Double Up on Your Google Rankings for Your Local Business

Local businesses are in an enviable position when it comes to gaining visibility in Google’s search results because they have the opportunity to capture top positions on the first page through two different methods:

Organic web search results – organic web search results are those that you are probably most familiar with because they are what Google serves up in response to a search query on the Google.com homepage and can include a combination of news, videos, images, and so forth
Local business search results – local business search results are the listings that appear on page one as a 3-pack, 7-pack, or 10-pack either, most commonly, above the organic search results or, occasionally, part way down the first page and are served up in response to search queries that contain a “geographic modifier” (such as a city name) or when Google’s algorithm detects a local intent (they also appear in Google Maps search results)

It’s important to distinguish between the two types of search results because the ranking algorithms for web search results and local business search results are completely different so the pathway to the top of web search results is paved with different factors than the pathway to the top of the local business search results.

Moreover, according to Google, about 20% of all Google searches have a local intent behind them (that number goes up to about 33% for Google searches via the mobile web) so there is a lot of interest in local content. And many of those people who are looking for local content follow up their online research and comparisons with an offline purchase. In fact, according to a Google-sponsored, comScore.com study on the influence of online search on offline buying behaviour, 63% of people who make a purchase after online search activity do so offline.

Finally, while it generally takes a website to get to the top of Google’s organic web search results (you can also rank for alternative content such as YouTube videos, PR Web news releases, images hosted on Flickr, and so forth), the only way you can get to the top of Google’s local search results is by creating (or claiming an existing) Google Places listing.