Ranking in the three-pack of Google Maps is essential for every local business if they want to succeed. The top 3 businesses in Google Maps show up ahead of the organic search results and are catered to the searchers with their location, directions, contact details and reviews, which makes it easier for these three businesses to capture bulk prospects with ease.
If your business is in the top 3 this means, you would have to spend less on marketing and focus on customer service as well as capturing the maximum number of positive reviews. This is without a shadow of a doubt that the life of these businesses becomes much easy when it comes to growing sales and being visible to their target audience.
Now that we have understood the importance of ranking in the map pack, let’s look at some of the cool and easy-to-implement hacks to rank in the Google Maps.
1. Add Your Target Keyword to Your Business Name
We experimented with this concept with multiple businesses and the results were the same every time, the rankings boosted as soon as we added the target keyword to the Google Business name.
Example: If your business name is Egochi and you want to rank for a keyword like “Miami SEO, " you need to be a bit creative and add your keyword to the Google My Business, Business Name section naturally. In this case, we can apply the name as “Egochi Miami SEO Agency“.
Here is the screenshot of the LIVE search results for the keyword “Miami SEO“.
As you can see, the business was able to rank for the highly competitive keyword with such a simple trick.
2. Add Local Business Schema Markup to Your Website
Adding a local business schema markup to your website is the most neglected local SEO tactic. I have seen numerous local websites missing this crucial step and being stuck at a lower ranked spot for ages.
Here is an example of the local business schema markup:
<html>
<head>
<title>Dave's Steak House</title>
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Restaurant",
"image": [
"https://example.com/photos/1x1/photo.jpg",
"https://example.com/photos/4x3/photo.jpg",
"https://example.com/photos/16x9/photo.jpg"
],
"name": "Dave's Steak House",
"address": {
"@type": "PostalAddress",
"streetAddress": "148 W 51st St",
"addressLocality": "New York",
"addressRegion": "NY",
"postalCode": "10019",
"addressCountry": "US"
},
"review": {
"@type": "Review",
"reviewRating": {
"@type": "Rating",
"ratingValue": "4",
"bestRating": "5"
},
"author": {
"@type": "Person",
"name": "Lillian Ruiz"
}
},
"geo": {
"@type": "GeoCoordinates",
"latitude": 40.761293,
"longitude": -73.982294
},
"url": "http://www.example.com/restaurant-locations/manhattan",
"telephone": "+12122459600",
"servesCuisine": "American",
"priceRange": "$$$",
"openingHoursSpecification": [
{
"@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
"dayOfWeek": [
"Monday",
"Tuesday"
],
"opens": "11:30",
"closes": "22:00"
},
{
"@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
"dayOfWeek": [
"Wednesday",
"Thursday",
"Friday"
],
"opens": "11:30",
"closes": "23:00"
},
{
"@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
"dayOfWeek": "Saturday",
"opens": "16:00",
"closes": "23:00"
},
{
"@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
"dayOfWeek": "Sunday",
"opens": "16:00",
"closes": "22:00"
}
],
"menu": "http://www.example.com/menu",
"acceptsReservations": "True"
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>
Adding the local markup to your website enables it to communicate with GoogleBots more effectively and pass the right information in a clear manner.
This helps in avoiding any confusion and helps pass the right signals from the website towards the business listing on Google Maps.
3. Get Keywords Added to Your Google Reviews
You must have heard a thousand times that reviews are an important ranking factor. It definitely is and so is the number of reviews along with the total ratings.
All are important to build business trust and authority on Google Maps for your business, however, the most essential and effective hack is to try and get customers to post a review with your target keyword in it.
Example: A customer may be pleased with your services and if uneducated may leave a review like:
“Extremely happy with the service and would definitely come back again.”
Now, this is definitely a decently good review however it just does not make that much of a big impact as a review like
“Edwards computer store is the best laptop repair service center in Miami, they definitely know what they are doing.“
Now this one, just hits the right spot, triggering the multiple Google map ranking factors.
Getting your customers to do this needs good communication skills and excellent rapport-building tactics. However, if just 1% of your clients do this, it would be just gold for your map rankings.
4. Add Your Keywords to the Website Meta Title & Description
Your website’s Meta Title & Description plays a vital role in the site ranking and your Google map ranking.
When Google crawls your website, the first thing they would grab is the Meta Title & Description and when they link the webpage with your map listing, it all comes together and adds as a bonus to boost your map ranking.
This is really simple however many people simply ignore the importance and leave the Title and Description empty or just don’t bother to add the keywords to it. Hence, don’t make that mistake and add your keywords in the right spot.
5. Build and Publish Your GMB Website
When you create your GMB listing, in your business portal you will also find a section named “Website“ in the left-hand side corner of your listing.
This is a free website provided by Google, so ensure you click on the link and create the website and publish it. This will add some extra juice to your map rankings. The website is a Google entity and so it would support your map listing, and support it in growing in the ranks.
The key here is to ensure all the above steps are followed and also ensure that you add the keywords in the “About Us” section of the website.