Improving your rankings with Google Local Search

Being listed in Google Local Search can help you appear above the #1 ranked organic search results in the Google OneBox.

So if leads based on your location are important to your business – for example, if you provide accommodation or tours in a well known area – it can help to understand how it all works. And how to improve your chances of being listed.

Does this affect me? To check if Google is returning local results in the OneBox, behave like the visitors you want to attract. For example, if you provide accommodation in Alice Springs, do a query in Google Australia for alice springs accommodation.

Do you see a map with local businesses listed alongside, like the one to the right?

Maybe local search is already affecting your business. But if not, consider the chances of Google introducing this to your locality in the future. Doing the things you need to do for local search will help you in other ways as well.

Lots of businesses are already being listed in the Google OneBox, and getting into the OneBox is only going to get more competitive. Google shows only a selected number (currently 10) when it comes to local search, so being number 11 is not worth much at all.

So even if the OneBox hasn’t come to you yet, it may still be a good idea to prepare for it anyway. And how do you do that?

Three things. Get verified. Get reviewed. Get cited. Let’s take a look at each of those steps in a bit more detail.

Get verified. It all starts with being listed and verified by Google as a local business, and if you haven’t done this yet, off to the Google Local Business centre with you.

Once you have registered, you aren’t finished. You have to verify. There are several ways to do this, make sure you finish and that Google indicates you are verified.

Get reviewed. Google Local Search recognises user reviews. Businesses with more reviews rank higher than those with less (or none). Good reviews work better than bad reviews. All makes sense really.

To find out how to get reviews, go and have a look at the reviews that Google is recognising in your area. In this accommodation example, in the image you can see TripAdvisor and HostelWorld reviews being recognised by Google (visitors can also create an account with Google Maps and enter one directly).

How can you encourage your guests to write reviews about you? Go and look at these sites, find out how they work, and make it easy for your guests to understand.

Maybe include some links to them on your own website and invite your customers to review you. And consider updating your customer feedback form to let your customers know they can also review you online.

Get cited. You may know how important links are for organic search. Well, for Google Local links don’t hurt, but it is citations of your business name and address you want, not links.

What is a citation? A reference to your business name, address or phone number from a source that Google identifies as providing local information. In the case of Annie’s Place, it would be as simple as this appearing on a local web page:

• Annie’s Place Hostel, 4 Traeger Avenue, Alice Springs

So this isn’t a link (although that is good for other reasons, of course), it is a citation of your business on another local web page. Google may not recognise all local web pages (although I am sure they are trying to get better at it).

One way to see the sources they are recognising is to go and look at the Web Pages listed for businesses already appearing in Local Search.

To do this, find a business appearing in the local search listings, and click on its main link. You will see Google’s entry for that business, including links for: Overview, Details, Reviews, Photos & Videos and Web Pages.

By the way, I learnt about citations from David Mihm’s explanation of citations for local search, and if you want more detail I recommend it to you.

Get central. I’m not entirely serious here, I know you can’t necessarily move your business. But Google does pay attention to how far you are from the centre of town it seems. It doesn’t seem to be as important as reviews or citations, but it helps. And some businesses do have a choice (for example, if you use a serviced office).

Got all that? Get verified. Get reviewed. Get cited.

To your success with Google Local Search!