Do you want to make sure your business is at the top of Google's search results? Are you wondering how Google decides which businesses to rank first? If you answered yes, then this blog post is for you!
Here, we'll explain the core ingredients of how Google ranks business listings so you can make sure you adjust your website, Google Maps listing, and other relevant platforms online so that your business stands out from the competition.
1. Introduction
In this blog post, we’ll explore how Google ranks business listings and what steps you can take to improve your own Google ranking.
We’ll cover:
Additionally, we'll discuss how to monitor and track your performance in order to ensure your website is as successful as possible.
With these tips in hand, businesses of all sizes can increase their visibility on Google and achieve higher rankings.
2. What is Google's Ranking Algorithm?
Google's ranking algorithm is designed to help users find the best and most relevant results for their search queries. It works by crawling and indexing webpages and other content, then rating each page according to Google's opinion of its authority.
The algorithm considers a variety of factors when ranking websites, such as review count and score, categories, keywords, content quality, and more.
To ensure that your business gets the best possible ranking in local searches, it is important to properly set up your Google My Business profile, choose the right categories for your business, optimize your content for SEO, and monitor and track performance.
3. How to Add Your Business to Google Maps
Adding your business to Google Maps is an important step towards improving your local ranking. To do this, you must first claim and complete your Google Business Profile.
This is especially essential if you are a local business that offers either a local service, or some type of local physical interaction (e.g. brick and mortar location and/or delivery of a physical good or service).
This includes providing accurate information about your business on your Google maps listing such as its name, address, and website URL. In addition, you need to select the right categories for your profile based on the main keywords of your business.
Once you have done this, you must then verify and claim your business listing(s). This ensures that all of the information provided is accurate and up to date, which will help increase Google's trust in your business.
Finally, you need to optimize your profile content for SEO by including relevant keywords in order to improve your visibility in local search results.
Making sure you have successfully and properly set up a Google Maps listing is the first step to showing up in the “Google Local Pack” in search results.
8. How to Choose the Right Categories for Your Google My Business Profile
Choosing the right categories for your Google My Business profile can have a direct impact on how your business is ranked by Google. By selecting the most relevant primary category and adding additional categories, you can ensure that your business is accurately represented and indexed by Google.
Make sure to research what category best reflects the main keyword you're trying to rank for, and add any other relevant categories to ensure that your listing is as comprehensive as possible.
Once you've selected the right categories, you can use attributes to further describe and differentiate your business in your business description section, helping to make it as visible and appealing as possible to a potential customer who may view your business listing online.
First impressions of your small business are everything, including online!
4. What Factors Does Google's Algorithm Consider?
Google's algorithm considers a wide array of factors when determining your listings business ranking in search results.
This includes things such as the relevance of the content to the search query, the quality of the content, user engagement levels, and trustworthiness of the business.
Additionally, it looks at mobile-friendliness, page speed, and other technical aspects of the website. To optimize your business listing for Google's algorithm, you should ensure that your website is mobile-friendly, that page speed is optimal, and that your content is relevant to the search query and engages users.
Additionally, you should add categories to your Google My Business profile so that it can be accurately represented in search results and use keyword-rich titles and descriptions to help your listing rank higher.
Finally, you should monitor and track performance to see how well your listing is performing in Google's search engine results pages.
5. Improving Your Google My Business Profile
Improving your Google My Business profile is essential for any business that wants to rank higher in Google Maps. The name used on your GMB listing is the most important ranking factor, so make sure it's the same as your official business name.
Additionally, adding categories (in addition to your main category) to your listing can help better define what kind of business you are, and help Google understand your business better.
Reviews also play a big role in GMB rankings, as they can show potential customers that your business is trustworthy and reliable.
Google's algorithm also identifies keywords used in reviews (and review replies) to identify additional business information on your listing to better identify what services or products that you may offer.
Optimizing content for SEO can also help raise your visibility, as using relevant keywords and phrases can help your listing appear more prominently when customers search for related terms.
Finally, tracking and monitoring performance can help you identify areas where you need to make improvements and ensure you stay ahead of the competition.
7. Optimize Your Content for SEO
Once you have claimed your Google My Business profile and optimized it with the right categories and content, it's important to make sure your website content is also optimized for SEO.
In fact, the content on the page to which the link on your Google Business Maps listing points to can have a direct impact on your Google Maps ranking.
For example, if the link on your Google Business Maps listing points to a landing page that's optimized for the keyword, “local mechanics shop”, then your Google Business Maps listing will likely rank higher for that keyword/phrase as well - assuming all else is equal.
This means ensuring that your pages contain relevant keywords that match user queries and that they are written in a way that makes them easy to understand.
Additionally, optimizing your content for SEO can help boost your rankings and attract more local customers. Additionally, creating fresh, original content on a regular basis can also help improve your rankings over time.
By staying up-to-date with best practices in content marketing and SEO, you can work to improve your Google ranking and get more views on your content.
6. How Does Google Rank Websites?
Google's ranking algorithm is designed to make it easier for users to find the most relevant, high-quality websites.
The algorithm takes into account several key factors, including relevance, quality of content, and website performance.
When it comes to website ranking, the algorithm looks at how well a website meets user needs and expectations. It also considers the website's page loading speed, usability, and mobile-friendliness.
Additionally, SEO optimization strategies such as keyword optimization, internal linking structure and external link building can help improve a website's ranking.
Basically, websites that are optimized for SEO (in dozens of ways), and provide valuable content, rank higher on Google search results pages.
9. Monitor and Track Performance
Monitoring and tracking your SEO performance will help you make informed decisions to improve your website traffic and rankings.
To start, you'll need to set up goals in Google Analytics so you can track your organic traffic. Once this is done, it's time to look at the relevant metrics.
Relevance is key to Google's algorithm, so make sure you have complete and detailed information on your business profile and monitor your Google Analytics and Google Search Console data to identify your strengths and weaknesses.
On-page SEO is also important, so optimize your content for search engine visibility based on the keyword(s) that you are trying to target.
Lastly, use tracking tools like Moz or Ahrefs to monitor your rankings and look for improvement opportunities.
10. Conclusion
In conclusion, Google's ranking algorithm is an ever-evolving tool that businesses need to keep up with in order to succeed.
Taking the time to properly add your business to Google Maps and optimizing your My Business profile can help you get higher rankings on Google Maps and in local searches.
It is also important to optimize your content for SEO, choose the right categories for your profile, and track performance over time to ensure that you are making the most of your efforts.
All of these steps can help your Google listing rank higher on Google Maps, improve local search ranking in general, and attract more local customers.