Google Marketing, SEO & Advertising FAQ

Google Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the art and science of getting your local business to rank higher in Google search results, Google mobile results, Google Maps and the Google Local Pack.  

Another benefit of good local SEO is that the strategies and tasks that help you rank higher in Google also help you rank higher in Bing local and other search engines. Proper SEO should also improve your online business presence, reputation and reviews.  This has a major impact on click rates and conversions. 

The common answer is to get your business ranked higher in Google search results.  This is a big part of it. However, the ultimate goal is to get more customers for your business. 

In order to accomplish this goal, there are many important aspects of local SEO that should be considered to generate more business, including:

• Improving your rankings for search terms with high buyer intent.
• Focus on getting top 3 rankings for local searches so your business is displayed in the local pack, which gets the majority of search clicks.
• Developing good SEO copy that is also compelling and increases click through rates.
• Designing a website that is attractive, fast, mobile-friendly that entices visitors to contact you or visit your business location.
• Establishes a strong online reputation through a good quantity of reviews and a high cumulative review score.
• Consistently generating new reviews.
• Includes best practices to show that you are an active thriving local business.

Google has over 100 search ranking factors.  Each one of these factors plays a role in how you rank in their search engine. Local intent search results display the local pack and those search ranking factors are different than traditional search rankings. Here are some of the key local business ranking factors:

• Strength and relevancy of your Google My Business (GMB) profile.
• GMB primary and secondary category.
• How well optimized is your business website.
• How often your business is mentioned anywhere online
• External links that point to your website and the overall value of your business authority.
• Relevancy and authority of the websites that is linking to your business website.
• NAP accuracy of information on business listing directory websites. NAP = Name, address, phone number.
• Quantity of websites that link to your business.
• Quantity of new links to your business and quantity of mentions of your business (on social media for example).
• Relevancy of keywords in your business listings.
• Proximity of your business location. (How close is the user to your business location). 

We spoke with a Google Data Engineer and asked this question. His answer:  Google does not want to rank a company at the top of search results if the company is out of business. It is one of their biggest fears.

Google has no way to really know when a company goes out of business. But they CAN evaluate your online business activity. Google wants to see that you are actively updating profiles, adding content to websites, getting new links, adding information to your Google My Business profile, maintaining accurate business listings,  getting consistent reviews, responding to your reviews and posting on social media.

Also, remember that search rankings change constantly and ranking is competitive. Part of SEO is understanding where you stand and what your competitors are doing.  Then using tactics to respond to changes in rankings that enable to you rank higher for a specific keyword search phrase.

Over time you are continuing to strengthen your local online presence and building a consistently better online profile. One of our clients has over 1,400 reviews, thousands more than any competitor and they will never catch up to them. (Client & location information is removed due to our privacy policy).

Yes. Thats true. Google uses an algorithm to rank websites. Its a very complex formula. They do not provide information on the algorithm to the public. They only give out basic guidelines.

However, we have been optimizing websites since 1998 and actually started doing SEO before Google was the top search engine. We own several websites that get millions of visitors each year from Google since 2002. 

Over the years, we've learned a lot about the nuances of Google. We've been working as an expert specialist in Google local marketing for the last 8 years. 

We have attended local SEO conferences, listened to Google representatives and we avid are readers of Google Local SEO content.  There are several excellent sources of research on the Google algorithm that guide us. 

Moz is one of the leading Google search engine experts in the world. They did an extensive study on Google ranking factors in 2018.  While there have been some minor changes since then, the results of this research is still valid today. Visit the research results page below to learn more.

Moz Local Search Ranking Factors

Not every local business is going to get a high return on investment in an SEO service. 

Our clients tend to have the following characteristics:

• Existing businesses that have a good idea of how much profit they make per new customer (lifetime customer value). And they know that adding new customers from search provides them exponentially more profit than the cost of the service. 
• Businesses that have plenty of opportunity to get customers from search in their local market.
• Businesses in competitive industries where getting ranked in the top (local pack) takes significant effort and can lead a large number of new customers. 
• Businesses that want to rank #1 for highly competitive keyword search phrases. 
• Ambitious business owners that want to win and crush their competition. 

If you run a small business that doesn't have a lot of profit per customer or you don't have a marketing budget, then  educate yourself on search engine optimization and consistently work on your local SEO campaigns.  You can read a lot of information on our website and find a lot of great advice by following SEO websites and social media channels. 

One of our clients that track their leads and revenue have produced more than $1 million in the last year from customers that came from Google and other search engines. For most local companies, SEO is the lowest cost, highest ROI form of marketing they can utilize.