{"id":1970,"date":"2020-12-29T14:26:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-29T19:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/?p=1970"},"modified":"2021-01-11T07:41:34","modified_gmt":"2021-01-11T12:41:34","slug":"gmb-signals-increase-their-role-in-driving-local-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/gmb-signals-increase-their-role-in-driving-local-rankings\/","title":{"rendered":"GMB Signals Increase Their Role in Driving Local Rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Google My Business signals are gaining muscle when it comes\nto lifting your brick-and-mortar location in local search and having it appear\nin front of users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>GMB signals include factors such as proximity to the person\nsearching, business categories, and the keywords used to describe your business\nin its Google My Business page title and other details. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Recent reports indicate that among local search rank\nfactors, GMB signals in 2020 increasingly influenced search results and these\nsignals continue to rise in importance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>In other words, it\u2019s not enough to just \u201cfill out\u201d your\nbusiness listing. If you want your business to perform better in local search,\nyour GMB listing needs to be optimized with relevant keywords, regularly\nupdated, and fully populated. (<a href=\"tel:7172906760\">Give us a call to learn how we can help you!)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are a few GMB ranking factors that seem to have a heavier influence on performance: proximity, relevance, and prominence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Big 3 GMB Ranking Factors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>So, how do you achieve favor from search engines for local\nsearches?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Proximity:<\/strong>&nbsp;\nOptimize for the local neighborhood in which your business is physically\nlocated. Try to target on a neighborhood level or zip code level. If you have\nmultiple locations, optimize per neighborhood and for a general city location. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Relevance<\/strong>: Does your business fit the needs or intent\nof the person searching for it? The more searchers choose your business (clicks\non your listing for things like \u201cdirections to,\u201d or clicks through to your website,\netc.), the more relevant it appears to search engines. Your business needs to\n\u201cmatch\u201d the user\u2019s query.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Prominence<\/strong>: Is your business the authority in its\ncategory? Is it well-known and are there support documents bolstering your\nprominence? Links, articles about your business, and accurate business\ndirectories can help improve your prominence. Reviews and positive ratings also\nstrengthen your prominence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Other Factors Gaining in Search Rank Influence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Review Signals (Review quantity, review\nvelocity, review diversity, etc.) <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Obviously, if reviews can help bolster prominence, then they\ncan influence search rank. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/2020-local-search-ranking-factors-survey-analysis\/\">A\nrecent survey by whitespark<\/a> reveals that 90% of consumers read online\nreviews before visiting a business. And 88% of consumers trust online reviews\nas much as personal recommendations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How do you decide which business is going to get your money? It\u2019s likely the same way your potential clients or customers decide whether to come to you. Online reviews are like digital word-of-mouth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Need\nhelp getting more business reviews? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/contact\/\">Contact us<\/a> to learn how we can help.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>On-Page Signals (Presence of NAP, keywords in\ntitles, domain authority, etc.) <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>First, make sure your Name, Address, and Phone (NAP) match\nacross all listings. This might seem like a no-brainer, but have you investigated\nyour NAP profile? Its consistency plays a big role in SEO and it includes\nmaking sure the legal name of your company is used. Are you including the \u201cLLC\u201d\neach time? Does the business website have a shortened URL listed anywhere? Did\nyou ever list a cellphone or alternate number that has since changed? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/NAP-example.png\" alt=\"example of inconsistent NAP\" class=\"wp-image-1974\" data-size=\"300x300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/NAP-example.png 300w, https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/NAP-example-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/> <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Small details are big concerns. There are digital marketing\nservices wholly dedicated to helping businesses iron out their NAP listings\nbecause it can get complicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a business owner, the very least you should do is make\nsure the NAP on your Google My Business page is exactly as it should be. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/contact\/\">Need help with your GMB? We\u2019d be happy to monitor it for\nyou<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regarding categories, choose the best fit for your business\nand use that as your primary category. You can add relevant categories as\nsecondary signals.&nbsp; The keywords you\nchoose to describe your business should be well researched. Have you\ninvestigated what your competitors use? That\u2019s a great place to start. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">But What About Conversions?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, it\u2019s super important for your business to rank well and\nto optimize your GMB so that it works to your advantage. But what you really\nwant is conversions. Well, all of this plays a big role in those.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take a look:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/3lj2u1keh5v3kanri461tjcc-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/top-10-conversion-factors.png\" alt=\"Whitespark's graphic showing top 10 GMB conversion factors\"  \/> <\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If you need help getting any of these top conversion factors\nin place for your business, give us a call. We can help you head into 2021 at\nfull-strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lastly, check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/marketingkit.withgoogle.com\/videomaker\/#!\/\">Google My Business Video Maker<\/a>, a free marketing tool that pulls your photos, reviews, and other details from your GMB profile and creates a customized video that you can share with your customers, on YouTube, and other social platforms. We gave it a try:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video controls src=\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/updatedGMBvid.mp4\"><\/video><figcaption>Sharp Innovations Google My Business Video<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Google My Business signals are gaining muscle when it comes to lifting your brick-and-mortar location in local search and having it appear in front of users. GMB signals include factors such as proximity to the person searching, business categories, and the keywords used to describe your business in its Google My Business page title and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":1976,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[381,7,14],"tags":[406,41,408,374],"class_list":["post-1970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital-marketing","category-internet-marketing","category-seo","tag-gmb","tag-google-my-business","tag-rank-influence","tag-search-rank"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>GMB Signals Increase Their Role in Driving Local Rankings<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Google My Business signals are gaining muscle when it comes to lifting your brick-and-mortar location in local search and having it appear in front of users. GMB signals include factors such as proximity to the person searching, business categories, and the keywords used to describe your business in its Google My Business page title and...