Let’s get straight into it…

Does Google Maps help with SEO?? 

Yes… 100%

Anything you do to your Google Maps listing to rank will also help pass on ranking power to your website…

But you need to set your Google Maps listing up a certain way if you want it to help with your SEO…

How to set up your Google Maps Listing to Help With SEO…

First up, if you want your Google Maps listing to rank higher, you need to get a bunch of citations to your website…

Without going into all the boring details, citations are listings on business directories with your business name, address, contact details 

This is your N.A.P…

Or Name, Address, Phone Number…

In case you don’t know…

The N.A.P you use on the citation sites has to be exactly what you list on your Google Maps listing…

And you also want to put your N.A.P on the footer of your website…

This way Google can tie your Maps listing to your citations and back to your website…

The extra little boost your SEO will get from this is on each of these citation sites, you’ll also be able to put your website url…

 Do you know what this means??

Each citation you get with your website url will be a backlink to your website…

And backlinks are what you need to boost your local SEO…

Who doesn’t love free backlinks??

Anyway…

This process of optimising your Google Maps listing, directly helps with your website SEO…

And if that isn’t enough to get you excited…

Google Maps gives you the option to choose a website to link your listing to…

If you link it with your business website, this will automatically help with SEO…

This is a backlink from Google itself…

But a word of warning…

You need to make sure you optimise your website properly to match your Google Maps listing or you can tank the whole kit and kaboodle…

This is how you do it…

Do you see how Google Maps gives you an option to list your services?

Yeah well, the best way to rank for those services is to create a separate page for each service on your website…

You heard me…

A separate page for each service! 

So if you offer interior painting and exterior painting, you’d create a separate page for each on your website…

And because it’s local, you’ll also want to set up location pages for each service as well…

You’ll need to create content on those pages for SEO and then link them back over to your Google Maps Listing…

When your website and Maps listing are giving the same information, Google will trust that you’re a real business…

Without that trust, Google will never show you in the Maps listings or the local search…

So the trust you build by being consistent between your Google Maps and your local business website will definitely help with SEO…

But here’s the thing…

Just Because Your Website is Ranking Well With SEO, Doesn’t Mean it Will Help You Rank in Google Maps…

Google Maps and SEO are two completely different beasts…

One can rank while the other can tank…

The reason is…

No matter what you do to your Google Maps listing…

If you’re not local, you won’t rank…

When someone searches for a local business, Google wants to deliver local results…

That’s why Google maps is very much driven by location…

Location of the person searching and the location of the businesses that show in the maps listing…

Where you can tweak and optimise your website to show in local suburbs that you aren’t located in, the maps are completely different…

So while, your local SEO can help rank your Google Maps listing, if you are located too far from an area you’re trying to rank you’ll never show up…

The location of your business does more to affect your map rankings than your website does…

So my friend, if you really want to show up in the Maps listings, maybe consider getting an office in that location…

Just something to keep in mind…

Well, that’s about it for me…

Google maps will definitely help with SEO but just because one ranks, doesn’t mean the other will…

What you do to one will help with both…

So go forth and rank higher on Google Maps and see how your SEO climbed up as well…

Peace,

Jace…