A question I get asked a lot is “what determines the order of ranking in the local listings?” For those florists who operate in major cities where many florists exist, being listed in the top 10 local listings is crucial.
While Google probably isn’t going to reveal the secret sauce behind their local business algorithm, the emphasis behind their main algorithm index has always been “CONTENT IS KING.” In that regard, it just may be that “CONTENT IS ALSO KING” in local business listings.
Think about all those features that are available in your local listing account. They probably aren’t there by accident.
For instance, Google gives you the option to upload your logo and lots of photos to help build the content of your listing. Google also provides a description area for you to fill in to help describe your listing by the use of keywords. Google also gives you the content option of adding both coupons and videos to your listing. Google also makes it possible for people to leave reviews of your company: which is user content that works to build trust values.
There are a lot of content options associated with Google’s local business listings and Google’ pattern has always been to favor content oriented websites.
There may be other factors involved too….
If the name of your company listing does not include the word “flowers” or “florist” in it then add it as an extended portion of your name. For example, instead of listing the business as just “Blooms & Things” go with “Blooms & Things Florist.”
The other factor that may play a part in local listing ranking, is casting link-votes directly at the local listing URL.
Local business listing SEO is very much at an infancy state, but this has been what I’ve been thinking as of late.
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