Local SEO: How to get local business showing up in Google Local

[BobGW]

Hello,

We moved to a small town in Council, ID. It's interesting. None of the businesses around here are showing up in Google Local - map, phone number, hours, etc. Nothing. It's all Yelp and stuff.

Is there some sort of collective local SEO that has to be done to get Council, ID on the map? It's kind of strange that no businesses show up. I want to help local businesses, but I don't know if Google will even register them. We can get a group of local businesses together if we have to.

Let me know what we can do.

Thanks.

[donsilvernail]

You usually just need a google my business page and a google + local brand page. Fill out the information and verify the business. This should allow your business to show up in local search on google. Verification is very important. Without it the business will not be published on google +.

[MiriamEllis]

Hey Bob,

I see your new town is quite small - population 839. So, this would be one of those scenarios in which we have to realize that Google shows local results based on their internal logic. If Google is showing NO local results at all for your town, then it's an indication that they don't have sufficient data to create a local data set.

But, before we decide that this is going on, I'm doing some searches to verify whether there are literally no results. Here's what I see:

Term: gas station council id

Results: a 2-pack from the area surrounding your town

https://www.google.com/search?q=Council%2C+ID&oq=Council%2C+ID&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.586j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=gas+station+Council,+ID&*

Term: grocery store council ID

Results: a knowledge panel result for a single grocery store

https://www.google.com/search?q=Council%2C+ID&oq=Council%2C+ID&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.586j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=grocery+store+council+id&*

Term: church council ID

Results: a 3-pack of churches in your town

https://www.google.com/search?q=Council%2C+ID&oq=Council%2C+ID&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.586j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=church+council+id&*

So, I'm 3/3 here, finding local results for your town, which is a good thing. With such a small population, I'm guessing that there aren't a ton of businesses in your town, but from my brief searches, my bet would be that with proper local SEO, you could at least get a knowledge panel result for some of these businesses if they are one-of-a-kind in that town, or see them appear in a 2-or-3-pack if there are multiple businesses in the same category.

Now, that being said, as someone who wants to offer Local SEO to your neighbors, it's going to be very important that you approach the SERPs as they currently stand. If, for example, you want to market the only bakery in town, and a search for 'bakery council id' is bringing up no Google local results but a page of organic results from Yelp, YP, TripAdvisor, Facebook, etc., then you have a path to follow. You must ensure that your bakery client is properly listed on all of the platforms that are appearing in the first few pages for this search, and that their information on these platforms is 100% accurate and complete. A tool like the free Moz Check Listing tool is also a great way to find any duplicates or inconsistencies on the major platforms that you'll want to correct. And, of course, you'd want to make sure that the bakery's own website is good enough to rank for this term organically.

Upshot: it would be good to earn Google local results for your clients, but if Google simply will not show any local results for a certain category of search, you need to be sure you're optimizing the first few pages of the results that do come up, so that your client is earning traffic and conversions.

Hope this helps!

[BlueCorona]

Hi Bob,

Like Miriam said, the population of the town is likely too small to generate enough data for Google to use for the normal local pack results that you are accustomed to.

Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that you'd be able to get the local pack set up for this area. I would try focusing your online efforts in the surrounding areas that might be slightly larger. Even though you're not located in the area, you might be relatively close enough to bump some other companies out of the local pack.

Good luck!

[MiriamEllis]

Hey Bob!

Just checking back in with you to see if you found community input helpful on this, or if you have further questions.

[BobGW]

Miriam,

Thanks. I am going to do a free presentation about how to get a knowledge panel result or to be in local results pack. You are right, there are a few things that are showing up. I'll proceed as planned with local SEO. Thanks. You are the best.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Bob,

Good luck with your presentation! I think you have an interesting opportunity residing and working in a small town. Like you, I live in a rural area beyond a larger, good-sized city. I find it interesting to study local SERPs in areas like this - they sometimes provide unique insights into Google's 'thinking' when there are fewer options/less data. In the coming months, who knows what you might learn from closely studying your local SERPs?