The Importance of Ranking in the Google Local Pack

The Importance of Ranking in the Google Local Pack

by | 2 Jan 2020 | SEO

Reading Time: 5 minutes

UPDATED 2022 VERSION

To ‘Google’ is now officially a verb worldwide, and for brands, it’s an imperative one. If your business can’t be found on Google, your customers (both existing and potential customers) can’t find you.

In a world of quick searches and a reliance on social media, a Google business ranking can be a key factor to an organisation’s survival and success and as a result, all marketing strategies should include SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).

There’s a common misconception that smaller or local businesses don’t require as much focus on these efforts, but the opposite is true. Those serving particular communities or geographic areas can benefit hugely from featuring in Google’s Local Pack, and this heightens their online visibility and exposure to very targeted local traffic, as users search for related products or services.

So, what is the Google Local Pack, is it likely to be helpful for your local business, and how will it support your local SEO efforts?

What is Google’s Local Pack?

The Google Local Pack forms part of the Google Mapping offering and is a prominent section featured in the Google Local search results. The top ranking business listings in a location are displayed in a different manner to standard search results to make them stand out to local customers, listed with: the business name, map location, company description, contact information, opening hours, online reviews and any other helpful submitted information.

Local business owners are encouraged to add photos regularly too!

The three businesses which are top ranked on Google Local Pack can enjoy a pronounced listing that catches the eye with better visibility, without having to pay for a financed ad placement.

Why is it Important for Businesses to Rank in the Local Pack for Local SEO?

The statistics behind Google Local Pack are pretty compelling – with some sources such as ThinkWithGoogle finding that 50% of users who searched for a local store on Google Maps using their smartphone visited one of the results within 24-hours, and 18% of those visits lead to a purchase within that time period, too!

Search queries on Google including the phrase ‘near me’ have increased an impressive 34x since 2011, reflecting the increasing amount of searches happening on mobile devices. A case study by Moz found that 44% of users click within Local Pack search results, 29% click on the organic listings and just 8% chose to load more listings – highlighting the effectiveness and relevancy of those results at the top.

Of course, ranking above competition increases the chances of users clicking the first local business listing, but this further demonstrates the benefits of being ranked within the Google Local Pack.

It’s also been found that nearly 1 in 3 mobile searches are location-specific, Google is the top search engine used for local business searches and that 99% of consumers have used it within the last year to look up a local organisation close to them.

The Benefits of Ranking Highly in the Local Pack for Local Businesses

A Google Local Pack ranking holds many benefits for businesses, including:

Cost
A Google Local Pack listing is free: despite the fact it gives a much more prominent listing than can be achieved with a paid-for advertisement. It saves money yet produces exemplary results!

Higher Organic Traffic
Higher placement in Google Local Pack usually delivers a decent click-through rate, driving more traffic to the business’ website, resulting in more leads and sales.

More Localised Traffic
Ranking in the Google Map Pack highly targets local business listings to those in or searching within a certain location, which drives more local traffic from a geography relevant to the business and ensures that those searching appropriately are more likely to navigate through to an organisation’s physical location on the Google Map.

More Direct Contact
Even if a user doesn’t click through to a Local Pack result, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they haven’t found it useful to view.

The nature of these results are that they provide contact, current location and business hours without the need to click through further, and so indeed a user may well have found the details they need without ever having to leave the search results page. Anecdotally, businesses often say that they receive more direct contact through phone calls and emails as a result of ranking on the Google Snack Pack.

Increased Competitive Advantage
Ranking higher on Google Local Pack than local competitors provides businesses with vast competitive advantage, leading to an onward trend of more customer reviews, more visibility and more word-of-mouth marketing.

More Mobile Traffic
When browsed on a mobile device, the Google Local Pack takes up most of the visual space of the screen, making users faster to respond, more likely to click through and, as indicated by their mobile usage, more likely to visit a physical address quickly.

