July 2017
Google My Business can help you sell your products and services to people who are nearby, so by optimising your Google My Business page with complete details of your company, Google can understand more effectively when you should be displayed higher in the search results.
Essentially, Google My Business is a vast directory filled with local businesses all around the world. Once you input your details and verify your business, you can update it with lots of information such as your opening hours, location and prices, as well as pictures of your shop or business premises. In turn, Google has a better understanding of where you are and what you offer and ranks you accordingly.
Local results are based primarily on relevance, distance and prominence:-
Relevance refers to how well a local listing matches what someone is searching for and by adding your complete and detailed business information, will help Google to better understand your business and therefore match your listing to relevant searches.
How far is each potential search query and result from the location term used in a search? If a user hasn't specified a location in their search, Google will calculate the distance based on what’s known about their location.
Prominence refers to how well known a business is. Some places are more prominent in the offline world, and search results try to reflect this in local rankings. For example, famous museums, landmark hotels or well-known shop brands that are familiar to many people are also likely to be more prominent in local search results. Prominence is also based on information that Google has about a business from across the web (such as links, articles and directories). Google review count and score are also factored into local search ranking – more reviews and positive ratings will improve a business's local ranking. Your position in web results is also a factor, so SEO best practices apply to local search optimisation. You cannot request or pay for a better local ranking on Google. Google has stated that they will do their best to keep the details of the search algorithm confidential to make the ranking system as fair as possible for everyone.
By properly updating your Google My Business account, Google will be able to display you higher in the rankings when someone searches for a product or service that matches what you are offering. In fact, studies have found that Google My Business has the largest effect on local rankings than any other method that people use.
To get started, all you need to do is head on over to