Google My Business Service Area Question

[asbchris]

Hello Moz Friends

I just wanted to make sure I'm doing things correctly.

On google my business your given the option to list your service area. I serve the entire state of Colorado with my internet marketing services.

So I listed Colorado as my service area.

but Moz Friends, is this the wrong idea? Like should I list the major cities and call it good?

So instead of service area Colorado, I should put Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo etc

Thank you for your friendly help

Chris

[BrianJGomez]

While technically you can configure Google My Business exactly how you have done it, you are highly unlikely to get rankings across the state of Colorado because of the competition. If you were in a highly uncompetitive niche, it might work, but not for something highly competitive like internet marketing.

If you want to see results, I would cast a much more narrow net with the hopes of getting rankings in one of those cities you menation. I also would pick the city closest to my address to increase the likelihood of ranking.

[asbchris]

Thank you so much Brian!

So in your opinion, I live in a rural town of like 500 people, so would you suggest telling Google my service area is the biggest city near me? Or do a radius like 50 miles from my location?

Thank you so much for your expert advice

chris

[BrianJGomez]

Yes exactly, in that case I would expand my radius to include the nearest metropolitan area. I would maybe not try to encompass the entire city of a city like say Denver, but a portion of it.

In my experience, if you get overly ambitious with your service area, you end up with very poor results.

I would ask yourself this question, how big is the radius around your office, where if you were to rank #1, would give you enough business to earn a living and grow your business, but not too much business where you're overwhelmed? That's where I would I would "cast my net" so to speak. Get rankings in a smaller radius and then you can expand a little from there if you're not getting leads or exposure from there.