6 Tips to Improve Your Local Search Ranking

Whenever you travel to a new city for a vacation or want to find the best restaurant, the chances are you undergo a local search. Well, tourist attractions and restaurants aren’t the only ways that can give you the benefit of being on the top of the local search list. Whether you own a firm that provides home improvement services or a brick-and-mortar store, ranking on top of local search will give your business an effective boost.
Now you must be wondering how you can dominate those local search results. In this blog, we have laid out some of the best ways to help your business rank among the top results. But before we start, let’s first understand the local search ranking.
Local search ranking is the rank of your business’s website on the local search engine results page (SERPs) like Google. While doing some local searches, you probably must have noticed that local SERPs look somewhat different from non-local SERPs. To get into more detail, let’s take an example.
Suppose you are traveling to Rio de Janeiro and want to get the best churros in the city. For this, you will search on Google for the best churros restaurant, and Google’s local SERPs will show you a local or top 3 local restaurants in the results. Also, these restaurants will be shown on the map on the right.
These top local results will be placed above the local search results or below the ads. Such results are generated as you searched for local churro places in Rio de Janeiro. Now, these top 3 places will help you explore other options available fast.

Factors Impacting Local Search Ranking

Now the question arises, how does Google or any other search engine determine their local search ranking?
Here are the most prominent factors that are considered while ranking the top results-
Relevance
For any business to rank in local searches, the brand is required to be relevant to the keyword term searched for. For example, if you are looking for the best churros restaurant, your brand or business must be indulged in a churro restaurant. Now, how does Google identify the relevance to the particular keyword?
Google matches the information from your local Google Business Profile and gathers the data to what a person searches. This is why you must add the categories to your Google Business Profile, indicating the nature of your business. This helps Google determine whether the searches are relevant to your business and if yes, it shows your business in these SERPs. The Business Profile allows you to add one primary category and up to 9 other categories to describe your business.
Distance
Another factor is the distance that examines the location of the local result from that of the searcher. When a searcher uses the location term during their search on SERP, the results shown are estimated based on the distance of the searcher’s location to that of the restaurant.
Prominence
Google also considers an important aspect while ranking the search-the recognition or ratings of your business as a local ranking factor. Such information can be made available on the web through directories, articles, or links. Google’s review score and review count of your business hold great importance, affecting your local search ranking.

How do you Rank Higher in Local Searches?

As explained above, you must have acknowledged the importance and value of local search results; here, we provide you with some usable actions that can help your business to rank higher in local searches-
Optimizing the Google Business Profile Listing
The basic and easiest way to improve your local search ranking and reach to local 3-pack is to optimize the Google Business Profile. Many business owners fail to list their business on this platform, resulting in lost opportunities. So, claim your Google Business Profile listing and fill out the information such as an address, operating hours, contact information, etc. Moreover, the operating hours allow users or searchers to visit your business store at the said time. Besides, choosing a specific primary category for your business and uploading photos creates credibility and interest of the searchers in your business.
Get your Business Listed on Review Sites
Review sites are the most important aspect of earning the customer’s trust. Today, 80% of consumers trust online reviews more than personal recommendations. Thus, by getting your business listed on various popular review sites such as Glassdoor or Yelp, you can boost your business’s credibility.
Monitoring Business Reviews and Ratings
Your brand should understand and engages with the customers. By doing this, customers and prospects know that you care about them. Also, Google states that replying to your customer’s reviews is pivotal as it builds customers’ trust. You can respond to the positive reviews by thanking your audience, but one should keep in mind that there will always be some negative reviews. In such cases, you can show your concern by addressing their issues and trying to solve them through commenting.
Building Local Citations
Digital businesses are integrating every action plan in their business marketing. Directories are one of the actions which help businesses rank at the top in local searches. Therefore, claiming your business’s local citation on directories like Trip Advisor, Yellow Pages, and Apple Maps will help your business’s local search rankings. These citations communicate the legitimacy of your business to search engines. Also, ensure that your business address, name, and phone number are similar on Google Business Profile and across the directories.

Final Words

Now that you know the local search ranking factors that can guide your business, are you ready to start your local SEO campaigns? You can work with an expert on local search rankings; get in touch with Hypronline today!
We are a team of digital marketers experts and professionals who have been engaged in the business for several years. We are glad to help you improve your rank in local search, as we have done for our 1000+ clients to reach their digital marketing goals. Visit our website https://www.hypronline.com to know more!