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/gmb-signals-increase-their-role-in-driving-local-rankings\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GMB Signals Increase Their Role in Driving Local Rankings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Google My Business signals are gaining muscle when it comes to lifting your brick-and-mortar location in local search and having it appear in front of users. GMB signals include factors such as proximity to the person searching, business categories, and the keywords used to describe your business in its Google My Business page title and...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/gmb-signals-increase-their-role-in-driving-local-rankings\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sharp Innovations Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-29T19:26:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-11T12:41:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/GMB-Signals-social.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynn Miller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynn Miller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/gmb-signals-increase-their-role-in-driving-local-rankings\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/gmb-signals-increase-their-role-in-driving-local-rankings\/\",\"name\":\"GMB Signals Increase Their Role in Driving Local Rankings\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-29T19:26:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-11T12:41:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b144b551213c252bfdadf7ddcc11f8fb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/gmb-signals-increase-their-role-in-driving-local-rankings\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/gmb-signals-increase-their-role-in-driving-local-rankings\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/gmb-signals-increase-their-role-in-driving-local-rankings\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"GMB Signals Increase Their Role in Driving Local Rankings\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Sharp Innovations Blog\",\"description\":\"Web Design, Development, and Internet Marketing Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b144b551213c252bfdadf7ddcc11f8fb\",\"name\":\"Lynn Miller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546c248bda3b92eae15a4c6a0226e4449f2c07a2ff40f487e60f0e3f2e952a0b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546c248bda3b92eae15a4c6a0226e4449f2c07a2ff40f487e60f0e3f2e952a0b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lynn Miller\"},\"description\":\"Lynn is a Marketing Specialist at Sharp Innovations, where she helps businesses tell their story through thoughtful content and effective paid advertising. With a journalism background and a love for clear, helpful communication, she enjoys turning ideas into messaging that feels both human and strategic. She works across SEO, PPC, blogging, copywriting, and content planning, always with a focus on what will genuinely help people connect with a brand.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/author\/lmiller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"GMB Signals Increase Their Role in Driving Local Rankings","description":"Google My Business signals are gaining muscle when it comes to lifting your brick-and-mortar location in local search and having it appear in front of users. GMB signals include factors such as proximity to the person searching, business categories, and the keywords used to describe your business in its Google My Business page title and...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/gmb-signals-increase-their-role-in-driving-local-rankings\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"GMB Signals Increase Their Role in Driving Local Rankings","og_description":"Google My Business signals are gaining muscle when it comes to lifting your brick-and-mortar location in local search and having it appear in front of users. GMB signals include factors such as proximity to the person searching, business categories, and the keywords used to describe your business in its Google My Business page title and...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/gmb-signals-increase-their-role-in-driving-local-rankings\/","og_site_name":"Sharp Innovations Blog","article_published_time":"2020-12-29T19:26:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-01-11T12:41:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/GMB-Signals-social.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lynn Miller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lynn Miller","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/gmb-signals-increase-their-role-in-driving-local-rankings\/","url":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/gmb-signals-increase-their-role-in-driving-local-rankings\/","name":"GMB Signals Increase Their Role in Driving Local Rankings","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-12-29T19:26:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-01-11T12:41:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b144b551213c252bfdadf7ddcc11f8fb"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/gmb-signals-increase-their-role-in-driving-local-rankings\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/gmb-signals-increase-their-role-in-driving-local-rankings\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/gmb-signals-increase-their-role-in-driving-local-rankings\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"GMB Signals Increase Their Role in Driving Local Rankings"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/","name":"Sharp Innovations Blog","description":"Web Design, Development, and Internet Marketing Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b144b551213c252bfdadf7ddcc11f8fb","name":"Lynn Miller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546c248bda3b92eae15a4c6a0226e4449f2c07a2ff40f487e60f0e3f2e952a0b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546c248bda3b92eae15a4c6a0226e4449f2c07a2ff40f487e60f0e3f2e952a0b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lynn Miller"},"description":"Lynn is a Marketing Specialist at Sharp Innovations, where she helps businesses tell their story through thoughtful content and effective paid advertising. With a journalism background and a love for clear, helpful communication, she enjoys turning ideas into messaging that feels both human and strategic. She works across SEO, PPC, blogging, copywriting, and content planning, always with a focus on what will genuinely help people connect with a brand.","url":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/author\/lmiller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1970"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2032,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1970\/revisions\/2032"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpinnovations.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}