When it comes to SEO, optimizing your online business listings is paramount for attracting organic traffic and securing a prominent position on search engine results pages (SERPs), especially on Google—the search giant that gets about 6.3 million searches per minute.
Several crucial factors – like the number of listings, the accuracy of your listings, and the quality of the online directories – affect how Google perceives your business.
The Best Practices to Optimize Your Online Business Listings for SEO.
Accurate Business Information (NAP)
Google values accuracy. Ensuring that your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) are consistent across all online listings establishes trust with both users and search engines. Inaccurate information can confuse customers and may even penalize your ranking.
That’s why Experience.com provides you with a free, SEO-optimized profile that helps you climb the search rankings. You can also analyze your personal website and ensure that it contains all the essential information to be found online, such as NAP data, hours of operation, products and services, reviews, and replies using Experience.com’s Website Analytics module.
Local Citations
Studies show that the number of searches for “near me” has increased by 500% in recent years
Cement your presence locally. Consistently listing your business on relevant local directories, review sites, and industry-specific platforms with accurate information reinforces your authority and legitimacy in local search results, boosting your visibility.
Experience.com’s Listings Management solution empowers subscribed users to efficiently manage their business information across a wide array of platforms, comprising 100+ sites, directories, and search engines, and optimize your business listings for SEO. Some of the top listing sites are the following.
- Apple
- Microsoft Bing
- Yahoo
- Amazon Alexa
- Zillow
- AWS Marketplace
- Microsoft Azure Marketplace and more
Backlinks
Build authority. Earning high-quality backlinks from reputable websites and industry directories signals to Google that your business is authoritative and relevant, ultimately boosting your overall search visibility and credibility.
While links help your SEO, Google values directory links more if they come from relevant, high-quality websites in your industry.
Connecting to social media and relevant industry sites through Experience.com, and sharing reviews generates backlinks that improve your profile’s SEO ranking.
Schema Markup
Speak Google’s language. Implementing schema markup on your website provides structured data about your business, enhancing your appearance in snippets and increasing your chances of ranking in featured snippets—a coveted position in Google’s SERPs.
Check for proper schema and tag usage in the HTML, load time, and mobile responsiveness for better performance using Experience.com’s Website Analytics module.
High-Quality Images
Visual content speaks volumes. Uploading high-quality images of your business, products, and services to your Google Business Profile enhances user engagement and provides additional context to Google’s algorithms, potentially boosting your visibility.
According to a BrightLocal study, businesses with more than 100 images get 520% more calls, 2717% more direction requests, and 1065% more website clicks than the average business
Upload images and find out other consistent actions you can perform to enhance your profile online, gain more profile visits, and optimize your business listings for SEO using the Flux section in Experience.com’s Listings module.
Customer Reviews, Replies, and Ratings
Positive reviews are golden. Encouraging customers to leave reviews on your Google Business Profile not only builds credibility but also influences your ranking in local search results. Google’s algorithm considers user engagement as a signal of content relevance and quality, potentially leading to higher rankings.
Responsiveness to reviews signals engagement and customer satisfaction, further enhancing your online reputation.
A study from Harvard Business Review revealed that businesses can expect additional reviews to pour in to the tune of +12% simply by leaving a polite “thank you” response
According to Semrush’s 2020 Voice Search for Local Businesses Study, Siri is less likely to suggest Yelp businesses with ratings below 4.5
The Reviews Management module in Experience.com provides you with a comprehensive interface to interact with reviews. You can reply to reviews, leverage the power of AI to reply faster and customize your responses, flag reviews for removal, share reviews on social media, and more. Experience.com has made replying to reviews easier than ever with AI reply, AI suggest, reply based on ratings, etc for Enterprise package.
Manage Google Listings for Local SEO Impact
Managing your Google Business Profile effectively is crucial to strengthen your local SEO and attract more customers. Reviews on your profile significantly impact local search rankings, influencing how easily potential customers find you. With 30-40% of local business discovery happening through map apps, optimizing your Google presence is crucial.
Experience.com’s Google Integration empowers you to do just that. Manage Google Posts, Reviews, Q&A, and gain valuable insights through analytics – all within Experience.com. This comprehensive suite of features helps you capitalize on your Google Business Profile and drive more business to your local doorstep.
Show Up on Voice Search
People are increasingly using voice search on the go, especially to find local businesses. Voice search usage has skyrocketed 146% since 2019, jumping from 3.25 billion users to a whopping 8 billion
Optimizing your business listings increases the chances of your business appearing in voice search results.
80% of the time, voice assistants pull answers from the top 3 organic search results. Therefore it is imperative to make sure your business information is the same across all online listings to climb to the top.
By following these best practices, you can optimize your online business listings to improve your SEO performance, increase your visibility in local search results, and attract more customers to your business.
Remember, SEO is an ongoing process, so take consistent action to stay ahead of the competition and drive sustained growth for your business.
