won’t repeat everything we’ve shared in previous posts about keeping your GMB Profile current and comprehensive, but you can access such information at the bottom of this post.

What we do want to remind organizations about related to “Near Me” searches is to regularly revisit your GMB Profile business categories. When you set up your Profile, you can select a primary “business category” and several secondary “business categories.” Google regularly adds more specific product and service terms to this list. So, make sure your organization appears in local search results for as many of your products and services as you can, by indicating to Google, via your business category selection, what products and services you offer.

This is a powder blue image that says "2 Ways To Rank Locally/For "Near Me" Terms" In Black Letters At The Top. Underneath it says "1. Organically: Via Optimized Google My Business/Google Search & Maps Listing and 2. Paid Advertising: Via Google Search Ads And/Or Google Local Services Ads." At bottom, it has the logo for our Boston SEO services company, Results Communications & Research, and says "we can help with any and all of this!"

Ranking For Relevant “Near Me” Terms Via Paid Advertising

Two forms of Google paid advertising will help your organization appear high up in Google search results for relevant local searches:

  • Google Search Ads – while these primarily-text ads appear at the top of Google search results listing for relevant searches, they also can support your GMB Profile appearing at the top of the list of all Google My Business profiles that Google serves up in what’s known as the “Local Pack,” i.e., the first 3 or 4 listings that Google serves up (see first blog post at bottom of post.)
  • Google Local Services Ads – these ads focus on getting a searcher to call or message you; therefore, cause a pretty immediate conversion. While they don’t directly impact your Google My Business Profile or cause it be served up, they do pull information from your Google My Business profile, i.e., your “reviews.” Unlike Google Search Ads, the goal isn’t to drive traffic to your website or Google My Business profile, the goal is to make someone reach out to you immediately! You can learn more in this excellent article by WordStream.

Feeling Overwhelmed By All Things Local Search/Google My Business?

Reach out today to our Boston SEO services company. We offer both local search and domestic/global search SEO services, and can help you related to ranking better locally, for the whole U.S., and beyond!

Past Blog Posts About Optimizing Your Google My Business Profile

Stay At The Head Of “The Local Pack” By Packing Your Google My Business Profile With Regular Updates
Four Things Getting & Staying In Shape and SEO Have In Common
A 10-Year Look-back: Observations on Social Media Use by Businesses
Why It’s Time To Get Back To Internet and SEO Basics
Why Combining Keyword Research With An SEO Audit Is A Recipe For SEO Success
Spring Clean Your Online Presence to Support Both Sales and SEO — Part I
Being Found on Google, digital marketing agency, marketing best practices, organic SEO, pull marketing, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, social media, social media strategy, social media voice, strategic planning

Stay At The Head Of “The Local Pack” By Packing Your Google My Business Profile With Regular Updates

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Of course, we’re humming the1964 hit below from the Shangri-Las as we write this post. This post is the second in our series about why it’s so important to keep content on your digital properties fresh!

If you want your organization’s website to be served up in what’s called “The Local Pack” or “The Map Pack (see image at bottom of post),” the first one-time step you have to take if you haven’t already done so, is to set up a Google My Business Profile/Google Search & Maps listing.

How To Set Up Your Google My Business Profile

If you don’t have access to your Google Maps listing or your organization isn’t shown at all on Google Maps, type the address of your organization including any Suite # into your browser or Google; then click on the red dot showing your location. Then, follow prompts to request creation, or take ownership of, the Google Maps listing.

Once Google has verified you as the owner of the Profile, make sure you fill in as many of the fields in your new Google My Business profile as you can to make it comprehensive and more likely to be served up by Google, particularly: service areas, business categories, and hours of operation. And, don’t forget to complete the “Info. from the business” section. That’s where you tell potential searchers what your organization is all about. Lastly, as part of managing your online reputation, you’ll want to remember to ask happy customers to provide a “Google review” and to make the time to respond to ALL comments in a professional manner that shows your organization cares about customer satisfaction. Our Boston digital marketing agency offers “reputation management” services and can help make sure you handle the aforementioned marketing activity effectively.

How To Rank Well Locally/For Local Search Phrases

But, the focus on this blog post is not about initially setting up your Google My Business profile. It’s s about the ongoing step/ activity to support your organization being served up among the top three spots in “The Local Pack (or top four if Google includes an advertiser’s listing (ear-marked by Google as being an “Ad”)) for “near me,” “where to buy,” and similar local-in-nature search phrases that searchers enter into Google’s search engine. And that ongoing step/activity is to regularly add updates about your organization to your profile the same way you share them regularly to social media platforms.

Repurpose Social Media Posts On Your Google My Business Profile

As indicated above, an easy way to come up with, and add content to your Google My Business Profile, is to simply post already-created content to your profile at the same time you are posting it to the social media networks in which your organization participates.

See examples of updates we recently added to our Boston SEO company’s own Google My Business Profile at the bottom of the image below (taken from our own Profile), or enter “Results Communications & Research” into Google to call up our Profile and view the updates yourself/in greater detail.

Help Setting Up Or Managing Your Google My Business Profile

Need help setting up or optimizing/effectively managing your Google My Business profile. The team of SEO experts at Results Communications & Research is here to help, so please reach out!

Learn More About Our One-Time and Ongoing SEO Services And How We Might Help Your Organization

To schedule a no-obligation, complimentary discussion of your organization’s SEO opportunities and challenges, and how to get found on Google, e-mail us today at gail.moraski@allintheresults.com, use our calendar app to choose a convenient day or time to chat, or complete our contact form, to set up a no-obligation, complimentary SEO discussion.