Ranking well in Google Maps has become VERY important over the last year. There are maps listings at the top of search phrases today where there were none 12 months ago.
Furthermore, there used to be up to 7 spots available. Now, there are exactly 3 and only 3. AND those 3 each take up more space than they used to.
So, for many businesses, if they want to rank well on Google, it is not good enough to rank below the maps — even if you’re 1st!
If you are seeing Google Maps in your search results, then submit a discovery form for a free SEO analysis and Recommendations.
I created a video for it a few weeks ago, but just realized that I uploaded and distributed the wrong one! Here’s the correct one:
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Approximate Transcript:
Hi. David Hood here of the Dallas SEO Geek. This video is about local SEO and Google Maps. Google Maps is getting more and more important over time. Ranking higher is having a bigger impact. Ranking lower or medium is having less of an impact. Two major things going on on each space in the maps that shows up in the organic listings, taking up more space than it used to. There’s less spots. There used to be seven most of the time, and now there’s three pretty much all the time. Not only that, but Google has made the ads take up more space so there’s less space above the bold. You can see here. Here’s a screenshot, and I have a pretty big monitor. I only get one listing above the bold. This was whole height of my screen, and I only got one listing in this example. Normally they don’t do four ads, so that’s kind of surprising, but maybe they’re testing that.
Also, this is becoming more important as more people search on mobile. If your business, especially if you’re a locksmith or anything mobile, then this is going to be even more important because the maps take up a very large percentage of the screen in mobile as well, even a vigorous portion than they take on the desktop. I have a lot of experience ranking companies in the maps. I’ve gotten several #1’s. I’ve driven a lot of valuable traffic and that’s really nice especially when you combine it with good reviews.
Another term for Google Maps is Google My Business page, or sometimes I’ll say GMB just for short. If you’ve never claimed your business or if you have claimed your business you’ve done it through Google My Business. THat’s one of the first steps. If you haven’t your business and your address, then you’ll search Google My Business and follow the process. In this video I’m going to give two big tips that will help you rank better at maps. If everything else is terrible about your site, these two big tips aren’t going to make you a hero, but they’re definitely going to make a difference and put you on the right track. I can even help you if don’t currently have an address and location. There’s some extra steps obviously, but that’s something that I have done and can work with.
Let’s take a look at the snack pack right now. Again, I just talked about the above the bold. This is a screenshot. It used to be second packs. There was seven results. Each one was short like this box right here. Let’s take a look at the actual search. This box right here and these boxes used to be smaller. Okay. There used to be more results. Now it looks like the ads are taking up more space as well. I’m not sure if that’s consistent across things. I see it every once in a while. Maybe they’re testing it. Maybe they’re not. In some markets they use it, some markets they don’t. This is really important because there used to be seven spots in the maps. Now there’s only three. That’s a huge difference. If you were #4, you could get traffic before. Now if you’re #4 you get nothing basically.
You can see why if you were an electrician, even if you technically rank #1 in the organic, if you’re not in here, which they are, Milestone Electric right here, these tend to match the organic a little bit. Yelp isn’t going a map system, neither is BVD, but Electric Man, Inc. in here. If you’re not ranking anywhere in the organic, you’re on page 10, it’s not impossible, but it’s a lot harder to get into these maps. If you’ve got a brand new site, don’t expect to just do the maps and then be ranking. I have had a case where a client came to me. They were ranked #1 in the organic, and they didn’t have a maps listing. We put up a maps listing and within 1 week they were #1 in the maps. That was great. It doesn’t always happen that way, but sometimes there’s a scenario that’s the case. If you are #1 in the organic, and you’re not in the maps, and you really want to be in the maps, definitely give me call because I can help you very well.
Here’s tip #1. Reviews are even more important. I’m going to tell you a little bit of how to get reviews. You need 5 reviews to get a star rating. This is a great example because this guy has 4 reviews and no star ratings. These people are going to get a higher percentage of clicks. Despite the fact that I checked these four reviews, they’re all 5-star reviews. He only needs one more review. His consultant is going like, “Get one more review. That’s all you need and you’re going to get quite a bit more clicks.” I also have seen some cases where someone has poor reviews. I helped them turn that around. Sometimes it’s not just a reviews thing. Sometimes it’s a business thing. Let’s say this guy had no reviews, then these are definitely going get clicked on a lot more. Let’s say he had a 2.5 star rating. He’s probably not going to stay #1 very long because Google sees that. Google sees, “Oh, people aren’t click on a site of business very much.” The high reviews tend to go to top. It’s not the only thing, but it’s definitely an important thing for ranking.
Even more important, let’s say I’m going to call these people. I see this 4.8, 25 reviews, I’m going to think very highly of them. The chance that I’m going to call them and have them come out increases substantially. This is not just about ranking. It’s also about converting. These reviews are extremely important. This really stands out when you have this star rating, so I highly recommend you focus on reviews. There are different ways in which you can get your clients to give you reviews. If you want to know more about that, definitely give me a call. I already talked about this.
Here’s tip 2. Make sure your Google My Business name, address, and phone number is matched exactly. This is very critical. If you do not match your website, let’s say if this website right here did not match this exactly, then Google’s going to get confused and they’re not going to rank you because you basically don’t have your stuff together. I haven’t checked this, so I’m taking a chance. Let’s see. 13551. There’s it is right there. Exactly. 13551 Floyd Circle. Is this their phone number that they have in the thing? 97272. Yep. This is their phone number, so they have their phone number exactly and they’ve got their business name all over their page, but they’ve got their address exactly as well. This is a simple thing that a lot of people don’t do. If you don’t put it on the site, but then you link the site to the Google My Business page, again it will confuse people, and it will be very difficult to rank.
If you’re having trouble with the maps, you see maps listings in your search results, and you want to know how to rank them there, or you’re not ranking as well as you think, then definitely come to my website, dallasseogeek.com, and click Get Free SEO analysis. Fill out the form. I will take a look at it and help you figure out what’s going on and make some free recommendations based on that. Thank you for watching and have a great day. Bye.
