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More than one third of all searches are now done on mobile devices, which means that every business needs a Google My Business page and a Google search ranking. The latest Google update is causing angst among businesses because it now has an impact on their local search ranking and the visibility of their business in the search engine. When you think about it, this makes sense because users now have to type the name of the business, its category, and the address before finding it in a list of results. Whether your business has an optimistic attitude or you’re just tired of hearing that everything has changed, there’s no avoiding it: Your Google search ranking matters more than ever before. To help you navigate the new landscape and take actionable steps to increase your Google search ranking for your business, we’ve compiled some tips to get you started.

 

 

What’s Changed in Google?

To be honest, a lot. But as with any good scandal, we need to start at the beginning: Google’s mobile-first index. Up until July 2018, Google had two separate indices — one for desktop searches and another for mobile searches. In July, it merged the indices and introduced a mobile-first index. This is a huge deal because, for the first time ever, Google will base its search rankings on the mobile experience — not on the desktop experience. What does that mean for businesses? Basically, it’s time to start optimizing for mobile. If you’ve been ignoring mobile visitors in the past, it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee. You need to start thinking about how to rank higher in Google maps for your business. If you don’t, your business could suffer.

 

Optimize Your Google My Business Page

With over 90% of mobile searches now done through Google and more than half of all local searches happening on smartphones, it’s critical to optimize your Google My Business page. This is where you have the opportunity to showcase what your business is all about. In order to optimize your page, you first have to claim your business’s listing. This can be done by logging in to the Google My Business dashboard. From there, click the “add more details” button to add your business information, photos, and videos. Next, you can optimize your business hours, categories, and include a link to your website or social media pages as well as your physical address and phone number. If you want your business to stand out in the crowd, you need to go above and beyond when optimizing your Google My Business page. Add high-quality photos of your products or services, as well as photos of your team members. You can also add videos and include an “About” section where you can speak directly to your potential customers and let them know what sets you apart from the competition.

 

Optimize Your Website for Google Search

Search engine optimization (SEO) is still alive and well, and it’s more important than ever to have a website that Google likes. The easiest way to get your website optimized for SEO is by hiring a professional like SEO Gal, who can do everything from write your content to make sure your images are properly optimized. In fact, if you want your website to appear in Google maps for your business, it’s critical that you make sure it’s optimized for search engines. This means spending time on the basics, like adding your business name and address, optimizing your headline, including your keywords, optimizing your images, and writing compelling content that answers your customers’ questions. It’s a good idea to make sure you have a mobile-friendly website, because Google now prioritizes mobile-friendly websites in its search results. This means that if your website isn’t optimized for mobile, Google will show your website in its search results as a snippet without a link.

 

Add Rich Content to Your Website

To truly stand out in a sea of websites that all claim to do the same thing, you need to go above and beyond to add value to your customers’ lives. One way to do this is to create a blog that offers advice, tips, and tricks related to your industry. If you’re a fitness trainer, for example, you might create articles on nutrition, exercise routines, or how to stay motivated when trying to stick to a fitness routine. Whether you’re blogging about fitness or your industry, the key is to create articles that are helpful to your customers. You can do this by conducting thorough research about what your customers want to know and then answering those questions. Google likes to see rich content on websites and rewards sites with a lot of content with high search engine rankings. If you want to rank higher in Google maps for your business, you need to create content that adds value to customers’ lives and isn’t just another advertisement.

 

Define Your Unique Value Proposition

If you’re really honest with yourself, you might realize that you haven’t really changed in the past 10 or 20 years. Instead, you’ve just added more products and different services to your business. The problem is that the customers who chose your business 10 or 20 years ago are still your customers today. Instead of trying to win over new customers, you need to appeal to the customers who are loyal to your brand. To do this, you need to define your unique value proposition, or UVP for short. Your UVP is a promise to your customers of what they’ll receive as a result of conducting business with your company. Once you’ve defined your UVP, you can add it to your website and Google My Business page to make it more obvious to customers why they should choose you over your competition.

 

Conclusion

When it comes to ranking higher in Google maps for your business, the key is to go above and beyond for your customers. Start by optimizing your Google My Business page, creating rich content on your website, and defining your unique value proposition. When you add all of these techniques together, you’ll see that ranking higher in Google maps for your business isn’t as difficult as you might think.