How to Claim and Optimise Your Google Business Profile Listing

In order to rank on Google Local Pack, an organisation must have claimed their Google Business Profile Listing (initially Google My Business) and added all relevant business information to it. This can be done by visiting business.google.com and filling out the required steps.

However, in order to ensure a high ranking in Google Local Pack, this profile should be optimised, too. This can be done by completing the following:

  • Ensuring all information in the Google Business profile is complete and up-to-date
  • Keeping all business social media profiles consistently branded, and linked back to the same URL (this forms the social signals the Google algorithm needs to demonstrate cross-channel relevancy)
  • Including mention of specific local areas on the business’ website that correspond locally to the listed business address (this forms on-page signals for Google algorithms)
  • Ensuring appropriate local bodies, businesses and/or press link to the business’ website (this forms link signals for Google to demonstrate relevancy and authenticity)
  • Claiming any appropriate online listings and directories for the business (but ensure these are genuine and well-respected sites)
  • Encouraging customers to write public reviews on the Google Review site, and responding to those reviews (this indicates to Google a genuine customer base who are well served).

There are truly a myriad of factors that influence SERP listings placement – across Google organically, on Local Pack and through paid-for advertising. It is no longer enough for businesses to just pay lip service to SEO and instead must prioritise it a critical marketing activity.

Does a Business Need to Hire a Full-Time SEO Expert?

While SEO can certainly take up the equivalent of a full-time role, many businesses are not in a position to hire a resource in-house. Instead, working with a specialist agency such as Woya Digital allows organisations to reap the benefits of having a dedicated SEO or local SEO professional working on their digital presence without having to pay for another FTE on the team.

At Woya, we work with local businesses and organisations of all shapes, sizes and types to rank as highly as possible in local search and Google maps, and benefit hugely from the increased exposure and conversions that Google Local Pack can bring. Get in touch today to chat about how we can support your business with local results.

Share On Facebook
Share On Twitter
Share Via Email
Share On Whatsapp
Share On Linkedin

Local Citations to put your Business on the (Google) Map

Local Citations to put your Business on the (Google) Map

by | 16 Dec 2019 | Digital Marketing, SEO

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Businesses (especially smaller ones) have to do whatever they can to get their name heard, and with the internet providing everyone the opportunity to carve out their own little space online, it can often be difficult to stand out from the crowd.

When targeting customers or potential customers in a specific geographic area, local citations can be key to a business ranking highly on Google maps. A small focus on SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) can boost your profile on Google and help you feature higher than your competitors.

What are Local Citations

A ‘local citation’ isn’t a Google term, but instead refers to a really basic form of marketing on the internet. It is simply an instance of your business’ NAP (that is: business Name, Address and Phone number) appearing online – be that on your website or on others. This may be in business directories, press articles, advertiser sites or reviews of your firm.

How Do Local Citations Benefit a Local Business

Aside from it being a small ad boost, every time someone sees your information; a local citation helps reiterate to Google (and therefore Google Maps) that you are a leading business in your area and that you are a genuine business. Google’s algorithms are well developed to identify spam and disingenuous entries and so good, organic reach through local citations is an easy way for it to understand proper local businesses.

What are the Elements of a Local Citation

The three main elements of a local citation are your NAP: business Name, Address and Phone number. The key is to keep them entirely consistent throughout all citations online – any differentiator will break the link between the citation and it relating directly to your business. It may be worth considering therefore if you have a ‘Ltd’ in your name or a space/unusual capitalisation/sub-brands, that you instead revert to one shorter name for your public-facing communications to avoid any confusion.

Other elements that may be included in citations (but aren’t imperative) include e-mail addresses and links to social media profiles. Where you can, keep the names of such profiles consistent and ensure you refer to yourself in the same way across all of your marketing.

Why Local Citations Matter

Local citations are the best way for Google’s automated algorithms to understand who you are and where you are; and that you’re genuine! The internet is full of bots and false entries, and citations are genuine reviews to show you’re not one of them. Citations alone are responsible for about 10% of Google’s decision in who to rank where on Maps, and with 76% of visitors accessing local results and then visiting one of the businesses featured within 24hrs, it’s a no-brainer that it’s an area of your online presence worth investing in!

