What it is and why it matters to your business
Google’s goal is to provide the most relevant and accurate results for searchers, and they’re constantly tweaking the way they show these results to simplify searching for users. And while that’s great news for searchers, it can pose a host of problems for local business owners trying to keep up with the latest and greatest updates and algorithm changes.
One such update that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon is the Google 3-pack (also known as the local pack). You’ve probably noticed this feature over the last five years – the three Maps results that pop up when you conduct a local Google search on your smartphone or on desktop.
The Google 3-pack is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a pack of three local search results. These results are sourced based on a user’s query and their location. For instance, if you were to type in “electrician in Boston,” you’d likely get three suggestions at the very top which would be determined by the amount of info Google can collect on them, what their reviews are like, and their proximity to where you are.
Optimize Your Website
Setting up a website is the only first step towards getting an entry into the SERPs. The real challenge lies in optimizing it to drive traffic and win leads. Research proves that mobile friendliness is a major factor that governs a website’s authority.
In fact, according to the HubSpot statistics we mentioned earlier, 61% of users will contact a local business if they have a mobile-friendly site. While that is one crucial element, there are others:
- Speed: Make sure your website loads super fast. In a different statistics compilation, Kristen Baker points out that the first five seconds of page-load time have the highest impact on conversion rates.
If your site is not optimized for speed, it will acquire a high bounce rate and thus a lower rank in the SERPs. To reduce your website’s loading time:
– Minify HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
– Optimize multimedia content
– Reduce redirects
– Uninstall irrelevant themes and plugins
- Content: Publish blog posts on your website that offer value-adding content. Research keywords and embed them as anchor texts to link your internal web pages. While on it, make sure that your keywords are long-tailed.
The idea behind this strategy is to rank for keywords that are ultra-specific but less competitive in the SERPs. However, don’t stuff your articles with phrases that do nothing to take forward your argument or to help readers.
One way around this is by deploying a topics cluster strategy . Topic clusters build on the idea discussed in a pillar article and are a great way to boost your content marketing efforts.
To take an example, if you have a coffee outlet, how coffee beans are sourced in different parts of the globe can be great topic pillars for a post on the history of coffee!
- Links: It refers to building quality inbound links for your domain. For off-site optimization, local link building is a crucial technique. If you publish stellar content on your blog, other websites will cite it, thus building your site authority in the SERPs.
While internally linking your pages using topic clusters will structure your website, getting off-page mentions from authoritative sources will bolster its online reputation and credibility.
Thus, find opportunities for guest posting in reputed publications in your niche.
Manage Your Google My Business Profile
The Google 3-pack shows Maps results from Google My Business. So, one of the most reliable ways to increase your chances of snagging one of these coveted spaces is by claiming and optimizing your Google My Business profile.
Google allows you to add a wealth of information that is useful to users, and in turn, that could help you get seen in the local pack.
If you haven’t already set up or claimed your Google My Business listing, that’s going to be your first step. To claim or set up your Google My Business listing, simply go to google.com/mybusiness , click Manage Now, and follow the prompts.
Once your Google Business profile is set up or claimed, you’ll want to optimize your listing.
Quick tips to optimize your Google My Business listing:
- Make sure all the information on your Google My Business listing is accurate, especially your location since this is one of the ways Google determines which businesses to show in the local pack.
- Add your business categories to your listing – this helps Google source the correct business types for local searches.
- Check that your Google My Business listing information directly matches the information on your website and other local listings, specifically your name, address, and phone number. Google looks at these factors for consistency, which is a ranking factor.
Your business 5 star reviews
Not only do many people search for businesses “near me,” but they also search for the “best” businesses.
When a user searches something like “best spa Worcester,” Google will display Maps results for businesses with a star rating of four or above on their Google My Business listing.
So, even if your spa is closer to the searcher, your business wouldn’t make it into the 3-pack if you have a 3.9-star rating on your Google My Business listing.
It’s important to get reviews on your Google My Business profile to help you increase your chances of showing in the local pack, and because a good reputation is important for your business.
Also, there are times when the content from your reviews shows up on Google along with your Google My Business profile. Take a closer look at the example from local pack above – each featured review mentions “best.”
Once you get reviews, make sure you’re responding to them so your customers know you care and so prospective customers who read your reviews when you show up in the Google local pack can see that you’re focused on excellent customer service.
Feeling stuck when it comes to getting Google reviews? Use these quick tips.
Quick tips for getting Google reviews:
- Get into the habit of asking or reminding happy customers to leave you reviews on Google.
- Include a link to your Google My Business listing with a request for reviews in your email communications.
- Add a link to your Google My Business listing on your testimonials page on your website so customers are encouraged to leave a review after reading positive mentions of your company.
Keep an Eye on Your Local SEO
Because the Google local pack is part of Google’s overarching search results, it does follow some of the same principles and requirements as any other SEO campaign. That’s why it’s important to keep up with all aspects of your local and organic SEO (yes, they’re different) to increase your chances of ranking anywhere on Google’s results pages.
The first line of defense in a successful SEO strategy is your website. You want to make sure all your onsite SEO factors, like the way your website is built, your web content, and your metadata are adhering to best practices.
You’ll also want to ensure offsite SEO factors, like local listings, are sending the right signals to Google – remember when we talked about consistency in your name, address, and phone number earlier? That applies to all your listings.
Quick local SEO tips:
- Confirm that your website is mobile-friendly or has a responsive design. Google indexes the mobile version of your website , so it’s crucial that your site is mobile-optimized.
- Check your website’s meta tags – especially on your homepage – and make sure your location is included in some way.
- Read through your web content and make sure it’s easy to understand for searchers and search engines – you want visitors to be able to easily identify what your business does.
How to Get Your Website into the Google Local 3-Pack
Now that Google has reduced the display from 7 to 3, let’s look at how to get into those coveted three spots. Having a consistent Name/Address/Phone Number (NAP) is quite important because Google places a lot of weight on having that information accurate and correct. If you have it in the right format across many different sources, then you will rank higher because Google can be sure that it is listing the right contact info for your business.
In addition, becoming active on local listings sites might be the most important single factor for performing well in local search. These include one-off sites like churches or community bulletin boards as well as listings that are more common across different areas, like the website for the local Chamber of Commerce. The more you can appear in these listings, the more Google trusts your business.
It is not uncommon for a small business that is listed on a few local listings without much traffic to beat out big chains that have a location in that area: that is how strong the effect of your presence on a listings site can be. This is because Google wants to give searchers a good experience by emphasizing the results that are truly local, and it uses these sites as a good way to determine that.
When it comes to mobile local search, it is becoming more important than ever to make sure your site is mobile-responsive. Google is pushing sites towards becoming more friendly to mobile users because the proportion of Internet users on mobile devices is large and growing. It’s already a good idea to try to target them for their business, and now you have strong SEO reasons for doing so.
The so-called “Mobilegeddon” update tweaked the rankings so that responsive pages are pushed to the top for mobile searches. If you are using responsive design, then that increases your chances of getting into the top 3. This is especially valuable for mobile local search because all results outside the top 3 are hidden behind a scroll or page turn.
Conclusion
Google’s Local 3-pack offers incredible opportunities for business growth. It comes equipped with features that make it possible for local businesses to compete in the online marketplace. With the right set of tactics like optimizing their website and GMB profile, they can win new customers and take their business to new heights. Use the tips we shared to get started today.