Local SEO + Google My Business – How to Rank in Google Maps Tutorial

If you want to know how to rank in Google Maps, quickly, this in-depth tutorial covers EVERY base of local SEO 2019.

Already know about one of the categories covered? Skip to a section:

► Google My Business Setup: 3:21
► Google My Business Optimization: 8:50
► Onpage Optimization: 17:45
► Citations: 25:58
► Backlinks: 32:05

When it comes to ranking your local business, you want to focus on being found in the top 3 map results, as well as in the organic listings below. When you’re found in both places, this is what I refer to as “local domination.” It’s a good place to be.

In this video, I don’t hold anything back. I cover every important piece you’ll need to nail down in order to achieve this level of local domination. I cover it in 5 overall topics that Google uses to determine where you”ll show up in those results.

Transcript

00:00
if you have a local business and you
00:01
want to be found in the map pack on
00:03
Google I’ve got a really extensive video
00:05
here to help you do just that and we’re
00:07
starting right now if you want to
00:09
transform your website into a customer
00:11
or lead generation machine I’ll show you
00:14
all my best tips tactics and secrets to
00:17
get there fast let’s dive in hey there
00:20
how’s it going I’m West McDowell web
00:21
strategist for the deep end and if
00:23
you’re not subscribed to channel yet we
00:25
do two new videos a week and you’re not
00:27
gonna want to miss any of them so go
00:28
ahead and click on the subscribe button
00:30
and the little bell icon next to it so
00:32
you never miss another video you need to
00:35
succeed online now this is an update to
00:37
a video I made a while back but I
00:39
promise this video is going to be the
00:41
most complete up to date tutorial on
00:44
ranking your business in 2019 you’re
00:46
gonna find this is the same advice I
00:48
would give you if I was one-on-one
00:49
consulting with you and by the end of
00:51
this video you’re gonna know exactly how
00:54
to outrank your competition in the map
00:56
listings as well as the organic listings
00:58
in your local area and since this video
01:00
is so comprehensive there’s a lot to
01:02
cover here and I’ve made a downloadable
01:04
cheat sheet that you can get leaving the
01:06
link in the description below or you can
01:08
click right up here to download that
01:11
because that way you can just take this
01:13
all in in real time and not have to
01:14
worry about taking a bunch of notes if
01:16
your local business you already know
01:18
that people are turning to Google to
01:19
search for what you offer and you
01:21
definitely want to be found there
01:22
whether you sell pizza or photography
01:25
services and when I talk about being
01:27
found in local search there’s really two
01:29
places I’m talking about up top in the
01:31
map listings these map listings these
01:33
three listings right here they tend to
01:35
get 33% of the clicks on any given
01:38
search and then I’m also talking about
01:40
right underneath that what we call the
01:42
organic listings and you want to be
01:44
found there as well because those tend
01:47
to get about 44 percent of the clicks
01:49
now the good news is a lot of the work
01:50
you’re gonna do to get found in the map
01:52
listings is going to carry over and also
01:55
help you in the organic listings so you
01:57
can be found twice which basically
01:59
translates into local Google domination
02:01
and not only that but voice searches are
02:03
becoming more and more popular over here
02:05
where people are searching for you know
02:08
a restaurant near me or a salon near me
02:10
and by really getting your local s
02:12
Oh on point you can also be found in
02:15
those searches so there’s a lot of
02:16
factors that contribute to where exactly
02:18
you’re going to be found in the map
02:20
listings starting with proximity then
02:23
we’ve got on-page factors what happens
02:25
on your website itself then we have
02:28
proper Google my business optimization
02:30
as well as citations and backlinks so
02:35
right off the top proximity is
02:36
definitely the number one factor that
02:38
Google takes into account when serving
02:40
up the results so in other words how
02:42
close is your business to the person
02:45
that’s searching for it so if you’re an
02:47
insurance broker office and someone down
02:48
the block is typing in just insurance
02:50
broker you might be the first one that
02:52
pops up and proximity really is the nut
02:54
single number one biggest factor when it
02:57
comes to where you’re gonna be found in
02:59
these searches however if you play all
03:01
your cards right and get everything else
03:03
exactly right you can rise above it in
03:05
certain searches meaning even if you’re
03:07
not the closest person you still may
03:10
show up first if you get everything else
03:11
better than your competition so the
03:13
first thing we’re gonna go over is a
03:15
proper set up after Google my business
03:17
listing so we’re gonna need the computer
03:20
for that let’s jump into it okay so the
03:22
very first step of getting your Google
