Google is like Fort Knox and will never come out and tell the world how to dominate Google Maps. Due to countless hours spent amongst our SEO community, we have come to agree on a handful of powerful signals. Here is what’s considered the top 5 most powerful ranking signals in Google Maps.
1: Proper Category Association
When you first create your listing you will be asked “what is your primary category”? This is the most important question you will be asked and will determine what you do as a business and what your competition is.
2: Physical Address in the City of Search
Google is very bias towards the physical location of a business. Let us say your business is in Arden-Arcade but you want to rank in Sacramento. Sacramento has a population of over 500,000 people while the neighboring city of Arden-Arcade has a population of over 92000 people. You’d understandably want to rank in Sacramento. The outlined city as defined by Google in Google Maps is Sacramento. Even if your address says Sacramento in it, if you do not fall in the boundaries set by Google, your listing will have a much tougher time appearing within the city of Sacramento.
3: Consistency of Structured Citations
A structured citation is simply a web-based mention of your company’s name, address, and phone number. Examples of structured citations are YellowPages, Yelp, and Hotfrog. Inconsistent citations might involve the following:
Differences in your business name: John Smith Law vs The Law Office of John Smith
A wrong street address, or a missing suite number
A wrong phone number
A wrong website URL.
4: HTMP MAP Matching Place Page NAP
Google checks the website page you link to your GMB profile. You want to make the same checks you would make with being consistent with Structured Citations.
Differences in your business name: John Smith Law vs The Law Office of John Smith
A wrong street address, or a missing suite number
A wrong phone number
A wrong website URL.
5: Quality and Authority of Structured Citations
Focus on the high-value citations. Some examples are Apple Maps and Bing. Ensure your Name, Address, Phone Number, and Website are correct. Also ensure that your categories are correct as well.
There are many signals to consider when ranking in Google Maps. Keeping in mind these top 5 signals will help set the stage for your success. If these top 5 signals interested you, then learning about the top 20 signals below will be an awesome read as well.