Do You Appear on Google Maps? Why Location Services Are So Important

Google My Business allows business owners to supply information that can show up in a Google search, such as open hours, address, phone number, and photos. Google may combine the information provided by businesses with information from other sources, including a business's own website, user contributions, and third-party websites. It also allows business owners to respond to review and post updates about announcements, events, or sales.

When potential customers are conducting a search for a local shop they're typically provided with a list of likely matches based on their current location. For example, a search of "florists near me" will show results based not only on proximity, but also on their relevance to the query.

Why is this so important? Because the person searching for flowers may not even know your shop exists, but if your location information is accurate and consistent, the likelihood of them finding you increases substantially.

The local results favor the most relevant results for each search and businesses with complete and accurate information are easier to match with the right searches.

By making sure that you’ve accurately entered all of your business information in Google My Business, customers know more about what you do, where you are, and when they can visit you.

It sounds simple in theory, but unfortunately it goes way beyond Google and the sheer volume of platforms that feature your shop's information make consistency an uphill battle - even if you are vigilant about keeping your information up-to-date as your business changes. Monitoring and editing your business information regularly is one of the most important methods for staying on top of the search results, but many business owners lack the resources to keep on top of this task.

How Can Sarasota Web Solutions help?

At Sarasota Web Solutions we specialize in driving customers to your door by increasing your visibility. Our Location Services offer the most effective way to properly manage your business data across websites, search engines, mobile apps, directories, social media, and more.

Google determines local ranking based primarily on relevance, distance, and prominence. These factors are combined to help find the best match for your search. For example, Google algorithms might decide that a business that's farther away from your location is more likely to have what you're looking for than a business that's closer, and therefore rank it higher in local results.

According to Google, prominence refers to how well-known your business is. Some places are more prominent in the offline world, and search results try to reflect this in local ranking. For example, famous museums, landmark hotels, or well-known store brands that are familiar to many people are also likely to be prominent in local search results.

Referring to established locations is also a strategy we suggest. Google review count and score are factored into local search ranking: more reviews and positive ratings will in most cases improve a business's local ranking. Your position in web results is also a factor, so SEO best practices also apply to local search optimization.

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See For Yourself

You can check the health of your online business information here with the help of our free listings scan. This scan will help you see how your critical location data appears across dozens of listings and directories.

If things look good then you're on the right path, but if not - never fear - we're here to help out. Don't leave the last mile of your customer journey to chance - optimize it with Location Management from Bloomerang Solutions.

If you have any questions about managing your listings or would like to learn more about how Sarasota Web Solutions can help your business grow, give us a call at (941) 806-1911 or drop us a line here.