Chad Kimball Google Maps Expert Answering Your Questions Here
- Thread starter ChadTKimball
- Start date
- Status
ChadTKimball
Regular Member
- Jul 16, 2008
- 303
- 149
2-3 boxes in the city is good! just make sure they're not too close or google will only show one of them
ChadTKimball
Regular Member
- Jul 16, 2008
- 303
- 149
Just do citations (I listed citation sources early in this thread) and see where you're ranking after that. Most of those citations also provide a localized backlink and sometimes thats all you need to rank
swik
Supreme Member
- Mar 15, 2018
- 1,349
- 451
Nice thanks ! one last thing .. Plugin for local seo, is yoast local seo and shema do the same thing?
ChadTKimball
Regular Member
- Jul 16, 2008
- 303
- 149
I'm unfamiliar with shema so I dont know
ChadTKimball
Regular Member
- Jul 16, 2008
- 303
- 149
to the main website
have you noticed backlinks direct to listing help at all?
My business serves 80+ cities. However, my business address for GMB is set to the physical location. If someone is searching where my address is, I come up in the map pack. However, if someone is a few towns away or 30 miles away from the business address, I of course won't show up.
What is my best route to take to show up on the top 3 map pack for when someone is searching for my type of service when they are searching miles away from my business address?
Kind regards
What is my best route to take to show up on the top 3 map pack for when someone is searching for my type of service when they are searching miles away from my business address?
Kind regards
ChadTKimball
Regular Member
- Jul 16, 2008
- 303
- 149
We have our own trained people but I generally like adam steel's loganix stuff. also whitespark and moz will do well. avoid yext
setup virtual locations in those areas.
no, people have debated this for years but I have yet to see it produce any measurable result in google maps ranking
- Jun 23, 2009
- 494
- 231
Chad Kimball predictions for the Google Maps and Local SEO on 2019? What still works and always will. Methods/tactics to avoid? In other words most common mistakes by local business owners from your point of view.
P.S. We need here AMA section like Reddit.
P.S. We need here AMA section like Reddit.
I looked at this, but virtual locations are about $100+ a month, which of course I don't have the cash for that. Would I be able to do it for a month, have the postcard come from Google, then cancel or is that bad?
It's about Google Map Packs. When you search for example "landscapers Texas" you'll see about 3 businesses that come up first in the map pack.
Poker Rakeback Mafia
Power Member
- Sep 22, 2009
- 534
- 139
@ChadTKimball
ANSWER: The big 4: 1) website content 2) backlinks 3) citations 4) reviews. Beat everyone else in those 4 areas and you'll usually outrank them.
I would like to dig a little bit deeper into this.
1. Website content.
If I have a website called pet world, and I want to rank on Google maps for dog biscuits London, then I would of course have a page on my website about dog biscuits London.
Will more than one page about dog biscuits London help the GMB rank?
Will linking to the dog biscuits London page from the GMB listing increase the GMB rank rather than linking to the homepage which isn't about dog biscuits London?
2. Backlinks
There are many examples of websites which take the number one and two positions in the serps not ranking at the top of the 3 pack, and the GMB listing at the top of the 3 pack not ranking on page 1 of the serps.
Those GMB listings have roughly the same amount of reviews, and the same review rating, and the same citations.
So why do you propose it is that the backlinks from one will get them to the top of the serps and the backlinks from the other will get them to the top of the 3 pack?
3. Citations
Do you think that more powerful citations give a greater GMB boost in the same way that more powerful backlinks give a greater serp boost?
If so, do you think that boosting the citations with a tier 2 would be helpful?
4. Reviews
I guess this one is pretty self-explanatory, but I have seen evidence that if the search term for the GMB listing is mentioned in the review it gives a boost.
Do you agree?
I look forward to your take on all of that
ANSWER: The big 4: 1) website content 2) backlinks 3) citations 4) reviews. Beat everyone else in those 4 areas and you'll usually outrank them.
I would like to dig a little bit deeper into this.
1. Website content.
If I have a website called pet world, and I want to rank on Google maps for dog biscuits London, then I would of course have a page on my website about dog biscuits London.
Will more than one page about dog biscuits London help the GMB rank?
Will linking to the dog biscuits London page from the GMB listing increase the GMB rank rather than linking to the homepage which isn't about dog biscuits London?
2. Backlinks
There are many examples of websites which take the number one and two positions in the serps not ranking at the top of the 3 pack, and the GMB listing at the top of the 3 pack not ranking on page 1 of the serps.
Those GMB listings have roughly the same amount of reviews, and the same review rating, and the same citations.
So why do you propose it is that the backlinks from one will get them to the top of the serps and the backlinks from the other will get them to the top of the 3 pack?
3. Citations
Do you think that more powerful citations give a greater GMB boost in the same way that more powerful backlinks give a greater serp boost?
If so, do you think that boosting the citations with a tier 2 would be helpful?
4. Reviews
I guess this one is pretty self-explanatory, but I have seen evidence that if the search term for the GMB listing is mentioned in the review it gives a boost.
Do you agree?
I look forward to your take on all of that
ChadTKimball
Regular Member
- Jul 16, 2008
- 303
- 149
Sort of, but there is more to it than that. The page that you link to needs to have the physical Name/address/phone that matches the Google Maps Listing also. And it is even better if you have the maps listing link to the homepage and have the ENTIRE SITE be about dog biscuits London.
It might not be the backlinks, there are other factors, but without a specific real world example it is hard to speculate.
Yes and Yes, but in general the authority of the domain that is giving you a citation is the main influence of the serp boost, not the backlinks to an individual citation page.
Yes
Poker Rakeback Mafia
Power Member
- Sep 22, 2009
- 534
- 139
@ChadTKimball
I understand what you are saying in relation to having the whole website about dog biscuits London, but it is a little bit limiting.
For example, if I have a website about dog biscuits, and I have a dog biscuit London page, but also a dog biscuits Kent page, and a dog biscuits Surrey page.
I then create three GMB listings. One each targeting London Kent and Surrey.
Surely then I would be better off linking each of those GMB pages to the relevant page on the website rather than linking them all to the homepage?
I understand what you are saying in relation to having the whole website about dog biscuits London, but it is a little bit limiting.
For example, if I have a website about dog biscuits, and I have a dog biscuit London page, but also a dog biscuits Kent page, and a dog biscuits Surrey page.
I then create three GMB listings. One each targeting London Kent and Surrey.
Surely then I would be better off linking each of those GMB pages to the relevant page on the website rather than linking them all to the homepage?
ChadTKimball
Regular Member
- Jul 16, 2008
- 303
- 149
yes except then if one of the listings gets hit for TOS violations all the others go down
- Status