The modern local marketing can be a very intimidating, since indeed, the landscape has significantly changed from the traditional local marketing we are all familiar with.

Here, we will discuss how we should approach local marketing. However, let us begin by discussing the most important thing: the customers.

How Local Customers Have Changed

Every marketing effort should sprout from a thorough understanding of the market—our customers.

So, before we begin, it’s important to understand how our behaviors in learning about local businesses have significantly changed in the past decade.

In the past, we learn about new businesses from billboards, newspaper articles, and direct mails, among others.

Nowadays, there are two primary ways to learn about the existence of a local business: social media (including posts and reviews from influencers), and Google Maps queries—including “near me” search queries—.

Of course, there are other ways like online advertising or recommendations from certain apps/sites, but the fact remains that nowadays, we learn about local businesses online.

So, in this guide, our strategies will revolve around this customer behavior, and capitalize especially Google Maps and social media platforms to capture our audience’s attention.

I. Google Maps Marketing

Also often referred as “local SEO”, there are two main ways people search for local businesses in Google Maps:

1. Straight from Google Maps app
2. Performing location-based search queries (i.e. restaurants in LA) or ‘near me’ queries (i.e. restaurants near me) on Google search.

For the latter, Google will display the top 3 results from Google Maps above the organic results (but below the paid ads).

Depending on your device, you can usually see 2-4 results before you need to scroll while using the Google Maps app.

So, our priority here is to get ranked on the top-3 results according to our location and niche—often called the ‘3-pack’ —.

Before we can learn how, we have to discuss the important ranking factors for Google Maps.

Google Maps Ranking Signals

It’s important to first understand that ranking signals for Google Maps SEO is significantly different than traditional SEO, and here are the top ranking signals we will need to focus on:

1. Google My Business signals

Google My Business is where you list your business to be featured on Google Maps, including various information from your address to the description of your business.

The most important signal here is your business’s proximity to the searcher’s. For example, if your Google My Business listing is similarly optimized as your competitor’s but their business is slightly closer, they will rank higher.

The more complete and informative your listing is, the higher the chance to rank.

2. Backlinks

Your website can (and should) be listed on your Google Maps Listing. Here, Google will take into account the backlinks coming to your site, the quality of backlinks, and so on. Quite similar to what you would see in traditional SEO strategy.

Note: since this will also affect your website, we will discuss this in the website section further below.

3. Reviews

The quantity, velocity, and diversity of (preferably positive) reviews on your Google Maps listing. Google will also consider reviews on third-party major sites (TripAdvisor, Yelp!, Facebook Places, etc.) depending on your niche.

4. On-Page Optimizations

In Google Maps SEO, the most important on-page optimization is the presence of your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) information. Keyword optimizations and other on-page signals for traditional SEO will follow.

5. Citations

Local citations are any mentions of your business’s NAP on other sites. The more, the merrier.

6. User Experience signals

Both on your website and Google Maps results. For example, the number of people who calls your business directly from Google Maps results, the bounce rate on your website, and so on.

7. Social Signals

Engagement on various social media networks.

Note:  we will discuss this on the social media section further below.

Google Maps SEO: Step-By-Step Guide

Based on the ranking signals discussed above, there are four key steps in climbing the ranks of Google Maps:

1. Claim, Optimize, and Verify your Google My Business Listing

If your business has been around for some time, it’s possible someone else has claimed your business listing (in most cases, with a good intent). If that’s the case, you can claim the business by simply providing proof of ownership in the verification process.

If your business has a physical address, the verification process usually involves Google sending a postcard containing a verification PIN, so it’s fairly simple. Depending on the type of your business, Google might also allow verification via email or phone.

When optimizing your listing, the most important thing to consider is providing clear information for your human audience. Make sure they will know what your business’s about immediately, what you sell, any unique propositions, and so on by focusing on these areas:

• Make sure all your information (especially NAP information) is accurate, complete, and up-to-date
• Choose your business category carefully. The business category should describe what your business is doing rather than what you sell
• Use attributes to inform about your unique services or value propositions (i.e. if your business has a smoking area or kid-friendly)
• Use well-taken photos, preferably those taken on or nearby your premise. Listings with photos get 35% more conversions.
• Specify your service area, for example, if you provide delivery.

In general, avoid stuffing your Google My Business listing with keywords (Google is strongly against it). Use your keywords sparingly and focus on bringing clear information for your human readers.

2. Get More Reviews

Getting more (positive) reviews both on your Google Maps listing and other platforms are not only beneficial for Google Maps ranking purposes.

Reviews are also important social proofs that will drive conversions.

There are several effective tactics you can try to encourage more reviews:

• Ask at the right time.

Sometimes, that’s all it takes. Timing, however, is important to maximize the chance of getting the best possible review. For example, ask when they just made a repeat purchase.

• Offer incentives

A fairly common practice is to offer incentives in exchange for their review (and social media post). For example, you can offer discounts or freebies after they show you their valid reviews.

• Respond to existing reviews

Including and especially for negative ones. People are more likely to leave reviews for businesses that frequently respond to previous reviews. Address all negative reviews quickly and politely, and fix the underlying issues.

Obviously, the most important thing in getting positive reviews is to actually deliver good products and services.

Thankfully, Google actively encourages you to get more reviews, and nowadays they even send a push-notification asking your visitors for a review automatically after their visit.

3. Building Local Citations

As previously mentioned, citations are any mentions of your business’s NAP information that can be indexed by Google.

NAP information in a standard text format is easier to index than an image, so it’s important to consider.

There are several ways to get a local online citation:

• When other website or an influencer mentions your business’s NAP (i.e., in a review for your business)
• Asking your business partners to cite your NAP on their website
• By listing your business on various online directories according to your location and niche

While the first and second options are fairly limited and harder to control, you can definitely put more efforts on the third.

Do a quick Google search to find online directories according to your industry and location. If you are located in the US, you can also use this list to find online directories by category, and this list for directories by city.

The most important thing when building your local citation is to maintain consistency in information. That is, if, for example, you just changed your business address, you must update your NAP information on all these listings.

II. Optimized Local Website

It’s easy to be tempted to solely focus on the looks of the website rather than its performance and functionality—a common mistake made by many local businesses.

However, your website as a local business is a very important part of your digital marketing strategy. One one hand, it’s your online business card, and it’s where people are going to visit when they want to check out your brand.

On the other hand, when used properly, your website can be a steady source of traffic, prospects, and ultimately, paying customers.

When planning and developing your local-focused website, here are a few things to keep in mind:

1.Mobile-Friendly

More and more people are using mobile devices exclusively, and as mentioned above, many are using “near me” queries on their mobile device to find your business.

So, having a mobile-friendly (or mobile-responsive) site is a must.

2.Load Speed

Studies have suggested that if your site loads in more than three seconds, more than half will leave immediately. Use Google’s PageSpeed insight to assess your current website speed, and make the necessary improvements.

3.Embedding Google Maps API

Embedding Google Maps on your page used to be a major local SEO ranking factor, and thus often abused by marketers. Since mid-2018 or so, Google has updated its algorithm and if you overuse Google Maps API, you can get penalized.

So, use Google Maps API according to its original purpose: providing a better user experience for your audience. Embed Google Maps API with proper location tag in your About Us (or similar) page.

Also, if you have several locations for your business, create different location pages and embed the right Google Maps location for each.

4. Content and Keyword Optimizations

We can divide website content into two different categories: static and dynamic.

Static content is the pages that are relatively “fixed”, you won’t update it frequently, and mainly contain fixed information about your business. For example, your About Us page, locations page(s), product/service page(s), and so on.

Dynamic content, on the other hand, is the pages that are frequently updated. The most common form of dynamic content pages is a blog, but nowadays it can also be videos and podcasts.

When developing your content, there are three main purposes to pay attention to:

• To attract more people to your website, and convert them into prospects and visitors.
• To get backlinks for each content page, which will also help Google Maps SEO, as discussed above
• To target location-based keywords so your page and site can rank on these keywords

III. Social Media Marketing

As we have mentioned at the beginning of this article, social media is now one of the main ways people can learn about local businesses.

It’s worth discussing that social media marketing consists of three different aspects:

• Organic social media marketing. Which is, building organic followers by consistently posting engaging and valuable content.
• Paid social media marketing. Using paid advertising options provided by the social media network, and other paid marketing options to reach more audience.
• Influencer marketing, endorsing an influencer to promote your brand.

The key here is to find a balance between all three: organic social media marketing is obviously important, but it will take time and significant effort before you can build your followers.

Paid social media ads and influencer marketing, on the other hand, can work instantly, but obviously the issue here is budget. Also, influencer marketing won’t be maximized unless you already have a decent organic social media presence.

End Words

We have discussed the three most important channels to focus on in local marketing. All three are long-term tactics, so the most important thing to focus on is consistency.

Evaluate your progress regularly, hire a local SEO expert and reoptimize or adjust your strategy whenever necessary.

The post Local Marketing: 3 Important Areas To Focus On appeared first on Mike Khorev - SEO Consultant.

There are two ways to market your business on Google Maps.

First, is to invest in Google’s local search ads. When people search for local businesses both in Google Maps or Google search, this local search ad will be displayed on top of other results. Local Search ads use Google’s standard CPC (Cost Per Click) model, so there’s not much strategy besides bidding more money according to your location and niche.

The second, which will be our focus in this guide, is to rank organically on Google Maps. It’s important to note that Google ‘only’ displays the top 3 Google Maps results for any local queries (including “near me” queries) on Google search results. Yes, they are placed below the local search ad, but organic results will always provide more value for users.

Why Google Maps Marketing Is Important

In this advanced age of social media transparency, there are three main ways how people find out about local businesses:

• Through content, including social media posts from influencers and their friends/family, YouTube videos, and so on.
• Via Google search and Google Maps, often accompanied by checking out reviews on platforms like TripAdvisor and Yelp.
• Through advertisements. Not as effective as it used to be, but it’s still there

With Google Maps marketing, we are effectively capturing one of the three main sources of traffic. By being on the top 3 results on Google Maps—according to our niche and location—, we can get three main benefits:

1. Building awareness: the Google Maps result will link to Google My Business listing, which will give various information like photos, store hours, address, what we are selling, etc.
2. Get more calls: Users can directly click the “Call” button on the search result, giving them an easier time to call your business
3. More store visits: Users can ask for directions immediately from the search result.

Google Maps Ranking Factors

Before we can optimize our listing to rank higher on Google Maps, we must first learn about the important factors that will determine our ranking.

According to Google’s Guidelines for local ranking, there are three main factors:

• Relevance

How relevant your listing is to the searcher’s intent. In practice, this is mainly about your Google My Business (GMB) listing (will be discussed further below). How complete and relevant your Google My Business information is, the usage of keywords in business title and information, whether your listing is verified, etc.

• Distance

How close your business’ location is to the location specified by the searcher, or the searcher’s location (for “near me” queries). For example if restaurant A and B have similar relevance to the searcher’s query, but restaurant B is closer, restaurant B will rank higher than restaurant A. There’s not much we can optimize about this factor besides providing correct and complete information about our location.

• Prominence

In short, how well-known a business is according to Google’s algorithm. This is why, for example, an established, well-known restaurant usually ranks higher than a fairly new restaurant with more optimizations.

In practice, Google collects various information from the internet to determine a business’s prominence:

1. Articles talking about your business
2. Backlinks to your website (since your website URL is included in your Google My Business listing)
3. Mentions of your business’s NAP (Name, Address, Information) on the internet. This will include if you list your business on various online directories
4. More reviews and positive ratings on Google Maps and other review sites
5. Social media mentions and engagements

So, our optimizations for Google Maps Marketing will focus on these factors.

Step-By-Step Guide To Google Maps SEO

Step 1: Claiming Your Google My Business Listing

Claim your business

Google Maps’ results are based on Google My Business listings, so it will only make sense that this first step is also the most crucial one.

First, do a quick Google search for your brand/business name to check whether there’s already a GMB listing for your business. If your business has been around for some time, there’s a good chance that there’s already a GMB listing that you can claim. Alternatively, you can check here and make the claim directly.

There’s also the possibility that others have claimed your business listing, but don’t worry that Google provides an option to request ownership here. Just follow the required steps, and as long as you can verify ownership, you’ll get the claim.

Step 2: Optimizing Google My Business Listing

The next step is to provide as complete and accurate information on your Google My Business listing.

Important: focus on providing comprehensive information for your human audience, and not to please the search engine’s algorithm. Don’t emphasize keyword usage too much here, use the target keywords sparingly and make sure they occur naturally.

Make sure all information details are accurate and grammatically correct, including proper capitalization for your business name and address.

Choose the most relevant category for your business. There are a lot to choose from, but remember that it is about what your business is and not what you sell.

Also, depending on your business, make sure to provide the correct information about your service area. If you provide delivery service, state so. If you business operates at the customer’s place (construction companies, home services, etc.), state the correct information.

