Why is Local SEO Important in 2024?

According to Google, 76% of people search for nearby stores and visit them within 24 hours. This trend indicates that when individuals seek specific services, such as restaurants, hotels, or other business locations, they are more likely to contact or visit these places. This is where the significance of Local Business and SEO strategies come into play.

Within Local SEO, Google Map citations have proven to be influential. Would you happen to know what Google Map citations are and how they enhance local SEO efforts? This guide delves into the role and mechanics of Google Map citations in improving online visibility in local search engine results.

What are Google Maps Citations?

A Google Map citation is an online reference to your business that includes your name, address, and phone number (NAP), often linked to a Google Map. These citations can appear across diverse platforms, including directory listings, social media profiles, websites, and apps. They serve as a critical reference for Google to validate the authenticity and relevance of your business in a specific geographical area.

Here we will guide you on the best way to optimize your Google Business profile which will help to double your conversion.

How Does Local SEO Work?

According to the Google Local Search Algorithms, they consider three main factors to help find the best match for their customers.

• Relevancy: In Local SEO relevance is the key to success. It determines how well your local business profile matches what people are searching for. For this purpose, you will need to Complete your Google My Business Profile which helps Google better understand your business.
• Distance One of the main factors in Local SEO. Google believes how far a user is from a business when they search for a service. This consideration involves calculating the distance concerning the location term used in the search.
• Prominence: This refers to how well-known your business is and how important Google thinks your business is to its potential customers. Factors such as the count and score of Google reviews significantly contribute to local search ranking.

What is the best strategy for local SEO?

There are many  Local SEO strategies but I give you the best and proven ways to maximize your conversion. Google shows two types of search results for local searches to their audience.

• Local Packs
• Organic Results

Let's discuss each type and how you optimize for local businesses to get more clients.

Local Packs:

A Local Pack is considered a map pack that shows the top-ranked local listings relevant to your specific location or the location specified in the search. Google provides essential details such as their geographic location, contact information, operating hours, customer reviews, and website links that help customers make decisions more effectively.

For example, when you search for any query like "best dentist near me," Google will show the Top local map packs relevant to your query. Like This

Now, how do you get a top position for your business in Local Packs? According to a recent survey of Brighto Local, 91% of customers say positive reviews will help them more likely to choose the business.

Google also prefers which businesses get more positive reviews as compared to others; earning reviews is one of the main ranking factors. Now the thing to consider is how you get reviews on your new business profile. Here is the answer:

Investing in review-generation tools is one of the best strategies to generate positive reviews that boost your ranking and local search visibility. You can search on Google for many websites that offer Paid Reviews like Growthoid, Use Viral, Social Virals, and many more. 

Also, you can ask your customers to give positive feedback on your Google Business Profile. Google thinks this business is more trustworthy to others in a specific niche and gives you top-ranked based on your reviews. 

Business Address: Google considers the business's name and your business's physical address. The primary determinant for achieving the top-ranking position in Local Map Packs is closely tied to your business's geographical location.

Hours: This includes the days and times of your business. According to Google Updates, the business should accurately communicate its operational schedule, specifying both opening and closing times for each day. You can also include additional sets of hours if you offer services such as

• Delivery, Pick up, Take out
• Breakfast, Brunch, Lunch, Dinner
• Happy hours, Kitchen 
• Senior hours
• Drive-through
• Access

Description: Google allows you to add a business description limited to upto 750 characters. Google Outline this in the Business Profile Help Center. According to this, you can follow these steps to optimize your Business Profile. 

• Enter a Brief Description of your Business, this includes, what you offer, what sets you apart, your business history, and why people choose you. 
• Don’t include URL or HTML code 
• Don’t exceed 750 characters in a business description.

Business Category: Select the category that matches your business. Most advertisers need help choosing a business category that is not related to their business. I also faced this issue; there is no solution because, in Google My Business, you have limited primary categories. You can select the general category and add sub-categories according to your business.

Service Areas: You can list multiple service areas based on the cities, postal codes, or other areas that you serve. For example, let’s say you are running a restaurant with additional services like delivery, pickup, and takeout service. 

So you don’t target your service in just one area; you must target multiple areas to get more customers relevant to your business. 

Phone: The listed phone number is the primary key of your business; you can enter up to 2 more phone numbers. The numbers must be mobile or landline, not fax.

Website: Adding a website to a Google Business Profile helps attract more visitors.  It is essential to add a website to your GMB profile.

Social Media Links: Google gives you a new feature in your business profile; you can add social media links like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Youtube, and many more. 

Add Photos and Videos: Adding photos and videos of your business is considered a good strategy for your business. One of the best practices is to add exterior photos for your business. According to Google Guidelines photos and videos must be in a specific format. 

• The format must be JPEG or PNG 
• Size between 10KB to 5MB 
• The recommended resolution is 720px tall or 720px wide. 
• The minimum resolution must be 250 px tall and 250 px wide.
• The photo should be focused on and relevant to your business.

Video Guidelines:  Your Video is eligible if you meet the following requirements:

• The video duration must be 30 seconds.
• The file size must be 75 MB.
• The Resolution should be 720p or higher 

Services: Add services according to your niche, with price options available along with service descriptions. This is a good strategy to optimize your profile.

Add Products:  This feature benefits E-commerce Businesses. If you run an e-commerce shop in an eligible country (US, CA, UK, and IE), you can turn online shoppers into in-store shoppers by automatically showcasing your in-store products on your business profile.

Booking: If you are a service-based site, you are running a hotel, Take-way, or restaurant, and you want to allow customers to book your service through GMB (Google Business Profile). You need to add the URL of the booking feature to your profile, where customers can directly go to the quote or booking page.

Add Questions: Write questions and answers by searching for what people want to know related to your niche and what hurdles they face. Give the solution an advantage to rank higher in Local Map Packs. 

Food Ordering: If you are running a restaurant or Take-away you need to add this feature in your profile. Accepting orders on your business profile will increase your conversion. Just Add the URL of the order page of your site where customers order the food. 

Add Updates: This is one of the best strategies to optimize your profile by adding updates regularly to your targeted keywords. I used this strategy and believe it will work even though I have fewer reviews as compared to my competitors, but my profile ranks higher than my competitors. 

Regularly updating your business profile with primary keywords is a crucial step for local business growth. It not only increases your audience reach but also enhances conversion rates. Note that the content added can be up to 1500 characters.

Add one or more images and a call to action button in updates. Use promotional phrases like your new product or promote services with target keywords.

These are the best practices to optimize your business profile and rank on Google Local Map Packs.