Semalt Tells About Advantages Of Google Maps For Local SEO
Google Maps is constantly receiving updates to make its user experience better. As marketers, we've discovered several features that we can use to help improve the local search experience of our clients who rely on the platform to reach their target audiences.
No doubt that we've all used Google Maps at one point or the other. With the millions of traffic moving through Google Maps, it will be a shame if your business isn't optimized to pull in traffic.
Google Maps
Google has by far exceeded the expectations of internet users. If you were aware of when Google started, you would smile anytime you think of how a little business in a garage has grown to become this great enterprise.
Over the years, Google Maps has become one of Google's most used features. People primarily rely on Google Maps to find driving directions, look up street views of places and see the best routes to places by looking through the traffic situation of several routes.
It's safe to say that Google Maps saves both time and effort.
But how does Google Maps help us as marketers in improving your business?
That is what we will be showing you in this article. At the end of what we hope to be an amazing, insightful, and interesting read, you should realize how Google Maps is a useful part of any successful business and how Semalt includes it in our marketing strategy.
Measuring Customers From Google Maps And Search
Google provides messaging capabilities in its Map and search. This feature is great for marketing because it facilitates easier communication between businesses and their customers.
Having a verified profile on Google Maps comes with this feature. It is important that Google verifies your business as it opens up a lot of opportunities. It also shows your audience that you're trustworthy.
One of the benefits includes being able to message your customers directly from the Google Maps app. Your customers can also send you messages directly, which will appear in the business message sections on your "updates" tab.
You can choose to turn off or on this feature whenever you choose. Of course, leaving it on has its benefits.
Google promises to add more features that will make Google Maps an even better way to build customer-brand relationships. One of such features is the ability for businesses to see and respond to their customers on the desktop by adding the message box directly in search.
In addition to clicking the "message" button on your business profile, your customers will be able to convert from any post created in Google My Business.
Viewing Google Maps Performance Insights
To know what to improve, we need to keep track of key marketing metrics. Google understands the use of this information, so they help us track and record certain metrics. These insights indicate how well a business is performing as they measure the number of customer engagements that were initiated from Search and Maps.
In addition, these insights inform us on what queries (keywords) which search engine users use in finding your business listings in Search and Maps.
- The total number of searches that resulted in your business profile getting displayed.
- If the performance of your site went up or declined in the last year.
- A list of terms people use to find your business profile.
- The frequency at which each search term triggered your business profile.
We also keep track of other insights, including data on the number of customers who have found your business via Maps vs. the number that found you via Google Search. We also like to know if these searches came off a phone or a desktop device.
Google collects and stores all this data for up to six months.
Publishing To Google Maps Community Feed
There is a community feed in the explore tab of Google Maps. This feature enables users to find the latest posts, reviews, and photos added to Maps. These posts, images, and reviews are added by local experts, businesses, and influencers in that area.
Let's imagine you own a business in the food and drink industry. You can contribute content to the community feed by publishing a Google Post or updating your profile with new information.
This is applicable to every business out there. One of the reasons why having your business listings regularly updated is because it gives you a better chance of appearing in peoples' community feed.
With regular updates, you have more content on your listing. Diversity in content makes you more appealing, and you tend to rank for more keywords. At the end of the day, you will realize that you're beginning to show up in people's community feed more often.
Submitting Images For Google Maps Street View
Have you ever wondered how Google has clear and vivid images of storefronts? Well, it isn't because they have access to NASA's satellite. Instead, Google uses its large audience base to create a catalog of these images.
What you may not know is that Google lets regular users contribute images to its Street View using just their phones. The first thing you need to do is download the street view app. With that, you can record series of connected images as you move down the street. So with your phone, you can submit street views of your business.
After recording the footage, publish it, and Google will make sense of the images. They will position, rotate and arrange those images in an easy-to-understand and realistic sequence.
This service has been of immeasurable service to businesses in areas without the best street view coverage.
Building Your Authority As A Google Maps Local Guide
Business owners can show their commitment to helping the community and build their local authority by becoming a Google Local Guide. Google relies on these Local Guides to write reviews, share photos, edit places, fact check on Google Maps, and answer certain questions.
For a fantastic job done, Google awards these Guides with special badges and points.
The tricky part is that businesses themselves cannot become local guides. Their owners, however, can join the Local Guide program by creating a personal Google account.
With that account, they can share some insight with Google Maps. The benefit of this is that Google will display their name with a distinctive local badge on the item / place or picture they contributed.
Over time, locals around the area become familiar with that name, and they stand out as business owners with great interest in the affairs of their local market.
Finding Accessible Routes For Customers In Google Maps
Businesses should have a way for everyone to access their products and services. By everyone, we mean individuals with accessibility needs. Consumers want to know that your business's physical location is accessible.
Google Maps can provide easy-to-follow directions, but they aren't always the most accessible directions. In that regard, you can give your visitors something extra by using your website to offer alternative accessible routes from different points in the city.
With the right settings, searchers using Google Maps will be able to find these routes.
Utilizing Questions And Answers In Google Maps
Finally, you will be able to answer customers' questions in Google Maps. If your visitors haven't submitted any questions, you can fill up the Q&A section yourself by asking questions and providing answers to them. Since Google Maps won't show the names of the people asking those questions, we can populate your Q&A sections, and it will look organic to other visitors.
Conclusion
Google Maps can be a tool to improve your Local SEO presence. As marketers, we can use it not only to learn the layout of the land around you but we can also use it to show your audience that you are a brand they can rely on.