Why a Great Location Page Can Get You to the Maps Pack

1. Why a Great Location Page Can Get You to the Maps Pack Being featured on the Maps Pack can give your business enviable visibility in the SERPs. The key to securing that is having a great location page. Local businesses thrive on publicity. And while the best publicity comes online, they need something more than search engine optimization to get the desired results in terms of customer growth, earnings and profitability. That’s because the search engine results page (SERP) has evolved so much that organic results can easily be usurped by other kinds of interactive listings. If you’re running a point-of-contact business, you need potential customers tracking you and coming to you to access your services. For that, not only must you rank well on the search engine results pages for relevant searches, but you also need to be found on Google Maps. It is important to have a great Google My Business page with all the relevant details, primarily the contact information. And it’s gold to feature in the Maps Pack that grants you ultimate visibility. The Prime SERP Real Estate Called Maps Pack

2. If the term Maps Pack sounds strange, here’s an explanation. It’s basically a group of three businesses appearing at the top of the SERPs in a box along with the map to these locations. The box appears just below the ads and only when the user searches for some kind of business with the suffix “near me” or the location such as the neighborhood, town or city. The following is the screenshot for a search by someone from Minneapolis, MN for “barbershop near me”. ( Img source: https://seranking.com/blog/google-local-pack ) On the mobile, the map pack appears this way:

3. ( Img source: https://seranking.com/blog/google-local-pack ) The Maps Pack doesn’t always show three businesses though, and can show 2 or even 1 business. But being there significantly raises your visibility. Now you realize your business absolutely needs to be in the pack for guaranteed visibility and clicks. But how do you get there? Earning Your Place in the Maps Pack Well, in a word, you need a great location page. Search Engine Journal’s John McAlpin reckons that we need to bring the user intent equation to the location page just like how we value it so highly when it comes to optimizing our web pages for the search engine results. So, when you think what a searcher or potential customer would want to know about a business, you can figure out what features and information to include to optimize your landing page. Include the Basic Details First, you need the basic information about your business, which can together be categorized as NAP, which stands for name, address, phone number. Without these details, you know no one can contact you. But that’s not all. The information in your location page must also be similar to other citations plus

4. your profile on Google My Business. Varying information on these basic details affects the perception of authenticity of your business, though Google doesn’t quite insist on that as before. You can’t use the same location description in all your location pages and just change the location name though. Each location description should be unique and highlight what’s specifically important there in terms of services offered. Mentioning other nearby locations you have could help in internal linking. In any location, you’ll have competitors. You need to be able to point out what your USP is that sets you apart from the others. Add Photos for the Visual Connection and Optimize their Metadata If you want searchers to have a good perception of how great your business is, you need them to see it. So, you need photos of your business, both of the interiors and exteriors. Why are interior photos important? If you’re a store or restaurant, you need people to see the products you have on offer and the quality of the ambience you provide. These do make the difference in making the user decide whether to visit you or not. And you also need exterior photos, because people visiting your premises would want to know if it has parking space, or what landmarks are nearby so they can track your business more easily. Of course, with your business on Google Maps, that’s not an issue. But there are still people who aren’t relying too much on maps. Also, posting exterior photos gives people an idea of the genuineness of your location. Don’t forget to include photos of your logo and signage. But just adding images wouldn’t suffice. You need to get their metadata optimized. That is, remove unnecessary information about your photos including details such as camera type. These can make the metadata too heavy. And you can’t compromise on the quality of your images too. Your image metadata must include description, title, and the GPS coordinates. These details also contribute to your rankings. Location Directions to Benefit from Geo-specific Search It goes without saying that you have to include directions so people can find your business. But directions also help when people search with geo-specific keywords. Be as clear and comprehensive as possible in describing directions. And, of course, you need to embed a map. Google Maps API can also help you customize the map for including nearby locations to enable people to identify your business better. Meta Description and Title Optimized Efficient internal linking to the local landing pages you have is an important consideration. And while your objective is the Maps Pack, you can’t avoid organic search too and the traffic that comes with it. For that you need to get the meta description and title of your pages optimized. A title that’s optimized well would include your brand name, the town, city or neighborhood and the keyword. The meta description is important for making your search page listing richer. As with the title, you need the brand name, keyword and location, but with some more persuasive information.

5. Schema markup for local businesses needs to be special. For that you can refer Schema.org to get ideas for specific kinds of businesses, from which you can select something that specifically suits your business. The All-important Call to Action And whatever you do, don’t forget to add the call to action (CTA). A CTA must be clearly visible, and good CTAs are those that lend value to the user. Getting the location page right and making it to the Maps Pack is one of the most important aspects of digital marketing services in Long Island. The competition from other businesses is high but if your visibility tops them all in the SERPs, that’s all that matters. https://longisland.medresponsive.com (631) 494-3324