Make sure to enter your business hours accurately, and update them whenever there’s any changes. If you have different business hours during the weekends, holidays, or other events, there’s an option to customize your information.

Step 3: Adding Photos To Your Google My Business Listing

According to Google themselves, listings that include photos get 42% more requests for directions on Google Maps, and 35% more website visitations.

Important note: if you can, take photos on or near your business’s physical location. Google will extract the metadata information from the photos.

Make sure your photos are well-taken, can represent what your business is about, and are with the correct format and size.

Step 4: Verifying Google My Business Listing

Google will send a postcard with a verification PIN to your business’s physical address

Once you’ve provided all the correct information, it’s time to verify your Google My Business listing.

Unverified listing will affect ranking performances, and you will be locked out from some Google My Business features (i.e., the ability to use https://posts.withgoogle.com).

Generally, the verification process is done via mail, where Google will send a postcard with a verification PIN to your business’s physical address. (Thus, it’s important to provide a correct address and not a virtual office). The verification process is typically done within a week.

For some business types where not having a physical location is possible, verification via email or phone call is also possible.

Step 5: Local SEO Link and Citation Building

Link building in Google Maps marketing is different than organic, traditional SEO.

In general, here are important link types that will affect your local SEO performance:

1. Citation (NAP mentions), including online local directory
2. Industry-related sites in your area
3. Local websites
4. Local press sites
5. Local chamber of commerce sites

Building Citations

Citations are the most valuable links in the world of Google Maps SEO, and there are two main ways to get citations:

1. Get you NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) information mentioned completely by a reputable local site (i.e. bloggers, reviewers, other relevant sites in your industry).
2. Listing your NAP in various online directories according to your location and niche/industry

For the first, there is no other shortcut besides building your own reputation (both online and offline), and build relationships with relevant local sites, especially those with close ties to your industry/niche.

The latter, however, is more important (and more accessible). A quick Google search will help you find online directories according to your industry/category and location. Alternatively, you can also use this list by Moz for online directories by city (U.S. cities), and this list for citations based on category.

There are two things to keep in mind during the citation building process: first, make sure to include accurate and complete information. Second, maintain consistency of information across all the different listings, especially the NAP information.

Meaning, if you change your business’s location, you’d have to update your NAP information across all these listings. Google treats misinformation very seriously, and inconsistent information might cause penalty or permanent ban, so make sure to carefully pay attention to this aspect.

Local SEO Link Building

There are three major areas to focus on in link building for Google Maps marketing:

• Local sites that are related to your industry, like local newspapers, schools & universities, local chamber of commerce and other government entities, etc.
• Your business partners’ sites
• Local influencers and important figures

Remember that quality is more important than quality. In fact, Google discourages excessive link exchanges between businesses, and you might get penalized if you get too many backlinks in a short period of time. In general, focus on ‘just’ getting two or three high-quality backlinks every month.

Step 6: Get More (Positive) Review

Positive reviews are not only important as a major ranking signal, but as a social proof, reviews are also important to build awareness and encourage conversions.

Focus on getting more positive reviews on your Google Maps listing, but reviews on third-party sites, especially major ones like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Facebook Places, among other platforms, are also important for Google Maps ranking purposes.

Regarding reviews, there are several factors that will affect your Google Maps ranking:

1. Listing on major review sites (Yelp, Glassdoor, BBB, TripAdvisor, etc.). It is worth noting that Google My Business/Google Maps listing is still the most important
2. Number of positive reviews, pretty self-explanatory: the more, the better
3. Keywords and location usage on reviews. When the reviewers use the city name or keywords, Google will perceive that you are a trustworthy local business.
4. The number of responses are also important. On the other hand, negative reviews not responded to will negatively impact your ranking

With that being said, here are some tactics you can try to encourage more positive reviews:

• Offer incentives

A common, but effective practice is to offer incentives to your existing customers in exchange of (positive) reviews. For example if you have a restaurant, you can offer free desserts or discounts after they showed your staff a review on your Google Map listing.

• Respond to existing reviews

People are more likely to leave reviews on businesses that frequently respond to existing ones, including and especially the negative ones. Above, we have also discussed that Google took account on the number of review responses as a ranking signal.

• Use social media

Share, retweet, and pin positive reviews so that more people can see it. This will also encourage them to leave theirs. Also, resolve negative issues publicly on social media.

End Words

Google Maps marketing or local SEO, as you can see from the six steps we have discussed above, isn’t exactly rocket science. Anyone can do it with limited technical knowledge, but the key is consistency.

Consistent in your citation building efforts, keep encouraging customers to leave positive reviews, and especially maintain consistent and up-to-date information. Do this for 6 to 12 months, and you’ll see your Google Maps listing steadily climb up the ranking.

The post Your Ultimate Guide to Google Maps Marketing appeared first on Mike Khorev - SEO Consultant.

Choosing between expert agencies and building your own team requires careful consideration. Over 60 SaaS companies have reached Google’s first page through specialized link building agencies. The cost of an in-house SEO team might shock you though.

The numbers paint a clear picture. An in-house SEO specialist demands $60K to $120K yearly, not counting overhead costs and tools. SEO agencies charge just $3K to $10K per month based on campaign scope[-5]. This difference matters even more when you compete for high-value solution-aware terms on Google, where authoritative link building plays a vital role in visibility.

This piece compares the costs and benefits of 15 leading SEO agencies against in-house teams for 2025. You’ll discover which option maximizes your investment without any marketing hype.

1. Mike Khorev

Mike Khorev runs a boutique consultancy that specializes in B2B tech link building. His experience spans more than a decade in SEO and content marketing. Unlike larger agencies where work gets passed down to junior staff, Mike’s tailored approach makes him stand out.

Mike Khorev Key Services

Mike blends technical expertise with AI-driven strategies in his service portfolio:

• AI-powered content optimization designed for modern search engines
  
• White-hat link building through strategic outreach
  
• Technical SEO implementation (not just recommendations)
  
• Full-funnel content strategy that targets ideal customers
  
• Custom performance dashboards with live analytics

Mike’s web development background lets him implement technical SEO solutions directly rather than just giving suggestions. His link building focus areas are:

• Content marketing and relationship building
  
• White-hat backlink creation through outreach campaigns
  
• Long-form content development for high-authority sites

The results speak for themselves. Mike handles client work personally instead of passing it to junior team members.

Mike Khorev Pricing

The pricing structure is simple with three tiers:

• Foundation Level: For small businesses (Custom pricing after consultation)
  
• Growth Level: For medium businesses (Starting at USD 3,500/month)
  
• Enterprise Level: For large organizations (Custom pricing)

Each package includes expert strategy development, AI-powered content optimization, technical SEO implementation, and performance tracking. Link building services start at USD 700/month. Quality link building packages start at USD 1,750 for five links.

Mike Khorev ROI Potential

Mike’s clients see remarkable results:

• Traffic tripling through targeted SEO campaigns
  
• Lead generation growing by 90%
  
• SaaS brands like Time Doctor scaling to 20,000 monthly trials

Traffic increases usually appear within 3–6 months.

Mike Khorev Rock The Rankings Best Fit

Best suited for:

• SaaS and tech companies in competitive markets
  
• Knowledge-based businesses
  
• E-commerce brands with complex catalogs
  
• Funded startups ready to scale

2. Nine Peaks Media

Nine Peaks Media is a link building powerhouse that has helped 60+ SaaS and tech companies rank on Google’s first page since 2009.

Nine Peaks Media Key Services

Five-pillar SEO Growth Program:

• Guest posting on industry-relevant sites
  
• Resource link building
  
• Digital PR campaigns
  
• Broken link building
  
• Skyscraper content creation

All work is handled in-house with deep SaaS expertise.

Nine Peaks Media Pricing

• Starter: USD 2,500/month (5–10 links)
  
• Growth: USD 5,000/month (10–20 links)
  
• Enterprise: USD 10,000+/month (20+ links)

Nine Peaks Media ROI Potential

• Tripled organic traffic
  
• 90% increase in lead generation
  
• 60% YoY sales growth

Nine Peaks Media Best Fit

Ideal for:

• SaaS companies investing long-term
  
• B2B and enterprise-focused teams
  
• Brands prioritizing quality over speed

3. Editorial.Link

Editorial.Link is a European white-hat link building agency focused on SaaS, tech, and B2B companies.

Editorial.Link Key Features

• Premium editorial backlinks (avg DR 67)
  
• White-hat only (no PBNs)
  
• Pre-approved placements
  
• 6-month link replacement guarantee

Editorial.Link Pros and Cons

Pros

• Pay only after links go live
  
• Transparent approval system
  
• DR-independent pricing

Cons

• Requires higher budgets
  
• Link building only

Editorial.Link Pricing

• Startup: $1,750/month (5 links)
  
• Pro: $3,500/month (10 links)
  
• Growth: $6,000/month (20 links)

Editorial.Link Best Fit

Best for SaaS brands prioritizing premium backlinks and transparency.

4. Quoleady

Quoleady is a SaaS-focused content marketing agency helping brands drive sign-ups, not just rankings.

Quoleady Key Features

• Bottom-of-funnel SaaS content strategy
  
• SEO content writing
  
• Manual outreach link building
  
• Digital PR (Forbes, TechCrunch)
  
• LLM Optimization (LLMO)

Quoleady Pros and Cons

Pros

• Strong SaaS focus
  
• Proven ARR growth

Cons

• Higher Pro-tier pricing
  
• Variable link timelines

Quoleady Pricing

• Starter: €1,753/month
  
• Pro: €5,012/month
  
• Custom plans available

Quoleady Best Fit

Best for SaaS companies seeking conversions and AI-search visibility.

5. LinkBuilder.io

LinkBuilder.io has built 20,000+ links for 350+ businesses since 2016.

LinkBuilder.io Key Features

• 20+ white-hat techniques
  
• Custom strategies
  
• Real-time backlink tracking
  
• White-label services

LinkBuilder.io Pros and Cons

Pros

• Quality traffic-focused links
  
• Strong reporting

Cons

• Premium pricing
  
• Slower ROI timeline

LinkBuilder.io Pricing

• Startup: $2,999/month
  
• Pro: $5,999/month
  
• Growth: $9,999/month
  
• Enterprise: $19,999/month

LinkBuilder.io Best Fit

Best for mid-to-large businesses with established content.

6. Digital Gratified

Digital Gratified is a SaaS SEO and link building agency with 90% client retention.

Digital Gratified Key Features

• AI-powered link building platforms
  
• SaaS-focused SEO
  
• Technical audits

Digital Gratified Pros and Cons

Pros

• Fast link delivery
  
• Transparent metrics

Cons

• SaaS-only focus
  
• Timezone challenges

Digital Gratified Pricing

• Projects start at $1,000
  
• Most under $10,000

Digital Gratified Best Fit

Best for SaaS companies needing scalable link building.

7. Minuttia

Minuttia is a B2B content marketing agency optimized for traditional and AI search.

Minuttia Key Features

• SEO-first content systems
  
• AI-safe content strategies
  
• Digital PR

Minuttia Pros and Cons

Pros

• High client retention
  
• Strategic depth

Cons

• High minimum investment

Minuttia Pricing

• Projects start at $10,000
  
• Retainers around $5,000/month

Minuttia Best Fit

Best for established B2B SaaS brands.

8. RevenueZen

RevenueZen builds revenue-focused B2B SEO systems.

RevenueZen Key Features

• Buyer-intent SEO
  
• SME interview-driven content
  
• GEO (AI search optimization)

RevenueZen Pros and Cons

Pros

• 384% avg organic growth
  
• Strong project management

Cons

• Higher entry pricing

RevenueZen Pricing

• Sprint: $2,500/month
  
• Challenger: $9,625/month
  
• Dominance: $14,325/month

RevenueZen Best Fit

Best for B2B SaaS and service firms.

9. Outpace

Outpace is a technical SEO agency founded by computer scientists.

Outpace Key Features

• Technical SEO audits
  
• Data-driven keyword research
  
• Conversion tracking

Outpace Pros and Cons

Pros

• Strong technical expertise
  
• Enterprise-level clients

Cons

• US-focused
  
• Requires long-term investment

Outpace Pricing

• Starts at $3,000/month

Outpace Best Fit

Best for tech-driven SEO needs.

10. Page One Power

Page One Power is a white-hat link building agency founded in 2010.

Page One Power Key Features

• Manual outreach
  
• Content-driven links
  
• Technical SEO audits

Page One Power Pros and Cons

Pros

• Personal attention
  
• Proven experience

Cons

• 6-month minimum commitment

Page One Power Pricing

• Campaigns start at $3,700/month

Page One Power Best Fit

Best for brands investing in long-term SEO.

11. Sure Oak

Sure Oak blends human expertise with AI-powered SEO strategies.

Sure Oak Key Features

• AI SEO Game Plans
  
• Senior strategist access
  
• Regulated-industry expertise

Sure Oak Pros and Cons

Pros

• High retention
• Transparent reporting

Cons

• Premium pricing

Sure Oak Pricing

• $2,000–$5,000/month

Sure Oak Best Fit

Best for regulated SaaS and tech industries.

