So you have a great local business in Markham and want to take advantage of the wealth of clients you might discover online.

But where do you start? In an ever more technological landscape, local businesses need to make sure they are visible online so how do you guarantee your customers can find you?

Google My Business allows local businesses such as those in the Markham area to be the Go-To’ service for the huge number of clients available in your area.

Digital marketing is crucial to standing out head and shoulders above your competitors. So in this article today we are going to delve into Google my Business and why it’s important for businesses not only in Markham but also across the globe.

First, let’s find out the takeaway answer as to why digital marketing success is important to your local business.

Why is Google My Business Important for Markham local SEO? By adding your local Markham business listing to Google My Business you will ensure your customers will find you and provide crucial SEO to your online offerings. Important customer reviews and up-to-date business information, maps, and photos will ensure your business is competitive.

Ok so now we’ve nailed the short answer, let’s start by discovering a bit more about Google my Business and why it’s important to your SEO business strategy.

Google My Business

In order to attain digital marketing success by taking advantage of a location-based strategy, many seasoned SEO professionals start from the same platform. They design a Google My Business listing for many good reasons.

So what exactly is Google my Business? Let’s explore a little further and find out why you need to harness the power of this platform if you are a local business owner in Markham.

What is Google My Business?

Google My Business which many abbreviate to GMB, is a free tool from Google that allows business owners to effectively manage their internet presence across the entire search engine.

It provides the greatest impact for those businesses looking for local exposure.

Features such as Google’s local search results, which offers potential customers with a list of businesses nearby and much of the relevant information required to find a specific business (such as a particular location, business hours, reviews, etc.) can mean the difference between someone searching for your product and service or turning to your competitors.

Each business owner with a website is searching for new ways to get ranked higher in search results.

This is the reason why a GMB listing for both new as well as established businesses is extremely necessary for local Markham SEO or SEO in Toronto.

Recently and especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, it is essential to provide customers with an up-to-date Google profile for your business hours services.

It’s not a silver bullet

There are a number of tactics to rank well as a local business, however, there is no silver bullet.

As with most of the other SEO issues, it is a combined effort. One of the many pieces of the regional SEO puzzle is Google My Business, a launchpad that comes in handy for managing listings.

So now we’ve seen that in order to compete locally you need to make sure you have a robust Google My Business strategy, let’s take a look at some more reasons why local businesses need to make sure they have an up-to-date listing on Google my Business.

“Each business owner with a website is searching for new ways to get ranked higher in search results.”

Benefits of Google My Business

Google My Business is Google’s all in one platform to manage how your business will perform and appear in the search engine.

It’s a great tool to find out and possibly adjust how your website shows in the Knowledge Graph, Maps, Google+, along with organic search results.

The most recent edition of Moz’ Local Search Ranking Factors Survey reports that Google My Business is undoubtedly the biggest driving factor of local SEO success, followed by quality links second in the list.

You can manage your business listing by adding:

• Map details
• Photos
• Opening hours
• And more

You will even find special options to manage your business listing during the Corona crisis. In addition to the above, you also get a number of different options, such as managing the reviews that the consumers leave.

As any business owner would know, reviews are a key factor in Markham’s local SEO efforts.

So ok, we know it’s a done deal to be on Google my Business, but how does it actually work? Let’s explore below.

How does it work?

Getting started with My Business is comparatively easy. The first thing you have to do is to get your account and claim your business.

• Simply fill in your details and you will get a real-life postcard from Google on the address that you have specified.
• This card is the only proof of you being the owner of the business listed at that specific address.
• For some types of business, it is also possible to get verified via a phone call or an email. Google has a special page that allows you to check your verification status.
• After you get verified, you can fill in all the necessary details and check how your listing is doing. You can even get regular insights to see how many clicks, impressions, and subscribers your listing got over a period of time.

It is also really useful in discovering how your business is perceived by Google and potential consumers alike.

Combine with other forms of SEO

However, it’s worth considering that Google My Business is not the catch-all tool for your local SEO.

Combining it with other marketing efforts, a great website and a combination of other SEO Toronto strategies are also essential to the success of any online venture.

Being ranked highly on Google My Business requires an accurate and up to date profile along with localized content and a well-optimized website. All things work synergistically.

So now we’ve mentioned ranking, let’s take a look below at some of the factors used in order to rank your local Markham business.

Reach potential customers

There are millions of potential daily customers using local searches to find the closets and most highly rated businesses in their area. Increase your chances of appearing in front of these customers through the use of Local SEO.

Google Google My Business is considered more of a directory and quick go-to tool and can get you noticed by lots of potential customers and clients, without conducting that much additional effort on your part.

Ranking factors

Google My Business makes use of a number of factors to determine rankings for businesses. Following are the three most essential ones:

• Relevance
• Distance
• Prominence

Relevance

Relevance will determine how well your business fits the search intent of a consumer.

Is your main idea identical to what the consumer wants or are you a bit unclear about what your business offers?

Imprecision and uncertainty don’t rank well in the search results, so make sure that you are as clear as possible. Don’t lose your focus.

Proximity

Proximity is a factor with which most of the business owners are aware of when it comes to ranking local businesses.

You can’t rank in a local Markham search for when you have located your business in some other major region, for instance, Edmonton.

The exact way by which Google determines whether or not to show a business in a local search is not an exact science unknown, so it can be quite difficult to rank in a given area.

Other factors play a key role as well. It helps not just to say that you are located in Markham, you also need to show it by creating content specific to this very region on your website.

Google utilizes what it knows about the location of the searcher in order to present them with the most relevant local businesses.

Prominence

Prominence is defined as the activity going on around your listing.

This could include:

• The number of events
• Reviews
• Local content
• And more

It can also help if you are able to get a large number of quality links to your site.

It is relatively difficult to determine what prominence means exactly, but one thing is for sure: nobody likes a static profile with very little activity from the owner or its visitors.

You need to keep your profile consistently updated with new photos and manage your reviews.

As mentioned earlier, this goes hand in hand with your website, therefore make sure that both the listings align and that you publish region-specific content.

“You need to keep your profile consistently updated with new photos and manage your reviews.”

Optimize your Google My Business Listing

As a first step, you need to claim your listing. Once that step has been completed, you can make use of the following tips to ensure the success of your My Business account.

Remember that everything you add must be aligned with the information that you provide on your site. Inaccurate information will end up killing your listings and could kill your rankings:

• Claim your listing with your real business name
• Choose a category which is as accurate as possible
• Provide as much data as you can – your profile needs to be 100%
• Check your phone number
• Check your opening times and accurately plan the holidays
• Keep reviewing your photos: are they good enough and accurate or can you further improve them?
• Keep your My Business listing aligned with your site.
• Most importantly, you need to keep your data up to date

And finally…

So there you have it. Everything you need to know about optimizing your web offering for the local Markham area.

Let us help to get your project started, grow your business, and achieve your goals!

Media Contact
Company Name: FlipAware.com
Contact Person: Media Relations
Email: Send Email
Phone: 416-528-9397
City: Markham
State: Ontario
Country: Canada
Website: https://www.flipaware.com/