03:24
my business profile set up is to make
03:26
sure that it doesn’t already exist
03:28
because what Google does a lot of times
03:30
is relies on you know user submitted
03:33
information so maybe you have a customer
03:35
or a client who wrote a review for you
03:38
or input it in themselves it happens so
03:41
you just want to make sure that it’s not
03:43
already there so all you want to do is
03:45
just come right to Google and just type
03:47
in the name of your business and then do
03:50
a Google search and see what comes up
03:51
the fact that the Google my business
03:53
listing isn’t showing up right here in
03:55
the sidebar tells me that there’s no
03:58
such listing for Lisa Weinstein
04:00
consulting which is a fictitious
04:02
business I’m making up right now just
04:03
for this video so I’m actually not
04:05
surprised it doesn’t exist at this point
04:07
but now let me show you what it would
04:08
look like if there was a listing there
04:10
so this is what I’m talking about in the
04:12
sidebar if you do have a listing it’ll
04:14
pop up right there and I’ve already
04:15
claimed my listing for the deep-end so
04:17
if one of your customers kind of added
04:19
it for you it probably wouldn’t be
04:21
claimed by anybody else I would hope not
04:24
and there would be a little button kind
04:25
of down here that would say claim this
04:27
listing and you would just want to click
04:29
on that but in this case of Lisa
04:32
Weinstein consulting we don’t have a
04:34
listing so we’re gonna go ahead and
04:35
create one so the first step is just to
04:37
go to google.com slash business I would
04:41
assume 99% of you already have a Google
04:43
account if not you’re gonna want to sign
04:45
up for one otherwise let’s just click on
04:47
sign in okay and once you’re signed in
04:49
you’re just gonna enter in the business
04:50
name and then click Next and you’re
04:53
gonna fill out all this information as
04:55
completely as you can okay now here is
04:58
where we get to a part that’s a little
05:00
tricky so I get this question a lot for
05:02
my previous video so some of you have a
05:06
business where people come in and shop
05:08
you have a storefront or maybe you’re an
05:10
accountant you have an actual office
05:12
where people can come in and visit and
05:14
then there are some of you who probably
05:16
do not you know electricians plumbers
05:19
people to travel out or at least even
05:22
you know people like web designers
05:24
graphic designers who work from home
05:26
where you don’t really want people
05:28
dropping by and it wouldn’t even
05:30
actually matter where you are because
05:32
people aren’t physically coming in
05:33
anyway
05:34
so basically there is an option here
05:36
that says I deliver goods and services
05:39
to my customers so there is a little bit
05:42
of controversy with this basically
05:45
Google wants you to check this box if
05:48
this is the case for you if people
05:51
aren’t coming into your actual physical
05:53
location and you’re traveling out or you
05:55
work remotely they want you to check
05:57
this box however generally all the
05:59
experts on the subject say that whenever
06:02
you click this box and then you don’t
06:05
have your address published you’re kind
06:09
of shooting yourself in the foot in
06:11
terms of ranking by that what I mean is
06:14
generally when you have your address
06:16
listed you have a better chance of
06:18
showing up in that Google 3-pack in the
06:21
map listings now there are some
06:23
exceptions to this rule I’ve done a few
06:24
little unscientific tests lately
06:28
to look up different kinds of businesses
06:29
and it does seem that Google’s getting a
06:32
little smarter about this and they kind
06:34
of know the difference between you know
06:36
a pizza restaurant
06:37
where people are coming in versus a web
06:40
designer who works from home where it
06:42
doesn’t really matter that they show the
06:45
the closest search results I see this a
06:48
lot with you know with plumbers
06:49
electricians contractors people who
06:51
always come out I do see that being less
06:55
of a ranking factor but if you really
06:57
want to be safe I would still recommend
07:00
putting in your address at least for
07:02
right now going into 2019 that seems to
07:05
be an important thing and ranking maybe
07:07
in the future Google will be even
07:09
smarter about it and kind of really know
07:11
the difference but for now if you want
07:13
to be safe put your address in but if
07:15
you really don’t want your address
07:16
published you can go ahead and take your
07:18
chances by clicking this and then that
07:22
but I’m gonna leave those unchecked for
07:24
the purposes of this video and now just
07:26
click Next
07:26
okay now this is very important so
07:29
basically one of the major ranking
07:30
factors in Google my business is
07:33
category match so basically is you want
07:36
to have a really close match between
07:38
what people are typing into Google and
07:40
then what the category of your business
07:42
is for instance if people are typing in
07:44
web designers in Chicago you want to
07:47
have web designer be your category or at