12. LinkDoctor

LinkDoctor focuses on ethical white-hat link building.

LinkDoctor Key Features

• No PBNs
  
• Link replacements
  
• SEO audits included

LinkDoctor Pros and Cons

Pros

• Cancel anytime
  
• Ethical methods

Cons

• No public pricing

LinkDoctor Pricing

• Custom monthly packages

LinkDoctor Best Fit

Best for long-term ethical SEO growth.

13. GoPeak

GoPeak specializes in evidence-based contextual link building for SaaS.

GoPeak Key Features

• Contextual backlinks
  
• Backlink audits
  
• 30-day turnaround

GoPeak Pros and Cons

Pros

• Pay after delivery
  
• Strong project management

Cons

• Limited reviews

GoPeak Pricing

• Standard links: $150
  
• Premium links: $200

GoPeak Best Fit

Best for SaaS authority building.

14. In-House SEO Teams

In-house SEO teams focus entirely on one business.

In-House SEO Teams Key Features

• SEO Manager
  
• SEO Specialists
  
• Content Strategist
  
• Technical SEO Analyst

In-House SEO Teams Pros and Cons

Pros

• Deep business knowledge

Cons

• High costs
  
• Limited scalability

In-House SEO Teams Cost

• Salaries + 30% benefits
  
• $500–$1,000/month per tool

In-House SEO Teams Best Fit

Best for large enterprises.

15. Hybrid SEO Teams

Hybrid SEO teams combine in-house strategy with agency execution.

Hybrid SEO Teams Key Features

• In-house SEO lead
  
• Agency specialists
  
• Shared tools

Hybrid SEO Teams Pros and Cons

Pros

• Scalable
  
• Cost-efficient

Cons

• Coordination challenges

Hybrid SEO Teams Cost

• $3,000–$50,000+/month

Hybrid SEO Teams Best Fit

Best for growing businesses needing flexibility.

Comparison Table

Conclusion

The choice between a top SEO agency and building an in-house team is one of the most important decisions any business faces. Our complete breakdown reveals striking cost differences. Agencies like Rock The Rankings and uSERP start at $4,500 and $10,000 monthly. In contrast, in-house teams need $78,000+ yearly per role, plus extra overhead costs. The numbers tell only part of the story. Each option brings its own benefits. Agencies give you quick access to specialized skills, proven processes, and solid track records. Companies like Editorial.Link and Digital Gratified show this with their client retention rates that are a big deal as it means that 90%. This gives businesses expert knowledge without hiring hassles or training delays. In-house teams excel at understanding your company’s specific needs and arrange better with your business goals. They’re always immersed in your brand, which helps them spot opportunities outside teams might miss. The higher original costs pay off as their knowledge grows over time. Smart companies often choose a middle path. They mix an in-house SEO manager with agency specialists who handle technical audits and resource-heavy tasks. This balanced approach gives you both strategic control and specialized skills at manageable costs. Your specific situation will determine the best choice. SaaS companies with proven product-market fit often do well with specialized agencies like Rock The Rankings or Quoleady. Large enterprises with big budgets might prefer building internal teams. The hybrid model works best for growing businesses with changing SEO needs. Note that SEO success demands consistency whatever path you take. You might spend $3,000 monthly on an agency or $250,000+ yearly on an internal team. The core team members, goal alignment, and green practices still matter most. The results are clear – companies working with specialized agencies see triple the organic traffic and 60%+ yearly sales growth. Finding the right match for your business needs matters most. Take your time to weigh options against your budget, growth goals, and internal abilities before making this crucial choice.

Key Takeaways

Here are the essential insights to help you make the right SEO investment decision for your business:

• Cost Reality Check: SEO agencies range from $1,750-$15,000 monthly while in-house teams cost $78,000+ per specialist annually plus 30% benefits and overhead expenses.
• Results Speak Volumes: Companies using specialized B2B SaaS SEO agencies typically achieve 3x organic traffic growth, 90% lead generation boost, and 60% sales increase year-over-year.
• Hybrid Model Wins: Combining an in-house SEO manager with agency specialists offers the best balance of strategic control and specialized expertise at $3,000-$50,000 monthly.
• Agency Specialization Matters: SaaS-focused agencies like Rock The Rankings and uSERP deliver superior results for software companies compared to generalist providers.
• Timeline Expectations: Agency results typically appear within 2-6 months, while building effective in-house teams requires 6-12 months plus ongoing training investments.

The choice isn’t just about budget – it’s about matching your growth stage, internal capabilities, and long-term SEO goals with the right expertise model. Most successful companies start with specialized agencies, then transition to hybrid models as they scale.

FAQs

Q1. Is SEO still a worthwhile investment in 2025?

Yes, SEO remains a valuable investment in 2025. With the right strategy, companies can achieve significant growth in organic traffic, lead generation, and sales. Specialized agencies report tripling organic traffic and boosting sales by 60% year-over-year for their clients.

Q2. How has SEO evolved in recent years?

SEO has become more sophisticated, incorporating AI-powered tools and strategies. Agencies now focus on optimizing for both traditional search engines and AI platforms like ChatGPT. There’s also an increased emphasis on high-quality, authoritative content and ethical link-building practices.

Q3. What are the main differences between in-house SEO teams and agencies?

In-house teams offer deep company-specific knowledge and stronger alignment with business goals. Agencies provide specialized expertise, established processes, and the ability to scale resources quickly. In-house teams typically cost more but build long-term institutional knowledge, while agencies offer flexibility and immediate access to diverse skills.

Q4. What is the typical cost range for SEO services?

SEO costs vary widely based on the provider and scope of work. Agencies typically charge between $1,750 to $15,000 per month. In-house teams cost upwards of $78,000 annually per specialist, plus benefits and overhead. Hybrid models, combining in-house management with agency support, range from $3,000 to $50,000+ monthly.

Q5. How long does it take to see results from SEO efforts?

The timeline for SEO results varies depending on the approach and existing website authority. Generally, agencies report noticeable improvements within 2-6 months. Building effective in-house teams typically requires 6-12 months, plus ongoing training investments. Consistent effort and a well-executed strategy are key to achieving sustainable long-term results.

The post 15 of The Best Rated SEO Agencies and How They Differ To In-House Teams appeared first on Mike Khorev - SEO Consultant.

More websites and blogs are being published every single day, people spend more time on social media and Youtube than going to websites, and Google with its featured snippets and infrastructure tend to hoard traffic to its own platforms.

On the other hand, website traffic is very important. We can’t convert visitors and prospects unless we actually have a steady—or preferably, growing—website traffic to convert. Too often, we put too much emphasis on maximizing the conversion rate but knowing how we can get traffic and maximize it should be the first priority.

SEO used to be the most prominent way to get and grow website traffic, but as mentioned, due to the changes in Google’s algorithms and especially the zero-click search phenomenon, our approach to SEO must also change.

Here, we will discuss and learn about how we can grow website traffic through SEO in 2025.

The Anatomy of Google SERP in 2025

Google’s SERP (Search Engine Results Page) has significantly evolved since its launch in 1996.

Back then—as with everything else on the internet—, Google SERP is very, very simple: it’s just paid search ad placements on top followed with organic search results below it. Ranking on the top spots of these organic search rankings back then (for the right keywords, obviously), would translate into guaranteed website traffic.

Nowadays, however, it’s not that simple. Let’s take a look at the current search result for “when is black Friday”

As you can see, it’s no longer that simple. There’s now:

1. A “featured snippet” box to inform us about the date
2. The knowledge panel on the side featuring a result from Wikipedia
3. The “People Also Ask” box with 4 different questions
4. Video results

Only after all of these, we are presented with organic results.

In short, ranking on the top spots of these organic ranking spots is—in theory—not as valuable than back then in the early 2000s. It doesn’t however, mean that these organic rankings, and SEO, are totally worthless in relation to website traffic,  considering several different things:

• There are keyword opportunities that don’t involve featured snippets and have high organic CTR.
• Not everything can be answered with a featured snippet. For example, the “what is SEO” query might be easily addressed with a featured snippet (answer box), but queries like “SEO strategy” would require in-depth content as an appropriate ‘answer’.
• We can certainly optimize our content on Google’s platforms and properties (YouTube, Google Maps, Knowledge Panel, AMP, Google IMages, etc.) to maximize exposure.

To summarize, SEO to optimize our site/page to rank on Google SERP’s organic results is still relevant in generating and growing website traffic, it’s just, we have to be smarter than before, as we will learn together below.

However, let us first discuss the important SEO ranking factors in 2025.

SEO Ranking Factors 2025

SEO, is in essence just a series of optimizations on our website, or pages of our website to align better with Google’s preferences, that is, to deliver more reliable and relevant information to the human audience.

So, to rank higher, we simply need to meet these Google’s preferences, which we often refer to with the term ‘ranking factor’. Google, however, utilizes a highly complex algorithm and can take account of 200+ different factors to rank a website.

Also, with each and every year, the ranking factors have always changed according to the changes in Google’s algorithms, so it’s very important to keep ourselves up-to-date with the most recent ranking factors.

With that being said, here are some of the essential Google SEO ranking factors in 2025:

1. Backlinks from relevant sources: backlinks, or inbound links, remain the most important ranking factors in 2025. It’s important, however, to understand that the quality and relevance of the backlink’s source is more important than quantity.
2. Quantity of direct links: the total number of domains and pages that link to your site (link quantity). However, getting too many links at any given time can be considered fraudulent link-building activity, and can get your site penalized by Google.
3. Mobile-friendliness: since 2015, Google has prioritized mobile-friendly and/or mobile-responsive sites to rank higher (and can even exclude non-mobile-friendly sites from SERP). You can use Google’s test tool to assess your site’s mobile usability.
4. HTTPS or SSL Certificate: a site that uses HTTPS is more prioritized to rank than a site that does not. In fact, if you are still sticking to HTTP, Google might warn users that your site is unsecured if you are using the Chrome browser.
5. Site load speed and user experience metrics: the longer you can keep visitors on your site (higher dwell time) and lower the bounce rate, the higher your site will rank. Your site’s loading speed, on the other hand, is a very important factor in determining the bounce rate.
6. Page category: a page that is placed and structured in a relevant category might be prioritized in SERP ranking.
7. Site Structure: overall site architecture. The more optimized and well-structured your site’s architecture is, the easier time Google bots can crawl and index your site. Without indexation, our site wouldn’t get ranked, period.
8. Page Layout: Google now utilized the Page Layout algorithm to recognize—and penalize— sites that abuse distracting pop-ups and misplaced, obstructing ads.
9. Internal Linking Structure: simply put, links from one page of your site to another page of your site. A proper Internal linking structure is mainly useful to tell Google which of your page(s) is the most important, but also provide other SEO-related benefits.
10. Content-related optimizations: this one can be pretty broad, ranging from the overall quality/comprehensiveness of the content, optimizations of the images, content structure, Keyword usage in page URL and meta description, and so on.

Again, these are not the only factors that will affect SEO ranking—and thus, your website traffic— in 2025 and onwards. Yet, they are among the most important and should be the core focus of your B2B SEO strategy, as we will discuss below.

Step-by-Step SEO Implementation To Grow Website Traffic

Let us first begin by having the right mindset: what should we consider as a positive SEO result?

It’s very important to understand that ranking high—even ranking on #1 spot— on Google SERP is not the end goal of SEO, and it’s often considered a vanity metric for several reasons:

1. We can certainly get ranked higher on keywords with lower competition
2. We can get ranked on popular keywords but we don’t get enough SEO traffic to our website for one reason or another
3. Even after people clicked on our top-ranking search results and visit our website, they might bounce right away for one reason or another.

You get the idea: SERP ranking is not the end goal of SEO, but a means to an end for the ‘real’ goals which is website traffic. Other results, like brand awareness, lead generation, and ultimately purchase conversions, all began from getting organic traffic.

So, here is the #1 mindset: we should focus on ranking on keywords that:

• Can generate organic traffic (has high organic CTR)
• The organic SEO traffic generated should consists of your ideal/target audience

The #2 mindset we should have, is to remember that Google’s—and the other search engines’ — mission is to provide relevant and valuable content for the human audience. We should remember that the objective of SEO is not to please the search engine’s algorithm but to provide value for our human audience.

So, when we discuss the step-by-step SEO strategy below, keep in mind that the core is to provide valuable, high-quality content for our target audience.

Finally, let us begin with the first step:

Step 1: Define Our SEO Objectives

As we have discussed above, remember that SEO—as a strategy—, is not a method to beat the search engine algorithm, but to reach and attract your target audience.

