how to rank higher on Google maps

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10 Key Steps To Ranking Higher In Google
Maps
Put your business on the map and secure more customers. Follow these top 10
tips to become more visible on Google Maps.
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Jeff Riddall
June 29, 2022 ⋅ 9 min read
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You’re searching for a lunch spot in an unfamiliar neighborhood, or you need a
mechanic to assist with an unexpected 몭at tire.
Where do you look?
If you answered Google Maps, you’re not alone.
These days, many of us are turning to Google Maps to discover local businesses
and make more informed buying decisions.
So how can local businesses rank higher in the place consumers are
increasingly looking to purchase local products and services?
ADVERTISEMENT
CONTINUE READING BELOW
Here are ten steps to take in order to rank well, drive more traf몭c and secure
more customers via Google Maps.

1. Claim And Complete A Google Business
Profile
The 몭rst, crucial step in establishing visibility in Google Maps is claiming and
optimizing your Google Business Pro몭le (GBP – formerly known as Google My
Business or GMB).
You can do this by simply searching for your business name on Google or
Google Maps and verifying your listing if you have not already done so.
Once you have a listing and are logged into your Google account, you can now
edit it, even from directly within the search results.
Screenshot from Google Business Profile, June 2022
Being a Google property, GBP provides a primary signal to Google of your
business’ existence – and the information here is assumed to be accurate and
up to date.

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Google will cross-reference these details with those it 몭nds on your website
and in other local directories and resources; more on the importance of these
in a moment.
2. Post Linked Content 몭Including Photos)
After you’ve claimed your GBP listing, your work is only partway done.
Google rewards active businesses with higher visibility in Google Maps, so it’s
important to post regular updates to your GBP pro몭le.
These updates may and should include special offers, hosted events, links to
relevant blog posts, or general business updates.
Rank your website higher on Google maps.
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Where possible, incorporating photos into your updates is also encouraged, as
visuals are more likely to boost viewer engagement in terms of shares or clicks.
You should also be including links in your posts, ideally to primary product or
service pages on your website.
3. Optimize Your Web Presence For Local
Organic Search
If you want to rank well on Google Maps, you should ensure your web presence,
including your website and external content, is optimized for your local
audience.
You can start by performing a local SEO audit to identify where you need to
focus your attention from a keyword, content, and linking perspective – as
these are the three primary components upon which a presence is built.

Your website needs to be properly structured to enable Google to easily crawl
and index your content, and the content within your site needs to be rich with
relevant, locally-oriented, intent-driven keywords and logical internal and
external links to the answers your audience is searching for.
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Google rewards websites that lead searchers to answers in as few clicks as
possible.
Websites must also load quickly and provide seamless navigation, regardless of
device.
This is particularly important at a local level, as searchers increasingly begin
their quests on their phones.
4. Use Local Business Schema
When it comes to structuring content, and especially business details, Google
and other search engines prefer standardization – which has led to the
development of schema.
Local Schema enables businesses to wrap code around their content to make it
easier for Google to crawl and index.
Local business schema covers many of the same business details captured in a
Google Business Pro몭le, which Google will naturally cross-reference.

Google Business Pro몭le, which Google will naturally cross-reference.
The easier it is for Google to validate your location, the more likely your
business is to show up prominently in Google Maps.
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5. Embed The Google Map On Your Contact
Us Page
While it’s not explicitly stated that embedding a Google Map in your website
will make a difference in terms of where you rank in Google Maps, it’s not far-
fetched to assume this is Google’s preferred format.
Here again, Google is able to ensure a consistent user experience for its
searchers, which should likewise be the aim of any business looking to please
its customers.
6. Mine And Mind Your Reviews
Any business can create a GBP listing, ensure its basic business information is
up to date, and post plenty of relevant, local content.
However, another critically important factor in determining if, and where, a
local business shows up in Google Maps is customer reviews.

Google pays close attention to both how many reviews your business obtains,
and how active it is in responding to those reviews, regardless of whether
they’re positive or negative.
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Any business naturally wants to limit the number of negative reviews it receives
and all negative reviews should be dealt with swiftly.

