The ultimate objective of Google Maps marketing is to achieve as high a placement as possible in the local business results listings on the Google Maps results on relevant Google search engine results pages. Let’s take a look at what this means.

The Local 3 Pack related to the Google Maps feature that displays local businesses related to your search query. It shows businesses with their NAP data (name, address, phone, etc.).

In a nutshell, Google Maps marketing is the process of using Google Maps’ functionality to make your business easier to find. Although this can be very useful (and expected) for large companies, it’s even more indispensable for smaller businesses. However, Google Maps marketing isn’t just about visibility – it’s about positioning, and not just that of your store. If used correctly (and strategically), Google Maps can play an important part in your digital marketing strategy.

Google recently announced that a range of new ad features would soon be coming to Google Maps.

There are four main ad features that are new to Google Maps. They are Promoted Pins (which can include branding and logos), in-store promotions, customisable business pages, and a local inventory search function. These ads will be shown in Maps results on the Google Maps app, the desktop and mobile versions of the Google Maps site, and on Google.com Expanded Map results.

One of the best ways that people find new locally sourced business is through Google Maps. For restaurants and trades for example, if you are missing an accurate listing on Google Maps, you could be missing out on many new customers.

Always add and update your Google My Business listing with your new contact info. This feeds into Google Maps instantly.

First create a Google My Business Listing.
https://support.google.com/business/answer/2911778?hl=en-GB
Google allows business owners to add and update how their business information displays in local listings and Google Maps. So create a Google My Business listing

Once signed up, you can add the basic information and address of your business, but to gain full access to Google My Business, you will need to verify it’s your business, they will send you an old fashioned postcard through the post to confirm the location address for Google Maps.

If your business is already on Google Maps, it may have inaccurate information, make sure you alter this immediately as inaccurate information can have a negative effect to rankings with your competitors.

When putting your business on google maps, make sure complete all the below steps for accuracy and user experience.

• Add enough photos
• Review your Google Map listing
• Correct website URL
• Answer reviews – always comment
• Accurate address
• Opening hours
• Check and test phone number
• Questions and answers
• About section completed
• Products added
• Offers included
• Regular photo uploads

Quality blogs and articles are more important now than ever. 750+ word blogs with relevant content support search engine rankings. Google is placing increased importance and even tagging relevant blogs in Google Maps results too!

Like other digital marketing optimization efforts, improving your visibility in Google Maps marketing can – and likely will – take time. This means there are no quick hacks, no overnight fixes, no easy way to rise to the top of the pack. Even if you implement all the optimisations above, it may still take a while for your business’ visibility to improve in Google Maps.

Getting your Google My Business listing verified should be the next first thing you do. The verification process can take up to a couple of weeks, as usually Google insists on mailing a postcard with a unique PIN to the physical address listed in your Google My Business profile to confirm verification.

Why do I need to verify my ‘Google My Business’ listing?

When you do not claim your Google My Business listing, your business is simply unowned in the eyes of GMB. Once officially claimed (a quick and easy task) you will be able to suggest edits, adjust your address, phone number, website and opening hours. Plus uploading photos and even videos and offers are possible. Also without claiming your listing as the first local seo step, you won’t be able to reply to important reviews by customers, plus the Google My Business support team won’t help with any problems until unverified.

Also important to realise that someone else doesn’t try to claim you Google My Business listing in error or in poor form to stop you gain the local rankings your business deserves. Or even someone can suggest that your listing does not exist and possibly Google will delete the listing.

One way to claim your GMB listing is from the Knowledge Panel. Click on “Own This Business” and follow the all steps provided. They will send you a verification card through the post and you will be set up straight after that!

Although many businesses claim their Google My Business listing, many simply register their business and provide only the most cursory (or worse, incomplete) information. This, unsurprisingly, results in far less visibility and a poorer overall Google Maps ranking. We will do the right thing making sure that your Google My Business is optimised.

So where do people fail with Google My Business?

• Adding enough photos
• Review your Google Map listing
• Incorrect website URL
• Unanswered reviews – always comment
• Incorrect address
• Opening hours
• Check phone number
• Questions and answers
• About section completed

If you do not monitor the above essential categories as a minimum, you will be providing a bad user experience, meaning a lower Google My Business rankings, and you will be losing out on potential new customers.

In general local SEO is a great tool for any business that interacts in person with customers. If you want them to find you at a location, then it should be an effective investment.

NAP data relates to core business data. NAP data means Name, Address, Phone.
It is essential that this data is correct across all platforms without contradiction, as this causes poor rankings.

Google My Business (formerly known as Google Places) enables business owners to claim a listing for their business that may appear in Google search results. Virtually any type of business can claim a Google My Business listing, which will display information that searchers may want to know, such as address, opening hours, and customer ratings. To claim Google will verify by sending a postcard containing a code to your address.

Basically the top ranking businesses locally in Google Maps for a keyword or business type.
The two names are Maps Pack or the 3 Pack. The Maps Pack is the group of 3 business appearing in a box on page 1 Google.

Local SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is the term used to describe methods to optimising your website and website links or citations to help your business appear more prominently in local search results on Google and the other major search engines.

It’s unclear to what extent user reviews play a part in the Google Maps search algorithm, but a business with no reviews is almost certainly going to struggle to compete with a business with lots of reviews, so it’s vital that you solicit and include reviews in your Google My Business profile.

On-Page SEO provides important information to search engines, telling them what your website or page is about. Meta tags, descriptions, image tags and keywords are all essential elements that when done well can have a massive impact to the search engine ranking of your website.

A long-tail keyword phrase is made up of 3 or more words to make a specific phrase. Long-tail phrases are often easier to rank for as less competitive and more specific to the users search question., eg: urgent tap repairs in Chichester

Black Hat SEO is simply going against the search engine guidelines and rules of SEO to trick search engines into ranking a website higher. This includes techniques such as keyword stuffing which also leads to poor user experience. It may produce traffic in the short term, but risks little return on investment and penalties from the search engines.

SEO = Search Engine Optimisation. Effective SEO is the strategy, process and tactics used to improve your websites ranking in search engine results for your chosen keywords.

In equal importance: – Keyword research
– On-site SEO
– Citation (link) building (accurate business listings across the web)
– Off-site SEO
– Ongoing fresh content (blog) creation and link outreach

On-page SEO optimisation when done effectively as part of a strategic campaign often includes: Optimsed URL, Page Title, Meta Description, Image Tags, keywords added to text of page, anchor text and links to internal and external pages, H1, H2 Header tags.

An effective SEO campaign can increase page ranking for keywords relevant to your business. This is generally done in the aim to help your business to be found online ny potential customers. In simple terms helps you be found when people are looking for your services or products on search engines such as Google.

We use a set of tools to help research monthly search volume, relevancy and the competition level for each keyword. Plus we will look at what your competitors are doing that works! We choose keywords that your website will have the potential to rank for and ensure you arent competiting for page 1 with BBC.co.uk and skynews!

Images and videos are definitely supporting your SEO when done correctly with ALT tags. Google uses them also in image searches, plus they can enhance the user experience to describe your message. ALT tags are important and tell Google what the image is about.