With that being said, the first step here is to define the objective(s) of your SEO strategy. As we have established, SERP ranking is not and should not be the end goal of SEO. Instead, here are the common SEO objectives you can follow:

• Organic SEO traffic. It should be an objective even if it’s not your end goal, since you can’t achieve anything on your website without traffic. In essence, this one is about getting more people to click on your SERP result and visit your website in the process.
• Lead generation: convert some of the organic traffic into (qualified) prospects.
• Brand awareness or presence: get people to visit your website and consume your content to improve awareness and perceived credibility.
• Sales conversion: especially for eCommerce sites or sites with affiliate marketing objectives.
• Maintain a positive reputation: online reputation management purposes, for example, to drown negative content and reviews by ranking higher on branded keywords.
• Customer service purposes: pushing content that can provide useful information and educate them about your product/service. Useful in building engagements and encouraging customer advocacy.

You can choose more than one objective, but it’s important to define KPIs and/or metrics for these objectives. For example “x% increase in organic traffic”  or “20% increase in sales conversion”, KPIs in brand awareness, and so on.

Your goal(s), however, should follow these principles:

• Achievable: it’s better to have a realistic and achievable goal to maintain your team’s morale. Break bigger objectives into smaller milestones if necessary.
• Specific: that is, well-defined and comprehensive
• Measurable: the campaign’s performance in achieving this objective should be measurable by monitoring specific metrics or assigning KPIs.

Make a list of your target SEO objectives. Remember that no matter what your primary goal is, getting more website traffic with SEO should be a part of it. For the next steps, our focus is to develop a working strategy to achieve this objective.

Step 2: Finding Keyword Opportunities With High Organic Traffic

SEO today is no longer solely about keyword optimizations, but proper keyword research is still the core of a working SEO strategy—although our approach might be slightly different compared to a decade ago—.

Here are some important considerations when conducting keyword research to find keyword opportunities:

• The key to successful keyword research is to properly understand your target audience, and especially their search intent. Understand your audience’s needs, pain points, and behaviors by conducting proper market research.
• Always go back to your SEO objective(s) when finding your ideal target keyword. Remember, however, that these keywords must have high potential organic traffic. For example, if your main SEO objective is to generate leads, you might want to look for keywords that are geared towards informational intent. Similarly, if your objective is sales revenue, then you should try to find opportunities to target keywords related to transactional intent.
• There are several key considerations when trying to find keyword opportunities:
  • The keyword must align with your target audience’s intent, as discussed above. In general, we can target keywords with high enough search volume.
  • The keyword must be relevant/valuable for your business. Fairly obvious, not all queries that are popular with your audience are going to be valuable for your business.
  • As mentioned, the keyword must have the potential of generating organic SEO website traffic, and you should be able to expand the keyword into proper content.
  • Based on your timeline and resources, the competition of the keyword must be manageable. If you are using a keyword research/SEO tool like Ahrefs, you can evaluate the keyword difficulty metric for this aspect.
• There are various keyword research tools that can help you, from free ones like UberSuggests to competitive analysis tools like SpyFu to all-in-one SEO tools like SEMRush and Ahrefs. Use as many as you can (depending on your budget), and explore all of the possible keyword options.

Make a list of your keywords and define their priorities. If necessary, also divide them by user intents and objectives.

Step 3: SERP Analysis

As established at the start of this guide, Google’s SERP has significantly changed, mainly due to the inclusion of featured or rich snippets.

More than 40% of total search queries now have a featured snippet in the SERP page, positioned above the top organic spot. There’s also the knowledge panel on the sidebar, and the “People Also Ask” boxes that are also positioned above the organic results.

Being featured as this rich snippet—as also mentioned—, might not guarantee a generated traffic to your site. However, it might be a good branding opportunity and can help your overall SEO campaign.

Some featured snippet opportunities might help in achieving your SEO objectives. For example, if you are a local business, then optimizing Google My Business and being featured in Google Map results (a type of featured snippet for local queries), can significantly help with store visits and conversion rates, which might be your goal in the first place.

You can use keyword research tools like Ahrefs to help find keywords with a high potential organic click-through rate (CTR). There are cases where organic CTR is still relatively high even when there’s a featured snippet. These should be your main target keywords.

Step 4: Competitive Analysis

Next, analyze your target keywords to find out about competing sites. You can do a quick Google search for each keyword manually, or you can use various keyword research tools for this step.

Check out the sites that already ranking for these keywords (including sites that are ranked as a featured snippet), your main goal here is to beat these competitors by:

1. Developing bigger, better, more in-depth content than these competitors
2. Take a unique angle and cover the keyword with different content than your competitors

In most cases, being unique is generally an easier approach, but there’s not always the opportunity to do it. Why? Because if it’s a very competitive keyword, being just slightly better in most cases won’t cut it. Also, others might simply publish even better content and ‘reset’ the cycle.

For example, let’s say the target keyword is “best digital marketing tools”. The first page of Google SERP might display pages/sites discussing 10 to 30 different digital marketing tools. If, for instance, you publish another “top 10” or “top 20” content, in most cases it’s going to be really difficult to rank. You’d need to create a really big guide covering, for example, 50+ tools or a really, really good content.

With that being said, if you can find a different angle to cover the keyword, go for it. Being different usually will translate to a higher chance of getting this content shared and linked (which are important ranking factors).

Step 5: Content Creation Plan

The core of SEO is content, period. This is even more true with how Google’s algorithm is getting better in recognizing content quality and relevance.

That is, there’s no shortcut in getting SEO results besides actually publishing high-quality content that is relevant and valuable for the target audience. So, creating a content marketing plan will significantly help in your whole SEO campaign.

From the previous steps, we have gathered all the necessary data to create a proper content plan, and here is how we can create a content plan:

1. Decide upfront who is going to be responsible for the content creation process for each content (i.e. if you have a content writer or several different ones)
2. Check your target keywords list, and expand them into a topic (or a working title)
3. Decide where you are going to distribute the content (i.e. which channel):
   1. Your blog
   2. Guest post on other sites
   3. Medium.com or other similar sites
   4. YouTube or other video streaming platforms
   5. Email newsletter
4. List when you are going to publish the content (and how frequent, if it’s a repeated/serial content)
5. Create a working editorial calendar by listing:
   1. Content publication date
   2. PIC (creator/author)
   3. Working title
   4. Keyword
   5. Description
   6. The objective of the content
   7. Distribution channel(s)
   8. Call-to-action
   9. References/ideas
   10. Status
6. Monitor and evaluate the content marketing plan when it’s executed. Review elements such as:
   1. Whether the content is performing well according to the content objective(s), SEO goals, and overall marketing objectives.
   2. The tone of the content, the overall quality, and whether the content is better than the ranking competitors
   3. The execution of the content marketing plan and the editorial calendar

If necessary, adjust the content strategy based on the evaluation, and especially whether the content’s SEO performance is up to expectation. It’s important to remember that SEO content in 2025 is no longer about keyword optimization: include your target keywords naturally, but focus on publishing relevant, valuable content for your target audience.

Step 6: Link Building in 2025

As we have established at the start of this guide, nowadays the quality of the incoming backlinks is significantly more important than quantity.

A backlink’s quality is, in general, directly related to the authority of the source website. You can use various tools (free and paid) like Moz’s Domain Authority checker, among others to check for site authority.

The secret to getting high-quality backlinks, however, is the quality of your content. If your content is good and contains useful information, someone will link you sooner or later. On the other hand, no tactics can help low-quality content to get backlinks (at least,  legally).

So, the tactics we’ll list below are just means to amplify the performance of high-quality content:

• Include something linkable in your content (the ‘link hook’)

The most common reason for adding an outbound link is to back-up any information mentioned in our content or to provide indirectly related information to our content that is too long to discuss. For example, in this SEO content, we might need to cite another page that discusses topics like “backlinks” or “ranking factors”.

Another common reason is to add data references to give the information presented in the content with some authority. For example, when we claim that 10% of the total population are babies (just an example), we can link a source that provided similar (original) claims.

With that being said, we can include these types of data in our content, the link hook, such as:

• Data roundup, like this, can generate a lot of backlinks when properly done.
• Original information/data like an original research report, case study, datasheet, etc. are always very valuable
• Visually-pleasing assets like infographics, images, and beautiful photos are often linked. Optimize these images properly so Google can properly index them.
• Unique content (how-to guides, actionable tips) can often attract backlinks.

• Content promotion to get website traffic and backlinks

We have mentioned how the quality of your content is very important in generating backlinks. However, no matter how good your content is, it won’t bring any value when nobody knows about it.

Content promotion is just as, if not even more important than the content creation process with two-fold benefits.

1. Getting more organic traffic to your website (which is the main focus of this guide)
2. Getting more backlinks in the process. This, in turn, will improve our ranking on the SERP and further. generate more traffic to the website.

Promote your content using all the possible channels, and always aim to get backlinks/inbound links in every possible opportunity. Building relationships with business partners, influencers, press, and relevant websites are very important here.

Also, the good news is that you don’t really need to be too aggressive in building your backlinks. In fact, getting too many links too fast can get you penalized. In general, you ‘only’ need to get 2-5 high-quality backlinks for each page per month.

Step 7: Website Optimization

There are three core aspects of achieving SEO success:

• The first is to make sure your content is valuable and relevant for your human audience—as mentioned above—.
• The second is to make sure your site performed just as intended (optimal user experience). User experience metrics like dwell time and bounce rate are now accounted as ranking factors
• The third is to make sure Google can properly crawl and index your site. Not indexed means not ranked, period.

This step is about optimizing your site for the second and third aspects (with the first aspect already covered in the previous steps). On-site optimization is a very deep subject on its own, and we won’t give it much justice discussing it here. Yet, here are some of the important factors to consider:

• Your site’s loading speed. More than 50% of visitors will bounce from a website if it loads in more than 3 seconds.
• Mobile-responsiveness of your site. You can use Google’s mobile-friendly test tool to check your site’s current condition.
• You can follow this guide to make sure your site is indexed quickly and properly by Google.
• Implement structured data markup properly. This will allow your site to be viable for featured snippets, and also provide Google with more information to properly index your site.
• Optimize the website’s interface (navigation menus, layout, etc.) to maximize dwell time.
• Optimize your content’s structure, including images and videos.
• Test everything regularly on as many different devices as possible.

Step 8: Evaluation and Continuous Optimization

This last (but not least) step is to ensure there’s a system in place to help us monitor and evaluate our SEO progress.

This is important since SEO for SaaS is a long-term game where we would generally need to spend 6 to 18 months before we can see any significant results.

Schedule a regular evaluation of your SEO progress, and re-optimize your content according to its performance.

End Words

To reiterate, the goal of your SEO activity shouldn’t be ranking on Google’s SERP, but to get more website traffic to achieve other objectives like getting more brand awareness or generating more leads.

As we can see from the guide above, however, SEO is not a secret tactic to ‘cheat’ the search engine algorithm, but to align our site’s and content with Google’s mission to provide more reliable and relevant information for the target audience. If you need help with growing your organic traffic, hire a professional SEO expert to work on your on and off-site optimization.

The post How To Grow Your Website Traffic with SEO appeared first on Mike Khorev - SEO Consultant.

Would working with a “full” digital marketing agency be a better bet?

Those are some of the common questions to ask when considering an SEO expert or consultant—and all of them are valid ones—.

A professional SEO company—as opposed to a generic (digital) marketing agency, has several unique and crucial roles. To really understand these roles, however, it’s important to first understand the right concept of SEO:

What Actually is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.

While we can use all the technical terms and jargon to describe SEO, in a nutshell, and as the name suggests, SEO is simply an optimization, or more accurately, a series of optimizations that are implemented to a website, so that the website can rank better on the search engine’s (mainly Google’s) search engine results page (SERP).

It’s a very common misconception to think of SEO as a secret method, a get-rich-quick scheme to somehow cheat Google’s algorithm so the site can rank higher. It couldn’t be further from the truth.

Instead, the optimizations implemented in SEO are mainly performed so that our website can better meet Google’s (and the other search engines’) objectives, which according to Google’s mission statement is to provide the most reliable and relevant information for the human searchers.

It’s also a very common mistake to think that SEO is about pleasing the search engine algorithm. In truth, SEO is about being more relevant to your human audience.

If your content and your website are well optimized for human readers, you will be eligible for a higher SERP ranking, and not the other way around. This is a very important mindset to have before we start with any SEO efforts or work with an SEO agency or freelancer.

With those points being said, now we can be on the same page on what to expect from an SEO service.

What Does An SEO Company Do?

To reiterate, SEO is a series of optimizations implemented so our website can better meet our audience’s needs and preferences. This way, Google and the other search engines can perceive us of being relevant to our audience, and climb higher.

Based on that, here are the roles and responsibilities of an SEO agency:

1. Understand and/or Develop SEO Objectives

The first, and arguably the most important role of the SEO company is to help the client in defining the specific SEO objectives and/or goals.

Alternatively, the client might already figure out their SEO objectives, and so the job of the SEO company here is to accurately understand the client’s goals and discuss possible adjustments/realignments according to the client’s best interests.