Search marketing, SEO or search engine optimisation helps websites to rank well in Google and other search engines. At Woya Digital we are specialists in small business growth through digital marketing, including Local SEO services. We make SEO services affordable for small businesses through our pay monthly marketing packages, with no upfront investment. Find out more about how we can support your business growth!

Share On Facebook
Share On Twitter
Share Via Email
Share On Whatsapp
Share On Linkedin
How To Optimise Your Website for Voice Search

How To Optimise Your Website for Voice Search

by | 4 Nov 2019 | Pay Monthly Websites, SEO

Reading Time: 3 minutes

The world of digital marketing is constantly changing and it is often difficult for a small business to keep up. One major change with the rise in digital assistants is the increasing importance of voice search.

Let’s take a closer look at what this is and how to optimise your website for voice search so that you have more chance of your website getting found.

What is Voice Search?

Voice search has come to prominence with home devices such as Alexa. You ask questions or make requests and Alexa or Siri come up with the relevant answers. Digital assistants are now used on smartphones and other mobile devices, and as consumers, we’re becoming more reliant on them.

Why Is It Important to Optimise Your Website for Voice Search?

When you type a search term into Google, you get a whole list of options stretching down the page. With voice search, you get a limited number. How we construct voice searches is also different. We might type ‘best Chinese restaurant London’ into Google where we would ask Alexa ‘where can I find the best Chinese restaurant in London’.

Voice searches tend to be longer and less abbreviated than text searches. It’s an important distinction to understand when you come to writing your small business web content.

Tips for Optimising Your Site for Voice Search

It’s a challenge to optimise for voice searches. It means tweaking your content and having a slightly different focus.

  • Ensure your website speed is optimised. Speed in search is very important in rankings, so make sure that your site downloads at the optimal speed. It’s a small factor in voice search, but an important one.
  • Have a content-rich site. Good quality content has long been important in digital marketing, so ensure that you provide valuable, interesting content. This is less about hitting the appropriate keywords as setting yourself as the expert, go-to site that puts you at the top of searches.
  • Have blogs written in a conversational style. Because we’re asking voice search devices for information, make sure areas of your site such as blogs are written less formally and more conversationally.
  • Focus on longer tail keywords. This is one part of how people search using voice and it’s important to understand all the different permutations of language that they are likely to use.
  • Add a Q&A section or page to your website. Users are likely to ask questions such as why, what, when etc. Adding a FAQ section to your website quickly creates search-friendly entries that are more likely to show up on voice.
  • Structured data in the site backend. This is something more on the technical side. Structured data and schema mark-up allow search engines to crawl your website efficiently. The backend is basically everything on your website that you don’t see such as the underlying code.

Implementing these relatively simple tips should help your small business manage search results for voice better. It means thinking about the content on your website a little differently based on how the average consumer will be searching via voice.

Woya Digital makes digital marketing affordable for any size business through our pay monthly marketing packages, with no upfront investment. Find out how your website is performing with our FREE online SEO Site Audit Report

Share On Facebook
Share On Twitter
Share Via Email
Share On Whatsapp
Share On Linkedin
Latest Google Update Released

Latest Google Update Released

by | 25 Sep 2019 | General, SEO

Reading Time: 3 minutes

We seem to have entered an age where everyone blames their social media, web content or marketing related failures on ‘algorithms’; even if perhaps that’s not really the case. In an attempt to stop internet users scapegoating their tech updates, Google yesterday, for the second time announced a broad core algorithm update in advance of it actually happening and impacting on websites. What does a Google update actually mean for your business and web presence? Read on ….

What is a Google Broad Core Algorithm Update?

‘Broad core algorithm updates’ aren’t specifically aimed at combatting any one issue, but rather at improving Google’s overall systems efficiency. These updates can take anything from a few hours to a few days to roll out across all content online. Whilst there’s no set schedule for these updates to take place, they do usually happen every few months. This means that what can be considered ‘Google friendly’ content changes frequently.

