If you run a brick-and-mortar business, your online presence should be one of your top priorities. This article will show you how to make improvements so that you appear in local business searches. 

Ways to start showing up in local business searches 

Paid and organic search placements are the two types of search results in your brand may get by buying advertising. Paid advertisements, also known as sponsored listings, are paid products or services that appear on a Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP) in response to certain keywords. Organic search results, on the other hand, come from websites that have agreed to include your brand’s name and description in their content. 

Three ways your business is looked at when a search is done: 

• Relevance 
• Proximity 
• Prominence 

Is it possible to improve the relevance and visibility of your web presence while you can’t always control the distance? Here are 7 strategies for doing it: 

• Create your business listing accounts (Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Maps, Facebook, Foursquare) 
• Optimize and update each network listing 
• Generate more reviews 
• Add your business to relevant business directories 
• Make sure your business information is correct across the entire web 
• Include your business address on your website 
• Target local keywords related to your business 

What are local business searches? 

Google’s algorithms are intended to provide users with the most relevant and helpful information possible. Just as you don’t want your Tampa company to come up in search results for Dallas, Google doesn’t want a Dallas searcher to see listings for businesses in Tampa. As a result, Google has built its search algorithm to display local results based on location. 

These results are shown in multiple ways. 

Organic search results 

Organic search results are unpaid listings that appear on search engine results pages (SERPs) as a result of the website’s good SEO. The goal of SEO is to improve your website’s ranking in organic search results. The higher you rank, the more likely users are to find and click on your listing. Local business directories are online listings of businesses in a specific geographic area. These directories often include information such as the business name, address, phone number, website, and category. Many local directories also allow customers to leave reviews. The local pack often appears for searches that include location-based keywords, such as “plumber near me” or “restaurants in Tampa. Google My Business (GMB) is a free platform that businesses can use to manage their online presence on Google Search and Maps. GMB allows businesses to control how their listing appears in SERPs and provides insights into how customers are interacting with their listing. 

Paid search results 

Advertisements that appear on search engine results pages as sponsored listings through search engine marketing are referred to as paid search results. The local pack is a section of the SERP that includes three local business listings. The listings include the business name, address, phone number, and website. Pay-per-click (PPC) ads are paid advertisements that appear on SERPs. They are bought through Google Ads and Bing Ads, and they allow businesses to control where their listing appears on the page. PPC ads are a good choice for businesses that want immediate visibility in SERPs.  

Google My Business results 

Google My Business results are featured, rich search results that highlight businesses that have Google My Business pages. These results include the business name, address, phone number, website, reviews, and photos. 

How to optimize your listings for the best results (we will use Google because most of the other networks built theirs from the same principles)  

It’s not enough to create your Google My Business profile just yet for it to appear in local business searches. To enhance the odds that your firm will display at the top of search results, you must optimize and update your company page on a regular basis: 

• Add photos and videos 
• Use keywords in the “from the business” section of your profile 
• Add products and services 
• Publish weekly posts from your page 
• Regularly share offers and events 
• Use related local keywords in updates and posts 
• Add FAQs 
• Answer questions posted by users 
• Respond to reviews 
• Adjust hours when they change or the holidays impact operational hours 

Generate More Reviews 

One of the most important elements of any local SEO campaign is to generate more reviews.  

According to several studies, the quantity and quality of reviews on your profile may have an immediate influence on search visibility. To put it another way, the more excellent evaluations you have on Google, the more visible your brand will be. 

Make a strategy to obtain many high-quality reviews for your Google page. Make the strategy a part of your ongoing marketing campaign so that customers leave positive feedback on a regular basis. 

To generate reviews, set up a system that invites past customers to leave feedback about their purchases. Also, generate even more reviews by working with bloggers to get them to write blog post reviews about your products. 

Here are 7 ways to generate more reviews: 

1. Highlight current product reviews. 

2. Make it easy for customers to leave online reviews. 

3. Ask customers to leave product reviews. 

4. Don’t be afraid to follow up. 

5. Respond to bad reviews. 

6. Engage with good reviews. 

7. Ask bloggers to review products. 

Add your business to relevant business directories. 

Google My Business isn’t the only local business listing you should create for your brand. Each listing sends signals to Google telling it that your business is credible and therefore, worth showing as a top search result. 

Create business profiles on: 

• Facebook 
• Yelp 
• Angie’s List 
• Yellow pages 
• City Search 
• Foursquare 
• Any industry-relevant directories 

How Simply Be Found helps you get your business found locally 

By following Simply Be Found’s step-by-step plan, you can generate and respond to more reviews and get found by more consumers who are looking for your products and services. And as a member of Simply Be Found, you will have a well-executed local SEO strategy, to ensure that your potential clients see your business first on local search, directories, maps, and social media when they are searching for your industry type in your local area.