Google My Business is crucial for local SEO. It’s important to know which customisation options are going to help you rank and which aren’t. Within this blog, you will discover the four Google My Business fields that directly affect how you rank. Not only will you be sure where to focus your attention but also where to avoid spending too much time on.
GMB Ranking Fields
- The Business Name
Surprisingly, the business name plays a part in impacting your overall ranking, perhaps more of one then it should. Those businesses with keyword-rich names will see a bigger advantage. Unfortunately, if this doesn’t apply to your business then there isn’t a lot to be done as changing your name is highly unrealistic.
This is a good opportunity to look at what your competitors are doing, are they adding descriptive words into their business name? This is against Google’s guidelines, so not a method I would recommend following.
However, if you spot any competitors breaking the rules then the Google business complaint redressal form would be where you could report this.
- Google My Business Categories
Categories are the second aspect of Google My Business that influences rankings. This is relatively simple as it is an area you choose yourself. Although there’s only 10 you can add on there, Google is regularly (monthly) adding more and removing others. Google currently has around 4,000 categories.
In that past year, Google has added an increasing amount of auto dealer and restaurant categories. Whilst the dentist industry has gained more categories for dental implants. Therefore this is an area that you should check and update accordingly.
- The Website field
Most people don’t even think about what page of their website to link GMB and often just link the homepage. There’s nothing wrong with this, however, with some testing you might discover a better page to link to. For example, if you were a business in multiple locations often it’s better to link directly to a location page.
- Reviews
The final area of Google My Business that is influential to ranking is reviews, more specifically the number of reviews. However, the returned results from this can vary. You may see your business rank further away from your pinpoint location as you jump from 20-30 reviews. But this could then not be replicated when you go from 30-70 reviews.
Areas of GMB With No Ranking Impact
- Q&A
Although Q&A isn’t on the GMB dashboard it is on Google’s knowledge panel. You should also receive alerts following a user posting a question to your listing. However, it’s important to know that Q&A is an area that has no impact on ranking. Tests have shown that even with the use of keywords and specifics in both questions and answers there has been no impact on rankings.
- Services
The service section allows you to not only tell Google about the services you offer but also is an opportunity to add descriptive keywords. Although the service section looks like an SEO’s dream it does not influence the overall rankings.
The area also isn’t made very visible so is an aspect that’s not worth investing too much time into.
- Products
The product feature has only been about for the past year and is a very visual aspect that allows you to showcase the products you offer. Although it has no ranking value the products become very visible in the knowledge panel for both mobile and desktop. Therefore if you’re a business where visualising products is crucial, such as a florist or car dealer then you could still reap conversional benefits.
In conclusion, there are four clear areas to focus your attention on which is the business name, categories, website field and review section to boost your local rankings.
However, if you’re new to the world of SEO, here at Fifteen we provide a complete SEO service which also includes boosting your local SEO.