It’s important to consider in this stage, that search engine ranking is not the end goal of SEO. It’s just a means to an end goal(s) that can be:

• Increasing organic traffic to your site, one of the most common SEO goals, but also one of the most important for any businesses
• Generate more leads, a step further from simply generating traffic, converting this traffic into qualified prospects
• Improving online brand presence, pretty self-explanatory, increasing customer awareness to your brand
• Online reputation management, establish your brand’s credibility and perceived trust to encourage future transactions. This will include ensuring your (positive) content ranks higher than the negative ones.
• ECommerce sales, encouraging sales conversions via persuasive content

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list, and you can pursue other SEO objectives according to your business’s overall mission.

It’s important to properly define specific, realistic, and measurable goals because they will significantly affect how you (and the SEO company) should approach the SEO strategy:

• Specific: the more specific your SEO objective is, the better you can define your target keywords and develop the right content according to the searcher’s intent (more on this later)
• Measurable: we should be able to measure the performance of the SEO services in pursuing this objective by assigning KPIs and measuring the right metrics
• Realistic: as in, achievable. If it’s a big goal, we can divide it into smaller milestones. This is useful so we can maintain the morale of our team, and for easier performance measurement.

2. Implementing an SEO Audit

SEO audit—or website audit— it the process of analyzing the current state of the client’s website, and its performance in relation to SEO best practices.

Since, again, SEO is essentially about optimizing, understanding the current state of the website is important in determining what to optimize when we execute the SEO strategy.

While an SEO audit is a very broad subject with a lot of different site elements—both technical and non-technical—, here are the important areas to focus on:

• • Technical issues: covering various elements from load speed to mobile-responsiveness to site indexability. You might want to check out our guide on technical SEO checklist here for a clearer picture

• Website structure issues: mainly about indexability, like crawl budget, XML sitemap, internal linking structure, etc.
• On-page optimization state: content structure, keyword density (underoptimized or over-optimized), meta optimizations (titles, heading tags, descriptions),  image optimizations, etc.
• User experience issues: heat mapping, A/B testing, conducting surveys if necessary. The idea is to keep users as long as possible in your site (maximizing dwell time.)
• Content gaps: finding gaps in your content strategy (outdated content, non-performing content, etc.) and also find keyword opportunities.

Again, this is not an exhaustive list. The more experienced (and skilled) the SEO expert is, the deeper and broader the SEO audit (and possibly, faster). The results of the SEO audit will be used to plan the SEO strategy.

3. Keyword Research

Probably the most obvious role of an SEO agency, and definitely one of the most important.

Keywords are the core of SEO, and finding the right keyword to target can either make or break our SEO results.

The main idea is to identify keywords that are searched/typed by your ideal audience (your prospects), and there are three main principles to consider:

1. The keyword must be relevant for your ideal audience,  this is mainly identified by monthly search volume (how many times the keyword is searched in any given month).
2. The keyword must also be relevant to your business. Obvious but often overlooked. For example, if you are targeting people between 20-25, then “Ariana Grande” obviously has a huge search volume, but it might not be relevant for your business.
3. According to your (or your client’s) budget, available time, and objectives among other factors, the competition for the keyword must be manageable. This is usually determined via keyword difficulty metric—or other similar metrics— in your respective keyword research tool.

In this step, typically the SEO company will utilize the help of keyword research tool(s) and will provide a list of possible keywords to target sorted by priority and competition difficulty.

Also, in conjunction with the SEO audit discussed above, the SEO company will assess the client’s current keyword rankings, as well as the competitors’. There might be keywords the client is already ranking for, and will only need a slight nudge to get that precious #1 spot, then this keyword might be prioritized.

Similarly, there might be keywords the client’s competitor(s) are already ranking for but the client hasn’t—or keyword gaps—. These keywords can be good opportunities to pursue.

4. Content Marketing Strategy Development

A good SEO company will know that SEO and content marketing are inseparable: good content needs SEO to generate organic traffic, while we can’t optimize for keywords without relevant, high-performance content.

With that being said, developing a proper content marketing plan is also one of the main roles of the SEO company, which will involve activities like:

• Figuring out the ideal audience’s possible search intent(s) for each target keyword.
• Finding topic ideas according to the search intent. For example, if the main intent is informational, then an educational topic might generate more traffic.
• Planning when to publish the content and in which channel(s)
• Planning how to promote your content. Often overlooked, but content promotion is just as important as the development process.

Again, the main focus here is to develop content that is relevant and valuable for the human audience, not only optimized for the search engine’s algorithm.

The SEO agency will develop a working strategy to capture and drive potential leads to your site when they are (proactively) searching for information, trends, best practices, or any relevant search for the niche.

5. On-Site Optimization

As previously mentioned, SEO is simply a series of optimizations implemented on a website and can be divided into two categories: off-site optimizations (that is, any optimizations performed outside your website, mainly about getting more backlinks), and on-site optimizations—essentially optimizing everything on your website.

Here, we are mainly discussing on-site optimizations, while we will discuss off-site optimization in the next section.

On-page optimizations can be further divided into two sub-groups:

• • Non-technical: mainly about optimizing your content ac.1cording to content optimization best practices. It is important to note that today in 2020, content optimization is much more than simply optimizing for the target keywords, but also involves things like improving readability, layout, and structure (user experience optimization).
• Technical: Optimizing various technical factors of your site. Again, you might want to check out our technical SEO checklist here to get a better picture. However, here are some important areas to focus on:

• • The loading speed of your site. Research results have suggested that more than half of visitors will bounce the website almost immediately when the page loads more than 3 seconds.
  • mobile-friendliness (or mobile-responsiveness) of your site. A major ranking factor today.
  • Whether your site is crawled and indexed properly.
  • Optimize media and all the elements within your content (videos, audio, menu bar, etc.).
  • Test everything regularly, performing A/B test and test the website performance on as many devices as possible.

On-site SEO must be performed continuously while the website gradually climbs the SERP until it finally appears on the first page—and preferably top 5 or top 3—.

6. Off-Site Optimization and Link Building

As mentioned, off-site SEO is any kind of optimizations that are done outside the website itself.

In general, the objective of off-site SEO is to improve the search engine’s and the audience’s perception of the site’s relevance and quality, and nowadays, this can be achieved in several ways:

• Getting mentioned on social media, both in quantity (a lot of people talking about the brand) and quantity (relevant influencers mentioning the brand).
• Getting good reviews on relevant review platforms (Google Maps, TripAdvisor, etc.), especially for local businesses
• Getting links especially from reputable and trustworthy sites—backlinks or inbound links—.
• Getting our content shared on social media

You get the gists.

The most important of them all, however, is backlinks. Think of backlinks as votes of confidence of the internet. When a site links your content, they are saying you are a reliable and trustworthy site for their audience—and this will be noticed by the search engines—.

On the other hand, it’s important to understand that today, the quality of the backlinks is more important than quantity. In fact, getting too many low-quality backlinks at any given period of time can get you penalized by Google.

Thus, it’s generally sufficient just to get 2 to 3 high-quality backlinks each month, but it can be easier said than done.

The focus of the SEO services should be about getting these relevant contextual links on authoritative sites on your industry/niche.

7. Further Optimizations: Conversion Rates, Landing Page Optimizations

As discussed at the beginning of this article, SEO service doesn’t end with simply ranking on the first page of the SERP, but in the end, it must contribute to generating revenue via conversions.

The SEO company must also work on monitoring and improving conversion rates of the website by optimizing landing pages, maintaining a positive brand presence and online reputation, and so on.

Various tests (A/B testing, surveys, interviews, etc.) might be conducted to improve the overall performance of the site, and also to improve content optimization regarding user experience.

End Words:  Monitoring and Evaluation

Since SEO is not a short-term process, and we’ll need to invest 6 to 12 months—at the very least—before we can see significant results, consistent monitoring and evaluation of the SEO campaign’s performance is very important.

This is not only about monitoring the website’s ranking for the target keywords, but also many different metrics and backlinks profile analysis. Adjustments to optimization approaches and even the whole strategy might be necessary depending on the site’s performance and the competitors’ approaches.

This is where having the right SEO services for IT, Tech, SaaS, software and startup companies to help you is very important, so you can have the right partner to deal with all the complicated metrics and data input.

The post SEO Services: What Does An SEO Company Do? appeared first on Mike Khorev - SEO Consultant.

If you are a brick-and-mortar business, or a business serving a local niche, not optimizing your listing on Google Maps is, put simply, missing out on a huge chunk of market, but yet many marketers are neglecting Google Maps marketing for one reason or another.

In this guide created by local SEO expert Mike, we will discuss how to easily -and effectively- implement Google Maps marketing with a simple checklist. When implemented correctly, this can lead  to more traffic, more prospect, and ultimately, more revenue from your Google Maps listing.

Let us begin.

Register and Verify Google My Business Account

To have a listing on Google Maps, we will need to have an account in Google My Business. There are two things to consider when registering your Google My Business account: first, make sure you are providing a complete and accurate information of your business (we will discuss the important elements in detail below).

Second, make sure to verify your account. Although there are various possible methods to do this, mainly Google will send a mail to your physical address, containing a PIN you can use to verify your account

Name, Address and Phone Number

Name, Address, and Phone Number, which are referred as NAP in the world of Google Maps marketing and local SEO, are the three most important aspects of your listing.

So, make sure all three of them are up-to-date and complete. If your business is located in the U.S., make sure you use the address as used by the USPS. In general, if you are using the same address used by your local postal service, you are good to go.

Also, you can set whether to display or not display your NAP information to customers in your Google My Business setting. In general, you should always enable them.

Business Category Information

When registering your Google My Business account, you will be given the opportunity to specify your business categories. Remember, your objective with these categories is no to describe your product or service, but what your business is. (i.e. “pizza restaurant” and “pizza delivery service”, not “pizza” or  “pasta”).

Use this opportunity to optimize your listing: don’t only state your primary category, but every possible categories your business is relevant in. Doing this can also lead to more traffic from people who are searching for various related categories.

For example, if you are a digital marketing consultation, you can set “digital marketing agency” as your primary category, and you can include “content marketing consultant”, “SEO service” and other related categories. The more the merrier, but make sure all of them are relevant.

Optimizing Introduction

Your “introduction” section is similar to your website’s META description, and so the principle is similar: here, you have the opportunity to showcase your business, your products or services, and your unique value propositions. Google will also use this introduction to determine your business’s relevancy for ranking purposes.

Focus on writing a comprehensive and compelling introduction for your human audience. You can include relevant keywords and location-focused keywords here, but make sure they are included naturally. You can also include links to your site and social media channels, but don’t include too many.

Soliciting Positive Reviews

Positive customer reviews are not only important as a Google Maps ranking signal, but is also important social proofs to drive more prospects and customers.

So, soliciting positive reviews is a very important aspect of Google Maps marketing, while you also need to properly manage the negative ones.

You can offer incentives like discounts, free products, and other offers to encourage more positive reviews. Ask your existing customers to leave reviews on Google Maps and other relevant review sites (Yelp!, TripAdvisor) in exchange of something valuable.

Properly determine whether a negative review is valid, or fake. If it’s fake, you can ask for a removal by providing proofs. You might also want to pursue legal actions.

If the negative review is valid, address it quickly and politely. Don’t deliver false promises and address the underlying problems, if any.

There are also many different tools available to help you monitor reviews. Use them to help you in this aspect.

Optimizing Photos

Google Maps is a visual platform, and listings with photos will gain more traffic compared to those who don’t. Add at least one professionally taken photo. Again, the more the merrier, especially if you are a business relying on ambiance.

Photos are also great optimization opportunity in improving your Google Maps ranking. You can optimize images by adding metadata using various third-party apps. You can include these in the metadata:

• Your keywords
• Your address, and/or latitude-longitude information
• City, town, country tags
• Your products and services

Building Citations

Citation to local SEO is similar to backlinks or inbound links to “traditional” SEO.

There are three different types of local citations:

• Listings on major platforms like Google My Business, Yahoo! Small Business, TripAdvisor, and others
• Local directories or industry-specific directories
• Mentions from reputable press, high-quality sites, etc. (in a nutshell, backlinks)

There are two main principles in building your local citations: First, the more the better, list your business in as many directories as possible.

Second, make sure to keep consistent information across all listings,especially your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number).

End Words

As you can see, implementing Google Maps marketing is actually pretty simple once you’ve got the hang of it. By following the checklist and maintaining consistency especially in building your local citations and soliciting reviews, you will see your Google Maps listing slowly climbing up.

Generally, you should expect at least 3 to 6 months before you see your business on the top 3 results. Regularly monitor your progress, evaluate it, and keep optimizing your strategy.

The post How To Grow Revenue using Google Maps Marketing appeared first on Mike Khorev - SEO Consultant.

Local SEO can be an effective solution for that problem: by ranking high on Google Maps, we can get more traffic, prospects, and ultimately, visitors. Yet, how can we effectively implement it? In this guide, we will learn how, from registering your Google Maps listing to optimizing your listing.

First, however, let us begin by discussing the concept of local SEO.

What is Local SEO?

