Where does your Google My Business (GMB) listing rank?
Google any local service you can think of. Better yet, when you’re physically out and away from the office Google the most common search queries when searching for a dental provider, “dentist near me” or “dentist in (enter your target city)”.
Google usually returns a map with 3 local businesses listed underneath.
If your practice is listed within the top 3, congratulations! But if not, one or more of the 3 problems in this article may be holding your listing back from ranking in the 3 pack.
For those who want to take on the challenges of Dental GMB SEO, you may also want to check out our DIY Dental GMB SEO guide.
Here are 3 top reasons your GMB isn’t ranking and what you can do about it.
Problem #1: Not Located Within the Specific City
Google’s #1 ranking factor is proximity. Since 2016, Google’s algorithm has been continuously changing which includes the decrease in radius on local search results. Proximity and algorithm filters are not your friends when you aren’t located in the specific city that you want to target.
What you can do to help improve your chances of ranking:
Search your keywords with the target city and review the listings that appear within the map pack.
- I.E. “dentist in houston”
If the results are near your office or further into the city, are outside the city or showing non-city addresses then chances are you can gain results by adding the target city to your listings business name.
- I.E. “ john smith dentistry houston”
If all of the listings are located within the city with city addresses then, unfortunately, you’ll need a new listing with a new address in that specific city in order to rank. In this scenario, follow the two tips below.
- Tip#1: Use hyper-local signals such as “john smith dentistry Clear Lake” in your business listing name as Clear Lake would be a neighborhood within Houston.
- Tip #2: You could invest in Google Ads in order to appear in the map pack for your target city.
Problem #2: Duplicated Listings
Unsurprisingly, without your knowledge, there might be a duplicated Google My Business listing out there somewhere. Google might have even created the duplicated listing.
Duplicated listings may result in:
- Loss of traffic and revenue as potential patients are misdirected.
- Division in ranking and reviews.
- Inconsistent listing information as other directory platforms may pick up information from the duplicated listing.
What you can do about duplicate listings:
- If the listing is unverified
- Verify the listing to gain ownership to remove or merge the listing.
- If the listing is verified but not by you
- Claim and verify the listing, see instructions here. If there is no reply from the owner of that listing within 3-7 days, Google should be able to hand over ownership to you and then you can merge or close the listing.
- If the duplicate listing is for an old or incorrect address
- Verify the listing and then remove it. Do not mark it as permanently closed before verifying.
How to remove duplicates:
- Sign into your Google My Business Account
- In your “Manage Locations”
- Check the duplicated listings.
- Click “Remove” in the “Actions” tab.
How to merge two listings:
- Have ownership of both listings
- Make sure both listings have the same business details.
- Reach out to Google My Business Support
- Only Google can merge listings.
Problem # 3: Competitors at the Same Address
There are tons of dental offices located within the same complexes, all separated just by their suite number when it comes to their addresses.
This is where your website becomes a crucial factor in ranking and our DIY Dental GMB SEO guide or any Google My Business SEO services for dental practices will definitely be beneficial as the authority gained from strong organic signals like the number of referring domains, the strength, and quality of the page’s backlinks, and internal linking to pass authority to the webpage linking to the Google My Business listing.
How to combat same address competitors:
- Check what categories they’re using and add to or change yours if there is a better fit
- I.E. Dentist, Cosmetic Dentist, Pediatric Dentist, Dental Implants Periodontist, etc.
- Audit your on-page seo that links to your Google My Business listing
- Tweak or create content to better reflect what your audience is searching for.
- You can get a free, comprehensive SEO Audit for your dental website.
- Create Guest Posts
- Outreach for guest post opportunities for backlink building.
For questions, please visit beyondmarketingsolutionsllc.com or contact Adam at adam@beyondmarketingsolutionsllc.com.