Local SEO: How to get local business showing up in Google Local
-
Hello,
We moved to a small town in Council, ID. It's interesting. None of the businesses around here are showing up in Google Local - map, phone number, hours, etc. Nothing. It's all Yelp and stuff.
Is there some sort of collective local SEO that has to be done to get Council, ID on the map? It's kind of strange that no businesses show up. I want to help local businesses, but I don't know if Google will even register them. We can get a group of local businesses together if we have to.
Let me know what we can do.
Thanks.
-
Hi Bob,
Good luck with your presentation! I think you have an interesting opportunity residing and working in a small town. Like you, I live in a rural area beyond a larger, good-sized city. I find it interesting to study local SERPs in areas like this - they sometimes provide unique insights into Google's 'thinking' when there are fewer options/less data. In the coming months, who knows what you might learn from closely studying your local SERPs?
-
Miriam,
Thanks. I am going to do a free presentation about how to get a knowledge panel result or to be in local results pack. You are right, there are a few things that are showing up. I'll proceed as planned with local SEO. Thanks. You are the best.
-
Hey Bob!
Just checking back in with you to see if you found community input helpful on this, or if you have further questions.
-
Hi Bob,
Like Miriam said, the population of the town is likely too small to generate enough data for Google to use for the normal local pack results that you are accustomed to.
Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that you'd be able to get the local pack set up for this area. I would try focusing your online efforts in the surrounding areas that might be slightly larger. Even though you're not located in the area, you might be relatively close enough to bump some other companies out of the local pack.
Good luck!
-
Hey Bob,
I see your new town is quite small - population 839. So, this would be one of those scenarios in which we have to realize that Google shows local results based on their internal logic. If Google is showing NO local results at all for your town, then it's an indication that they don't have sufficient data to create a local data set.
But, before we decide that this is going on, I'm doing some searches to verify whether there are literally no results. Here's what I see:
Term: gas station council id
Results: a 2-pack from the area surrounding your town
Term: grocery store council ID
Results: a knowledge panel result for a single grocery store
Term: church council ID
Results: a 3-pack of churches in your town
So, I'm 3/3 here, finding local results for your town, which is a good thing. With such a small population, I'm guessing that there aren't a ton of businesses in your town, but from my brief searches, my bet would be that with proper local SEO, you could at least get a knowledge panel result for some of these businesses if they are one-of-a-kind in that town, or see them appear in a 2-or-3-pack if there are multiple businesses in the same category.
Now, that being said, as someone who wants to offer Local SEO to your neighbors, it's going to be very important that you approach the SERPs as they currently stand. If, for example, you want to market the only bakery in town, and a search for 'bakery council id' is bringing up no Google local results but a page of organic results from Yelp, YP, TripAdvisor, Facebook, etc., then you have a path to follow. You must ensure that your bakery client is properly listed on all of the platforms that are appearing in the first few pages for this search, and that their information on these platforms is 100% accurate and complete. A tool like the free Moz Check Listing tool is also a great way to find any duplicates or inconsistencies on the major platforms that you'll want to correct. And, of course, you'd want to make sure that the bakery's own website is good enough to rank for this term organically.
Upshot: it would be good to earn Google local results for your clients, but if Google simply will not show any local results for a certain category of search, you need to be sure you're optimizing the first few pages of the results that do come up, so that your client is earning traffic and conversions.
Hope this helps!
-
You usually just need a google my business page and a google + local brand page. Fill out the information and verify the business. This should allow your business to show up in local search on google. Verification is very important. Without it the business will not be published on google +.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Why won't a business show up in the local pack when all signs point to that it should?
Hello! I've been trying to figure out why a business won't show up in the local pack even though their GMB has more reviews, seems to be doing everything right, and just doesn't show. The business is "A Senior Journey", and should be showing up for searches relating to "senior placement services tucson" or "senior placement tucson", but no dice. Been doing a competitor analysis and they are doing better or on par with all of their competitors. The same businesses in Tucson that are competitors show up both times, even Phoenix locations, but not A Senior Journey...any ideas? Thank you!
Local Listings | | WebMO-Tech-Rep0 -
How can I change my Google Business to be a non local business?
Hey guys, Do you know how to change my Google business account to be a non local business? I want my Google Knowledge Graph to be clean and neat like this. Does it mean that this company doesn't claim the business? Will removing the address from the Google My Business solve it (which I don't know whether we can take down the address)? Thanks
Local Listings | | attic0 -
Google My Business - duplicate and previous owner uncooperative
Hi there, One of my SEO clients, a summer camp, is having a problem with their GMB listing. They have two listings: the one they set up, with the correct address and other business info, and the one the previous camp owners set up, with an incorrect NAP. When we try to edit the duplicate listing, we're unable to verify that we own it because it's connected to the previous owner's phone number. They've passed away and their sons are now the contact, but they're not interested in helping out. Any suggestions on how to close the duplicate listing without being able to verify that it's your own business? Thanks, Susannah
Local Listings | | SusannahK.Noel0 -
Getting your business name on a Google Map?
How do you get your business name to appear on Google Maps? See attachment. What's the process to get this to happen? I have a Google Local listing, but that doesn't seem to be enough. ZzFnwBj
Local Listings | | Gavin.Atkinson0 -
How to add a branch location to Google+ Page
I have a verified local Google+ Page all set up for my local business and linked to my website.. it shows up nicely in local results for my city. Being ambitious I am expanding my presence into another city and would like my website to start showing up in local search for that area as well. What is the protocol for best results ? Start a new Google+ page or somehow add the branch onto the existing page (although there does not seem to be anywhere for this as the page is a local business and seems to lock it in with only a single address)..
Local Listings | | wicko1 -
Description on Google+ & ALL Citations the same or?
Does it matter if the description is different on Google local and all the citation websites? Some websites allow a lot of description, some don't. So my question is it only the company name+address that needs to be the same across the board or the description has to be the same too?
Local Listings | | surfsup0 -
Help with Google Places, local listings & Google+ please!
Hi all, I work for enterprise app development & mobile consultancy, Mubaloo. I recently asked a question around getting better rankings for London-based search results. One answer was to set up a local listing for Mubaloo's London office. I thought I had done by setting up our London office up on Places for Business - is this the same as a local listing? In addition to this, I can't connect our existing Google+ page to our local Mubaloo Bristol & London listings as Google has created separate pages for each! Is anyone else having this issue? Can it be resolved?
Local Listings | | donaldsze0 -
Show Address or Not, this is the question
Our physical address is not manned because we primarily go to the customer site either electronically or in person. So technically, we are not supposed to check the box in Google+ " I also serve customers at my business address." Having the box unchecked hides the address on the Google+ page leaving just City and State. Now that we have submitted our location in Moz Local, we see this causes an inconsistent listing issue. The address shows in other listings but not in Google+. On one hand, we do not want people showing up to our location expecting to find us there when we are not. On the other hand, we want our listings to be consistent so that customers can see that we are local and can deliver our services in person when necessary. So what should we do about this? p8A6ZW5 ReWtbOa
Local Listings | | BoundlessData0