Maximizing Local SEO: Leverage The Power of NAP and Google My Business to Compete in Local Business

If your business relies a lot on local customers like for example restaurants, barbershop, or photo studio, local SEO is one of crucial strategies that you have to execute .In fact, it's estimated that over 80% of consumers use search engines to find local information, which means that many other businesses that associated with local SEO can still benefit from its impact

 

As a result, you might see a lot of businesses optimizing their local online presence with local SEO to improve their visibility to local customers, drive more website traffic, and ultimately, generate more sales.

 

However, it's not as easy as it sounds. The main purpose of local SEO is to show the most relevant and trustworthy results for the local user. Improving local SEO requires an SEO strategy that can signal the credibility and authority of a website or business. 

 

This can be achieved with accurate NAP listings and effective management of your Google My Business account. Want to know how your business can achieve this? Let's explore !

NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone number. Yes, crucial information about business. But in the context of local SEO, NAP refers to the consistent and accurate listing of a business's name, address, and phone number across various online directories and platforms. For example like : 

 

1) Yelp

2) Bing

3) Yellow Pages

4) Facebook Pages

5) Instagram for Business

6) Linkedin Company Directory

7) Google My Business (Google Maps)

8) Apple Maps

9) Trip Advisor

 

The accuracy of your business listing depends on your business niche and target audience. The more precise and complete your business information is listed, the more beneficial it will be for your business’s local SEO. In other words, the more specific and tailored your business information is to your particular niche and audience, the greater the potential benefits it can provide for your business's local SEO efforts.

 

How exactly NAP helps your local SEO is, it helps Google to verify the legitimacy of the business by detecting the accurate information displayed to users in search results. Which is why consistency is a key part in NAP across all online directories and platforms in local SEO. Inconsistencies or inaccuracies in the NAP can confuse search engines and result in lower rankings for the business in local search results.

 

For example your business address on the website is "Local Main St.", but on your Google My Business profile as the online platforms, the address is listed as "Local Main Street." The inconsistency in the use of "St." versus "Street"  might not confuse the users but can lead to confusion to the search engines.

 

Other than helping your business to rank well on local keywords, Listing your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) correctly across online directories and platforms can increase credibility and trust within your business. This is particularly important since different industries have their own niche directories, and when users search for businesses in your industry or category, having your business listed in a relevant directory can increase the chances of them finding your business.

Have you ever searched for a product or service on Google Maps or in a search engine, and noticed that business locations or maps were displayed? That’s Google My Business.

 

Google My Business (GMB) is a free tool provided by Google that allows businesses to increase their online presence across Google through Google Search and Google Maps. 

 

So how exactly Google My Business works for your business local SEO ? Google even stated it by itself “To improve your business’s local ranking, use Google Business Profile to claim and update your business information.’ With Google My Business you can improve your  business's visibility in local search results that can attract more customers to your physical location. 

 

Similar to the importance of NAP (name, address, and phone number consistency), it's crucial to ensure that your business's accurate and up-to-date information is easily accessible to not only potential customers but also for Google.

 

Other than real time physical location visit, creating and optimizing your Google My Business listing can also generate more website traffic and phone calls for your business. As we are well aware that the primary goal of local SEO or even SEO is to give the most relevant and credible results for their user, By using Google My Business, you can increase engagement rates, build trust and credibility, and improve your search engine ranking, which can ultimately result in better SEO outcomes.

 

Little bit different from NAP listing  where the business information profile may vary according to each directory, Google My Business requires a fixed business information profile that you need to fill out to optimize it. Here are the lists : 

 

- Physical Address

- Phone Number

- Category

- Attributes

- Business Hours

- Photos 

- Add in-store Products ( For Retail Business)

Local SEO is very granular with their ranking position. Yes, one of the most valuable things you can do is increase the consistency and credibility of your business through all online platforms. But it's just one piece of a big puzzle. In addition to these factors, local SEO takes into account various other aspects during the ranking process.

 

Local results are primarily determined by relevance, distance, and prominence. These factors work together to help us find the best match for your search. 

 

For example, Google algorithms may determine that a business that's farther away from your location is more likely to have what you're looking for than a business that's closer, and therefore Google will rank it higher in local results. So what is relevance, distance, and prominence in local SEO ? 

Relevance refers to how well a local Business Profile matches what someone is searching for. Complete and detailed business information can assist Google in better understanding your company and matching your profile to relevant searches. So, it's essential to ensure that your business information is up-to-date and optimized for relevant search queries in order to improve your relevance in local SEO.

