Did You get left out?
A few months ago Google changed the local listing results home page from a seven result pack to a three pack.
Are you still in the Top three of a Google search? Google calls this the Snack Pack.
Now, staying in those TOP three spaces in Google search is more important than ever.
Make sure your business is in the center of the search target.
Think “N.A.P”
Name, address, and phone number.
These three components are more important across the internet now more than ever.
The biggest tip regarding NAPs is being sure that all the information across the internet is exactly the same, everywhere.
For example: If you are listed as “123 Main Street”:
- Do not have your street listed as an abbreviation of “St.” in some places
- Do not have other listings as “St” (no period) in other places
- Do not have “Street” (spelled out in full) in other places.
Whichever way you decide to list your business with Google listings, make sure every listing is exactly the same everywhere.
Citations:
A citation is a mention of your business but does not have a link to your business in the mention.
These can be found on many sites and listings. These should also be consistent throughout the internet.
You need to collect reviews in order to get noticed.
Google reviews are listed under your business listing and are the social proof to a consumer that you are the right choice.
How to receive reviews:
- Ask your customers (those with Gmail addresses first) to provide a review. Note: multiple reviews placed to your sight in a short period of time will send warning signals to Google and they may delete them as it could be considered spam. We suggest one or two a day maximum.
- Encourage your past customers to leave a review. Good or not so good of review should be replied to and thanked in the response or openly discussed if there was a less than stellar review. This will prove you are human and the reviews are genuine.
- Do not incentivize a review by providing something in exchange for the review. This is against Google’s term of service.
Yelp reviews are also a smaller factor in Google’s search results. Although you can not request people to review you on Yelp, you can guide them to the site.
“But I don’t have time for all of this…”
Don’t Worry, there are sites that can help.
A couple of sites that have helped with the N.A.P are:
Yext.com: Yext will clean up your location information across all your internal data sources, keeping it consistent within your organization, so you can be fully confident in the information you provide to customers.
Note: this one is hard to get control back from, so only use this if you never plan on doing this in-house.
Moz.com: Listing management and a free score to start with from this online company.
Website Developers can assist with this, in many cases.
Citation consistency or the presence of correct Name, Address, Phone + Website (NAP+W) everywhere the business is referenced across the web, is the foundation for local search engine optimization and Google reviews are often the deciding factor in the 3 pack and for customers.
Get your reviews at a drip pace and keep the drip going forever. Keep asking for a review when finished creating a Raving Fan for each project and watch your “stars light up” in the three pack and stay ahead of the pack!