Local SEO, in a nutshell, is optimizing your business listing on Google Maps. Quite recently, Google implemented a major change on their Google Maps search results page: while previously Google listed 7 top results on the first page, now they only show 3.

Meaning, if your listing is outside this top 3 results for your specific industry and location, you will get significantly less visibility.

Is local SEO different than “traditional” B2B SEO then? Yes, and here are the main differences:

• First, obviously “traditional” SEO is targeting the Google search engine as opposed to Google Maps for local SEO.
• While traditional or organic SEO relies on backlinks or inbound links, local SEO relies on citations (we’ll discuss it more below)
• Traditional SEO is mainly about developing content, while it’s also true to local SEO, it’s less prevalent

A common misconception we should first address is that local SEO is not about targeting local keywords like “restaurants, Toronto” on your content. It’s a common practice in the past, but no longer relevant nowadays.

Why? Because for keywords that are tied to locations (try searching for “restaurants in Toronto” now), the Google Maps results will be on top of any other sites, usually followed by list articles like “Top 10 Restaurants in Toronto”. So, optimizing your site to rank organically for this keyword is very difficult.

Local SEO, in a nutshell, is optimizing your business listing on Google Maps. Quite recently, Google implemented a major change on their Google Maps search results page: while previously Google listed 7 top results on the first page, now they only show 3.

Why Is Local SEO Important?

We all know how more and more people are now using mobile devices as their main way to search and browse the internet. We should also consider the rise of smart home assistants in recent years from Amazon Alexa to Google Home to Apple HomeKit, among other products.

With these devices, near me” queries became more common,, especially when we are using voice search. If you are a brick-and-mortar business, not optimizing for these queries simply means missing out on a huge market.

Also, a Google Maps listing can effectively encourage prospects to purchase from your brand, with Google Maps reviews being very relevant social proofs nowadays.

Long story short, if you rank high on Google Maps, more people will be aware of your business and more people will trust your business. In turn, this will translate to more traffic to your listing and more visitors to your actual location.

Let’s use a fictional restaurant, the X Bistro as an example. If X Bistro can get the top 3 spots for the “restaurants near me” query when someone is near Toronto, there is a high likelihood this person will click on the X Bistro listing. If the review for X Bistro listing is also good, there is a high chance this person will visit our restaurant.

How To Rank on Google Maps

There are two main factors driving your ranking on Google Maps listing: proximity and relevancy. Before we can optimize our listing to rank better, we should learn these two different factors.

• Proximity

In a nutshell, the closer you are to the searcher’s location (or the location specified in the search query), the better you will rank.

• Relevancy

If the X Bistro is deemed more relevant than Y Restaurant by Google, X Bistro will rank higher. Yet, how does Google determine relevance? There are three main factors: how complete and up-to-date your listing is (including photos), your reviews, and your local citations.

So, Google Maps ranking is based on these two factors. Obviously, we can’t optimize proximity (unless somehow you have an unlimited budget and can build a location on every inch of the planet), so our main focus to rank better in Google Maps is to optimize the relevancy of our listing.

For the rest of this guide, we will learn how with a step-by-step approach.

Implementing Local SEO: A Step-By-Step Guide

Above, we have discussed that our local SEO efforts will be focused on optimizing the relevancy of our listing. Yet, how can we do that? Here, we will discuss how in just five simple steps.

Step 1: Register and Verify Your Google My Business Account

To optimize your listing, you should first have a listing. It’s fairly obvious, but still a very important step. There are also several details you might have missed when you registered your Google My Business account, and so make sure not to skip this part.

Here are some important considerations in this step:

• Make sure your address is complete and accurate. A good approach is to use the exact same address used by the USPS
• Specify your service area, if you can deliver your product/service to nearby towns or even cities, you can specify it in your listing
• List all possible categories related to your business. For example, since our X Bistro is specializing in steaks, we can list “restaurant”, “steakhouse”, “steak restaurant”, and so on. The more information you can provide Google, the better, but make sure they are all relevant.
• Optimize your introduction. You can include the relevant keywords here (i.e. “restaurant in Toronto”, but your main focus is to make sure this section is well-written for human readers.

Also, make sure to verify your Google My Business listing. Usually, Google will mail a postcard containing a unique PIN to your physical address, where you can use the PIN to verify your listing. Verifying your listing is very important, so don’t neglect this step.

The main principle of this step is, the more complete and accurate your information is, the better it will be for optimization purposes. Take your time to fill out all the necessary information including business hours, payment forms accepted, and so on.

Step 2: Optimizing Photos in Your listing

Google My Business and Google Maps are essentially visual in nature. What’s the first thing you see when looking at a Google Maps search result? Most likely it’s the photo(s).

Including and optimizing photos in your Google My Business listing has two different benefits:

• Obviously, having nice, well-photographed photos on your listing can drive more customers
• You can optimize your listing with photos, in relations to local SEO

With that being said, consider including at least one professional-looking photos in your listing. If ambiance or design is a crucial aspect of your business, you might want to include more pictures.

So, how can we use photos to optimize our listing? the answer is by optimizing the EXIF metadata of each picture. You can use various third-party tools to do this, some of them are free. Here is some metadata you might want to add to your images:

• Your geographic location tags (city, country, etc.)
• Your physical address
• Latitude and longitude details
• Your target keywords
• Details about services offered by your business (business category data)

Step 3: Building Local Citations

This step might be slightly more complicated than the previous ones, and so we will first explain the concept and main principles of local citations.

A local citation, in a nutshell, is an online mention of your local business which must include three important aspects: your business Name, Address, and Phone Number, which is often abbreviated as the NAP. There are three different types of local citations:

1.Major Local Business Platforms

These platforms include Google My Business (which we have covered), Infogroup, and Acxiom among others. Major social review sites like Yelp! or Facebook can also be included here.

2.Location and Industry-Specific Directories

There are sites and online directories that are focused on listing businesses in a specific location or businesses that belong to a specific industry. For example, Toronto Business Directory is focused on Toronto area, while the Toronto Dining Channel is focused on listing restaurant businesses in Toronto.

3. Other Citations

Other citations such as mentions from publications, blogs, relevant sites, and relevant apps can be valuable. In this case, the approach is similar to building backlinks for traditional SEO.

Our focus in this step is more about the first and second type of citations, while for the third type, we will discuss it further when discussing content development below.

Now, your main job in this step is to find all the relevant directories (both major and local platforms) according to your industry and location. Let’s go back to our example, the X Bistro. In this case, we would want to find local directories for Toronto (location) and restaurants (industry).

A quick Google search will help you find these relevant directories, and here are the important principles when building your citations:

• Make sure all your information are complete and up-to-date, as complete as your Google My Business listing discussed on step 1
• Pay special attention to NAP (Name, Address, and Phone Number), make they are always consistent across all your listings
• The more the merrier, but the more listings you have, the more you will need to invest your time and resources, especially if the citation also features reviews. We will discuss this further below.

Your citations are one of your most important assets when talking about local SEO. Pay extra care to the effort in building your local citations, and evaluate your listings regularly.

Step 4. Driving Positive Reviews

In this era when social proof is extremely important,, soliciting positive reviews have two major benefits: first, obviously the more positive reviews you have, the more credible your business will be perceived by customers. This will translate to more prospects and eventually, more customers.

Also, positive reviews on your Google Maps listing, as well as relevant review sites like Yelp!, TripAdvisor, and Facebook, are a strong ranking signal for Google Maps.

So, how can we get more reviews? One of the most effective ways is to incentivize your existing customers. For example, you can offer discounts, freebies, or other special offers for those who leave positive reviews on your Google Maps listing.

Here are some important considerations for this step:

1. The best way to get more positive reviews is to offer service excellence and delivering an excellent product. There’s no shortcut around this.
2. You can use various monitoring tools to keep track of your reviews, as well as your competitors’. This can act as an effective market research method.
3. Also, an important factor is how you should handle negative reviews. If it’s a valid negative review from those who have purchased your product/service, handle it quickly and politely. Don’t ever deliver false promises.
4. For negative reviews coming from fake users, especially those with clear malicious intent (using harsh languages, etc.), you can ask Google Maps or the review platform to remove this review with sufficient proof. Consider taking legal actions if the attacks are serious.

Step 5. Developing Content

Content marketing is a pretty broad subject on its own, and we won’t give it much justice discussing it here. However, here are some key principles in implementing content marketing for local SEO purposes:

• The most important part here is targeting the right keywords (i.e., “restaurant Toronto”). Find keywords with enough search volume but manageable competition. However, focus on writing for human readers: write naturally, don’t overstuff keywords, and make sure the content is unique, valuable, and relevant.
• Aim to get more backlinks from relevant sites, which can act as a citation. Promote your content with social media, influencers, and other channels.
• Guest posting for relevant sites can be a good approach if you do it right.

Conclusion

While local SEO can be terrifying at first, it is actually quite simple once you’ve got the hang of it. With the five steps we have shared above, you can start working with local SEO consultants and see your listing climb higher on Google Maps ranking.

The key to a successful local SEO is consistency: local SEO, as with traditional SEO, is a long-term game, and you should expect to invest at least 6 months before you see significant results. Monitor your progress, constantly evaluate and optimize, and be patient.

Getting that top spot on Google Maps can dramatically improve your growth. So, although the process can be long, it will be totally worth it in the end.

The post How to Create a Successful Local SEO Strategy appeared first on Mike Khorev - SEO Consultant.

Google Maps results are based on Google My Business listings, and on this guide, we will learn all the ins and outs of optimizing our Google My Business listing to rank higher. Without further ado, let us begin with the first one.

1. Make Sure to Include Complete, Up-To-Date, and Comprehensive Information

The pieces of information you put on Google My Business will be used by Google to determine your business’s relevance and credibility. Make sure to input accurate and up-to-date information at least for these:

• Your business’s Name, Address, Phone Number (NAP), the most vital pieces of information not only for Google My Business, but for all business directories and listings.
• Your website address, Google will “crawl” your site to determine your Google Maps listing’s relevance, so this is also very important
• Description: remember that this should be a description about what your business do, and not what you sell (i.e. “a bookstore” not “books”). Your description serves two main purposes: you can include your focus keywords here to optimize your ranking, and you can also optimize it to attract human audience. Provide clear, engaging information about your business.
• Category: similar principle to the above, your categories should be about what your business does. You can use more than one categories, and this can be a good opportunity to tap into all the possible markets.
• Attributes, here you can inform your customers about your business’s special attributes, for example, if you have “outdoor seating”, you can check the available attribute. This can be useful to highlight unique values of your business.

You will especially need to pay extra attention to your NAP information. Google will index your NAP across the web. If someone mentions your NAP on their site, it will be regarded as a local citation, which has the same value as backlinks in regular SEO. So, make sure your NAP information is consistent with what is currently listed on your site, as well as what’s listed on other listings and directories.

Information inconsistency can significantly impact your local ranking negatively. If you have any changes to your NAP, make sure to update it not only on Google My Business, but also on all your listings and citations.

Also, here are some tips and tricks you can use when optimizing these pieces of information:

• Make sure your listed address matches the correct coordinates on Google Maps. Also, check your zip codes and make sure they are consistent across all your listings. For example, if you use 5-digit zip code on one of your listing, use it on all. The same will apply if you use 9-digit code. However, most listings will only allow the 5-digit zip code, so it’s a safer bet overall.
• For phone number, it is actually better to have a local number listed instead of your national or regional number.
• Description, category, and attributes are good opportunities to optimize for keywords. However, make sure they are not over-optimized and make sure all these keywords occur naturally for human readers.
• For business categories, this is a great guide listing all the different categories available, and you can use it to determine the proper category(s) for your business.
• For both categories and attributes, the aim is to be as specific as possible. If you are a pizzeria, specify that you are a pizzeria instead of just “restaurant”. If you offer outdoor eating areas, specify it in attributes.

In short, take some time to optimize the basic information on your Google My Business listing. Now, let’s move on to the next aspect.

2. Optimizing Reviews: Encouraging Positive Ones and Handling Negative Ones

Reviews are a really important aspect for local SEO, as well as for your business’s growth in general. Not only good reviews are an important ranking signal for Google Maps, positive reviews will attract customers to your business while negative ones can significantly hurt your revenue.

Nowadays, 86% consumers read reviews before making any purchases, especially when considering local businesses. So, if your business doesn’t have a lot of positive reviews, you can miss out on a lot of opportunities.

So, the big question is: how can we get more reviews? It is actually fairly simple. Ask your existing, happy customers. Google Maps and Google My Business actually encourage you to get positive reviews, as you can send your customers a link with just a few steps.

To encourage your customers, you might want to offer incentives, which actually is a common practice for many local businesses. For example, you can offer a special discount or even a freebie for customers who left a review for you, or posted something positive about your business in their social media.

However, we shouldn’t only focus on reviews on Google Maps. Although it is never confirmed by Google, many have agreed that reviews on third-party sites—especially major ones like Yelp or TripAdvisor— are also accounted by Google as ranking signals. In fact, quite recently Google encourages placing reviews from Yelp and other sites on your site.

