Because of how sophisticated our technology has become, there are now several ways to target customers in your business location. One such way is by using Google My Business. In fact, Google My Business (GMB) has become a critical component of success for most local businesses, since it is the primary way customers can connect with businesses. Customers can either use Google Maps to search for certain types of businesses in their location, or run a Google search for to find what they’re looking for. In both cases, you would need a listing with different Google My Business fields filled out for your business to appear in the search results.
However, having a Google My Business listing may not be enough. In the digital space, you need to immediately catch the attention of the customer, and this can only be done if your listing has a high Google My Business ranking, meaning it appears at the top of the search results. Without a high Google My Business ranking, your listing has no chance of being noticed as it could easily drown in the sheer number of search results.
As such, the question for most businesses is how to rank higher on GMB. Much like any other search engine, there are preset GMB ranking factors that affect whether your listing will land on the first page or get caught in between other results. Most of these factors have a lot to do with the different Google My Business fields available to you. How you use and maximize these Google My Business fields will determine where your listing lands.
Fields that Affect Your Google My Business Ranking
Business Name
While you may be wondering why your business name should influence your Google My Business ranking, but unfortunately, it does; and of all the Google My Business fields, it may even have the most weight. It all has to do with keywords. Some business names are very rich in keywords, giving them a head start over competitors. In fact, some businesses have actually started to take advantage of this and stuffed their business names with rich keywords. However, this is something you should never try to do, because it is actually against Google My Business guidelines. Instead, what you can do is send a complaint against competitors who do this.
Category
Of all the Google My Business fields, your category is probably the most important of the GMB ranking factors. By helping Google understand the core of your business, it makes your listing appear for the most relevant search items and gives you a high Google My Business ranking, thereby increasing your chances of conversion.
Apart from your primary category, Google My Business allows you to choose secondary or additional categories that may also be connected with your business. Because of the importance of choosing the right categories, we encourage you to list down several possible categories and change them up every week to see in which category you get the most frequent appearances and high Google My Business rankings. You also have to stay updated as Google adds more categories from time to time. By keeping up-to-date, you will be able to check if the new categories are more specific and suited for your business.
Reviews
Reviews are absolutely critical for any business online to become successful. For Google My Business, this field also makes up a considerable factor in increasing your Google My Business ranking. Apart from the rankings, however, reviews have a direct effect on the customer especially since most of them consult the reviews before making any purchase or transaction.
Business Website
Lastly, your business website also affects your Google My Business ranking. You have to make sure that the link to your website works and that your website is always optimized and all its components and links are working. Further, if your business has multiple locations, you might want to consider linking a location page instead of your website’s front page. This way, the customers in the vicinity will be able to quickly pay your business a visit.
There are several options for customizing your listing using the different Google My Business fields, and your Google My Business ranking highly depends on these fields. At Advanced Digital Media Services, we handle Google My Business listings, websites, social media accounts, and other online marketing platforms for our clients. Should you want to maximize your listing and improve your Google My Business ranking, all you have to do is to get in touch with us by filling out the form below!
