LocalEnhance Your Local SEO Strategy With Google+ Local

Enhance Your Local SEO Strategy With Google+ Local

Using Google+ Local is fundamental for businesses in order to be found on Google in local searches, as the platform drives the results on Google Maps. How can you make the most of Google+ Local?

Content Takeover Mobile & Local SearchGoogle+ Local is an indispensable part of brands’ local SEO strategies, as the platform drives the results on Google Maps. To get the most out of it, businesses need to have unique content, positive reviews, and an ongoing management strategy, say industry participants.

Jason Dailey, head of search at MediaVest, says that while Google+ Local “doesn’t have a huge audience that is very active, it [does have] significant importance in terms of local SEO ranking. So all brands and marketers need to think about what their strategy is, making sure that they are including [Google+ Local] in terms of their optimizations when they think about local SEO.”

The biggest mistake businesses make when using Google+ Local, which is also applicable across lots of local SEO efforts, according to Dailey, is that they could have a “forget-it mentality.” “You may just go in once and create your listing and don’t have to worry about updating it and think your job is done. [But] this is probably a wrong approach to take,” he explains.

To optimize their Google+ Local profiles, he suggests businesses should have updated content, which doesn’t just mean name, address, and phone number, but should also include interesting things like a description of the business and pictures. And it’s also important to develop keywords around that content, he adds.

In addition to following the tried-and-true local SEO strategies, Jordan Gray, manager of creative labs at agency Organic, believes brands can utilize their past marketing experience on Yelp to boost their Google+ Local performance.

“Google+ Local is where Yelp was eight years ago, offering perks to build a community of active [or] trusted reviewers. Integrating user-generated reviews with an established searchable maps platform puts Google in a good position to succeed and even overtake review destination sites like Yelp, who are hitting growth walls,” Gray notes. “To make the most of Google+ Local, businesses should leverage learnings from staying visible on Yelp and ensure that all their meta data on the map (hours, marker, notes) are all correct.”

Brands should also encourage consumers to leave (ideally positive) reviews on the platform, says Antonio Casanova, director of SEO at Starcom, adding that they can also link their Google+ Local profiles to their YouTube accounts.

“If you happen to be active on YouTube, you post videos and you link those two, and of course, you will happen to be active on Google+ Local, and post content and links to your site, the same as what you are doing on Facebook. That’s quite efficient,” Casanova explains.

What’s your Google+ Local strategy? Let us know in the comments below!

Image via Shutterstock.

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