In today’s digital age, having a strong online presence is crucial for the success of any business. For pest control companies, dominating the listings on Google Maps can be a game-changer when it comes to attracting local customers and increasing sales. In fact, a staggering 86 percent of people use Google Maps to find local businesses. If your pest control business isn’t effectively leveraging this powerful platform, you’re missing out on a significant opportunity to reach potential customers in your area. Fortunately, there are some easy-to-implement strategies to boost your Google Maps ranking today.
1. Complete and Optimize Your Google Business Profile
The first step to getting your business to rank higher on Google Maps is to make sure that your Google Business profile is completed correctly. Start by claiming your business profile and providing accurate and detailed information about your business and pest control services.
The information you provide should be as detailed and engaging as possible. It’s important that your business contact information (NAP or name, address, and phone number) is consistent across other online business listings. Variations in this information could hurt your rankings. Businesses also have the opportunity to select the most relevant categories that relate to their business such as “pest control services” and “exterminator”. You can select multiple categories, so select all that apply to your business. Be sure to highlight any factors that set your business apart from the competition including eco-friendly products or 24-hour service.
2. Build Positive Customer Reviews
One of the key aspects of Google Maps is the ability to view customer ratings on a 5-star scale. While higher star ratings don’t necessarily mean that you will rank higher in the results, businesses with the highest ratings are guaranteed to capture the user’s attention as 4 and 5-star ratings indicate a reputable business with satisfied customers. This rating can play a significant role in influencing your potential customers to hire you. The age of the latest review can also factor into your rank. Businesses that haven’t received a review in a year will naturally rank lower than another business that has received recent ratings.
It’s important for pest control companies to encourage their satisfied customers to leave positive reviews on their Google Business listing and share their experience. This can be helpful in letting potential customers know that you can be trusted with their pest control needs. In addition to capturing positive reviews, your business should actively monitor and stay engaged by responding to both positive and negative feedback that is left on your business profile.
3. Use High-Quality Images
Humans are visual creatures. Businesses that use high-quality images to showcase their trucks, field technicians, and completed projects will naturally draw more attention and clicks to their profile. Try to stay away from standard stock photos or low-quality images as these can detract from your reputability.
4. Set an Accurate Operating Territory
Most people who use Google Maps are trying to find local listings like restaurants, shops, and other local services. The Google algorithm will try to match the user with the most relevant businesses in the search results. In your Google Business profile, you will have the opportunity to select your operating radius from your home office or a series of zip codes where you provide services.
Some businesses make the mistake of trying to set the largest operating area possible thinking this will help them get more customers. This, unfortunately, can backfire as companies that have a tighter operating area compared to the customer’s location may outrank those with the large spread out territory. Also, be mindful that Google Maps will penalize businesses that try to game the systems by creating multiple listings.
5. Implement Local SEO Techniques
To dominate Google Maps, pest control businesses should optimize their website and Google business profile with local keywords in mind. Inserting the name of towns, cities, counties, and neighborhoods into your website, meta tags, and headings, can improve your ability to influence the Google algorithm to pair you with local users who are searching for pest control services. This can be accomplished by creating location-specific landing pages to target customers in different service areas.
Another factor to consider is that more and more mobile device users are leveraging voice searches. For this reason, think about the conversational or natural language that people might use when speaking to their voice assistants to find pest control services and businesses.
6. Build an Online Reputation
One of the factors that Google’s algorithm considers is a business’s prominence, meaning that the business is well-known across multiple platforms and websites. The more backlinks that your business can build through websites, industry directories, and articles, the better. This is important because unlike the regular Google search results, you can’t pay for better rankings on Google Maps like you can with Google Ads.
You can also build a good reputation across the web by regularly posting fresh content and links to your Google Business listing. This can help tell the algorithm where to look in order to demonstrate that your business is recognized across other platforms.
Drive More Traffic Through Your Google Maps Listing
Improving your Google Maps ranking and increasing your visibility in local searches can be confusing if you aren’t leveraging the right strategy. At Rhino Pest Control Marketing, our goal is to provide valuable feedback and methods to turn your Google Maps listing into a powerful sales tool. If you aren’t getting the results you want, contact our team today to find out how to improve your Google rankings and draw the attention of more customers in your local market.
