your Google business profile is a big deal if you're running a local business here is why picture this two roofers both located in Scottsdale Arizona the first one's killing it on Google Maps ranking number one almost everywhere across a 5 mile radius when people search for a roofing contractor the other barely a blip on the radar what's the secret Source it's all about making your Google business profile AO friendly in today's tutorial I'm going to walk you through some top-notch SEO tactics that will make your Google business profile SEO friendly so it can reach the
top of Google Maps super fast in 2024 and turn people who find you into customers these aren't just random tactics by the way they tried and tested backed by my own experiences with my clients but also by the brins of over 40 of the top local SEO experts worldwide these guys manage hundreds of listings and share their findings in the annual local search ranking Factor report revealing what Google looks for when ranking businesses on maps and local search results I'm going to use this report plus a couple of free tools to show you the quickest
way to get your Google business profile to number one on Google Maps so your listing can go from this to this if you're ready to roll let's get down to business all right let's kick things off with a couple of cool free crob extension that will help give your Google business profile a boost first up is gmbb everywhere it's a neat tool for checking out what you competitors are up to and getting ahead of them in search results next up is pleer it's a bit like gmbb everywhere but provide some extra info to check the
competition that GMB everywhere misses I put a link to both of these extensions in the description so make sure you download them once you've downloaded and installed them open up Google Maps and do a search gmbb everywhere we'll show you some cool hidden details on each listing everyday Searchers can't see meanwhile pleer adds a neat popup directly in Google Maps giving you an overview of information about your competitors which is really handy we're going to use some of this info in a minute but first let's take a look at the local search ranking Factor report
to see what matters for getting your Google business profile to rank number one in [Music] 2024 this report breaks down almost 150 factors that impact how Google Business profiles rank sorting them from the super important ones down to the less crucial ones this list doesn't directly come from Google it has been compiled based on a decade of top local SEO experts poking around trying stuff out and seeing what makes a difference in ranking a Google business profile is just pure gold obviously we're not going to go through the entire list instead we're going to zero
in on the ranking factors that can make a big impact fast and with minimal fuss starting with your business categories your business categories are super important for ranking on Google Maps especially your primary category it's the number one ranking Factor mentioned in the report you might think choosing a primary category is a no-brainer right but it's not always that simple check this Edge back company in San Diego as an example they could choose Edge contractor heating contractor air conditioning contractor or even plumber as a primary category since they offer all these Services they decided to
go for EDB contractor which seems like a good fit right and if you search for San Diego Edge they almost always rank in the top three results within a three M regist which is awesome but here is the twist a quick keyword check shows that San Diego plumber is searched four times more often than San Diego agback and if you search for San Diego plumber this company is almost nowhere to be found if this business decided to set up its primary category as plumber instead of hedback it could massively improve its ranking for plumber related
keywords in San Diego which would help them Reach many more customers in the process and make more money to figure out what the best primary category for your business should be consider it doing some keyword research first then head to Google Maps and search for the keyword you feel would be the best one to rank for based on your research gmbb everywhere will show you the primary category the top businesses are using which will be marked with a star this is the one you'd want to use to get the best chances of ranking for that
keyword but GMB everywhere will show you those listings secondary categories as well if any of those fit your business add them to your listing too because secondary categories are the seventh most important ranking Factor according to the report here is a final tip whatever primary category you choose make sure it aligns with the content on on the page your listing links to let's say our ageback company decided to switch to plumber their listing should link to their Plumbing page where Plum San Diego is in the title and headers of the page which are also ranking
factors and stand at position 11 and 15 respectively on the ranking report to change your categories log to your Google account go to your business profile hit edit profile then the pencil icon next to business category and update as needed these changes should impact your Google business profile rankings within 24 to 72 hours now let's dive into another key factor that can boost your business visibility just as much and as fast as your business categories one of the fastest ways for your Google business profile to hit the top spot on Google Maps is to make
sure that the keywords you want to be fan for are included in your business name this technique is so effective that it's ranked as the second most influential ranking factor in the report the strategy works wonders and I've seen great results with it for my clients to get an idea of its impact you might want to watch this video later but there's a problem Google's guidelines state that your business name should match your real world name as it appears on your storefront website and as known by your customers so you can't just add keywords in
your business name as you please otherwise your listing could be suspended well the good thing is you can work around this Rule and this is how if you're just starting out and have yet to choose a name for your business pick something that naturally includes your desired keywords you'll be able to legitimately use it on your listing and benefit from a ranking boost as soon as you claim a Google business profile if your business has already been running for a while and you've already claimed a Google listing consider adding the key words you want to
rank for to your name even if it goes against Google's guidelines I don't usually recommend doing anything that goes against Google's rules but from what I've seen Google isn't strict about enforcing this and I haven't seen any business get suspended because of it yet simply just make sure the keywords you add to your name are relevant to your business and not spamming but there is a caveat if your business type is often considered as spam by Google's radar like locksmith garage door repair plumber Etc your best bet is to file for a DBA also known
as doing business as this will allow you to legally create a new trade name that contains your targeted keywords which you can use on your listing aligning with Google's guidelines and benefiting from a Boos in rankings is that simple once you're happy with your business name you can focus on another major ranking [Music] Factor when looking for a nearby shop or service people usually do two things first they go to Google and search for what they need second they dive into the Google reviews of the businesses that pop up to check out what former customers
are saying if your Google reviews don't make the cut you can be sure they bounce over to your competitors that's precisely why getting positive reviews is crucial they're the backbone of your business's reputation but there's more these reviews also play a vital role in how well your business ranks on Google Maps they're mentioned not once but four times in the ranking Factor report so let's go through them aim for as many positive reviews as possible why they are the sixth most powerful factor for climbing up Google's rankings the sheer number of reviews especially those with
written content is also key this sits proudly at number eight on our list getting a steady stream of reviews rather than a sudden influx is way better this strategy ranks as a 13th most impactful factor and finally the fresher your reviews the better reviews aren't just reviews they're a critical piece of your daily marketing puzzle make it a habit to ask every satisfied customer to leave a review if you're curious to see how good your review profile is compared to your competitors do this simply open Google Maps search for a keyword related to your business
and click on the review section in a pleer popup you'll see everything from average ratings to the number of reviews including the highs and lows across all of your competitors if you're not matching or exceeding these averages consider setting them as your new review Target goals final advice about reviews whenever you can encourage your customers to include photos in their reviews Google prioritizes reviews with photos placing them at the top of the list even above more recent text only reviews since potential clients typically read only the top reviews when checking out your profile this can
be an excellent opportunity for you to Showcase your best work visually let's move to the last ranking Factor you should consider to make it big on Google Maps predefined services are not in the ranking Factor report yet as it's a relatively recent discovery and wasn't included in a last annual local search ranking Factor report but I bet it will the cut next time you might be asking yourself what are predefined Services well based on the business categories you've selected you might have the option to add specific services to your Google listing to see if this
feature is available to you log into the Google account you use for managing your profile once you're in the management interface look for an icon labeled edit Services if it's there you're in luck you can add the services you offer often Google will have already listed some Services by default based on your business categories below this list there's usually a link to add more services clicking on this will bring up a list of additional services that Google deems relevant to your business categories known as predefined Services you can select any of these to include in
your profile and don't forget to save your changes using this strategy means your listing could now be found in search results for those services in as little as 24 hours follow all the steps I have described in this video if you want to rank another one on Google Maps but remember it only gets you halfway there why because your Google business profile is just one part of the equation for being fan on Google the other half is your website in this video I show you how you can 10 times your chances of being fan by
local customers via your website
