The fact is people turn to Google for everything these days. It’s been the number one search engine since the early 2000s. Today, over 15 years later, it still remains the top place people go when they are searching for a product, service, company or just information in general. So, any local businesses that are not highly ranked in the Maps local listings are really missing out on a great deal of opportunity.

Let’s now go through the five main beneficial reasons why (as a local business) you should be in the 3-Pack listings of Google Maps:

Gain more business exposure

Customers see businesses in the 3-Pack first and are more likely to click on the link for those businesses. Studies have shown the click-through rate is higher for businesses in the 3-Pack. Businesses in this boxed-off area will increase their bottom line more as a result.

Customers Come to You

The Google 3-Pack is all about local businesses and local results. As such, local business owners have the most to gain. The 3-Pack is designed to return local search results from specific keyword search phrases to local users. That means that you’ll get more local traffic online and more local foot traffic. And more phone calls!

Boosts customer engagement

Any time that you can communicate with your customers, it’s a good thing. The Google 3-Pack provides many ways they can communicate with you. They can leave a review, call your business or go to your website. All of this opens the line of communication, which is good for business.

Makes it easy for customers

It even offers a complete overview of your business in one click. Customers can see at a glance that you can help them, which easily connects them to your business, making a purchase to happen more quickly. Customers like it too and so, often choose the results shown in the Pack.

Provides Increased revenue

Most importantly, all of these benefits of course boil down to one main benefit: being in the Google 3-Pack brings in more revenue into your business. With increased exposure, increased local traffic, more communication and information at a glance, your company will make more money if it’s in the 3-Pack.

Conclusion

As you can now see, getting into the 3-Pack listings of Google Maps is highly valuable. And the more relevant keyword search phrases your local business ranks for in those top three positions of the Pack, the more you gain all the above-mentioned benefits. To find out about the online services that we are providing to help local businesses grow, visit our Online Marketing Services website via the link here.

The post Five Reasons Why Every Local Business Should be in The 3-Pack of Google Maps appeared first on Market Business Online.

So I offered to help fix this and other relevant problems for the gym owner, which led me to write this content. Getting highly found online in this competitive business world is certainly not easy to achieve. The whole process of helping your company stand out from your competitors can be both time consuming and one big challenge.

Are you effectively on Google My Business?

The good news is Google My Business has helped local businesses gain more exposure and convert more local prospects into paying customers. This local listing platform helps to attract more consumers in the areas where they may be searching for your type of product or service…

In fact, Google My Business (3-pack) shows up in search engines to people searching online for local businesses. 3-pack is the ‘Maps’ listing on the first page of Google local search results. It mainly displays the top 3 ranked local businesses for a keyword phrase, including their contact information.

The problem is, there are still millions of local businesses that have not yet capitalised on this critically important marketing platform.

Here’s how to get Maximum (100%) Profile Score

What it takes to really turn Google My Business into a profit machine is to complete your profile page, add as much information as possible, and optimising it for higher rankings on the search engines. But most local businesses struggle with that very first step of completing their profiles. Actually, very few business owners are completing their profiles to 100%. However, if you are looking to get the best results, this step cannot be ignored. The following few tips will help you get started on the right track:

Ensure Your Business is Listed

Of course, before you can focus on achieving a 100% score, you need to first make sure you are listed on Google My Business. Find out by typing in your company’s name, address, or phone number into Google search and see if anything comes up. If so, you know you are listed and you can proceed to completing and claiming it. If it’s not listed, you want to create a listing for your business as quickly as possible.

Complete Your Business Profile

If you would like to achieve a 100% score, you are going to need to make sure that your profile is fully and accurately filled out. First, complete all the required fields. This actually contributes towards a great bulk of your score. It includes fields such as:

• Your company name as used in your everyday real world business
• Your physical address
• Your local phone number

Important Note:
Filling out the above fields (Company Name, Address & Phone Number) represents your business citation. It’s absolutely important that your citation is exactly the same across the internet. Because making any changes (e.g. changing your phone number) creates inconsistency and diminishes credibility in the eyes of Google. Hence this will have a negative impact on your rankings in Google local search results. In other words, you will effectively be losing out on potential customers. So, make sure your citation information filled out is exactly the same everywhere online.