What happens when a Google Update is implemented?

The effects of algorithm updates vary depending on exactly what work has been done ‘behind the scenes’. The most notable impact is usually a change in the search rankings of content; so you may find your pages suddenly rank considerably higher or lower than they did before. This happens as Google reassesses all of its content to better align it and list it out.

For businesses who rely heavily on organic search for traffic to their websites and resulting sales, any change in SEO situation can have devastating effects if not managed adequately. It’s important, therefore, to work on your website optimisation regularly.

What should I do about a Google Broad Core Algorithm Update?

Monitor the situation when it comes to your SEO. Any pages that have dropped in the rankings aren’t necessarily being penalised for poor content but may just sit differently alongside new criteria standards. Regardless, action should be taken after each update to ensure that your rankings are able to recover. No one set action will guarantee full recovery but doing nothing will almost definitely inhibit any chances of it – even if another update is just around the corner!

When creating new content, it’s important for it to remain as relevant and current as possible. It is this, and not necessarily stuffing pages with keywords and links, that will help the content stay well ranked. Seek advice from SEO experts and work with them at each update, staying mindful that the approach to take will need to differ every time, dependent on what changes have been implemented.

How soon can SEO action taken recover a site from a Google Brand Core Algorithm Update?

There’s a common misconception that any remedial action taken won’t take effect until the next algorithm update is run. That’s not true: any recovery should be noticeable the next time that an automated ‘crawler’ (a bot that scans the site’s content to judge its fit amongst other pages and analyse where it should sit in the search rankings) scans it. This happens periodically and doesn’t wait for further updates. This means that rapid recovery is achievable, if effective action is taken quickly.

At Woya Digital we are constantly work to ensure that our clients website SEO is optimised and brought in line with constant security and Google updates. Take advantage of our awesome Instant FREE SEO Site Audit Report which we’ll send you to highlight all the things that can be improved on your website, and to optimise your website SEO ranking.

Share On Facebook
Share On Twitter
Share Via Email
Share On Whatsapp
Share On Linkedin
5 Top Small Business Website Tips

5 Top Small Business Website Tips

by | 7 Sep 2019 | Digital Marketing, SEO, Webdesign

Reading Time: 3 minutes

If you are a small business or start-up, one of the most powerful tools in your marketing armoury is your business website. This mainstay of your online presence is the destination of all your digital marketing engagement and without it, you can’t hope to make more sales, get more clients or convince customers you’re the company to do business with.

The key to a successful website is not only the graphics and slick design (though these are important, of course). It’s the UX. This stands for User Experience and has become increasingly important as our digital technology has developed. What it means is actually giving your customer all the opportunity possible to engage effectively and easily with your business at all times.

Most people will be accessing your website on their mobile phones rather than a traditional desktop. If you do not have a mobile-friendly website that shows up clearly on a smartphone, you’re likely to lose out because people will become frustrated and search elsewhere.

With this in mind, here are our 5 top tips for improving your small business website so that it works most effectively for your customers, and for your business:

1. Click to Call Phone Number

Potential customers may want to call you directly. The last thing they want is to have to remember your number in order to key it into their mobile.

Your phone number must be clearly displayed on your website and must be a click to call link that automatically dials your business. This is quite a simple point, however you won’t believe how many business websites we come across that do not have this functionality!

2. Boost Your Mobile Business Website Speed

Many things can slow down your website. The truth is that Google and other search engines are likely to penalise your rankings if your website is taking too long to materialise in front of customers. If you’re not sure how fast your website is, you can use Google’s website speed tester to check things out.

We’re far more impatient when it comes to download speeds nowadays. If we don’t get a response in a few seconds, we’re likely to click away. Our advice is don’t risk losing customers because of slow mobile download speeds, find out what the problem is and fix it asap.

3. Link to Social Media Platforms

Want your visitors to share your content on their social media platforms or follow your social media accounts?

