Google Business Profile: Strategies For Better Service-Area Listing Placement In Local Map Pack Results
The legitimate service area business listing owner should NOT be discouraged by NOT being allowed to have a public-facing address on her/his Google Busienss Profile!; better yet, fight on for better placement in local map pack listing search results. To 
raise the odds your Service-Area Business listing (with no address, but a territory of up to 20 locations) will be included in the local Map Pack listing search results, there needs to be an effort to generate signals that Google values. Here are some things a Service-Area Business should do with its Google Business Profile listing to improve competitive placement:
- Accuracy: Never misrepresent the business in its GBP listing imation if your business wants better Google listing placement. As you implement optimization techniques, be accurate, and up-to-date. This will allow you to go forward WITHOUT being penalized. Yes, there are misrepresented, live, fraudulent listings afloat, but in time it is likely they will be found and disbaled! Stay the course! Why misprepresent and take the chance when the likely circumstances are suspension.
- Categorization: Choose the right categories, including the right primary and possibkly a secondary category, if your business wants better Google listing placement. This is where it all starts for how Google will use your listing in its results, so get the categories right! You can add a 3rd and 4th category, but be careful because too many suggests you are not a specific kind of a business.
- Pursue Reviews: Encourage clients and customers to review the business on the GBP listing if your business wants better Google listing placement. While the listing may or may not be a challenge for them to find, a listing owner has access to a link they can send to the client. Reviews are trusted by local consumers, especially on a Google listing, and so they demonstrate that there is a real business delivering genuine service to those prospects who may be skeptical of reviews on a website that your business controls.
- Answer Reviews: Reply to the reviews promptly. A reply demonstrates genuine accountability to its client business and is also another signal to Google that the business is legitimate. What’s more, consumers read reviews, and they read the business’s responses to those reviews. So, it is a way to build credibility with the public and send Google signals.
- Images And Video: Upload new images or videos, setting a Service-Area Business Listing apart from its competitors. Note: there are size limits for image and video files, but compression can be pursued in order to get them up. Make them eye-catching, so once they are up they compete for attention. And name those pictures and video files well, the right keywords show consistencey and also help Google to use them in the right search results!
- Q & A: Answer questions in Google’s Q&A section of the listing, if a question is ever asked. Q&A is available to the public, so answers to any questions demonstrate that there is a proactive business at hand. It is likely also a signal to Google in favor of the listing versus those who fail to participate.
- Post Updates: Use good messaging, imagery, and keywords in Google Business Profile post updates. Posts demonstrate an authentic business to searchers and are also likely a signal that Google values. These are similar to a social media post, but published on the Google Business Profile (rather than Facebook or LinkedIn) and in Google Map Pack search results.
- Service Area Territory: Choose service area territory carefully. Google allows up to 20 town, or county entries. It is these choices that determine whether or not your listing can be included in local ‘Google Map Pack’ results. It is our belief that listings are meant to help people find local help, also that most people want local help as opposed to from far away. General logic is that most people there are obvious advantages to working with ‘a local to me service area business’ than one from far away. And so, it might be best to think in terms of a local radius of towns and the county. And if you are willing to split hairs, entering towns based on there zip code might be incrementally better than only a town’s name.
Kinetic Knowledge Supports Small To Medium Sized Business Web Presence, Including A Better Google Business Profile!
Need help online, maybe with Google? Contact Kinetic Knowledge about support with your Google tools, their optimization, and their continued activity today!