07:50
least the closest thing that Google has
07:52
you can’t just type it in yourself it
07:53
has to be a Google approved category so
07:57
let’s go ahead and type that in here
07:58
let’s let’s just type in consultant and
08:00
see what pops up okay so we’ve got all
08:03
these to choose from so what you’re
08:05
gonna want to do is for your primary
08:07
category which is all it’s gonna let you
08:09
choose right now we’re gonna choose the
08:11
one that’s the most appropriate so let’s
08:14
go ahead and say media consultants and
08:16
then click on next you’re gonna want to
08:18
fill in your phone number and your web
08:19
address and your website URL so just
08:23
gonna make one up here click Next
08:25
okay so now we’ve come as far as we can
08:26
come until we get verified so what it’s
08:29
basically gonna do is they’re gonna want
08:31
to send you a postcard in the mail with
08:33
a code on it just verifies that you are
08:36
where you say you are let’s just go
08:38
ahead and click on finish there that’s
08:40
it so just type in the contact name it’s
08:42
gonna go to and then just click on mail
08:44
and it’ll mail it out so when you get
08:46
that postcard in the mail back you’re
08:48
gonna you follow the instructions on it
08:49
to verify
08:50
listing but let’s also talk about a few
08:53
ways to really optimize that listing to
08:56
make it better than your competition
08:57
because let’s face it most of your
08:59
competition I’m pretty confident are not
09:01
gonna be doing all of these things
09:03
giving you the advantage so let’s check
09:05
that out
09:06
okay and since Lisa Weinstein consulting
09:09
was a fictitious company we don’t
09:11
actually have that verified we’re gonna
09:13
go in and jump into another client’s
09:15
listing for the purposes of finishing
09:17
this out so basically what we’re gonna
09:18
want to do is really optimize this
09:20
profile to give you the best shot of
09:22
ranking so from the dashboard of your
09:25
business you’re gonna want to go to this
09:27
info tab which is generally the default
09:29
and there’s a few things I want to talk
09:31
about here so when it comes to the name
09:34
of your business for instance this is
09:36
Glen Devon motors it’s a high-end car
09:38
rental agency there’s a few things I
09:41
want to talk about in terms of your
09:42
company name so and this is going to be
09:44
up to you but one of the major ranking
09:46
factors of showing up in that 3 pack and
09:50
Google Maps is actually having your
09:52
category keywords in your business name
09:55
meaning if this business name or Glen
09:57
Devon Motors car rental agency or at
10:00
least car rental or as close as you can
10:02
get to it that would probably help this
10:05
rank a little higher however I really
10:07
caution you about this and it’s gonna be
10:09
up to you if you want to take this risk
10:11
or not yes it’ll help you rank higher
10:13
for sure but you have to ask yourself if
10:16
adding those keywords in the category is
10:18
going to make your listing look spammy
10:21
Glen Devon Motors car rental agency what
10:24
I might do I think it doesn’t look that
10:26
bad to say Glen Devon Motors clevon Glen
10:29
Devon Motors car rental agency or even
10:31
Glen Devon Motors car rental now it’s up
10:35
to you what maybe you are a web designer
10:37
so it might make sense to be you know
10:39
Debra Hill web design or something like
10:41
that that makes a lot of sense but then
10:43
there are some categories that are gonna
10:45
sound a little spammy if you do it so I
10:47
leave that up to you know that it will
10:50
help you rank higher possibly but it
10:52
also might get you fewer clicks if it
10:54
looks like your keyword stuffing just
10:57
remember if you use these category
10:58
keywords in your business name
11:00
that now becomes your business name as
11:03
it appears everywhere on the web so
11:06
whenever you’re on a directory or social
11:08
profiles even on your website you’re
11:10
gonna need to refer to your business as
11:13
that full business name and next we are
11:16
going to talk about your categories so
11:18
they only let you put in one you
11:20
remember when you registered so now
11:22
we’re gonna click the little edit icon
11:23
here and what we want to do is fill this
11:26
out with a few extra categories now
11:28
obviously only do it if it makes sense
11:30
don’t add categories you don’t actually
11:32
cover but if you offer multiple services
11:34
this can really make a difference
11:36
between being found or not so I’m going
11:38
to go ahead and click on add another
11:39
category and I would just type in car
11:43
service how about that people might be
11:46
typing in that because this is a
11:47
high-end car rental agency so they might
11:50
be typing that in so I’m just going to
11:51
click apply and then you can go ahead
11:53
and you can add a service area so what
11:55
you would want to put in here so this is
11:57
remember if I said you travel out or you
12:00
service different areas of the community
12:02
different cities different zip codes you
12:04
would just want to put in all those zip
12:06
codes or cities right in here and then
