{"id":102,"date":"2020-11-24T10:55:09","date_gmt":"2020-11-24T05:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchaholiks.com\/learn\/?p=102"},"modified":"2021-07-01T20:16:28","modified_gmt":"2021-07-01T14:46:28","slug":"google-maps-packs-in-local-seo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.searchaholiks.com\/learn\/google-maps-packs-in-local-seo\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Use Google Maps Packs in Improving Your Local SEO Visibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

About a decade ago, mobiles and handhelds became a part of the primary consumer market, and it revolutionized how we interact with the internet. Tap a few buttons in the right combination, and you can learn about the Height of the Statue of Liberty (92mtrs) or have a pizza delivered at your house.<\/p>\n

\"Search<\/p>\n

In terms of popularity, Google is the most preferred search engine (~83%), and it dominates thanks to the possibility of displaying the local search results. \u201cWhere to buy\u201d + \u201cnear me\u201d mobile queries have grown by over 200% in the past two years. As a part of improving your Local SEO performance, it is advised to optimize your business presence on Google Maps. In this article, we shall be focussing on the ways to use Google Maps in improving your local SEO visibility.<\/p>\n

What is Google Map Marketing? Why is it important for Local SEO?<\/h2>\n

Google Map integration has been one great step that Google has taken in making local search results more helpful for the end-user. Associating a Google Map listing along with the search results provides an accurate location instead of a generic listing within a radius. 72% of consumers who did a local search visited a store within five miles (Source<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The more refined your profile is, the better are the chances for your business to show up in Google Maps search for your business type in your area. When your customer makes a search for a business, Google displays some results in a special box within the organic search, commonly known as the local SEO 3-pack. As seen below, a search for a barber, shows you three listings based on the location along with the positions on the map followed by the organic search results. You also get additional information about the institution such as the overall ratings, the work timings, links to the website, and driving directions to the place.<\/p>\n

\"Google<\/p>\n

Google utilizes a number of strategies and tactics along with relative location, to display the most relevant businesses in three positions on local map packs. The rest of the results can be availed when you click \u2018More Places\u2019 and this is where the second marketing opportunity of Google Maps is availed by digital marketers.<\/p>\n

As you can see in the screenshot below, the top two results are ads of barbershops that are not situated around the user\u2019s general vicinity but are targeted for the keyword \u2018Barber\u2019 and hence displayed.<\/p>\n

\"Google<\/p>\n

In either way, Google Maps are an important tool to utilize when you want your business to occupy a mark on the map. With 80% of internet users owning a smartphone and over half of Google searches done on them are from people who are looking for a local business, service, product, or information, it would be a costly mistake to overlook the marketing potential of Google Maps.<\/p>\n

How to Rank on Google Maps Results?<\/h2>\n

As we stated earlier, Google utilizes a number of strategies and tactics along with relative location, to display the most relevant businesses in three positions on local map packs. The algorithm used by Google to rank different listings based on the user\u2019s search queries is somewhat similar to the algorithm used for ranking organic search results. So some of the factors that affect the Google Map Results are:<\/p>\n