Never underestimate the power of local SEO — especially since half of all local searches conducted on a mobile device get customers in your store that same day.
Of course, many of those local searchers are also using Google Maps to help them navigate directly to your store. As a result, it’s highly likely that you’ve already made Google Maps a part of your local SEO strategy.
However, you need to know how the latest Google Maps update will impact local SEO — so you can adjust your strategy accordingly.
Read on to learn how to make sure you still stay at the top of local search engine results.
Keyword Order Matters
In the past, to show up in local SEO results, you just needed to include your company’s location somewhere within the keyword.
Essentially, it didn’t matter if you used “shoe store Omaha” or “Omaha shoe store.”
Now, it seems this is no longer the case — and each keyword will give a different set of search results. What can you do to stay on top? Make sure that you include different “versions” of your keyword in your content.
This means you’ll need to include both “shoe store Omaha” and “Omaha shoe store” in your Google My Business listing and posts.
Multiple Listings Are Out
Were you one of the companies trying to game the Google Algorithm system by listing your business under multiple addresses? Or perhaps your competition snatched up your business’s address?
Either way, Google is onto you. Now, your “fake” locations won’t help you to rank higher in the results. Unfortunately, it also impacts those businesses with shared offices spaces or individuals who work at the same address.
This means that the keywords we mentioned above are even more crucial.
Widened City Limits
Let’s say you own a local business that operates just outside of Chicago — with most of your clients based in Chicago. In the past, you were not able to rank in local SEO search results for the city of Chicago.
Thankfully now, you will!
Of course, this also means that there’s a lot more competition from businesses within your sector who do work in Chicago (which again, is why frequent posts and claiming your business listings are so important.)
Now, Google does not take “city limits” into consideration when coming up with their search results. Again, it’s all based on the location of the user. Google (wisely) realized that its users would much rather drive half a mile to a store right outside the city limits than drive for an hour just because of the Algorithm’s rules.
Conquer the Latest Google Maps Update With This Advice
Thanks to this post, the latest Google Maps update won’t wreck havoc on your local SEO strategy.
Still, this should serve as a gentle reminder that you always need to stay on your toes when it comes to monitoring updates to the Google Algorithm.
That’s where we can help.
Keep checking back with our site to learn more about how updates to the Algorithm will impact your strategy.