12:09
you would click apply all right in ours
12:11
so you’re going to definitely want to
12:12
add your business hours so just click on
12:15
each of the days you’re open and then
12:18
all right so I’ve just said every day
12:20
from nine to six click apply and then
12:23
special hours you’ll add if you have
12:24
holiday hours or something I’m gonna
12:26
skip over that for now make sure you got
12:29
your phone number in there and your your
12:30
website address you can add services if
12:33
you want to list those out here I’m not
12:34
gonna go into all that right now but
12:36
here is something you’re definitely
12:38
gonna want to do and that’s add a
12:39
business description so you’ve got 750
12:42
characters here to do this with and
12:44
you’re definitely going to want to
12:45
include your category keyword and your
12:48
city in this description preferably a
12:51
few times but the trick is don’t make it
12:54
look spammy or artificial
12:57
okay so right here I’ve you can see that
13:00
I have used the category once your car
13:02
rental agency located in Los Angeles
13:05
California I’ve said Los Angeles here
13:07
again and I’ve also said car rental
13:09
agency again and in Los Angeles again so
13:12
basically you get the idea just you’re
13:14
gonna want to use this opportunity to
13:16
add your keywords does it make sense
13:18
that your category names add your
13:20
location you just really want to make
13:21
sure that Google gets the idea that you
13:24
were in the location you say you’re in
13:26
and you do what you say you do so I’m
13:28
going to go ahead and click on apply now
13:29
scrolling down okay so now what we want
13:32
to do is add photos this is gonna be
13:34
very important so go ahead and click
13:36
here and since this is an existing
13:38
business we already have some photos
13:40
here but the way you’re gonna want to do
13:41
this is you’re just gonna add them by
13:43
clicking on the little plus sign and
13:45
you’re gonna drag your photos right into
13:48
here but before we do that I just kind
13:50
of want to go over here so basically
13:52
we’ve got different categories of photos
13:54
you know you want to make sure they’re
13:55
in the right area you know you can add
13:57
videos as well videos are great interior
14:00
shots exterior shots at work so thank
14:04
you helping customers team that would be
14:06
your your employees identity that would
14:08
be you know your logo right here that
14:11
would be under identity but if you
14:12
really want to take things up to the
14:14
next level and kick it up a notch I’m
14:15
gonna show you a really cool trick you
14:17
can use to really further emphasize that
14:20
you are in the location that you say
14:22
you’re in and that involves will be
14:24
called geo tagging your photos which
14:26
sounds very complicated but stay with me
14:29
here because it’s not I’m going to show
14:30
you exactly how to do it in like two
14:32
steps okay so here we are on the website
14:35
GE oh I am gr dot-com and it’s really
14:40
easy all you need to do is take the
14:42
photos you want to add to your listing
14:44
I’m just gonna go ahead and drag one
14:46
over here and then what it wants you to
14:49
do is tag the place so if you’ve already
14:52
verified your account
14:54
you should just be able to type in the
14:55
name of your business perfect and it
14:57
pops right up here so I’m just gonna go
14:59
ahead and click on that and if it’s not
15:01
listed to here for some reason you may
15:02
just have to type in your business
15:04
address which works just as well
15:06
alright so we’ve got the little pin
15:07
right here in the right place it gives
15:09
you the latitude longitude you don’t
15:10
have to mess
15:11
with that and then what you’re gonna do
15:13
is go right down here and click on right
15:16
exif tags so it’s tagged the photo with
15:20
the location just in the metadata and
15:23
you don’t have to worry about anything
15:25
else
15:25
Google can read that on the photo and it
15:28
really just further cements you into
15:30
your location so then go ahead and click
15:32
on download and you’ll do this for every
15:34
photo you want to use and what I would
15:36
do here for some extra points is I would
15:38
if I were you I would name all of your
15:40
photos with any kind of combination of
15:43
your business name your category names
15:46
and your location so let’s go ahead and
15:48
name this one car rental agency Los
15:51
Angeles California and I’ll just click
15:53
on save and again you’ll do this for all
15:55
your images and then you’ll go back to
15:56
your listing click on the plus sign and
15:59
then you’ll just go ahead and you’ll
16:01
drag and drop that photo right over
16:04
there
16:04
okay and one more thing I want to show
16:06
you is if you go over to posts this is a
16:09
fairly newish feature that basically
16:11
allows you to add little offers or
16:15
little news items to your Google my
16:18
business listing so when people are
16:20
searching for your business name that in
16:21
that right sidebar it’ll come up with
16:24
whatever the latest offer you have is or
16:25
the latest thing you’re doing in the
16:27
