Along with the development of location services by the largest market players (Google Maps, Apple Maps and others), more and more companies are paying attention to their local promotion. How will location services develop in the coming year? Our experts talk about the main trends of the next year.
User Content
Maps will increasingly focus on UGC (user-generated content). Therefore, it is important to work with your audience, motivate users to take attractive photos, and leave reviews. Be sure to work with reviews and respond to reviews. User engagement will bear fruit: a loyal audience will make you a high-quality UGC that can be used in promotion in the future.
Profile information
A completed company card in location services will also become a trend in the new year. The business profiles of Google have a progress bar for fullness, so that the user can track what data is missing in the company profile. But not so long ago, Google Business Profile began testing another metric – “Profile Strength”, in which tells the business how well the card is filled out.
The progress bar on Google Business Profile
In addition, in your Google account, it is indicated: the more information you publish about your company, the more customers you can attract. Therefore, do not ignore the recommendations of location services, they will help you take the best places in the local search results.
Summary
To stand out from the competition and promote your business locally in location services, pay attention to these trends. Pay attention to the completeness of the card, add the necessary data, and check whether the information is correct. And also keep in touch with your audience, motivate them to leave reviews and take photos in your location, as well as share information about you on social networks.
Local SEO
Ranking high for relevant keywords with geographic features has always been relevant for offline businesses and this trend will not change in 2023.
The goal of local SEO optimization is to improve search results based on the user’s local Intent. For example, for those who want to find a digital agency using the query “digital agency near me” or “digital agency in my city”, the output will include only local companies. Local SEO is especially important for brands from the service sector (restaurants, medical centres, beauty salons, etc.), and people living nearby are the main segment of their target audience. To increase your customer base, register your brand on Google My Business – to display on Google Maps at the address, and connect your account to Google Analytics. Among the main factors that influence local SEO: are real online reviews from existing customers and optimization of the site for local keywords.