This is part three of a five-part series intended to help a local small business owner understand how to attract local customers with a local search marketing strategy. Each blog post in this five-part blog series will document a part of the local search strategy I have developed for local businesses to rise to the top of Google search.

Parts 1 and 2 detail how a local small business owner can accelerate growth and become visible online with a website well-positioned to speak to your customer and signal to Google who you are and what you offer.

Part 3: You Have The Green Light, Let’s Go

Today’s the day. You have your store signage; your website is live. Now what? Well, it’s time to start gaining search visibility so let’s make sure you have a baseline understanding of how things work in search.

Your Customer Is Googling for You

Google’s search engine today accounts for 92% of the search market and processes 8.5 billion searches per day. That’s a whole lot of results being served up. Then, when you take it a step further and understand that 97% of users search for a local business online, you realize you could really benefit from gaining visibility in Google Search. Your customer is literally out there googling for you right now.

But how you ask? Okay, here’s me spilling the secrets. When Google serves up results (in a matter of milliseconds), it has to decide on what businesses or information will address the searcher’s query immediately. So, this reinforces why, in Part 2 of this blog series, we discussed site architecture. It goes a long way in helping signal to Google that you can help.

We do it for the SERPs

Gaining visibility online means developing a strategy for the search engine, in this case Google. We want Google to show us in ALL the Search Engine Results Pages (otherwise known as SERPs) relevant to who we are and what we offer to our ideal customer.

SERPS: Then and Now

The Google SERPs have drastically evolved over the last two decades, and what used to be a list of 10 blue links directing you towards a business website now looks completely different. Now, using the intelligence of 8.5 billion daily searches, Google has a much clearer vision of what the Searcher’s search query is most likely looking for!

Today, Google will show a wide range of different SERP features to help answer a question. Google is so smart that it can now understand when a search query has local intent. That Google has enough reason to believe the searcher is looking for a product/service within their local geographic area. Heads up: This is where you come in!!!

Position Yourself to “Be found” in the SERPs

You are a local business, right? You want local customers. Then, to grow your business, you must be well-positioned to “be found” in the SERPs.

Here are steps you can take to gain visibility.

1 – Google Business Profile

Do you have a Google Business Listing? If not, stop reading and head over and create one NOW! It’s the one thing in life that’s still free. JK, sort of.

Your Google Business Profile is a critical element to local search success. You want to be showing up in the Local Pack, ideally 1, 2, or 3.

Make sure you not only have a Google Business Profile but that you also understand how to make it work for you. Most businesses don’t utilize it to its full capacity and are missing out on the potential to drive your business to the top of search.

To start, begin thinking about your Google Business Profile – not just a business listing – but a social channel. And, for local search, it is the MOST important social channel for your business. It is how a local business can be found in search without paying for ads or waiting as long as it might take to show up in the organic search results.

2 – Okay, Social Channels, Let’s Discuss

I’ve heard more than once from a small business owner how time-consuming social media marketing can be. I have also seen many small business owners completely kill it on social platforms in pursuit of attracting new customers.

The social media advice I share right now is given to small business owners who are looking to attract local customers in Google search.

For Google search, you don’t need to be everywhere. And you don’t need to be wherever you are every day. For the purposes of Google search, it is important to have a presence in the social channels that make sense for your business but for a different reason. Let me explain.

Before Google decides who to show in the Local Pack, it needs to weigh the signals businesses are giving within the geographic area of the searcher. If Google sees you have a website, have a Google Business profile and have a presence on social media channels, you are going to be signaling to Google you are who you say you are.

Social Media’s Value Explained

Social Media’s value for your business depends on your objective.

• There is value in having a social media presence for Google Search.
• There is value in having a social media presence for your Brand SERP (more on that later!).
• There is tremendous value in not only a presence but a strong SEO strategy for social media when your ideal customer is there and you deploy Social SEO (I’ll save that for another post!).

If your objective is to build visibility in Google Search, the greatest value in having a social media presence is for the idea customer that landed on your website, and with curiosity started to explore your business’ social channels. In this scenario, your social channel will be an additional trust signal for your prospective customer. And the value here is it could help you – not get found – but get chosen!

To maximize the value of your presence on social if your objective is attracting local customers in Google search, show up – when you can show up – and deliver quality advice to your ideal customer that demonstrates your expertise on your product/services offered OR show up and share a glimpse into your brand’s personality (people like to do business with people they think they would like working with).

But, for this objective, the act of social media posting across multiple channels multiple times a day in pursuit of search visibility is not the best use of your time. There are far superior tactical actions you can take to achieve your Google search goals.

3 – Get Listed

Every industry has online directories where it might be helpful to be listed as a business owner. Interior Designers might want to show up on Houzz, Realtors might want to show up on Realtor.com, and so on. You might also find value in your business showing up in the local directories such as your local Chamber, NextDoor, the BBB, or even national directories like Yelp.

The value of being present in an online directory listing is for your Brand SERP – which is something I referenced above. Your Brand SERP is the search results page that will show should someone “Google” your brand name. The more reputable places Google can find where you are listed, the more links you will have on your very own search page.

**Pro tip: Businesses with a similar business name to others in the area will have another benefit to getting listed on directories. If Google can connect the dots and confirm your directory listings or social channels belong to you, they’ll display those ahead of your competition with a similar name. Just make sure you keep a list of every place where you build a presence so when something important like your business hours or phone number changes, you’ll remember to log back into the directory and make the change.

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OKAY, HERE’S YOUR RECAP.

The steps to gaining visibility start with understanding search and how Google decides what businesses to make visible. Once you understand the ranking factors Google uses, keep in mind that Google wants to deliver the most helpful and relevant information to its searchers. The steps you can take to build your presence online will make the act of being found easier.

Before you venture into Part 4, where I talk Branding (it’s dropping soon!), I want to emphasize Gaining Visibility is getting your business in a position to be found. It doesn’t mean you will be chosen by your ideal customer. That’s the next step. Stay tuned!