Once you complete the basics, you get additional score points for listing:

• Your company website address
• Your company email address
• Hours of operation
• Payment methods
• Detailed description of your business
• Pictures and Videos
• Appropriate categories
• Strategic keyword placement
• … and more

Conclusion…

The whole process to achieve maximum (100%) profile score is really provided via the Google My Business dashboard. Simply log into your account and take a look to see what should be your next step. There is a profile completion bar that’s shown on the dashboard to give you an indication.

Completing your Google profile will certainly help towards boosting your rankings and visibility in local search engine results which can ultimately bring you more customers.

Please be Aware: To highly rank and maintain your site on Google My Business, there are updates, maintenance and technical aspects of it you have to keep doing. It’s a never ending process. So, unless you have the time to keep on learning this stuff and doing it yourself, you would be better off hiring someone. Obviously, we cannot cover all the ins and outs from this single post. What we cover here is just a piece of the entire pie and will help give you a solid foundation on Google.

By the way, if you have not yet claimed your own Yelp business page or you are not aware of its huge benefits, click the link here. Yelp listing is also very crucial and boosts your Google listing in taking your business to the next level. Should you have any queries about this information or if you would like us to help with your Google My Business presence, feel free to get in touch.

The post How to get Maximum Score on Your Google My Business Profile appeared first on Market Business Online.

But firstly, what are Google Places citations?

Citations are votes (in form of links) from across the web that are directly credited to your Google Places page.  In other words, they are a mention of your business name, address and phone number by other sites on the internet.  It’s important that you accurately include your correct business listing on your page.  As Google search engine crawlers have to verify your listing is genuine in order to reward you with regular quality citations.

So, why are citations essential for your local business?

Google view links from other websites pointing to your Google Places page as votes.  By frequently getting citations (from other sites), you’ll accomplish high rankings in Google local search engine results.  The more quality citations relating to your page, the more traffic generated and the higher your rankings.

Other websites linking to your page can even incorporate positive reviews, local directory listings or blog posts.  And if you receive a citation from a high authority site, it offers great boost to your rankings in the Google local search results.

High authority means a high traffic, reputable and popular website in the eyes of Google. By simply getting a link from such a site to your page, you will be more rewarded by Google for better rankings.  For example, a business owner receiving a link from a local Mcdonald’s restaurant could provide more ranking value than one from a local pizza restaurant.

How to acquire Google Places citations

Although Google index citations to your page when they crawl it.  But how could you influence which sites provide links to your Google Places page?

Use “Discussions” Filter – One method of acquiring citations to boost your rankings for local search terms is by using Google ‘Discussions’ filter.  As shown below:

Note:  Click on the image to view an enlarged version if you prefer.

As shown above, ‘Discussions’ filter appears (on the left) in Google browser. This provides great opportunities for getting citations to your Google Places page.  From the above screenshot example, I also entered ‘Richmond Hairdressers’ in the search box which is a ‘local search phrase’.  But how exactly can you get citations with this method?……

Go to Google and enter a search phrase or keyword relevant to your business. Click ‘More’ on the left side of your browser. Now select ‘Discussions’ filter.  By clicking ‘Discussions’, you can search results to display sites that Google think active discussions are happening. Choose the sites that are mostly relevant to your business and target market. Also select the ones that offer you opportunities to join as your business. Then add your comments regularly to relevant discussions.  As this creates opportunities for you to leave your business details or link back to your Google Places page.  So you can then generate valuable citations on a continuous basis.

Target Competition Citation Sources – Another way of getting citations is by checking out your competition to see sites that are linking to them.  Visit Google search engine and just pick out the business listings ranked high for your own ‘local search phrases’.  Dig out their citation sources or references (via their webpages).  Then visit the same sources to request possible citations for your own Google Places page.

Contact High Authority Websites – You can also find and contact relevant authoritative websites in your niche.  Then ask the site owners if they can write a review or listing on their site about your business.  This way, you’ll definitely get high quality relevant citations back to your page.

Approach Your Industry Associates – Contact suppliers, customers and other business acquaintances in your industry.  Once again, request  if they could write a review or listing on their sites about your business.   As a consequence, your Google Places page will be credited with more citations to boost your rankings in Google local search results.