community so it’s a great way if you
16:29
have some kind of a sale or some kind of
16:31
a special promotion you can promote it
16:33
right there I’m just go ahead and you
16:35
know on post then just you would just
16:37
write it like normal it’s under
16:39
different categories you can have an
16:40
event you can have an offer you can
16:42
feature a product so you’ve got 1,500
16:45
characters just write it out here it’s
16:46
kind of a shorter form and then add an
16:49
image to go along with it and then you
16:51
just click on publish and these things
16:52
last for 7 days so it’s not like a set
16:54
it and forget it do it once and it’s
16:56
always there but they can be really
16:58
powerful getting the word out on a new
17:00
offer and to really round out your
17:02
Google my business profile you’re gonna
17:04
want some reviews 5 star reviews as many
17:07
as you can get I do have a whole video
17:10
on this if you want to click up here you
17:12
can watch for some really strategic ways
17:14
of getting good reviews so getting these
17:16
reviews aren’t really a huge ranking
17:18
factor per se meaning they’re not going
17:20
to push you up to the top but you don’t
17:23
want to be in the top if you don’t have
17:24
any
17:24
reviews because what will happen is
17:27
you’re there with two other companies
17:28
and let’s say the other two have reviews
17:31
and you don’t no one’s ever gonna click
17:33
on your listing so you not only want to
17:36
show up in that top three spots you want
17:39
to get the click as well and for
17:40
customers to be able to see those five
17:42
stars right there that’s usually enough
17:44
to do the trick
17:45
okay next section we’re gonna talk about
17:47
proper on-page optimization so what do
17:51
you do on your website to make it really
17:53
closely aligned with all the information
17:56
under Google my business profile now
17:58
there’s actually lots to do here but the
18:00
first thing you want to do is make sure
18:01
your website is really mobile-friendly
18:04
because over 60% of people particularly
18:07
in a local search are going to be doing
18:09
it from their mobile devices and Google
18:11
knows if it’s going to be a good
18:12
experience or a bad experience and guess
18:15
what they don’t show to customers they
18:17
don’t show the sites that they know are
18:19
gonna be bad so from Google just type in
18:23
Google mobile-friendly and then just
18:26
type in your web address right here and
18:28
then click on run test and it’ll give
18:30
you a list of all the improvements you
18:32
can make to make it even better for
18:34
mobile okay so now here we are on the
18:37
design of a home page for that same
18:39
client so there’s a few things you’re
18:41
definitely going to want to include on
18:43
the home page that are really going to
18:45
let Google my business kind of latch on
18:47
to certain areas to really put it all
18:50
together and the first thing I want you
18:52
to pay attention to is what we call the
18:54
h1 tag here this is the main header for
18:58
the page so what you want to do is you
19:01
know and we can get into a lot of
19:03
semantics here about whether it’s better
19:05
to write for the search engines or to
19:08
write for people I happen to believe
19:10
it’s always the priority one is to write
19:13
to be persuasive to the people coming to
19:15
the page but that’s not the purpose of
19:17
this video the purpose of this video is
19:19
just to show you everything you can do
19:22
to rank as high as possible so what I
19:24
would definitely recommend in that case
19:26
is to include the category keyword and
19:30
the city so what we’ve got here is car
19:33
rental agency in Los Angeles so both
19:36
bases are covered
19:37
and I think I’ve done as decent a job as
19:40
possible of actually making it read well
19:42
too for human beings to be fairly
19:45
persuasive so we’ve got that covered
19:47
there and then what you’re gonna want to
19:49
do is be sure to include those keywords
19:53
in other areas around the page as well
19:56
so what we’ve got here is you know it
19:59
doesn’t always have to be the exact same
20:00
wording but we have the word car rentals
20:02
and we have Los Angeles again we have
20:06
Los Angeles car rental agency we have
20:10
remember how we chose the secondary
20:12
phrase car service we have car service
20:15
Los Angeles so basically what you’re
20:17
trying to do is really just add these
20:20
keyword phrases wherever you can as long
20:24
as it reads well so find those
20:26
opportunities what I like to tell people
20:28
to do is you know write for people first
20:31
and then throw in those opportunities as
20:33
you can so here’s something that’s
20:36
really important it’s kind of a and
20:38
above and beyond to measure you can do
20:40
so what I would recommend you do is get
20:43
a video it can be a custom-made video
20:46
the video really can be anything
20:48
obviously if people are gonna see it I
20:50
recommend that it makes sense to be on
20:52
your page but I want you to remember two
20:53
things first it has to be on YouTube
20:56
because Google owns YouTube so it’s a
20:58
big ranking factor to have a youtube