In short: encourage as many positive reviews as you can on as many platforms as you can.

Now, how about handling negative reviews? The basic principle here is to respond to ALL reviews, both positive and negative ones. A lot of consumers prefer businesses that respond to negative reviews, but obviously we will need to respond properly. Here are the key considerations when responding to negative reviews:

1. Understand that there are at least two different kinds of negative reviews. First are the valid ones coming from real customers with real issues. Second are the ones coming from fake customers, often with malicious intents. Recognizing these two will be very important here, so you won’t make any false accusations.
2. Don’t ever deliver false promises when responding to negative reviews. If you don’t have the solution for a specific problem, simply tell them “we are working on it, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible”. If you say you’ll be back with them within 24 hours, do so.
3. If you have sufficient proofs that a negative review is fake, you can ask Google Maps (or other review sites) to take it out. Depending on the case, you might also want to pursue legal actions to discourage similar cases.
4. Remember that for valid negative reviews, there are always the underlying issues. For example, if you received a lot of negative feedback about the long queue on your premise, there might be actual issues with your queuing system. Unless you address this problem first, you’ll keep getting similar reviews.

3. Optimizing Images and Photos

The first thing that should be addressed is that images and photos are not direct ranking factors for Google Maps. However, according to Google My Business itself, businesses with photos get 40% more direction requests. In short, you’ll get more conversions, which can indirectly affect your ranking (when a lot of people request for directions to your business or call your number directly from Google Maps result, Google will see your listing as relevant, which can boost your ranking.

Your profile photo is the first thing a prospect will notice when they are searching on Google Maps, and in Google My Business, you can upload four kinds of images:

• Regular photos: you can upload any kinds of photos here, but Google may review your photos for quality. Your customers can also tag your listing with a photo, which will be under “Photos tagged of your business”.
• Profile photo: self-explanatory, you can choose one photo to represent your identity. You can also choose photos tagged by other people as your profile photo.
• Cover photo: a landscape photo on the very top of you page. You can use it to set the mood of your listing, or to show interesting qualities of your business (i.e., your restaurant’s ambiance)
• Videos: everyone is streaming videos nowadays, and this is a great opportunity to attract customers by investing in engaging videos.

To optimize your images, here are some quick tips to follow:

• The image’s format should be in JPG or PNG, with a size of between 10KB and 5MB
• 720px tall and 720px wide minimum resolution
• Make sure your photos are in-focus, well-lit, and don’t use excessive filters. Google prefers images that represent reality, and as mentioned, Google might review your images for quality
• Optimize the metadata of your images by optimizing the EXIF data, and you might want to check out this tool to help you.

4. Use Google Posts To Engage Your Customers

Google Posts is a fairly new feature of Google Maps and Google My business, and was just introduced in late 2017.

As the name suggest, with Posts you can post content related to your business such as:

• Informing your audience for new products or services, complete with interesting photos
• Inviting people to join an upcoming event
• Announcing various news, for example, if your business just received an award or even a good review from reputable reviewer
• You can use interesting gifs to attract your audience.
• You can also include CTA buttons like “Buy”, “Learn More”, “Sign Up”, and so on.

Again, Posts is not a direct ranking signal, but the more engagement you get, the more Google will perceive your business as relevant and credible.

Creating a Post is fairly simple, the “Posts” option should appear on the left-hand side of your Google My Business sidebar. If not, probably you haven’t verified your Google my business account, and you can check here to learn how.

You can then add texts and images to your post, and here are the important things to consider:

• When adding images, keep in mind that Google uses a 4:3 ratio (so your minimum size should be 400×300 pixels). Google will crop your image to fit the aspect ratio, but make sure it’s high-quality, a proper representation of your business.
• The maximum words allowed in a post is 300. However, if you use a CTA button, only around 70 characters will show on mobile devices. The entire texts will be shown if you don’t use any CTAs.
• Content is everything. Don’t always aim to sell, but you can engage your audience with various creative ways. Your goal here is engagement.
• Google offers a very useful insights feature, so track your posts’ performance and adjust your tactics accordingly
• A post will stay for seven days, but you can set a shorter time period. A week is not a long time, so it is very important to be very specific and time-sensitive with your posts.

Posts can be a very effective way to engage your audience on Google Maps, so you might want to plan ahead and create a content marketing plan specific for Google Posts.

5. Building Local Citations

Local citations are the equivalent of backlinks in regular SEO. A citation, by definition, is when an online entity (website, blog, social media profile) mentions your NAP. The more citations you have, the more relevant your business will be perceived. According to a report by MOZ, citations account for 13% of ranking signals.

The most important thing to consider when building local citations is consistency. Your NAP information must be consistent at all times. Not only inconsistent NAP won’t bring value to your business, Google might downgrade your ranking if there are too many variations of you NAP.

So, how can we build local citations? We can start by listing our business on major business directories like Yelp, Facebook Places, TripAdvisor, and so on. Then, we can continue building citations on specific online directories according to your industry/niche and location. A simple Google search can help you with this, for example, if you are a restaurant in Texas, do a quick Google search for “Texas business directory”, “Texas restaurant directory”, and other similar search phrases. You can also check these lists to help you further:

• Moz’s top local citations list (by category)
• Moz’s top local citations list (by city)

So, the keys to success here are quantity and consistency, and there will be a lot of hard work involved. Not only you will need to build as many citations and possible, you will need to check whether all citations are consistent. Then, in cases when your business change address or phone number, you will need to update all listings manually.

This can be a massive work, so it might be a good idea to hire a local SEO service especially to help you with building your business’s local citations.

End Words

The keys in optimizing your Google My Business listing are accurate information, quantity of local citations, and consistency. It is technically not difficult to execute, but will require a significant time investment as well as hard work.

This is where an SEO expert/consultant can help you, especially to maintain consistency in building your local citations.

The post Tips To Optimize Your Google My Business Listing appeared first on Mike Khorev - SEO Consultant.

To answer this question, first we will need to define the term “SEO” and “local SEO” respectively, understanding their similarities, differences, and different benefits.

First, SEO—or Search Engine Optimization—, in a nutshell, is optimizing your site to rank higher on Google’s (and other search engines’) result page for specific keywords. For example, if your business is a pizza restaurant, if you can rank for the “best pizza” New York, it will bring several key benefits including but not limited to:

• You can attract those who are searching for the “best pizza” query
• Since this is a positive keyword associated with credibility, this audience will perceive your business as trustworthy and credible
• If the “best pizza” keyword has a high number of search volume (which is, the number of searches in a given month), you can get a lot of traffic to your site, which can then translate to more people visiting your business and purchasing from you

How can we implement SEO? While SEO is a very, very broad and complex subject, it will boil down to mainly three things:

• Creating and publishing high-quality, relevant content pieces that include the target keyword(s). The keywords should be included naturally with optimal density.The main focus here is to develop content pieces that are valuable for your ideal readers.
• Optimizing your site so that it can be easily indexed by Google. This aspect will include things like ensuring your site is mobile responsive, ensuring fast load speed, and so on.
• Getting other sites, especially high-quality ones to link your site (and your content). These links are known as backlinks, and simply put, the more high-quality backlinks you have, the better Google will perceive your business as relevant (and so you will climb up the rankings).

SEO efforts are mainly centered in these three factors. So, what about local SEO? Local SEO is, in essence, attempting SEO to target the local audience: ensuring your business’s local presence to the audience within your geographic proximity, or the audience located within your service area.

In the past, this is mainly achieved by targeting “local keywords”, which are mainly keywords that include location names (i.e., “restaurants in LA”,”bookstores in NY”, and so on). While the same practice is still effective nowadays, today Google uses Google Maps’ results for location-related keywords and “near me queries”.

Try typing for “restaurants near me” on Google, and you will get a result page with the top 3 of Google Maps results just below the paid advertising (if someone places an ad for your area and for this specific keyword).

So, with this phenomenon, for local SEO we should aim for two different things:

• Ranking on organic search results page for location-focused keywords, as we have discussed above. This is mainly done through the same efforts we have discussed for organic SEO above.
• Ranking on Google Maps. Google Maps only display three of the top results before you have to click “more places”. So, ranking on this top-3, or the 3-pack is the ultimate goal.

Now, ranking organically for the local-focused keywords will produce the same benefits as organic SEO—which we have discussed above—-, but what about ranking on Google Maps? Here are some important takes:

• Google Maps result is interactive, where you can call the business directly with just a single click or get a Google Maps’ directions to the said business. Meaning, you have many opportunities to ensure conversions
• Fewer people will click on the “more places” button to check on results below the top-3. On the other hand, a lot of us simply don’t trust paid search ads although it’s placed above the Google Maps results. Simply put, by ranking in the 3-pack, you are generally perceived as the most credible business among your local competitors.

As we can see, there are a lot of benefits tied to local SEO, both by ranking on the organic search results page and by ranking on the top-3 results of Google Maps. Especially if your small business is targeting local audience, you will miss out on a lot of opportunities if you don’t work with SEO experts and consultants on optimizing your site and listing.

So, How Can I Implement Local SEO?

Now that we’ve discussed the benefits and importance of local SEO, the common question here is: a) What should I do to implement local SEO?, and b) Do I need to get help from a professional or a marketing agency? In this section, we will mainly try to answer these two questions.

First, above we have mentioned that there are two main goals of local SEO:

• Ranking for local-focused and location-related keywords on Google’s organic search
• Ranking on Google Maps’ results

Both of these will require different technical approaches, so we will discuss them separately. First, let us learn the key steps of ranking on Google Maps.

Ranking On Google Maps’ 3-Pack

Before we can optimize our Google Maps (or Google My Business—more on this later—), we must first learn about the key factors that can affect Google Maps ranking.

Although there’s always the debate surrounding Google Maps’ (and Google’s) ranking signals, generally experts agreed that there are three main factors affecting the ranking of your Google Maps listing:

• How complete, comprehensive, and optimized is the information on your Google My Business account (again, more on this later)
• The number of positive reviews on your Google Maps listing, as well as on third-party sites (Yelp, Facebook Places, TripAdvisor, other local business directories)
• The number of citations you have, which is, the mentions of your Name, Business, and Phone Number (NAP) on the internet. Citations have a similar effect to backlinks in regular SEO: the more sites (especially high-quality ones) that mention your NAP, the more credible Google will perceive your business.
• Last but not least, the searcher’s location. If another business with similar optimizations and authority is closer to the searcher than yours, it will rank higher.

Based on those three factors, here are the key steps in improving your Google Maps ranking:

1. Register and Verify Your Google My Business Listing

To have your business listed on Google Maps, you will need to register for a Google My Business account, which is totally free.

The registration process itself is fairly simple, and you can click the link here to get started right away. However, here are some key considerations when registering your Google My Business (GMB) account:

• Your Name, Address, and Phone Number (NAP) are the most important pieces of information in your GMB listing. Make sure they are accurate and up-to-date, and if you have previously listed your business on other online platforms, make sure the information is consistent.
• If you deliver your products/services to your customers, check the corresponding box under the location tab. There’s also the option to hide your address (i.e, if you are operating your business from home). However, your address information is a very important ranking factor, so it is not advisable to hide it from public unless it is absolutely necessary.
• Choose your business category carefully. Remember that it is about what your business is, and not what you sell/provide. You can choose several categories (which will translate to attracting different types of customers), so think very carefully about how your business will fit in within categories, and optimize this aspect.

The next step is to verify your Google My Business account. There are several features that are locked from you unless your listing is verified (i.e., Google Posts), and obviously getting verified will affect your ranking.

To verify your account, you can simply click on the verify now button after you sign in to your Google My Business account. Generally, Google will send a postcard to your business’s physical address containing a verification PIN. Verification via phone and email are also available for certain business types.

2. Optimizing Your Google My Business Listing

Now that your GMB listing is verified (or at least, in the process of verification), it’s time to optimize your listing.

The main principle here is to add as many accurate information as you can about the business. The thing is, people (yes, even random people that hates your business) can “suggest an edit” to your listing. Sometimes, Google will approve these changes without notifying you.

So, it’s important to make your listing as complete and accurate as you can to discourage people from suggesting an edit. Also, regularly check your GMB dashboard and monitor if there’s any change.

Here are some key areas where you can optimize your GMB listing:

Service area

Remember that Google Maps ranking is based on searcher’s location. So it is important to accurately provide accurate information about your service area. You can check Google’s guidelines on this topic here, but here are the key areas to focus on:

• If you are a brick-a-mortar business serving your customers at your place, check the box “I serve customers at my business address”. This will show your complete address on Google Maps
• Similarly, check the box stating that you deliver goods and services to your customers if you do so.
• Make sure to put in accurate business hours. You can also include customized hours for holidays and weekends if necessary.

Including Keywords

Similar to regular SEO strategy, Including the target keywords to our listing is an important ranking signal. The first step to do this is obviously a proper keyword research: we should find relevant keywords according to our locations, with enough search volume, yet manageable competition.

