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50: Improve Local Rankings with Whitespark

  • Writer: Meredith's Husband
    Meredith's Husband
  • Feb 20, 2023
  • 3 min read

Summary

In this episode, Meredith’s husband discusses strategies for improving your website’s chances of appearing in the Google Local Pack, the map and business listings shown at the top of search results. He emphasizes the importance of optimizing your site, managing your Google Business Profile, collecting reviews, and creating consistent local citations. These steps increase your visibility and improve local SEO, helping businesses attract more local customers.


Blog Post: How to Get Your Business in the Google Local Pack

If you've ever searched for a service or business and noticed the map with a few local listings at the top of Google’s search results, you've encountered the "Google Local Pack." This prime digital real estate is incredibly valuable for local businesses. But how do you get your business featured there? While there are no guarantees, there are key steps you can take to significantly increase your chances of appearing in these coveted listings.

In this post, we’ll break down the strategies discussed in a recent podcast episode that can help your business show up in the Google Local Pack, including optimizing your website, managing your Google Business Profile, gathering reviews, and ensuring consistent local citations.


1. Website Optimization

The foundation of any SEO effort starts with your website. Optimizing your site’s on-page SEO is crucial for appearing in the Local Pack. This includes:

  • Optimizing title tags and meta descriptions: These are essential for letting search engines know what your site is about.

  • Using relevant keywords: Ensure that your content, especially in the headings, incorporates the keywords potential customers are searching for, such as your location and services.

  • Technical SEO: Make sure your website is mobile-friendly and has a fast loading speed, both of which affect how well your site ranks in local searches.

Though we won’t dive into the technical details here, you can find extensive guides on optimizing these elements through tools like SEMrush and Google Search Console.


2. Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is an essential component of appearing in the Local Pack. This is the information Google displays to searchers when they look for local services. Ensuring that your profile is fully completed, accurate, and up-to-date is key to improving your local search ranking.

In the podcast, Meredith’s husband also emphasized the growing importance of reviews. Regularly collecting customer reviews on your Google Business Profile boosts your credibility and ranking in local searches. Here's how to effectively manage reviews:

  • Ask for reviews: Make it part of your workflow to ask satisfied customers for reviews. A personal request tends to work better than a generic ask.

  • Provide a template: Make it easy for customers by offering a short template they can use, which they can personalize with minimal effort.


3. Local Citations

Local citations refer to the mention of your business’s name, address, and phone number (NAP) on other websites, particularly local business directories. These citations are critical for Google to verify the legitimacy and consistency of your business information across the web.

There are a few ways to ensure consistent local citations:

  • Manual submission: You can manually submit your business to directories like YellowPages, CitySearch, and Manta. However, this can be a time-consuming process that could take several months.

  • Subscription services: Services like Yext can automatically distribute your business information to multiple directories in a matter of hours. However, this requires ongoing monthly payments.

  • Whitespark: This is a highly recommended service that manually submits your business information to directories without requiring an ongoing subscription. It’s a one-time cost, and you own the listings, making it a more cost-effective solution in the long run.


Summary of Key Points

  • Website optimization: Focus on title tags, keywords, and technical SEO for a solid foundation.

  • Google Business Profile: Keep it up-to-date and focus on collecting regular reviews from happy customers.

  • Local citations: Ensure your business information is consistently listed across local directories through services like Whitespark or Yext.


Resources

  • Access the free mini-course on how to use Whitespark for local citations setup via the link provided in the podcast.

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