21:02
embedded video on your page and the
21:04
second thing I want you to pay attention
21:05
to is how we’ve titled the video it has
21:08
the name of the business and it has car
21:11
rental agency in Los Angeles California
21:14
with the zip code so we’re really doing
21:15
everything we can to include that all
21:18
over the place and just having it be
21:21
embedded in a YouTube video is going to
21:23
be even more powerful so put some
21:25
thought into what that video could be
21:26
you could even just go to fiverr.com and
21:29
have basically an actor read whatever
21:32
script you want them to read maybe a
21:34
blurb about your business if you’re not
21:36
comfortable doing it yourself just keep
21:37
in mind if it’s on your home page people
21:39
are likely to actually see it so you’re
21:42
probably better off putting a little bit
21:44
of effort into the video if we’re gonna
21:45
do it and going down the page we’ve got
21:48
another in
21:49
of Los Angeles and car rental and here
21:53
we have this section where we have
21:56
little links to the areas that we
21:59
service so we’ve got you know Van Nuys
22:01
Airport
22:02
it’s a which is close to this actual
22:06
rental car agency we have Los Angeles
22:09
Beverly Hills Pacific Palisades these
22:11
are cities and what we’re doing here is
22:14
we’re actually linking each of these
22:16
city names to the official city website
22:20
again just another strong signal to
22:23
Google that we’re operating in this
22:25
locality and then down to the footer
22:28
this is a really important area actually
22:31
as well so what we’ve got so this is
22:34
going to be on every page in the footer
22:35
we have the name of the business we have
22:38
the category and city and then we have
22:41
the address is exactly as we have it in
22:44
Google my business again you want to
22:46
have it be exactly the same everywhere
22:48
and phone number and then hours notice
22:53
we didn’t just say Monday through Friday
22:55
9:00 to 6:00 because this is basically
22:57
exactly how they have it listed out on
22:59
Google my business every day of the week
23:02
and I’ve even formatted you know that
23:04
the nine colon zero zero
23:07
um you know there’s so many ways that
23:10
this could be formatted but to have it
23:12
be exactly the way Google does it is the
23:14
way you want to do it and then right
23:16
over here you would want this to be an
23:17
actual embedded a Google map it’s not
23:19
just an image with the map pin in the
23:22
exam the right address this is just kind
23:24
of a dummy page this isn’t the right
23:25
address but it just gives you the idea
23:27
of what should be there and then
23:29
underneath that we have a link click
23:31
here for driving directions so it’s
23:33
another it’s a link to a Google map that
23:36
basically again it’s another signal to
23:39
Google that you are where you say you
23:41
are so all these things working together
23:43
really do a good job of telling Google
23:45
that you should definitely be found for
23:49
your keyword in your city and while it’s
23:51
great to have all that information on
23:53
your page exactly the way it appears in
23:55
your Google my business listing there’s
23:57
still a little bit of work to be done to
23:59
really make it count and that’s to add
24:01
what we call schema
24:03
to your website that really allows
24:05
Google to map out and structure exactly
24:08
what information needs to align with
24:11
what so in other words phone number it’s
24:14
not just text on your page but it but
24:16
there’s actually something pointing to
24:18
it saying hey Google this is the phone
24:20
number this is the address so it really
24:22
aligns everything perfectly and there’s
24:25
a really easy way to do it so let’s jump
24:27
into that okay so run the back end of
24:29
the deep ends a wordpress website and
24:31
the way we get to this page we’re on the
24:33
plugins page so you’re just going to
24:36
navigate down here towards his plugins
24:37
then you’re gonna go over here and
24:39
you’re gonna search for a plug-in called
24:42
local business scheme alight okay so
24:45
this is basically a really lightweight
24:47
plugin you can use to further signal to
24:50
Google your location and all the
24:53
information so it lines up just
24:55
perfectly with what they’ve got so go
24:56
ahead and once you found that here just
24:58
click on install now and then on
25:00
activate okay once that’s activated
25:02
you’re just gonna go over down on the
25:03
right the left sidebar sorry and go down
25:06
towards says WP Speed lbs that’s the one
25:09
we’re looking for go ahead and click on
25:11
that and this is this couldn’t be easier
25:13
you’re just gonna enter in all of your
25:15
details exactly the way you entered them
25:18
in on Google my business and once you’ve
25:20
put it all in you’re just gonna go down
25:22
and click on activate and then Save
25:24
Changes and another thing you can do on
25:27
your website to really help you rank
25:29
locally is to use your blog to post
25:31
really location specific content now
25:34
ideally you’d want to keep it grounded
25:37
in your niche so you wouldn’t just want