 

If you are a coffee shop, make sure to give most relevant business information from name, category, and descriptions.

Distance considers how far each potential search result is from the location term used in a search. For example if a user in Boston is searching for a “coffee shop in Boston” the only coffee shops in the Boston area that will appear in the user’s search results, as those located outside of Boston will not appear due to their distance from the user's location.

 

Yes it’s not because the quality of your local SEO is bad, it's just how local SEO works.If a user doesn't specify a location in their search, Google will calculate distance based on what they know about their location.

This is when things become a little complicated. The prominence of a business refers to how widely known it is. Some locations are more prominent in real life (offline), and search results attempt to reflect this in local ranking. Famous museums, landmark hotels, and well-known store brands are likely to appear prominently in local search results.

 

Additionally, prominence is determined by the data Google has collected about a business from various online sources, such as links, articles, and directories. Google review volume and review quality affect local search results. The area ranking of your company can be enhanced by more reviews and favorable ratings. Also your Search engine optimization (SEO) performance in web results is also a consideration.

 

One way to improve these aspects is by garnering more reviews and positive ratings from customers, as Google review volume and review quality also impact local search results.

Creating a business profile and listing in many directories like on Google My Business is something that anyone can do. As long as the correct business NAP (business's name, address, and phone number) is correct and not detected as duplicated, you can consider your listing creation process already successful . 

 

But to stand out and compete effectively, you have to optimize the profile and create a distinct, compelling presence. By implementing these tactics, businesses can improve their chances of appearing in the "local pack" of search results and attracting more local customers. Here what you can do : 

Just like regular SEO, using relevant keywords in the process is important. Using relevant keywords in your NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) listings and Google My Business can have a significant impact on your search engine rankings. It’s like you telling Google what your business is about and what you want to rank for.

 

Let’s say you have a coffee shop business. The relevant keywords that you can use such as “Best coffee in town”, “Top coffee shop”, “Quality coffee”, “Freshly brewed coffee”, “Handcrafted coffee”

“Cozy atmosphere”. These words are all related to the topic of coffee shops, but they are not exact synonyms of the word “coffee shop”

 

Make sure to input relevant keywords into your Google Business Profile and NAP listing. These can be used in various places such as the  description, category, responses to reviews, answers to questions, and in the posts you publish. However, it's important to use them organically and avoid keyword stuffing or using irrelevant keywords, just as you would with any other SEO tactic.

Quality of your NAP listing or Google My Business can be seen on the completeness and accuracy of the business profile. So make sure to provide the requested information in every section of each directory and Google My Business as providing accurate and comprehensive information is essential for improving your online visibility, experience and attracting potential customers.

To appeal to the trust factor of Google's algorithm, consistency is key. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that all information is consistent and up-to-date across all online platforms and directories where your business is listed.

 

Remember, building trust requires human interaction. Continuously encourage reviews and respond to them, whether they are positive or negative. Also,let Google know that you are an active and credible business by frequently answering to the review, posting updates to your Business Profile on Google My Business, uploading pictures, and updating your profile.

The last strategy is to keep improving by the data. Yes analyzing the performance of your Google My Business profile and NAP listings is crucial to do to keep tracking how your local SEO perform after optimizing both of these aspects

 

On Google My Business you can use the performance dashboard to gain the data insight about : 

- Overview of business profile interactions, 

- Total calls made from your Business Profile

- Total massages made from your Business Profile

- Total bookings made from your Business Profile

- Total direction requests made from your Business Profile

- Total website clicks made from your Business Profile

 

To keep in track whether your Google My Business and NAP listing bring advantageous impact, is by regularly monitoring your search engine rankings for local keywords. Your effort may be effective if you see an improvement in your search engine positioning.

 

One of the main metrics or objectives you can track is the total traffic to your website. Your NAP listing could prove successful if you notice an important rise  in website traffic from local search queries.

 

Note: The best way to track the total clicks and traffic generated by your website is by using Google Analytics.

In conclusion, local SEO is extremely important for companies that depend heavily on local clients. You can greatly improve your visibility, website traffic, and eventually sales by optimizing your online presence. For your company to create credibility and authority, NAP and GMB are two essential local SEO components that need consistent and accurate information. Comprehensive company details like the physical location, phone number, category, attributes, operating hours, photos, and in-store merchandise are all included in a well-optimized GMB listing. (for retail businesses). These actions will help your company's search engine rating and draw more nearby clients.