If you manage a logistics company or a local business and struggle to drive people to your business, this video is for you. Stay with me until the end and take your notes because you can improve your digital presence in just a few clicks.

Did you know Google’s cost-per-click (CPC) increased by 13% in the first quarter of 2024? That was a huge increase from the 6% in 2023. For many business owners, this means a 40-50% increase over the past five years, which has led to higher advertising costs without a proportional increase in returns. This trend, combined with earlier privacy roadblocks, has created a nightmare for advertisers. 

We have one client who was investing $35,000 per month in search and display ads. Well after Google’s increase, they kept getting similar results but their spending was a bit over $45,000 because not only did Google increase the cost but when several people bet money on a keyword they also increased the cost so your ad could be shown first. 

I get it and we’ve been there. The best thing to do in these scenarios is to evaluate if you are still getting good conversions. Yes, good ones and if your ROI is still up then you are good. However, in most cases, your media spending is just not justified. That is when a good SEO comes into play and having the right setup on your local pack is a great way to keep your business current and available without breaking the bank.

So, let’s dive in. What is Local Pack or Google’s Local Pack?

Is a group of three or more local business listings that appear at the top of search results when someone searches for local products or services. These listings are based on the Google My Business directory and often come with a map and location markers, showing the proximity of the businesses to the searcher’s location.

Google Local Pack results can include the following components:

Hmmm, interesting, but you may think, how we can appear first on that top listing? After all if you don’t show in the first few places you barely exist.

How does Google decide what business to show first?

Your main account for this is your Google Business Profile (GBP). Your business profile provides Google with the data it needs to create local packs, such as reviews, pictures, and operating hours.

You probably heard the magic word, algorithm. Well, Google’s algorithms take into account a few factors to run your business first. These factors include: 

Your Business Information

First of all, go back to the first time you register your business. If you are new just go to the following link and register your company name and the rest of the basic information Google requests when you first open an account.

Once you have your account, you should see this dashboard. Or you can go to your Google logo and find the Google My Business icon. Once you select the property, go to edit profile settings and complete as much as you can. I know its a tedious process but over 50% of small business users just add their company names and never complete their information.

Now when you get to services be very detailed with each of your services or products. Always choose the quality of the description over quantity.

I know that just going through your basic information you will find several other services you can add and things that may be outdated.

Validate your business

Make sure you record video of you business inside and outside of you office. This will only be used internally and won’t be public. You can add the video later if you want for everyone to see. If you are a freight broker you may not need the location option because you only communicate virtually or by phone.

Once you are validated add good quality photos and videos of your business. 

Get good reviews

Once your business is validated you need to add more reviews as soon as possible. If you are just getting started you can ask friends, colleagues and customers to leave you a review to help your new Google account. This is one of the main signals Google considers to rank your company.

There are other methods like creating email campaigns, but for now, understand that just not paying attention to this part is like throwing money through the window. If you have reviews then thank the users with kind words and for those negative reviews you can either report them if you think they are indeed spam or reply with reasonable and kind words understanding that the conversation is live.

Google Maps Tricks

Advanced Triple Pack Set Up

Now that you reviewed and improved your basic information, you must add photos and videos about your business to your account. Go back to your Google My Business profile and select Add Photos. Make sure to complete all the details and descriptions.

You should also add an update about your business; it could be a social media post. If you keep this up at least once per week then you will be sending positive signals to Google saying that your business is active.

Knowing the Difference between near me and a city name

When you search, let’s say, “logistics company near me”, then the starting point of the ratio is your location. When you search the same term but replace near me with the name of the city or region then Google’s starting point is the center of the city and not your location.

Knowing these differences helps you create the right SEO structure and even open new locations for your business just for strategic purposes.

Let me tell you this before we move on. What we’ve discussed is just the tip of the iceberg, there are so many other things we do to increase leads and sales. Each website has dozens of things we do to make them successful transactional websites. Small businesses, especially those that came from nothing, usually are skeptical about hiring help for their marketing and sales because of bad experiences. I don’t blame them, there are so many fake gurus out there promising hundreds of leads for free. For instance, SEO is a huge part of what our gurus do every day. 

If you can just focus this week on adding your business to twenty or thirty business listings or directories that will send other sets of signals to search engines. Things that are more technical like adding snippets to boost your ranking in less than a month. Having organic traffic represents more revenue, of course, if your landing page is conversion optimized which in that case we will have to optimize your pages for conversion.

Look, we’ve worked with great companies large and small. I am on a mission to help smaller businesses like you. I built my own company and that’s why we created this channel and walk the talk. We provide what we know works because it helps all of us as an educational effort for ourselves and we share all of these insights to help more businesses and professionals.

So if you want theory you can read our blog and watch more videos for free. Now, if you think you could use our help with your SEO and PPC then our plans may be for you. Go to MediaGrowthGurus.com/pricing and if you like one of those plans send us a message through our contact page and select the desired plan or if you would like a free audit of your SEO just select another. We’ll reply to your email with the next steps.

How to maintain my Local Pack Strategy

To keep your local pack strategy sending positive signals to search engines keep working on your reviews plan and posting at least once a week. Other services like Google Guaranteed and Approved licenses for local businesses can also help you be one of the first in your area. The most important thing is to keep showing up. Google keeps changing the rules user behavior keeps evolving. Make sure you follow us and again, if you need our Guru on your team just reach out.

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