25:39
to talk about generic local events
25:41
necessarily but anytime you can tie what
25:44
you do to something that’s going on
25:46
locally or use quotes from other local
25:48
people or other local businesses and
25:50
really use your city name as many times
25:52
as you can in your articles really tying
25:55
you to your city it’s gonna do you a lot
25:57
of good in the long run
25:58
alright in the next topic I want to
25:59
cover our citations so a citation is
26:02
just any mention of your business or
26:05
your brand anywhere on the web these
26:07
usually come you know in directory
26:09
listings social profiles that kind of
26:11
thing
26:12
but the main thing that you really want
26:14
to keep in mind here is what we call the
26:16
nap na p name address phone now the
26:20
thing that’s so frustrating about the
26:22
nap is it has to be very consistent
26:26
across everywhere it appears online so
26:29
what you want to do is once you input
26:31
your address on Google my business it’s
26:34
gonna format that address in a certain
26:36
way now what you want to do is whenever
26:38
you build out these citations and I’m
26:40
going to go over that in a second how to
26:42
do that you’re going to want to use the
26:44
exact address the exact phone number the
26:47
exact way it’s written out and they’re
26:49
sticklers for this I’m talking as
26:51
consistent as if you’re abbreviating the
26:55
word street versus writing out street
26:57
whichever you go with whichever google
26:59
my business has that’s how you want to
27:01
do it that goes for a state abbreviation
27:03
versus spelling out your state if you
27:05
have a sweet number do you say sweet 170
27:08
or do you say you know pound sign
27:10
hashtag 170 do you say unit 170 these
27:14
are all things you have to really pay
27:15
attention to but I think you get it so
27:17
let’s jump over the computer to get
27:19
started with citations so your first
27:21
step when it comes to building citations
27:24
is actually taking an audit and seeing
27:26
if you have any current citations out
27:29
there and if so do any of them need to
27:31
be cleaned up well let’s go ahead and
27:33
see what we’ve got here okay sirs type
27:34
in your business name right there and if
27:37
you’re new if it’s a brand new business
27:39
you probably don’t have any citations
27:41
anyway so you can probably safely skip
27:44
this step but I would still just try to
27:45
make sure all right so we’ve got a
27:48
pretty dismal score here of 34 percent
27:51
so and it’s saying you know there’s a
27:54
chance to get up to 83 percent using Moz
27:56
local but let’s just go ahead and see
27:58
what they have to say about what we’ve
28:00
got so here are our complete citation so
28:03
these are ones that they deemed to be
28:05
thumbs up and it gives you a little
28:07
percentages with them so basically you
28:10
know super pages Citysearch insider
28:13
pages and hot frog these are not as
28:17
optimized as they could be what that
28:19
tells me then as you should go into all
28:20
these listings and really make sure that
28:23
there is optimized as possible the
28:25
for instance on Citysearch says it’s 9%
28:28
incomplete and 36% inconsistent
28:32
so by inconsistent maybe the address
28:34
isn’t showing up exactly correct or in
28:36
exactly the same way that it doesn’t
28:39
Google my business so then let’s go over
28:41
to the incomplete tab and see we’ve got
28:43
here okay so it’s saying on super pages
28:46
it says to add two more categories
28:48
because I think it’s they’re seeing
28:50
what’s on Google my business and they
28:52
they want us to go ahead and make sure
28:53
all those categories are added to these
28:55
as well and this one is insider pages
28:57
it’s saying add one more photo and add
29:00
one more category so it’s pretty much
29:02
telling you exactly what to do which is
29:04
the good news and then you can easily
29:06
just click on update listing it’ll take
29:08
you to it and then just make sure you
29:10
closely match it to what Google my
29:12
business has and then if you go to
29:14
inconsistent see it’s really good about
29:17
showing you exactly what’s wrong here so
29:18
in this case it said it starts with
29:21
Suite 170 and it looks like it’s
29:23
spelling out California so you can
29:27
really start to see what I’m talking
29:28
about they’re real sticklers about this
29:30
stuff
29:31
which gets kind of frustrating but got
29:33
to play by their rules if you want to
29:35
get the results so and then duplicates
29:37
it’s giving a thumbs-up so it looks like
29:39
we are good to go on duplicates so once
29:43
you get all of these fixed the way they
29:46
want you to get him fixed what you’re
29:47
going to want to do is add even more
29:49
citations this is kind of an instance of
29:52
the more the merrier the more you have
29:53
the better shot you have to rank so
29:56
there’s a few there’s a place that I
29:58
want you to go that’s really going to
30:00
show you a lot of your best
30:01
opportunities to get some of these
30:03
citations so okay so we’re gonna be
30:05
talking about these citations in
30:07
basically two different areas you want
30:09
