The key aim of any business owner is to get noticed when someone searches for its products or services. One needs to have a solid SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy in place to bring in relevant traffic to their website. One of the most popular ways that one can end up at your website is if your listing is optimised on ‘Google my Business’ and you have the relevant and positive reviews to add credibility to your business.
In today’s digital age where everyone has access to a smartphone and the internet, getting good reviews for your business has become unavoidable. Through both these aspects working alongside your local SEO strategy devised by a good SEO consultant in Sydney, you can predict a good amount of business coming your way.
Create your google my business account
This step really does not need to spelled out but it is the first step to play a key role in your local Search engine optimisation strategy. It is not just about the creation but also the verification of your account without which it will not appear in the Google Searches. This can take up to six weeks, but in the meantime do not tamper with any crucial information such as the business address, business name, business phone number or it may hamper the authentication process. See step by step instructions here on how to set up your GMB Listing.
Optimizing your google business listing
The three most crucial aspects that determine your ranking are importance, distance, and prominence. Your importance indicates how relevant you are to the customer’s search, if your information is vague, you will not appear in the searches – clarity is vital! For local SEO to show its wonders, distance – which is your location and localized content comes into play. You cannot rank in a local search for Perth if your company is located in Sydney. Prominence is all about staying active, you need to keep your listing updated with photos, reviews, adding regular content, geo-tagging through photos, etc.
Once the business listing is up and running add some relevant information such as operating hours, holidays working hours, creating citations on other sites, updating information from time to time, and basically staying on top of things that must be done.
Getting and managing reviews
Once your Google my business – listing strategy is in place you need to focus on your Google Reviews. The main idea is to have more people review your business on the listing & respond to them in time. This needs to be done in the case of both positive as well as negative reviews. When potential customers with an intent to buy see reviews, it adds trust and legitimacy to your business.
To get reviews, there are many sites that generate short links which take the customers to the reviews page. This link can be added to multiple modes of communication with the customer such as emails, invoices, follow-ups etc. When more people receive the review option, they are more likely to review the business.
Requirement of relevant SEO keywords in your reviews
Recently, Google launched a new feature that recognizes keywords that are applicable to customer experience from the content in the reviews and then pulls out these reviews to display them above the rest of the reviews. This ensures that the customers land upon the relevant reviews for the service or product they are in search of.
For instance, for SME Digital, Google reviews that appear on top would ideally have keywords such as ‘impact of SEO’, ‘strategy’, ‘results’ etc. This is because these keywords would be of prime interest to a customer if they are looking for a Local SEO specialist, affordable SEO company, various SEO packages, and other such related services. This would prevent the interested person from scrolling through multiple reviews and straight away get to the best and most pertinent ones.
At SME Digital we understand the importance of a holistic SEO strategy
Being SEO specialists, here at SME Digital we understand the importance of Google my business and Google reviews and how they work alongside your local SEO strategy to produce the best search results for your company. Reviews can go either way, so how to get reviews, how to tackle the reviews, and how to interact with the people that review you is something that SME Digital gives utmost importance to as part of its Search Engine Optimization strategy.
As an SEO consultant that has been working with small and medium-sized businesses across categories such as Gourmet Dinner Service, we at SME Digital cannot stress enough the importance of Google business listing for your company. Most of the time this is the first touchpoint of your business with potential customers – people can select your services just by seeing your information in Google my business. This is a very credible source and it must be kept up to date with the latest geo-tagging, images, real-time interaction with listing queries etc. This plays a significant role in taking your overall SEO strategy to the next level.
As local SEO specialists who provide affordable SEO services for small businesses, we take into account all the best practices and a holistic approach to ensure that your Search Engine Optimization strategy keeps you ahead of your game.
