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Read The Full Video Transcript:
Imagine what it would be like if every time somebody in your area searched for your service or your product and you came up number one on Google My Business, also known as the Google Business Profile. What would that mean for your business? What would that mean for your bottom line? What would that mean for you and your family?
I’ve been helping businesses since 2009 get to the top of Google My Business. I’m going to show you the top eight ranking factors for 2023. This is the stuff that I’ve used in my business. This is the stuff that all the agencies are talking about. We just got back from the big local SEO conference. We learned all kinds of stuff, and it’s solidified that the stuff we are doing, the stuff that we are teaching is spot on, it’s cutting edge, and this is stuff you guys can start learning and using right now.
So first, let’s talk about websites. This is something that most SEO people I see on YouTube or on the internet don’t really talk about or they don’t make a big deal about. But I’m going to tell you right now, your website, your business website is a very big deal when it comes to ranking to the top of the Google Business Profile or Google My Business.
So you want to make sure that your business name appears exactly on your website as it does on your Google Business account. Now, you might think, oh, well, obviously it does. But go check it. At least half the people we talked to have changed their business name a little bit over the years, and for some reason it just doesn’t sync up. So go ahead and make sure that matches, first of all.
Next, make sure that whatever you select for the category also appears in big, bold letters on your website. So in the headings on your website, make sure that whatever your category is that you select on Google, which we’ll get into in just a minute, make sure that also appears on the website.
Now, if you like what you’ve seen so far, I’d love it if you’d subscribe to my channel and ask any questions possible in the comments below. I will get back to you. You can also like and share this video. Let’s spread the love. This is all free information, and this will only benefit you and any business out there that really wants to rank on Google. Let’s get back to the lesson.
Next, make sure your address appears on the website as well. So you put an address into Google My Business, and then it matches your website. Now, if you’re not showing your address, if you’re hiding your address, don’t worry about that, but at least put the city and state that you’re located at least along the footer of the website or somewhere in the website on the Contact Us page, for example, where Google can look at that and match it up.
It’s all about syncing information and making sure that you have everything up-to-date, current on your website to match your Google Business account.
Number two, let’s talk about categories. I already mentioned it in number one. You need to select the correct category, the category that makes you the most money. So you may offer many different types of services, many different types of products, but whatever you want to specialize in, whatever you want to be your primary category, make sure that is selected in your Google Business account. And like I said, make sure it shows up on the website.
Number three, what about Google Reviews? Google Reviews can have a big impact on your rankings, and they don’t have to all be five-star reviews. Google doesn’t care if they’re five star or not. Actually, they’ve shown that 4.5 average stars is a better ranking factor than 5.0. People have more trust in it. They’ll click on it more, and in turn, Google will be like, okay, people like what you have to say. People like what your customers have to say. Let’s push them up a little bit higher. So reviews can have a good effect.
Now, also make sure that you get the reviews and respond to the reviews. Google now even tells you, “Hey, there are reviews you haven’t responded to,” and they coach you along on how to exactly respond to those reviews. So make sure you go back and respond to every single review that you currently have on your account. And the new ones that come in, make sure you set something in place to where you can respond to those as well. Check out my other video where I go deep into reviews and exactly how to get them, and I offer free templates as well.
Number four, let’s talk about keywords. This goes back to the category. You can actually get access if you have a Google Ads account. This is a free account. You don’t have to spend money with them. But it’ll give you access to the Google Keyword Planner. Check out my other video with details on how to do that. But if you have current knowledge of how to do that, all you need to do is start searching for different keywords or search terms, whatever people are searching for to find your business, and then you want to integrate that throughout the website and you also want to integrate it throughout the description in your Google Business account. This can also match up with the services. This can match up with the products that you select in your Google Business account, which I’ll get into in just a second.
Number five, fully optimize your Google Business Profile, meaning fill it out as completely as possible. Put everything in there that you possibly can, every service, every product. Make sure that your business name is correct. Make sure you have the correct phone number in there. If you have a secondary phone number, there’s a place to put that secondary phone number. If you have a calendar where people can book with you, make sure that calendar is located in there. Put the year that you actually started. There’s so many things that people just don’t do, they don’t fill out. Some people don’t even have photos or continually put photos into their account. So we’re going to get into photos a little bit later in this video. Stay tuned for that.
Now, here’s something that a lot of people don’t like. It’s not necessarily fair, but it’s how Google My Business works in 2023. Your address matters. Okay? So now we’re talking about number six, your physical address, the address you registered with Google when you first set it up. This address, this city and state and the location of that address within the city is going to determine where you rank.
In fact, this is so important that if I move to a big city, a big competitive city, the number one thing I’d be looking for before I set anything else up, before I design the logo, design the website, anything, before I even determine a business name, I would find the best location possible in the center of that city or as close to the center as possible.
Now, I understand not everybody can move their business to a new address in order to just rank, but I want you guys to be very clear that address is one of the biggest ranking factors by far when it comes to ranking on Google My Business. I have a whole video on exactly how this works and what you can possibly do with examples of something that our clients have done in the past to get their rankings to the top of Google My Business.
Number seven, let’s talk about citations and links. Citations and links, or also known as backlinks, are basically other websites on the internet that point back to your website. The most powerful ones we’re talking about are Yelp Business. Even if you don’t like Yelp, get the free version and make sure you got your website in there so that people can click on it and it’ll link back. Google looks for this stuff.
Next, look at your Facebook Business. Make sure you have the correct website in there. Make sure all your business information matches exact with your Google Business account. Another one I like to look at is the BBB, the Better Business Bureau. Google looks at this. And once again, it’s free. You don’t have to get the paid version. You just want to have the correct information so Google can see that you are legitimate and that you are in other authoritative websites or directories.
Now, there are lots of other ways to get these links or get these citations pointing back to your website. Other ways are to join the Chamber of Commerce, join local business groups or local business associations. You can also partner with other similar non-competitive businesses in your area and put links from each other’s websites to your website. This is a very powerful way to start building that authority with Google. I like to call the backlinks and the citations the turbo boosters that finally get your website to the top or get your business to the top of Google My Business after you’ve taken care of all of the other foundational stuff that we’ve already talked about.
Number eight, this is very important. It’s the photos that you put on your website and into your Google Business account. There’s specific photos that you should have and that you should continually add when it comes to ranking on Google. If you want to use photos to rank your Google Business account, then here’s what you do. You take photos of your products or services. You take photos of people using or people performing those products or services. And number three, you make sure your logo is visible in every photo possible.
The photo could be on a van. It could be on a piece of equipment. It could be a sign in front of your store. It could be a logo on a shirt, could be a logo on a hat. If you can get the logo to show up in those pictures, Google will make that connection. They will also make the connection that there are actually people enjoying your products or services. This is how you powerfully do it. And I recommend adding photos once a week or at the very least once a month. This will continually keep you at the top. It’ll push you to the top. This is a very powerful ranking factor when it comes to Google My Business in 2023.
So I told you before that I would give you a free gift. This is a free bonus. This is a free cheat sheet. It’s a one-page cheat sheet you can download by clicking on the link below. And it’ll have all eight of the factors we just discussed with little links to in-depth videos so you can follow step by step with examples on how to do this exactly for your business and stay safe and not get penalized. This is all cutting information for 2023, so take advantage of this, guys. And like I said, if you have any questions, put them in the comments below. Like, share and subscribe, and I will see you in the next video.