It’s amazing the number of businesses that don’t have sharing tools and their social media links highlighted on their website. And those that do, often hide these away at the bottom of pages. Make them front and centre to ensure more engagement!

4. Invest in a Business Website Chatbot

There are lots of benefits to using chatbots, AI software that can do the heavy lifting when it comes to the standard questions people often ask about your business. Not only does it give customers answers they are looking for immediately, it greatly improves UX (It doesn’t have to be expensive either!)

5. Claim your Google Business Profile

Google offers a range of different services aimed predominantly at local small businesses. Claiming your business profile means that your location and business information appears on searches. Having accurate profile information, and by adding products and services, you can get additional promotion and visibility online.

Making the most of your website is vitally important if you are a small business. These simple tips will improve the user experience, help promote better engagement, and boost your business growth.

If you would like to find out what else you can do to supercharge you small business website, why not take advantage of our Instant FREE SEO Site Audit and we’ll send you a report to highlight all the things that can be improved on your website!

Share On Facebook
Share On Twitter
Share Via Email
Share On Whatsapp
Share On Linkedin
Keyword Analysis to Boost Your Rankings

Keyword Analysis to Boost Your Rankings

by | 5 Jul 2019 | SEO

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Many companies are operating on a tight budget. This means that every effort must be made to maximise the impact of any digital marketing efforts. This in turn is why building the right foundations is crucial, ensuring that you’re not only operating from a firm base but are also more likely to succeed and maximise your marketing spend.

One area that businesses tend to overlook or not really understand, is keyword analysis. If your aim is to reach potential customers online, understanding how they are searching online is vital.

What is Keyword Analysis?

When users search for a product, service or information online, they will use certain search terms which they will input on a platform like Google. In marketing jargon, these are keywords.

If a user is looking for somewhere to eat they might type ‘local restaurants’ or more specifically ‘local curry restaurants’. Each sector, business type, product or service has its own set of search terms associated with it. Keyword analysis is the cornerstone for identifying the words and phrases that people are likely to use to find a business similar to yours, so that you can include them in your marketing strategy to optimise your content.

Services like Google AdWords feature a keyword planner that allows you to do research into the most successful words and phrases for your business. It will reveal how many people are searching for a particular term. You can also search competitor sites and see which keywords they are using and how popular these are.

Why is Keyword Analysis Important?

Including the right keywords in your website structure, content and blogs should greatly increase your online visibility. Website digital marketing is built around creating content that is likely to show up on search engines such as Google.

At its heart, this is very simple: keywords found in the website content match what people are typing into a search engine. Google logs this and ranks your website accordingly. Of course, it doesn’t mean that your website will rush to the top of the rankings if you add a few words here and there.

SEO with keywords will depend on many factors such as competition in the market place and the location of your business. Getting it right involves a good deal of work and experimentation.

How Keywords Impact the Build of Your Website

Identifying certain keywords to focusing on should influence your website design. It might dictate what text you use for title pages, subheadings, the text you lay down on each page and where it is positioned. Keywords should also be included in the HTML or coding of your site with meta titles and descriptions.

You could also include blogs to focus on certain keywords or combinations of keywords to improve your visibility online.

Google has advanced its algorithms in recent years which has put more emphasis on good quality content. This means that you can’t just stuff your chosen keyword in every available space. Your website needs to focus on user experience and flow to make sense to your visitor as well as show up on search engines.

Competitor Keyword Analysis

One good place to start when you’re trying to find the right words and phrases to focus on for your business is to take a look at what your competitors are doing. Pick the businesses that always seem to be ranking highly for standard searches and do a competitor keyword analysis on them.

This should reveal what they rank highly for and show what customers related to your sector are actually searching for.

Keyword analysis reveals a lot more than the standard words and phrases associated with your business. Carrying this research out before you begin running marketing campaigns and developing your website is important. Once you have this base keyword foundation in place, you should expect to see greater levels of relevant traffic and more conversions on your site.

Share On Facebook
Share On Twitter
Share Via Email
Share On Whatsapp
Share On Linkedin