The main principle here to find the optimal keyword density. Don’t worry too much about the density percentage, but instead focus on including the keywords naturally so the content is comprehensive for human readers.

Including Photos and Videos

According to Google’s reports, businesses that feature photos will get significantly more clicks, requests for driving directions, and phone calls. Remember that Google Maps is essentially a visual platform, and we should make full use of the fact that searchers can directly ask for directions to your business, call your number, and visit your website from the Google Maps search result.

Your photos should be at least 720px by 720px in size, and make sure your photos are properly taken, well-lit, and not altered too much (filtered, photoshopped, etc.). Google might review your photos for quality from time to time, and Google does prefer photos that represent the reality of your business.

You can also add videos that are 30 seconds or shorter. Use this opportunity to highlight unique values of your business (interesting interior, product showcase, etc.).

To further optimize your images and videos, you can use metadata to ensure easier indexing.

3. Encouraging positive reviews and managing negative ones

As mentioned, the quantity of positive reviews is a very important ranking signal. If your Google Maps (and GMB) listing has a lot of positive reviews, Google will perceive your business as credible and relevant.

Obviously, there’s another significant benefit of having a lot of positive reviews. A lot of us will check for reviews nowadays, before making any purchase decision. A good number of positive reviews will encourage higher conversions.

However, it’s not always about having more positive reviews, as how you respond to bad ones is also important. Recently, Google confirmed that they do prefer businesses that respond to reviews, which might directly affect ranking.

Responding to reviews will also encourage more people to leave a review. They will feel that their voices are being heard, and that the company will respond when they have issues.

When responding to reviews, here are the key considerations:

• Respond quickly and politely, avoid giving promises you can’t deliver. If you don’t have an answer for a specific issue, just say something like, “we are investigating the issue and will get back to you as soon as possible “.
• There are always cases of bad reviews made with malicious intents (from those who never bought your product/service, non-existent issues, etc). If you have sufficient proofs, you can ask Google (or other review platforms) to remove this review. If it’s a serious case, you might want to pursue legal actions.
• For valid negative reviews, remember that there’s usually an underlying issue(s). If you don’t tackle this issue, you’ll keep getting the same bad reviews.

Another way to encourage more positive reviews is to offer incentives. For example, you can offer discounts and even freebies for those who have left positive reviews on your Google Maps listing or posted about your business in social media.

What about reviews on third-party sites like Yelp or Facebook Places? Google strongly suggested that they will indeed affect ranking. Besides, the more positive reviews you have, the more people that will purchase from you, so you might as well encourage positive reviews on as many platforms possible.

4. Building Local Citations

Local citations, as mentioned, are any mention of your business’ NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) in the internet.

In local SEO and especially improving your Google Maps ranking, citations have a similar value to backlinks in regular SEO: the more citations you have, the more relevant and credible Google will perceive your business, and so the higher you will rank.

There are generally two main approaches in building your local citations: getting relevant sites, bloggers, social media personalities, and others. The second approach is to list your business on online local directories according to your niche.

To start, list your business on major platforms according to your industry. If you are a restaurant, for example, you can list your business on Yelp and TripAdvisor among other platforms. You might want to check out this list by HubSpot listing these major online directories.

Besides these platforms, a quick Google search will help you find local online directories according to your niche and location.

The main principle in building local citations here is to maintain information consistency, especially your NAP. Your NAP should be consistent across all of your citations. Information inconsistency won’t only lead to confusion for your customers, but can also hurt your Google Maps ranking in the long run.

Ranking on Organic Search for Local-Focused Keywords

Now, we shift our focus to organic local SEO, and as we have mentioned, there are three main factors affecting organic ranking:

• The technical aspect of your site, which affects how easily Google can index your site.
• Your content and how it includes your focus keywords. Google will crawl this content and determine whether your site is relevant for the said keyword
• The quantity and quality of backlinks. The more quality sites that link to your site, the more credible Google will perceive your site.

So, as before, here we will focus on how to optimize our site according to these three factors, starting with the first one.

1. Website Optimization

Website optimization for SEO is by itself, a pretty deep subject. You might want to consult this technical SEO checklist to plan your site optimization according to its current state.

However, especially for local SEO, here are a few key areas to focus on:

2. Mobile-responsiveness

It’s no secret that quite recently Google implemented a new update to prefer mobile-friendly sites for ranking purposes.

If your site is not yet mobile-friendly, Google might opt not to include it in the SERP. To start, you can use Google’s mobile-friendly test tool to check your site’s current state.

If your site doesn’t pass the test, here are a few areas you can optimize:

• Make sure your content, images, and other site elements are properly displayed on mobile devices
• If you include forms, don’t use too many fields and make sure users can easily fill in on their mobile devices
• Pay extra attention of your NAP information. Make sure it’s displayed properly even on mobile devices’ smaller screens
• If you include reviews on your site, make sure it’s easily readable

Remember that besides for SEO purposes, not having a mobile-responsive site can significantly affect bounce rate and conversions.

3. Load speed

Similar to mobile-responsiveness, load speed can also affect bounce rate. Make sure your site has a fast enough load speed, and you might want to check out this guide on improving your site’s loading speed.

4. Optimizing Keywords

You should include your target keywords at least in these areas on your site:

• Site URL
• Title Tags
• Headers
• Meta description
• Your site’s content

Google nowadays is being quite sensitive about heavy-optimizations, and so there are two main concerns here:

• Use semantically-related words instead of exact-match keywords. For example, instead of always using “best restaurant in Toronto”, you can use similar phrases like “restaurants to visit if you are in Toronto” and other similar phrases.
• Focus on providing comprehensive content for human readers. Include your keywords naturally and don’t overstuff your content.

5. Location pages

Since this is especially about local SEO, including location pages, especially if you include a Google Maps snippet can significantly improve your ranking.

If your business has more than one location, create specific pages for each of these locations. Again, make sure to include accurate NAP information for each pages, and avoid using duplicate content pieces across multiple pages.

6. Local-focused content

Google’s algorithm is now much more advanced compared to the early days of SEO. In the past, we can get away with shallow content with a high keyword density. Nowadays, your content should bring value to your human readers, and Google can recognize this.

Your main goal here is to build credibility as the local expert or thought leader according to your niche, so you should focus on relevant local keywords to attract your ideal audience.

For example, if you are a home remodelling company, you can go beyond the usual keywords like “home remodelling tips” and similar ones. You can help newcomers get well-acquainted with your city, like providing a content covering important local service providers. These types of content can help attract new audience.

End Words

While local SEO might seem like a complicated concept at first, it is actually quite simple once you’ve got the hang of it.

However, since one of the main elements of local SEO efforts is citation building where quantity and consistency is the keys, the process can be long and tedious.

Getting the help of a local SEO services can tremendously help especially in maintaining consistency across all your different listings.

The post The Small Business Guide To Local SEO appeared first on Mike Khorev - SEO Consultant.

Google Maps results are based on Google My Business listings. So, one of the main considerations in improving your Google Maps ranking is by optimizing your Google My Business listing. Here are the steps provides by SEO consultant Mike.

1. Including Optimized and Complete information

Google My Business is essentially a place where you can list information about your business, and these pieces of information will be used by Google to determine your business’s relevance, credibility, and ultimately, ranking.

So, the first thing to optimize on your Google My Business listing is your business’s information, especially these areas:

• Your NAP—your business’s name, address and phone number. These are the most important pieces of information about your business on the internet.
• Your site’s URL. Google will crawl your site to determine its relevance in tandem with your GMB listing.
• Description. There’s an ongoing debate whether optimizing your description for keywords will actually benefit your ranking. However, there’s no harm in doing so as long as you include these keywords naturally. Focus on attracting and engaging your human audience.
• Category. Choose the primary category that best represents what your business does. You can also choose other relevant sub-categories, this is a good opportunity not only for ranking purposes, but to attract a wider audience
• Attributes. Use attributes to highlight unique features about your business. For example, whether your restaurant offer outdoor seating or vegetarian menu.

Pay extra attention to your NAP. Make sure it is up-to-date and accurate, and if you have any mention of your NAP on the internet (local citations, more on this below), make sure to maintain consistency.

Here are some extra tips you can use to optimize this aspect:

1. Make sure your listed address matches the proper Google Maps’ coordinates, same for zip-codes.Again, aim for consistency.
2. It’s better to list a local phone number instead of a national or regional number.
3. Don’t over-optimize category, attributes, and description. Again, make sure they are natural and comprehensive for human readers.
4. Use this guide to help you in choosing your categories.
5. Remember to be as specific as possible when choosing categories and attributes.

2. Soliciting Reviews and Handling Negative Ones

The quantity of positive reviews is a very important ranking signal for local SEO. However, there’s also the obvious benefit of boosting your conversions and revenue: more and more people read reviews before making purchases, especially when considering local brick and mortar businesses.

Studies suggested that up to 8ryh6% of consumers nowadays read reviews before deciding on any purchases. So, if you don’t have enough positive reviews, it will simply hurt your conversion rates significantly. Yet, how can we get more positive reviews? There are at least three main approaches:

• Just ask. Sometimes, all it takes is simply to ask your customers to leave a review. The key here is not only to ask politely (and as engaging as possible), but also to find the right timing. For example, send an email asking for a review for customers who just repurchase your product (indicating they are indeed happy with your brand), or if you track online engagement, send an email for those who frequently visited your product listing page and blog.

• Incentives. Pretty self-explanatory, you can offer incentives to existing customers in exchange of their reviews (and social media mentions). You can combine this with the first approach to optimize your chances.

• Responding to existing reviews. If you frequently respond to existing reviews (yes, even the bad ones), your audience are more likely to leave their own reviews. They will have the perception that their issues will be responded quickly, and similarly, their positive feedback will be appreciated.

As you can see, managing negative reviews is also a significant aspect of soliciting more positive reviews. You might want to check out this guide on online reputation management to get started. However, here are some quick tips on this aspect:

• Differentiate between valid negative reviews coming from real customers and fake reviews with malicious intent. If you have sufficient proofs, you can ask Google Maps (or other review sites) to take down fake reviews. You might also want to pursue legal actions depending on the severity of the case.
• Respond quickly and politely, and don’t offer promises you can’t deliver.
• Remember that for valid bad reviews, there is usually an underlying issue(s). If you don’t fix these issues in the first place, you’ll keep getting the same negative feedbacks over and over again.

3. Engaging Your Customers Through Google Posts

Google Posts was introduced in late 2017 as a feature of Google My Business. As a side note, only verified Google My Business listing will get this feature, so if you can’t access Google Posts via your GMB dashboard, chances are you haven’t verified your listing.

With Google Posts, you can post content about your business, such as:

• Announcing new products or services with engaging images
• Event invitation, both for online and offline events
• Using gifs and other engaging media to attract your audience
• Announcing various business-related news.

You can include CTA buttons (“Buy”, “Learn More”, etc.) with your posts. But remember that if you use a CTA button, only around 70 characters will be displayed on mobile devices, compared to 300 characters without.

Engagement is an important ranking factor for Google Maps ranking, so take advantage of Google Posts to attract more audience. Besides, there’s also the benefit of attracting more prospects and improving conversion rates.

4. Using and Optimizing Images

According to Google themselves, business listings that include photos get up to 40% more conversion rates from requests of directions to phone calls to actual visits. Again, the more people engaged your listing, the higher it will rank.

When optimizing for photos, here are some key areas to consider:

• You can use all kinds of images and photos, but Google can review your photos for quality and appropriation. Generally, Google prefers photos that can represent the reality of your business, so avoid using too much filter and editing.
• The image format should be in PNG or JPG with a size between 10KB and 5MB
• The minimum resolution should be 720px x720px.
• Take photos within (or nearby) your business location, Google will crawl your photo location metadata and this can affect your ranking.
• You can also upload videos up to 30 seconds long. Use this opportunity to highlight unique qualities of your business.

5. Building Local Citations

Local citations refer to any mention of your business’s NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) information on the internet. Citation is a very important ranking signal, and there are generally two main ways to get citations: build relationships with authoritative press, sites, blogs, and social media profiles. The second approach is to list your business in various online directories:

• Google My Business is technically an online directory, and the most important factor in implementing local SEO.
• Start with major online directories like Facebook Places, Yelp, and so on depending on your niche. Check out this list to help you out in this aspect.
• You can then continue with smaller online directories depending on your location and industry type. Use this list for top local directory by category, and this list for citations based on city.

The key in building local citations is to maintain consistency, especially for your NAP information. If, for example, you just changed your business address, you will need to update all of these listings. Inconsistent information not only can mislead your audience, but can significantly hurt your Google Maps ranking in the long run.

End Words

To optimize your Google My Business listing, the most important factors are accurate and up-to-date information, quantity of local citations, number of positive reviews, and consistency of information.

The post Effective Strategies To Improve Your Google My Business Ranking appeared first on Mike Khorev - SEO Consultant.