LOCAL SEO GUIDE
RANKING IN GOOGLE BUSINESS LISTINGS
Ranking in Google Business Listings provides access to hundreds of new customers a month. Follow this simple guide to ranking in the local search results and quick!
STEP ONE
BUSINESS BASICS
Before you can add a business listing to Google, there are a few things you’ll need to do first. Check off the following list of business basics!
SET UP A LEGAL ENTITY
Create a legal business entity in order to add your business to Google. If you need help figuring out what type of entity you need, click on the link below
PHYSICAL ADDRESS
Your business will need a physical address or you can add a “Service Area” instead if you don’t have an actual office open to the public
WEBSITE OR LANDING PAGE
Adding a website or a coming soon page will help your business rank better in local search. Check our our quick website creation guide
A COMPANY LOGO
Adding a custom logo to your Google Business Listing will make you stand out and look professional. Check out our free guide on creating a logo!
BRANDED IMAGERY
While It’s not required to add brand images to your business listing, it will help you stand out. Check out our guide on creating brand content!
SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS
Create social media accounts for your business and link them to your Google Business Page. Read our Free Guide to Social Media Account Creation
STEP TWO
LISTING OPTIMIZATION
Once you have all your business basics completed, it’s time to fill your Google Business profile with it. Below are all the elements you want to add to your business listing
BUSINESS INFORMATION
You’ll want to make sure that all your company’s basic information is included in your listing including business name, address, and phone number.
BUSINESS HOURS
Add your hours of operation making sure you account for days you aren’t open including holidays or weekends if you aren’t open. Hours of Operation help keep your customers happy
SERVICE AREAS
If you have multiple locations or provide services outside of your businesses city or zip code, add Service Areas to your Google Business Listing to rank in more areas
STEP THREE
CUSTOMER REVIEWS
If you want to accelerate getting ranked in the local search results, you’ll need reviews and lots of them! Luckily, we launched our own free resource for local businesses that help you get reviews from past, current, and future customers! It also helps you manage your online reputation across numerous review platforms like Yelp, Facebook Reviews, and more!
Create a free account on ReviewBates, add your business info, create a review page and share your link with all your past and new customers on autopilot. Here’s how it works below!
STEP ONE
CREATE A FREE REVIEW PAGE
This is where you send customers and invite them to leave you a review
STEP TWO
HOLD NEGATIVE REVIEWS
If a customer leaves a negative review, our system won’t prompt them to publish it
STEP THREE
PUBLISH 5 STAR REVIEWS
When customers leave a 5 Star Review, we ask them to post it to 4 review sites
STEP FOUR
RESOLVE BAD REVIEWS
Turn negative reviews around and resolve customer concerns quickly
STEP FOUR
NAP CITATIONS
Creating NAP Citations is vital to rank in local search results. NAP stands for (Name, Address & Place). The more NAP Citations you have on other websites about your business, the better. You can manually create NAP Citations by adding your business to directory websites, social media accounts, LinkedIn and other free sources, but using the services of NAP Citation Building companies is much quicker and more scalable. Check out our quick NAP Citation building tips below!
BUDGET FRIENDLY OPTIONS
BUILD NAP CITATIONS MANUALLY
If you want to save a few bucks, you can build NAP Citations easily by creating accounts on different business directories and review sites like the ones listed below! It won’t cost anything but your time!
NAP CITATIONS AT SCALE
BUILD NAP CITATIONS QUICKLY (FOR A FEE)
Got a little money burning a hole in your pocket and want results quick? BrighSocial offers several options to fit any budget and can build NAP Citations that have a better chance of getting Indexed quicker. Build Hundreds of NAP Citations with BrightLocal and let their experts do all the work!
