Google pretty much dominates local search at the moment. When that works in your favor, you\u2019ll see your company sitting atop the search results for many a local phrase. But if you\u2019re not ranking high in local search, or not appearing at all, it can seriously impact your business. If people can\u2019t find you, how can they buy what you\u2019re selling? It\u2019s a big problem with a multitude of solutions. For some, it\u2019s as simple as getting listed. For others, it\u2019s a bit more complicated. Though\u00a0local search has specific requirements<\/strong>, it\u2019s still search and requires SEO. Bearing that in mind, let\u2019s look at some reasons a company might fail to appear in Google Local and what can be done to remedy the situation.<\/p>\n

Why Should You Claim Your Google My Business Listing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

So why should you claim your Google My Business listing anyway? What makes it so important? According to Google, 97% of consumers search for local products and services<\/strong>, but\u00a0only 37% of businesses have claimed a local business listing on a search engine. This is an opportunity for you to beat your competition if they haven\u2019t taken advantage and claimed their GMB listing \u2013 yet! Claiming your Google My Business can help with your\u00a0local search rankings.<\/p>\n

To claim your business listing on Google, you must personally interact with your customers during the business hours you include in your GMB listing. You can work with your customers at your physical place of business or at the customer\u2019s location. That means that even service businesses, like digital marketers, freelancers, landscapers or plumbers, can also claim their Google business listing.<\/p>\n

Most businesses can claim a Google My Business listing, but there are a few exceptions.<\/p>\n

How Does Google Decide What Businesses to Show in Search Results?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Google uses a variety of factors (i.e. an algorithm) to determine what sites show up in local search results. There are hundreds of factors that are considered in Google\u2019s search algorithm. When it comes to local search, here are just a few of the main ones:<\/p>\n

\n
• Distance:<\/strong>how close is the business to the searcher or the area where the searcher is located?<\/li>\n
• Prominence:\u00a0<\/strong>measured by how well-known or popular the business\/website is based on information Google finds about it on the internet.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

   <\/p>\n

  Google is the most popular search engine in the world. They are interested in being the most useful and informative one as well. It is simple to provide Google with accurate information regarding your business. This information will be provided to people looking for what you have to offer. Free. You can also offer coupons, directions, post your hours, list your telephone number and more. The best part is that doing so is completely free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Google pretty much dominates local search at the moment. When that works in your favor, you\u2019ll see your company sitting atop the search results for many a local phrase. But if you\u2019re not ranking high in local search, or not appearing at all, it can seriously impact your business. If people can\u2019t find you, how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[30,21,28,27,20],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/971"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=971"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":972,"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/971\/revisions\/972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webigg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}