How to Make the Most Out of Google Local Search

Editor's Notes

• #2: http://wildfiredigitalmarketing.com/why-google-plus-local-is-important-to-your-businesshttps://getlisted.org/static/resources/why-local-search.htmlToday we’re going to talk about how to make the most out of Google Local Search. Google Local is important because Google tends show local results whenever you’re searching for products or services. You can’t afford not to be noticed in those results because they make up a significant part of the 1st page results. About half of all mobile searches have Local Intent, meaning users are looking specifically for physical businesses in their area. Today we’re going to discuss specifically how to create a listing and what to do once you have it.
• #3: Before you start working on external listings, you must first ensure that your website is optimized. This means you must include geo-targets in your homepage content and meta data. For example, if you are going after Dallas, make sure you add it to the following areas: Page Title, Description, on the homepage H1 and bolded keywords. You should also add your agency name, address and phone number as text on your homepage as well as on every page on your site. This can be done in the footer, header or sidebar. Insurance Website builder uses special tags from Schema.org for your agency name, address and phone number. This is a special markup that allows the search engines to interpret the information you’re trying to convey. If your website doesn’t contain this markup, the search engines will have a more difficult time understanding what to do with the information on the page.
• #4: As you can see the cities appear in many places. Includes multiple cities where necessary, has H1 and bolded keywords, and appears in the title.
• #5: Same.
• #6: Now that you have your website optimized, it is time to get on to the main point of this webinar. Go to Google, and search for your agency name + the city where your office is located. For example Dershimer Insurance Winter Haven. This should bring up your website as well as your map listings. If you cannot find it then you will have to create the listing.
• #7: Log in to Google, go to http://plus.google.com/, then hover over the Home button on the left hand side, which will drop down a menu. Click on Pages, then click on the blue Create button on the right hand side. This will bring up 5 categories to choose from. Choose Local Business or Place. Agree to the terms and conditions and follow the prompts to claim your listing. You may be prompted to verify your listing by phone or postcard. If you have the option to verify by phone, take it! It is much faster and will only take a minute. It is a simple process where an automated call from Google will be placed to your business. Make sure that the person who normally answers the phone is ready for this call. Google calls you almost instantly after you hit the Call me Now button, so be prepared. They will give you a PIN number, which you will then have to enter on your computer. If you do not have the option to verify by phone, you can do so by postcard. You will receive your postcard at the location you’re listing in about one-2 weeks. When you receive it, enter the PIN to verify. While you’re waiting on the postcard, you will be able to enhance the listing.
• #8: Add all the information requested. When adding your phone number, add your local number, not your toll free number, or marketing phone number. You can give one of the categories priority which will be listed in the results page. Make sure that all the information you add here, is exactly the same as the information on your website, and should be exactly the same on every other listing you create across the web. This is important because you want to have consistent information among all business listings. Your local presence can be negatively impacted if you don’t. Get your listing to 100% completion, as this will help your listing to rank higher. Be as truthful and natural as possible. Do not stuff keyword your description or agency name. Be sure to show what makes your agency unique. You can also add a cover photo and profile picture. You can also add pictures of your building, employees, office interiors and signage. Once you’ve gotten it to 100%, be sure to occasionally come back to make updates. There is the option to share posts and pictures. You can add office events, links to your blog posts, or pictures of staff.
• #9: Once you have enhanced your listing, you can check for duplicates. If you notice any duplicates, as in this example with specific agent names attached to the listing, remove them. You should only have one listing per location. This is so that we making the most of our efforts, by only concentrating on one listing. To remove it, click to view the full listing.
• #10: Click on Edit Details. This will take you to the Map Maker, where you can choose the appropriate action to fix this listing. In this case, check the box marked Place is a duplicate of another place, then provide the web address of the correct listing.
• #11: Now that you have your listing customized and 100% complete, it’s time to ask for reviews. Reviewers are required to have a Google login. The best time to ask for a review is soon after you’ve finished a call and your clients are the most happy. That way your achievement is fresh in their minds. You can also send them a reminder email using an email marketing system like AgencyBuzz. You can also set up a drip campaign for all new customers, asking for a review to help improve your process. Adding a button to your website asking for reviews and testimonials will also make it more accessible to your customers. Incorporate asking for reviews into your daily process. If you focus on reviews for only a short period of time, it will look unnatural to Google and other business listing websites, when they suddenly get 10 5-star reviews. Adding a link in your email signature can also be beneficial when done tastefully.Don’t ask customers to write reviews at your office. Ideally these should be done from their own home or business. Google and Yelp track IP addresses, so it would look suspicious if all your 5 star reviews came from one place. Once you’ve gotten a good number of decent reviews on Google, you can start getting reviews on other websites. For example, Yelp, Facebook, Yellow Pages, Super Pages, Yahoo, Bing and Merchant Circle. Focus on one or two review websites at a time. It’ll make the effort simpler and much less time consuming for you and your people. You can rotate which ones you focus on over time.