Improving Rankings for GRID

[GrizPrime]

This is going to be a dumb question for this group but how do you all improve grid rankings and expand outside of the immediate business location for a SAB?

I am newer to local SEO and our team uses Bright Local. As an example, I have a roofer client who is "located" on the outskirts of a a bigger city. He has more 5 star reviews than most competitors (but not replying to them yet). Primary category and services correct. NAP seems good. Citations could be a little higher. Added fresh photos of recent jobs, uploaded FAQs in Q&A and we did some Posts in May.

I have downloaded some GBP checklists but I guess I am looking for how some of you would approach this. What would you REALLY focus on and what does your roadmap look like to continue to improve?

Thanks in advance!! Really appreciate the guidance.

 

[ElizabethRule]

It's going to be tough as an SAB, especially one technically outside of the major city I am assuming you want to rank in? If you DON'T need to rank in the major city, you might have better success ranking for neighboring outskirt cities/towns where there is probably less competition.

I say its harder with an SAB because we tested it and proved that hiding an address on GBP does impact rankings Does Hiding Your Address Impact your Google Business Profile Ranking? - Sterling Sky Inc

To improve your listing, focus on reviews, getting new ones consistently. Also optimize your services, check off predefined services as those are rankings boosts Do Services in Google Business Profiles Impact Ranking? - Sterling Sky Inc

Then onsite optimization to the GBP landing page. Onsite optimization will be your best friend here as this is one of the top ranking factors for Google maps. I wrote an article on it that you can check out for insights on what to include in this optimization - The Ultimate Cheat Sheet to Google Business Profile Landing Pages - Sterling Sky Inc

Beyond that, if you find you are limited in how far you are able to expand your map rankings you may want to shift to focus on building/optimizing service area pages to expand your organic visibility - see this other article I wrote on that here How to Create Unique and Helpful Service Area Pages for Local Businesses - Sterling Sky Inc

Make sure to pay attention to how well your top competitors in your area (in this case, outside of the city limits) are ranking - that will give you a good idea of how much oppurtunity there is to improve your one listing.

 

[GrizPrime]

Thank you SO much for this @ElizabethRule! These links were super helpful.


I didn't realize how important the LP was to the maps ranking so I will start there

 

[ElizabethRule]

I'm so glad!! Let us know how it goes and if you have other questions along the way