Google My Business (GMB) is one of the most reliable avenues for local SEO. If you are just starting out with Google My business, this is not the best post to reference because we will not be sharing on how to set up a Google business page. Fortunately, there are plenty of resources out there on Google My Business and the initial verification process.

What is Local SEO 

Local SEO is for businesses that directly serve a community. Business types that can benefit from local SEO are local restaurants, landscaping companies, or cleaning companies. The difference between local and national SEO is the magnitude of the reach a company has. Besides having a compelling GMB page, local SEO requires location pages built on the website. 

How does GMB enhance local SEO? 

Local SEO and Google My Business go together like peanut butter and jelly. When using Google My Business the content should include long-tail keywords in the copy. There are multiple different areas that copy can be published on a google business page. GMB allows any searcher to know where a specific business is located.

TWO ways to utilize GMB for Local SEO:

1) Gather Competition data

When first starting on GMB, you need to be aware of what the competition is doing to be in the top three for a GMB page for a distinct keyword. 

Let me show you an example:

Say you live in Atlanta, and your home recently suffered from a flood after heavy rainfall. 

You would most likely search for a water damage company. For this example, we used the long tail keyword “water damage Atlanta GA.” 

As you can see, the top three locations pop up for water damage. If we were a new water damage company, we would want to see what the competition is doing to rank. 

Spy on the Local SEO competition using this simple spying trick to find competitor GMB categories…

Eight steps to Spy on a Business GMB page

1. Go to Google Maps
2. Find competitor’s Google Maps Listing
3. Place mouse cursor next to Primary Business Category
4. Right-click on the Google Maps Listing
5. Choose “View Page Source”
6. Use CTRL + F to open the document search box
7. Enter the competitor’s primary GMB category
8. Scroll through the highlighted text in the code to find secondary categories

The competitor’s primary Google My Business Category

Find the source code for Google My Business competitor 

Use Command + F to search their main Category 

As you can see, when you searched their main Category, their other service categories showed up. In this example, you can see that they are optimizing for fire damage restoration service as well as others. 

This audit can be used to find different keywords, locations to gain more insights.

Every business needs to know what the common denominators are between them and their competitors. Adopting your insights is crucial after finding the consistency across the competitors ranking in the top 3 positions for Google’s Local Pack.

This method of spying has been incredibly impactful for our local SEO. 

2) Know Your Keywords

When writing content, it is essential to note that you are writing for both Google’s crawler and the end-user. Your content needs to be clear and easy to read and not just full of keyword dense content that doesn’t make sense. 

Three main places to add content on your GMB page 

1. The description of the business 
2. Services 
3. Posts

The importance of GMB Posts

It is important to show Google that you are an industry leader in any category. GMB knows their industry leader by which business is posting regularly. Your posts can offer any discounts or services that you are promoting. 

Contact A Digital Marketing Specialist 

We hope that this local SEO tactic helps gain more jobs for your business. If you have any questions or are looking for help, please reach out to the owner of Algorithmic Global, Lukas Hernandez, at L.hernandez@algorithmicglobal.com