SEO for the Google Maps Pack: Rank Better Locally

The Google Maps Pack occupies prime real estate on search results pages. It gets more clicks than your site will receive from ranking top spots for local organic search listings, making it an imperative area of local search optimization that marketers must take advantage of.

Even if you rank #1 for organic search listings, it’s still an excellent addition to your arsenal to dominate Google Maps Pack.

I’ve used it to rank one of my local businesses—a coffee shop in Bulacan and our franchise in Taguig—and have been driving nearby customers, making it one of the important channels to drive more physical visits to our stores. 

 

Here are some tips for leveraging SEO for the Google Maps Pack. 

1. Claim Your Google Business Profile (GBP)

If your brand is famous in the industry and many customers visit your location, you may have a Google Business Profile visible on a search. You just need to claim it as its rightful owner.

Otherwise, if the store hasn’t opened yet, like in our case, weeks before our store opening, we already created our Google Business Profile for our upcoming branch. 

Simply go to the Google Business Profile and follow the verification process. They usually will send you a code by mail or phone. Once verified, you can edit your Google Business Profile and optimize it for local searches. 

Once you have claimed your Google Business Profile, fill out all the necessary details, including your Business Name, Address, and Phone Number. Spend as much time as necessary adding other important details in every information field. 

The goal here is to provide as much context about your business as possible for Google to recognize it and to provide business information for your potential visitors. 

2. Ask for Customer Reviews

Getting legitimate customer reviews helps Google recognize the authenticity of your brand and gives potential customers a glimpse of your business’s customer experience.

Whether the reviews are positive or negative, what matters most are actual reviews from your customers. 

Here’s how to encourage customers to review your GBP:

Politely ask customers for reviews after a sale or service. Train your front liners (customer service or sales team) to request a GBP review from every satisfied customer. It doesn’t hurt to ask. 

Send follow-up emails or texts with a direct link to your GBP review page. This could be through Viber or any other digital channel. 

Another effective way to get reviews is incentivizing customers to review your product or service. For instance, during my honeymoon with my wife, we had a relaxing spa in Bangkok, Thailand. After the spa service, we were asked to scan a QR code, incentivizing us for the review – getting 50% off for the next visit. 

You can also apply the same strategy to acquire new reviews for your GBP. Display signs in your physical location, encouraging people to give feedback. 

Pro Tip: Respond to every review, whether positive or negative. This shows engagement and increases trust signals with future customers, showing you value every customer experience.

3. Choose the Primary Category That Aligns With What Customers Search

Google allows you to select a primary category and up to 9 secondary categories. Choosing the right primary category will enable you to appear first on Google Map Packs for specific search queries. 

For instance, if you own a Bakery, choose “Bakery” over “Restaurant.” Match your primary category to your business’s core offerings.

Next, the second categories allow you to target additional search queries. For example, in the given bakery example, you could add “Catering” or “Dessert shop” as secondary categories to broaden your reach, enabling you to dominate Google Map Packs for any of those search queries. 

4. Achieve NAP Consistency

NAP consistency refers to having the same Name, Address, and Phone Number across all online platforms and websites. Getting this right helps build your business’s legitimacy in the eyes of Google. 

By using tools like BrightLocal, you can automate monitoring of NAP across local citations and directories, helping you edit those profiles to match your business’s exact NAP. 

5. Get Local Citations

Part of doing link building for local sites is getting as many local citations as possible for your website. Create business profiles on Yellow Pages, LinkedIn, Yelp, and local business directories, as well as social media profiles such as Meta Page and LinkedIn Page. 

Make sure NAP is also consistent across these local profiles. 

You can use Whitespark to find more citation opportunities and manage the consistency of NAP details across these platforms. 

6. Publish Localized Content

Increase the frequency and quality of localized content you publish on your site. Targeting localized keywords (e.g., “coffee shop in Bulacan”) can help you dominate in more localized rankings. 

Part of localized publishing is the ability to use local language and references that resonate well with your audience. So, for instance, if you want to write an article about “Top Coffee Shops in Manila,” you must include the specific places and addresses of these coffee stores while giving people exact directions.

If you ever visit the place, you may also recommend your favorite beverages. Adding personal insights and experiences could increase user engagement and enhance the helpfulness of your content. 

7. Set Driving Locations to Your Business Address

Set driving directions to your business on Google Maps to make it easy for customers to find you. This is an underrated technique for climbing rankings on Google Map Packs.

As your potential customers use the directions on Google Maps, it generates positive signals for your GBP listing and improves more of its visibility.

 

How to promote driving directions:

• Share your location links on social media. Include it when you’re writing captions to entice your followers to use Google Maps when finding directions to your store. 
• Include your Google Maps and Waze links in email campaigns.
• Add “Find Us on Google Maps” to your website. Make it visible on the homepage, footer, or header. 

8. Get More Engagements With Photos

Legitimate businesses have actual photos of their physical store, of their customers, and of their customer experience.

Upload images of your store, products, and team regularly to your Google Business Profile. You can also use geotagged photos to improve location relevance. 

Tip: Ask your front-line staff to encourage customers to upload photos and reviews to your profile after visiting your business.

9. Infuse Attributes: Highlight Your Business’s Key Details

Attributes include features like wheelchair accessibility, vegetarian options, kid-friendly environments, and outdoor seating. These help your customers make the purchase decision, as they have nuances and preferences before visiting a store. For example, some customers would want to know if they can bring their pets to the store (so keyphrases like “pet friendly coffee shop” would be more likely their search keywords). 

Navigate to the “Info” section in your GBP and select applicable attributes. Highlighting attributes not only improves your profile’s completeness but also appeals to niche audiences with a variety of preferences.

10. Upload New Offers to Your GBP

Regularly updating your Google Business Profile with offers and promotions keeps it dynamic and engaging. 

For instance, we upload limited-time discounts, seasonal sales, and new product launches to our Google Business Profile at Hills & Valleys Cafe.

It is suitable for local rankings and keeps our existing customers updated with our latest store campaigns, which would keep them visiting more often. 

Be Intentional in Ranking Your Google Maps Pack 

Maintaining a Google Business Profile may be an underrated strategy for some, but if taken seriously, it could drive more search visibility and foot traffic to your stores.

As more people use Google to search for nearby stores for their daily needs, you’ll likely attract new customers organically if you rank for Google Maps Pack, without spending a single dime on advertising.