to get citations on directories that
30:12
apply to your category type of your
30:15
business and you also want to get them
30:16
on directory sites that apply to the
30:19
city that your business is in so you’re
30:21
going to go to whites proxy a slash best
30:24
citations by category slash us if you’re
30:27
here if not you’re gonna want to choose
30:29
your particular country and you’re just
30:32
gonna go down and look at the business
30:34
category are in so if you’re an
30:37
accountant it’s going to show you the
30:39
these are the ones you want to get or if
30:41
you’re an architect how about these ones
30:44
do you want to get listed on all of
30:46
these because a lot of businesses a lot
30:48
of business categories have their own
30:49
stuff like lawyers have of oh you know
30:52
contractors have Angie’s List for
30:54
instance so you’re just gonna want to
30:56
find all the opportunities you can and
30:58
build out those citations on as many as
31:02
you can all right so next we’re going to
31:04
talk about the directories that apply to
31:06
your cities so it’s the same thing
31:08
you’re gonna go to white sprocket CA
31:10
slash best citations by a city / US if
31:14
you’re here of course and just scroll
31:16
down to the city where your business is
31:20
so what you’ll notice is for most of
31:23
these it’s gonna be the same stuff
31:25
that’s going to be Yellow Pages Yelp
31:26
Facebook all that all the normals that
31:29
that apply to all the cities but then
31:32
there will be here and there certain
31:35
directories that are really cities
31:38
specific like look here so for Beaumont
31:40
Texas we’ve got local dot Beaumont
31:43
enterprise com where Beaumont edu so
31:47
there will be those opportunities so
31:49
basically put a list together of all the
31:51
ones for your category and all the ones
31:53
for your city and just go and spend an
31:55
afternoon inputting your information on
31:57
all of those and make sure it’s as
31:59
consistent as possible with how it
32:01
appears on your Google my business
32:02
listing and you should be in really good
32:04
shape
32:05
okay know the last big factor that we
32:07
want to talk about here are backlinks
32:09
which are basically just any other
32:12
website linking to your site people used
32:14
to think that backlinks weren’t super
32:16
important when it came to ranking in the
32:18
map listings but they are they are
32:20
actually a pretty powerful ranking
32:22
signal to Google even in local SEO and
32:25
the good news is once you build these
32:27
citations you’re going to get a lot of
32:29
backlinks naturally that way through the
32:30
directories that you’ll be listed on but
32:33
you’re probably going to want to get
32:34
some additional backlinks as well if you
32:37
really want to dominate both the maps
32:39
and the organic listings and the first
32:41
place to start is by getting a Better
32:43
Business Bureau link it’s a pretty high
32:45
authority link that you’re definitely
32:46
going to want to get I think there’s a
32:48
paid version and a free version so when
32:51
you fill out your profile
32:52
Better Business Bureau they’re probably
32:54
gonna follow that up and try to hit you
32:55
up for a paid version of the profile but
32:59
I don’t think you need that I’m pretty
33:00
sure that the link is the same either
33:02
way I’m actually ever really in depth
33:04
the video about how to build quality
33:06
backlinks and you can watch that by
33:07
clicking right up here and you can
33:09
absolutely do this yourself
33:11
however go in knowing it is time
33:13
consuming for that reason I’m probably
33:15
gonna recommend that you just hire this
33:17
part out I use a company called the Hoth
33:19
for this they’re experts they know what
33:22
they’re doing and they’re not that
33:23
expensive so basically the time you’d
33:25
save just by hiring them to do it is
33:27
well worth the money and they actually
33:28
have a local package which basically you
33:31
can have the backlinks and citations
33:34
built in one package using them so I
33:36
would I would definitely recommend going
33:38
that route and I am including the link
33:41
to the Hoth in the description below so
33:43
if you want to check that out alright
33:44
that was a lot to cover I hope you
33:46
learned something and I hope you’re able
33:48
to actually implement this on your own
33:49
site and see really great results but
33:52
now I want to hear from you I know
33:53
you’ve probably got a lot of questions
33:54
about this we’ve covered a lot so any
33:57
questions or comments or any tips you
33:59
have for other people watching this
34:01
video just go ahead and leave it in the
34:02
comment section below I’ll answer any
34:05
questions that I possibly can and if
34:07
you’re not subscribed to the channel yet
34:08
go ahead and click on the circle icon
34:10
right down over here you’re not gonna
34:11
want to miss out and if you haven’t
34:13
access to that free cheat sheet that’s
34:15
gonna guide you through all this stuff
34:16
you can get that by clicking this box
34:19
right up here alright I’m West McDowell
34:21
for the deep end and I’ll see you in our
34:23
next video