Are you struggling to get visitors to your website and attract local clients/customers to your business?
Even with the most amazing business and the most stylish, on-brand website, if it’s not being seen, found, and clicked on by your target audience in the areas you serve, your business will not perform to its highest potential.
This is why local SEO should underpin your marketing strategy.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Your business must feature prominently in Google Search results and appear on Google Maps to generate relevant leads and traffic.
- Search engine optimization (SEO) is an intrinsic aspect of marketing and one that should not be ignored or neglected in your overall marketing strategy. Local SEO targeted to your geographical area (or any region your business offering covers) helps your website and business get seen online.
- Twelve12 Orange County marketing firm is a full-service marketing agency. We offer expert, tailored SEO services to help your business get found in organic search and be seen and visited by relevant audiences at the right time.
Businesses of all types and sizes and across all industries rely on visibility and prominence in search engine results to perform well, generating relevant leads and traffic. For your business, this requires that it not only feature highly in Google Search results, but especially in terms of Google Business Profile listings and Google Maps listings.
My Website Exists, but No One Seems to Find It. What’s Wrong?
Why doesn’t my business show up on Google Maps in Orange County?
There are several possibilities as to why you’re not being found online, or why your visibility in Google Maps is not consistent. These include both factors in your control and factors out of your control.
Factors you can control include:
- Your Google Business Profile is unverified – the verification process MUST be completed.
- Your business information is inaccurate/incomplete – key information must be present and accurate, including business name, business category, service area, physical address, website URL< phone number, business hours, and other relevant attributes.
- Your Google Business Profile Listing lacks content.
- Your Google Business Profile Listing does not have Location authority – authority is based on information consistency across the internet, website authority, listing age, number/quality of reviews, regular profile updates, and local citations.
- Your Google Business Profile Listing has been suspended – due to keyword stuffing, business location misrepresentation, using a PO Box or virtual office, spamming, suspicious activity, etc.
- Your address has recently changed –it takes time for Google to process and verify this.
Factors outside your control include:
- The landscape of local competitors is overwhelming.
- You’re not close enough geographically to the user’s (i.e. searcher’s) location.
- User engagement with your Listing impacts your ranks.
- User search behavior and history.
- User-specific location settings.
It’s critical that the visibility of your business in Google Maps be improved.
How To Improve Your Business’s Visibility in Google Maps
The Google algorithm uses a vast number of ranking factors when determining which websites it favors in search results. Some main ones to consider include:
- Proximity – this is the distance between your business’s physical location and the user’s location. It’s vitally important that your Google Business Profile Listing has an actual physical address; this should also be displayed on your website (even if only in the footer). If you have multiple physical locations/addresses (e.g. offices or brick-and-mortar locations), each should have its own Google Business Profile Listing.
- Relevance – does your Google Business Profile Listing match what users search for? It must! This includes complete and accurate profile information as well as content on your website; your website must be optimized for local search and ideally will feature location/service area landing pages to signal these for the algorithm.
- Prominence – optimize online visibility and maximize popularity of your business via engagement (link your social media profiles via your website and post regularly, respond to comments); encourage Google Reviews and respond to each one (always professionally and calmly).
You need to:
- Accurately and completely verify your business
- Optimize your information
- Build online presence and authority
- Display regular activity on your Google Business Profile
- Track for and amend any guideline violations
A targeted SEO campaign with a focus on local SEO, conducted by an expert SEO provider, is the best, most effective, and most ROI-deliverable way to meet and overcome the challenges of maximizing your business’s visibility online, including appearing accurately and effectively in Google Maps.
Twelve12 Marketing Firm Can Help You Succeed!