Blog Post
Digital Marketing Blog
Why Your Google Ranking Doesn’t Matter Anymore
- By James QUINN
- •
- 13 Jul, 2017
- •
Hint: It’s about local listings
What’s more important to you: A shiny trophy for being number one on Google or a boat load of new clients coming your way.
Yes, we have said before that the number one position on Google gets 33% of the traffic for that keyword, but what do you see coming up as number one now-a-days?
Local Directories come up first. Do a quick Google search for anything local business related, for instance "restaurants near me". I did this search, and not one result on the first page was from a local business website. ALL of the first 10 results were local review sites such as Yelp, TripAdvisor and OpenTable.
Now to be fair, there were three local results that appeared first, in what we call the Google Snack Pack. Before the website results, Google displays three locations from Google Maps, which is also very important. For websites though, it was all local directories.
Yes, we have said before that the number one position on Google gets 33% of the traffic for that keyword, but what do you see coming up as number one now-a-days?
Local Directories come up first. Do a quick Google search for anything local business related, for instance "restaurants near me". I did this search, and not one result on the first page was from a local business website. ALL of the first 10 results were local review sites such as Yelp, TripAdvisor and OpenTable.
Now to be fair, there were three local results that appeared first, in what we call the Google Snack Pack. Before the website results, Google displays three locations from Google Maps, which is also very important. For websites though, it was all local directories.
What's the reason for this?
Well, for one, Yelp! and TripAdvisor have more resources than any local business has to compete in search rankings. That's great though, you can can essentially ride on their coat tails for rankings!
It's not so much about your website domain getting listed as the number one result as it's your company name being listed. There is still a place for website rankings though. However, for local businesses, it's about the directories.
Well, for one, Yelp! and TripAdvisor have more resources than any local business has to compete in search rankings. That's great though, you can can essentially ride on their coat tails for rankings!
It's not so much about your website domain getting listed as the number one result as it's your company name being listed. There is still a place for website rankings though. However, for local businesses, it's about the directories.
How do you get ranked on local directories?
Ranking on local directories is similar to ranking on Google. The more active you are, the more that network wants to promote your business. For instance, Yelp will favor a business with 100 reviews and several photos posted and engaged comments than a business with 1 review and no photos and an incomplete listing.
The craziest part about this? It doesn't matter whether your reviews are mostly negative or mostly positive. Of course, we want them to be positive reviews, but the directories really don't care. They care about engagement, whether it's a lunatic customer complaining online or a quick one sentence "We love this place".
It should come as no surprise then, that online review monitoring and response is of equal importance and part of the entire equation.
The craziest part about this? It doesn't matter whether your reviews are mostly negative or mostly positive. Of course, we want them to be positive reviews, but the directories really don't care. They care about engagement, whether it's a lunatic customer complaining online or a quick one sentence "We love this place".
It should come as no surprise then, that online review monitoring and response is of equal importance and part of the entire equation.
Local Business Listing Management
The first step is to claim and update your business profile across the local directories. We call this Local Business Listing Management. We are claiming your business listings throughout the top 50 directories. There are hundreds out there, we take the 50 that have the most users, you can contact us
for a complete list. The absolute top ones though, are Google, Yelp!, Bing, Yahoo, SuperPages, YellowPages, Foursquare, etc.
Then we optimize your business listing with a mini-business bio and then a complete business bio. Not all directories take the mini or the full, but we push at least one of them out to the profile and sometimes we are able to publish both of them.
The listing information is refreshed monthly so Google sees monthly refreshing content.
We give you complete access to an online dashboard that keeps track of your keyword ranking for different searches, along with your other KPI's such as review counts and Google My Business activity.
You can login to this dashboard any time, but we also send you a monthly report of the activity.
Then we optimize your business listing with a mini-business bio and then a complete business bio. Not all directories take the mini or the full, but we push at least one of them out to the profile and sometimes we are able to publish both of them.
The listing information is refreshed monthly so Google sees monthly refreshing content.
We give you complete access to an online dashboard that keeps track of your keyword ranking for different searches, along with your other KPI's such as review counts and Google My Business activity.
You can login to this dashboard any time, but we also send you a monthly report of the activity.
Online Reputation Monitoring
Your dashboard also gives you 24/7 reputation monitoring. All of the directories that we are listing you for and any other review sites, we monitor for any reviews left for your company. If a review is registered for your business, you will receive a weekly report showing activity so that you are able to provide timely responses.
You should be responding to all reviews, both negative and positive. We recommend responding to negative reviews within the first 48 hours and all positive reviews to respond within 5 days.
No matter what, be professional. A negative response to a negative review only adds fuel to the fire. This is an opportunity for your business to show other potential clients how you handle situations. Responding to positive reviews shows customers that you are engaged.
We have written some helpful tips on responding to both negative and positive reviews.
You should be responding to all reviews, both negative and positive. We recommend responding to negative reviews within the first 48 hours and all positive reviews to respond within 5 days.
No matter what, be professional. A negative response to a negative review only adds fuel to the fire. This is an opportunity for your business to show other potential clients how you handle situations. Responding to positive reviews shows customers that you are engaged.
We have written some helpful tips on responding to both negative and positive reviews.
So does your ranking on Google still matter? Well, yes, and no.
Instead of worrying so much about your website ranking, you should be looking at your keyword ranking across all of your pages and your directories.
Of course, content is still king. Always has been, always will be. Some of that content is on those directory websites though and we can update that content for you.
Instead of worrying so much about your website ranking, you should be looking at your keyword ranking across all of your pages and your directories.
Of course, content is still king. Always has been, always will be. Some of that content is on those directory websites though and we can update that content for you.
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