This can actually become a valuable way of displaying your business’
commitment to customer service.
While there are many places customers can leave reviews online, including
Facebook, Yelp, and other industry-speci몭c review sites, reviews on GBP
pro몭les will carry more weight when it comes to Google Map rankings.
Consider proactively asking your customers for reviews soon after you’ve
successfully delivered a product or service when a presumably positive
experience is top of mind for their customers.
There are services available to help automate review requests (via email or text)
once certain on or of몭ine customer actions have been completed (e.g.
appointment completed, invoice paid, etc.) and review management across
multiple sources through a central dashboard.
ADVERTISEMENT
Automation can save busy local businesses a lot of time, and ensure positive
reviews 몭ow in on a regular basis.
7. Update Your Local Listings/Citations With
Your NAP
The three most important pieces of directional information on your GBP,
website, and across the web are your Name, Address and Phone Number or

website, and across the web are your Name, Address and Phone Number or
NAP.
It’s critical for both Google and your audience to have your NAP consistent and
accurate across all of these sources.
These references to your business from third-party sites are also called
citations.
To 몭nd and ensure your NAP is up to date, you can start by simply searching
your business name and noting all of the places your business details can be
found.
Check each instance and reach out to each directory or website owner to
update this important contact information, as needed.
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There are also free and paid automated local listings services, which will enable
you to identify and update your NAP, along with other important business
information like your website URL, services, or even relevant images, from one
central location.
8. Build Local Backlinks
Backlinks or inbound links are effectively an extension of our NAP strategy,
whereby you look to have relevant, local third-party websites link to your

primary website pages.
Backlinks can validate your business from both local and product/service
perspectives.
If you maintain listings with links in local directories, you will want to ensure
those listings are in the proper categories, if category options are offered.
Ideally, these links to your website are “follow” links, which means Google will
follow and recognize the source of the link to your content.
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Most directories realize the value of “follow” links and therefore charge for
inclusion, but you should also look for opportunities to secure links from other
non-paid sources such as relevant partner, industry or service organization
sites.
9. Engage With Your Community
Just as Google rewards GBP activity, it also pays attention to how active a
business is within its community as a means to establish its local presence and
authority.
Businesses noted to be engaging with local service organizations (e.g.
Chambers of Commerce, charities, or sports groups), sponsoring local events,
or partnering with other prominent local businesses are naturally deemed to be

or partnering with other prominent local businesses are naturally deemed to be
a thriving part of the community.
Engagement can include publishing and/or promoting linked content e.g. event
announcements, partner pages tied to these partner organizations, and, of
course, physically engaging and perhaps getting mentioned/linked in local
news stories or other publications.
ADVERTISEMENT
10. Pay Attention To The SERPs And The
Long Tail
If you are going to optimize any aspect of your local web presence, you will
want to monitor your progress in terms of whether or not and where you rank
within Google Maps and the regular search engine results pages (SERPs) based
on the keywords you are hoping to be found for.
You can perform your own manual Google searches (preferably in Incognito
Mode and while not logged into a Google account), or you can choose from a
number of rank monitoring tools, many of which enable you to speci몭cally 몭lter
out Map rankings.
When considering which keywords to follow, be sure to consider and include
local identi몭ers and qualifying keywords such as “near me,” “best,” and
“affordable” – e.g “auto body shops near me,” “best auto body shop in Barrie,” or
“affordable auto body work.”

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Three, four, and 몭ve-keyword phrases like these are considered long tail, which
means they may not have signi몭cant local search volume – but these volumes
can add up, and any local business is well advised to focus on topical groups of
related keywords rather than chasing more competitive phrases.
In time, if you’ve truly established your business’ local authority, the short tail
top rankings will follow.
Put Your Business On The Google Map
So now, with your laundry list in hand, go ahead and put your local business on
the map.
Establishing your authority and expertise online is not really all that different
from how it’s always been in the real world, but it can take time, as any real
relationship should.
Google rewards those businesses that provide the best answers to their
customers’ questions, deliver solid products and services, take an active role in
their local community, have their customers say nice things about them, and
provide a high level of customer service at all times.
ADVERTISEMENT

If this describes your business, get out there and do it.
More resources:
50+ Business-Building Local SEO Tactics For SMBs
Local SEO: New Google Local & Google Maps Features That Boost
Marketing [Podcast]
A Guide to Local SEO
Featured Image: BestForBest/Shutterstock
Local Search SEO Strategy

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Read Full Bio
VIP CONTRIBUTOR
Jeff Riddall
Senior Product Manager at OneLocal
Jeff has been helping organizations manage, measure, and optimize
their Web presences for over 20 years. As Senior Product Manager ...
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