Register With Quality Local Directories – You should also list your page in high traffic and popular local business directories (such as Yelp.com, Yell.com etc).  To find relevant online local directories, search on Google and pick the ones that rank in the top pages of results.  Particularly register with the directories that have several local businesses in their listing and full of activities.  This way, you can greatly benefit from boosting your brand awareness, traffic generation and getting citations to your business listing.

Always Apply Your Correct Business Listing – As mentioned earlier, your business page listing must consistently include your real business name, address and phone number across the internet.  Otherwise, you won’t be credited with a citation.  And that also means you will not be trusted and rewarded by Google for high rankings in their local search engine.  So, ensure your business details are correctly listed online to positively build your credibility and authority in the eyes of Google.

That’s it!  I hope you now acknowledge the true value of Google Places citations and why they are important for your business development.  If so, then take the necessary course of action. And please feel free to have your say by leaving a comment.

The post Why Google Places Citations Are Essential For Your Local Business appeared first on Market Business Online.

For a business to optimise its Google Places ranking, there are certainly some very simple things to do properly. Some businesses make a few basic errors which can be avoided:

One important thing to avoid is not to include any irrelevant keywords or unnecessary characters in your Google Places Account profile.

Your business original phone number must be entered in your profile without any tracking numbers or anything else included.  The domain name entered should be your company’s URL.  This is stating the obvious, but a lot of businesses don’t carry out this simple steps.

Besides, the business name should not change in your profile.  The original name must be entered.  However if your domain name consists of a keyword specifically relating to your business, then that’s great!  The reason being, Google reward ‘keyword-relevant’ domain names. So, it’s definitely a way to boost your Google Places optimisation.

Another important means to improve your Google Places ranking is to include the exact category, description, photos and other details of your business in your profile.  When choosing categories, try to pick as many as possible that in any way relate to your business.

Make the business description unique, informative and professional. Including a picture of the business building or the interior is another great idea.  And when filling out the details of the business, try not to stuff keywords in there and just make it as informative as possible.

Every little line is important and must be filled in to truly optimise your Google Places ranking for your business.  Assuming there are five or six category spots in your Google Places profile, then you should fill them all in, no matter what.  Leaving lines blank will only affect your ranking status. Then after everything is filled out, check again just to make sure the information provided is accurate and not conflicting.

The post How To Boost Google Places Ranking For Your Business appeared first on Market Business Online.

Here is how to get on Google Places:

Go to www.google.com/places and click the  “Get Started” button…..

(1) The next step is to login with your Google Account (e.g. Gmail).

(2) If you don’t have a Google Account, click the ‘Sign-up’ button to create a new account.

(3) Once you’ve gained access to the login area, fill out the fields accurately and completely. It is best if you are able to fill out every field. This data can be edited at a later time if necessary.

(4) You will be asked if your business already exists. You can either click “Claim listing” or “Add listing”.

(5) If you do not have a business listing, you will fill out your business information as thoroughly as possible. This is where you get to add photos, videos, your logo, days and hours of operation, methods of payment accepted and other pertinent information about your business.  Check it over and make sure it is accurate and then click “Submit”.

(6)  It is time to verify your listing for Google Places Account. You can choose to verify by phone or snail mail. Phone verification is of course faster than waiting the possible 2 or 3 weeks for mail verification. Click “Finish”.

(7)  If you use phone verification you will be on your Dashboard. A green box will generate to inform you that you are receiving a call from Google and you will have to enter your PIN. Make sure your phone is nearby so you can quickly get this done. If you miss this call, you will have to request a new PIN.

(8) You will enter the PIN given to you either by phone or mail in a small box under “Your Businesses”.

(9) When your Google Places verification is complete, a link will generate on your confirmation page so you can view your business listing on Google Maps.

These are the basics of how to get on Google Places. Just be sure that your information is accurate before moving on to the next pages and don’t miss that PIN phone call.

In addition, you can learn how to get your business highly ranked on Google Places. Visit the above link to find out more and please feel free to leave any comment. To your success!

The post How To Get On Google Places Quickly For Free appeared first on Market Business Online.