Google Maps SEO: 12 Strategies to Get Found Locally

Heading tags have made the top ten lists of ranking factors for several decades. But if you look at the search engine results pages (SERPs) you’ll see that’s not the case. Anyone who argues otherwise is denying what exists in front of their eyes. But personalization doesn’t play much of a role in either local pack or local organic rankings – and there’s very little you can do to optimize for this. When looking at local organic factors, the quality of links is by far the most valuable factor affecting rankings. Keywords in the anchor text of links is also very important, while diversity, and quantity of links from industry-specific or local sites also sit in the top 15 local organic factors.

• Search engines are working hard to get a better understanding of a user’s search intent, to show that user the results that fit their need best.
• It doesn’t mention HHTPS directly in its current documentation about page experience, but does mention security.
• If your site structure is clear and content is regularly refreshed, crawlers are more likely to find all your pages.
• That matters because the better you can tailor your content to what search engines want, the better you’ll be able to connect with relevant audience members online.

If not, let your site builder help you out or hire someone with a background in technical SEO. When that’s done, you can start looking at site structure and the content on your pages. Search engines are working hard to get a better understanding of a user’s search intent, to show that user the results that fit their need best. Related to that, they continue to improve how information is presented in the search results, which can differ quite a bit per search intent.

Track Keyword Positions Over Time

Adding pictures, videos, charts, and other eye-catching visuals makes it more attractive for visitors and improves its appearance in search results. However, with advancements in AI and natural language processing, you’ll need to think beyond individual keywords. SEO without it is like a beautiful new sports car without an engine; it might look nice, but it’s going nowhere. E-E-A-T is particularly important if results could impact the user’s health, finances, or safety. In other words, if the search topic is a Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) topic.

#1 – User Engagement

In particular, having keywords in the titles of landing pages, and keyword relevance across the entire site make a difference to your local rankings. But just because videos have been uploaded a long time ago doesn’t mean that they should disappear into the dust. On the contrary – older videos can and should also be optimized for YouTube SEO. If you update the tags and the description, the watch time and other key figures will of course not be lost.

E-E-A-T is made up of a series of refining signals that underline everything that Google has been trying to achieve with better user experience and fighting misinformation. E-E-A-T is part of the Google Quality Search Raters Guidelines and not so much a ranking factor, but it is a guideline. In 2018, BERT created waves in the SEO industry as a significant update for Google that was reported to impact about 10% of search queries at the time. This is part of the rank refining where Google will try to return the most relevant results to a query. It also allows Google to return results for queries with no previous record of searches.

After a crawler finds a page, the search engine renders it just like a browser would. In the process of doing so, the search engine analyzes that page’s contents. Non-text media forms (images, video, GIFs, etc.) should not be used to display text that you wish to be indexed. While search engines are getting better at recognizing images, there’s no guarantee they will be able to read and understand it just yet. Sometimes a search engine will be able to find parts of your site by crawling, but other pages or sections might be obscured for one reason or another.

BrightLocal’s 2021 study shows that 17% of SEOs deem reviews the most important ranking factor for map pack rankings. But only 5% see them as most important for regular organic rankings. As long as you’re delighting your customers, your online reputation will grow on autopilot and rankings should improve. Local SEO is a game of two halves because Google shows two types of search results for local searches. Since SEO can benefit every funnel stage, from awareness to purchase, businesses need to create a smart SEO optimization strategy.

Don’t link to unrelated websites and sites that have been deindexed or penalized by Google. Your external backlinks are recommendations to your users and have to be of very high quality. SEO Anomaly There are millions of websites competing with you for higher rankings and more organic traffic. To compile our list of the top SEO ranking factors, we looked at a variety of sources–-including our own in-house experts and other popular lists. By optimizing content, fixing technical issues, and creating a better user experience, you can not only rank higher in search results but can also help you to maximize SEO ROI. Some of the most important ones are content quality, backlinks, page experience, and mobile-friendliness.