Local SEO ranking factors 2022: 7 top factors that help your business grow in local pack

Businesses are now increasingly realising the importance of promoting to their local audience. As Google search engine results have a huge impact on the digital marketing trends, brick and mortar stores around us are now focused on using different tools to improve their local seo ranking factors.

We all know that the more your business website appears at the top of the search, the chances of search engine users clicking it. Basically, when people are searching for any product or service near them to acquire, Google uses map pack or 3 pack to highlight the most prominent and relevant business to their search keywords.

Local seo ranking factors are becoming important for digital marketing strategy. Google pack is the main focus for brick and mortar businesses around you, as they are using local seo ranking factors to boost their online visibility every time you search with a relevant keyword. As a business, you might be wondering why local seo ranking factors are essential and how different it is than general seo?

As Google’s algorithms is always trying to give their users the results most relevant to their keywords, local seo has helped businesses more on specificity of their seo strategy as well. Now, marketers are not only concerned about their seo strategy and Google ranking, they are also focused on

According to the study conducted by WhiteSpark to take a look at the local seo ranking factors. Their survey shows how local seo ranking factors will dominate the local pack results on Google. These local search ranking factors include on page seo, Google My Business accounts, online reviews, citations, behavioural and lastly personalization. We have listed how you can leverage these factors to rank better in the Google local pack.

The rising importance of Google local pack:

Your local search ranking factors will eventually help you get featured and appear in the google map pack or 3 pack. Whenever you Google a product or any keyword with “near me” search engine results will show three businesses which are best relevant to your search keywords based on geographical proximity. When people are searching online for products to buy or services to acquire, it is more likely that they will follow through with their purchase.

First of all it is important to note that a 3 pack or Google pack will occupy more space. If you’re wondering how that works, go and search for Chinese takeout in your area. Here, you would insert the area you live in. This could be your city and town name.

When you search this, Google will show you the most relevant restaurants around you which will appear in a box more highlighted at the top of your search engine result page. When Google shows a business on the top of the page, people are more likely to interact with your official website and even physically show up to complete the purchase.

It is not just your business website that appears, it is your Google My Business account with official information about opening times, address, contact information and most importantly your customer reviews. Having customer reviews to make a good first online impression has proven highly effective for businesses. This is a great way to improve your business trust among audiences who would be reading customer reviews before they make a buying decision. There are also other ways you can improve your map pack ranking.

If you are still not sure about the google my business account and still struggling how to optimise your GMB probile. Here is a google my business checklist to fill your needs. This will help you optimising your profile in a better way.

The top 7 local seo ranking factors to improve your search engine visibility:

Following is the list of seven local seo ranking factors you need to look out for in 2022. These local search ranking factors will improve your chances of appearing in a higher position on the search engine page in the Google map pack.

• Online reviews

Online reviews, as we have mentioned before, are highly important for establishing trust with your potential customers. Our reputation management tools and platform Xoopah helps users with sending reminders to their customers for reviews after a successful completion of a purchase, manage cross platform reviews especially the ones which appear in the map pack and also respond to the reviews in real time. Managing strong ratings are shown to improve Google map pack visibility.

The best thing you can do for your business is manage your online image and reputation. You would want to appear as the business which has great interaction skills with their customers. People are more likely to believe and trust your own customer base. So making sure that the first point of contact with your potential leads is your customer relationship is essential.

• Your Google My Business account

Google My Business accounts are now the best way to manage your online reputation as it is directly showing your customer ratings when people are searching for Keywords relevant to your business.

At Xoopah, we are experts in helping businesses set up and sync their Google My Business account to increase chances of your business appearing on the map pack or 3 pack. Remember that Google search engine uses proximity as a factor to select which businesses will appear in the map pack.

In order for the algorithm to detect your business, we will help you optimise your contact information, address, phone number, opening hours and customer reviews so you have a good chance of appearing on the map pack. We believe online reputation management should be centralised. Simplifying your tools for reputation and image management should simultaneously improve your online visibility.

• Backlink profile

When it comes to local search ranking factors, Backlink profile is your best at improving your search engine position when searched with relevant keywords. Remember how we mentioned that Google is using relevance and prominence as factors to select which businesses to appear in the map pack and the overall search engine result pages?

Well, your backlink profile will pertain to the prominence part. You can choose review websites like Yelp, specialised blogs with good authority and even local publications to link back to your website.

First of all, you need to develop a strategy for targeting these websites so your business has better prominence online. Redirecting from healthy websites which are relevant to your business will also have an impact on your online image. Imagine a user looking for the best burger in their town and coming across a food blog.

This blog author made a list of seven burgers to try and one of them is your business. That blog reader will automatically end up in your website and make a purchase depending on the effectiveness of your landing page.

• Online citations

For better visibility and opportunities for engagements, there are online citations. It basically consists of your aggregators and the consistency of your name, address and phone number connected to your business. Online citations are what make backlinks more credible. Basically the more credible your information is, the more you’ll be featured in local pack.

• On page seo

On page seo pertains to how relevant keywords are used on your website. To select businesses to appear in the local pack, Google uses on page seo as a local search ranking factor to tan. This is why it is important that you have a good on page seo strategy which also focuses on your name, address and phone number to show up on relevant places on your website.

Your on page seo will also dictate how your landing page is designed ultimately having an impact on user experience when a user interacts with your website. Developing content calendars to focus on the list of relevant keywords and using Google analytics to see how your website is ranking for each keyword.

• Behavioral signals

Behavioral signals basically point towards how the audience is interacting with your official website or your Google My Business account. Another way audience might find your business is through listings and other authority websites. Click through rate is the most common Behavioral signals and others include click to call. Businesses can make sure that their information is up to date on their Google My Business account and their listings as well so they can acquire more clicks and engagement from their target audience.

• Search personalization

Search personalization is another among local seo ranking factors which basically is an indication of how Google shows search engines results to users on the basis of their location, search history, their language and their precious preferences etc. Search personalization is a great way for businesses to understand how local search ranking factors work and minutely gauge who specifically their target audience is.

Xoopah- the future of digital business growth Xoopah is your ideal small business management software with special expertise in helping businesses with online exposure and sales growth. We do this by helping businesses streamline their reviews, optimizing their Google My Business account, online sales, marketing channels and providing a view of their customer information all saved in one place. Your business growth partner is Xoopah so join us to optimize your online visibility and growth using our tools today.