You must have heard of Google Maps these days. But if you still don’t know what it is, then perhaps you should brush up on your knowledge about local SEO. Google has made this tool especially useful for local businesses so that they can make their websites visible on Google Maps. So how do you use Google Maps in your efforts to boost your local SEO?
Google Maps is a free service provided by Google that enables its users to enter some basic information about a place, such as its name, address, and map location. Once these factors are entered, Google will generate a comprehensive tour of the area through which one is planning to travel. Users can get the latest fares, the best places to eat, and even the best routes to take to get there and back.
These days, more people seem to be relying on the search engines to locate something they need. In fact, the number of clicks people do online to look for products or services has reached phenomenal heights.
What does citations do for your business?
As the name of the title implies, Google Maps uses citations in order to determine the location of a website. The use of citations is done not just to provide search engines with the location of a certain site, but also to make it easy for internet users to get in touch with the business owner. Google Maps also offers directions, making it even easier for visitors to get to their desired locations. Given these reasons, it is no wonder that local seo is being taken seriously by Google, Yahoo and other major search engines.
Citations are basically links that mention your businesses name, location and phone number. Google uses to help it determine the location of a website. If you are wondering how Google came up with the idea of local search, it is basically based on its geographic search engine rankings. The more important a site is located to a particular region, the more important is its reputation within that region. This is what makes Google Maps popular among people searching the web for things like restaurants, landmarks, hotels, and so on. It’s because of this that accuracy of citations are very important in improving the rankings of a site. You should have your NAP (name, address, phone number) consistent across all citations.
What citations should your business have?
I recommend checking what existing citations you have and making any updates required to ensure consistent NAP. Moz has a free online tool to do this.
Brightlocal is a heavy weight in local SEO. They are an industry expert on citations and have written a list for Australian citations.