In today’s article on How To Get Local Search Ads To Show Up In Google Maps, I will discuss the best ways for you to attract new customers to your local business. As a local business owner, you may be missing this huge opportunity to get visibility in Google’s prime real estate. This is the importance of local maps to business and I am going to show you how local maps can help your business and share with your the easiest ways to dominate this platform.

 

Watch the video version of this article below:

How to dominate the local listing with these 3 tips

When we are talking about local SEO, you need to know that there has been a major change when it comes to ranking on search, and that is 90% of all local searches now are on mobile.

This is very important to take note of and consider when it comes to marketing your website for search. More to this, Google has shifted Google ad spots all the way to the top and they’ll list the four ads right on top. And then right below that is the Google maps listing. Notice that the reviews show up as well? Those reviews are the game-changers.

They are psychologically the point that stops customers in their tracks when they see that visual of who’s the best and who they can trust. Google maps reviews, they stop 78% of the searchers. So before the stars showed up in maps, it wasn’t much of a nice stopper, but now with stars, that’s where people are going to search and Google’s even giving Yelp a huge run for its money now. Many people just go to Google because they can see the reviews and the trust right there. Why bother going to Yelp? It’s appealing because shoppers can see who’s the best.

The Map shows where your business is located in the city. Your business can be called with a simple click to call and shoppers can click the little direction listing to be guided right to your maps.

So knowing all these features, how do you get to the top listing of Google? Here are the tips:

 

Optimize Google My Business

Go to business.google.com to start. If you already claimed your business, what you need to do is to make sure that all your information is updated. Give Google the current information you have, including photos. Update your contact information, address, phone number, and business hours. Then make some relevant posts to keep the information up to date for your customers.

Check your categories to see if you are in the right category for your business.

If you do all the above, Google will know that you take your business seriously and they will give you lift above other businesses that are not completing their listing in their profile correctly.

 

Get more reviews

The currency of today’s economy is trust. We live in a transparent world and people want to know if you can be trusted. People are afraid of getting ripped off. The problem most businesses have, however, is that you provide great service and sometimes it’s not enough. People don’t rush to their keyboards to leave you a review like they do if they’re an upset customer. And so the key is that you want to increase the tempo of reviews.

And so we have found through many, many different experiments that using automation and software helps dramatically. The software that we’ve tested is called Reputation Advantage. With this tool, you will get literally three to four times more reviews than you would without the software.

 

Use Google ads with a location extension

When you are running your Google ads, make sure you utilize your location extension. Connect your Google ads account with your Google Maps or Google My Business account. By connecting those platforms together and aggravating them allows Google to drop your ads into the three-pack or the Google map section. This strategy will put you on top.

 

Conclusion

These three tips that I shared with you will get you on the top of the 3-pack listing: always update your business listing on Google My Business, get more positive reviews online, and run Google ads with a location extension.

We have been doing this in our agency and this works well for all our local clients

So that’s it, follow these tips and you’ll get way more customers to your business than ever before. And if you have questions on how you can use these tips, or if you’re confused, contact us, I’ll get back to you and help you out.