How to Rank Your Business on Google Maps in Malaysia 2022

Whenever you search for a business or service in your local area, most probably you have typed into Google [Services] in [Location]. And that, my friend, is what Google consider a “Local Search”.

Though it is REALLY important for small businesses, I’ve seen thousands of local businesses not leveraging this powerful tool to grow their business.

Local search is strong for small businesses:

46% of all searches on Google are local searches. If your business isn’t optimized for local search, you could be missing out on potential customers willing to shop in your area. In short, local SEO is essential if you want your business to stay relevant.

To help you optimize your business for local SEO, we’ve created a comprehensive guide that includes local SEO tips and tools.

By the end of the guide, you’ll know exactly how to optimize your business to reach potential consumers who use local search to decide what products or services to buy.

What is Local SEO?

Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of improving search engine visibility for local businesses, mainly those with physical locations. By following local SEO best practices, businesses can improve organic traffic from customer-performed searches in nearby areas.

Search engines rely on signals such as local content, social profile pages, links, and citations to provide the most relevant local results to users to crawl for local search. .

With local SEO, businesses can use it to position their products and services to local potential customers and the people who are searching for them.

Local SEO Tips

Optimize for Google Business Profile.
Get involved on social media and add posts to Google Business Profile.
Make sure your name, address, and phone number are consistent online.
Optimization of online bibliographies and citations.
Do a local SEO check.
Improve your internal linking structure.
Optimize URLs, title tags, titles, meta descriptions, and content.
Add location pages to your site.
Create local content.
Make sure your website is mobile-friendly.
Get inbound links with relevance and authority.
Get involved in your local community.

1. Optimize for Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile has become the cornerstone of local search. Because Google supports, verifies, and widely shares its own content, Google Business Profile is an ideal tool to help your business meet Google’s needs.

To ensure that you are optimized for Google Business Profile, you should:

Create and verify a Google Business Profile page.
Use Google Posts in your account.
Encourage your customers to share reviews online.
Authenticate responses to reviews, including location.

Example: “We appreciate your feedback about [product/service] in [city, state]. We appreciate your comments and look forward to working with you again. Thank you from the [full company name] team.

If Google can verify that your business is genuine, the search engine can reward your business with the coveted sidebar space in Google Local Search.

Don’t do this just for SEO. By having reviews and updating your contact information and operating hours, you’ll improve the experience for potential customers to find you. Finding data is important to consumers now, more than ever, due to disruptions in consumer buying behaviour and business activity in 2022.

If you wanted to know more about how to optimise your profile, follow our checklist here:

1. NAP consistency
2. Keywords in the business description
3. High-quality photos
4. Customer reviews
5. Business categories
6. Service area
7. Hours of operation
8. Website link
9. Contact information
10. Posting schedule
11. Regular updates
12. Google Business Profile Insights
13. Competitor analysis
14. Citation building

2. Get involved on social media and add posts to Google My Business.

Google considers content shared on social media more important than ever.

Now that you’ve created a stunning Google My Business page, share it on social media, further refine social media and search.

3. Make sure your NAP is consistent across the internet

This is pretty much self-explanatory, because it provides not only a good experience when your customers search for your business. It also tells Google that your business actually exist in that particular location, and the details are correct.

4. Optimize online bibliographies and citations.

For Malaysian businesses, these map data aggregators provide rich map data for Apple, Yelp, Bing, Google, Trip Advisor, and more:

5. Do a local SEO check.

Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals, you may be tempted to slam on the brakes. However, SEO is a continuous and intuitive process. Instead of stopping there or just making changes and seeing what’s left, it’s a good idea to test the whole thing to see where your site is and what you need to do to achieve your goals. A local SEO audit may include the following:

Check Google My Business – How does Google My Business appear in the SERPs? Is the information correct?
Check Google Search Console – Is your site crawlable? Does it contain bugs that interfere with indexing?
On-Page SEO Check – Does your site incorporate all the on-page SEO factors that help it rank?
Citation Check – Are all your citations accurate in the top business directory?
Competitor Analysis – How does your website compare to your competitors? Are there any gaps you need to fill? How do you stack up in terms of inbound links, content, design, and positioning?
Website Testing – How is your website performing?

6. Improve your internal linking structure.

While external links pointing to your site are ideal (which I will discuss shortly), tweaking your internal linking structure will also improve your SEO rankings.

Why is internal linking important? It does the following:

Assists with site navigation
Helps with information architecture and site hierarchy
Distributes page authority and ranking power between pages

If you want to improve internal linking but don’t know where to start, check out Kissmetrics’ Seven Commandments of Internal Linking for Top-Notch SEO.

7. Optimize URLs, title tags, titles, meta descriptions and content.

When it comes to content, every new blog post is a new indexed page for your site, a new page to target geo search terms, and a new opportunity found in pages search engine results (SERPs).

Whenever you write content, you should optimize it for search engines by using high-volume keywords in the URL, title, title, meta description, and content . If you’re having trouble delivering geo-targeted content, consider highlighting customer testimonials and case studies.

Pro Tip:
The more specs you add to these assets (especially for each location in your business), the better you can optimize for local searches “nearby“.

8. Add location pages to your site.

If you have multiple physical locations, create location pages. Location pages provide readers with names, addresses, phone numbers, store opening hours, unique store descriptions, parking/public transit information, promotions, and other options. Testimonials of satisfied customers.

It’s also important to avoid duplicate content across multiple location sites. For businesses in one location, create a descriptive About Us page locally. You can even get bonus points if you add Google maps to your site on your respective location pages.

9. Create local content.

Google continues to get smarter, which means content creators can now write more for users and less to appease search engines. And while writing about general topics will attract a large audience, sometimes it’s more important to focus and write about local or industry news to attract a local audience.

Become the local authority on your industry by promoting industry meetings, news, staff, and other educational content on your blog. Think premium content that goes beyond what your business sells.

For example, if you are a local security company trying to attract new businesses to the area, create a useful resource to let these businesses know your city well. A map of local service providers or a citywide event calendar can both add value to your character and contain highly relevant local cues on the page.

10. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly.

Local search and mobile search go hand in hand (61% of all Google searches are done on mobile devices).

Some of the most common ways to use your site in a mobile environment are to view reviews, get directions to your location, and find contact information. In fact, mobile “nearby” searches have grown by 250% since 2017.

Make the lives of your customers and prospects easier by adapting your website to mobile phones.

11. Get inbound links with relevance and authority.

Inbound links are a great opportunity to boost your local SEO – each incoming link tells Google that you’re a legitimate business, and incoming links can also increase your domain’s authority. Here are some ways to get inbound links:

Sponsors or partners
Guest blogging
Scholarships
Get started with your network, including MATRADE, business innovation zones businesses, licensing offices, trade associations, resellers, suppliers, manufacturers and other affiliates.

Consider sponsoring a webinar or meetup, hosting a community event, promoting something in the local area you love, and building relationships with key people and influencers. affect.

Also, learn to feel comfortable reaching out to your partner to see if they can refer you to their partner directory.

Also, being a guest blogger can help attract links. Speak positively with or about others in your area and act as a resource provider to the community. If you actively participate in community conversations, public opinion around you will grow in the form of inbound links, social media growth, and media coverage.

12. Get involved in your local community.

The more you get involved in the local community, the more digital PR you get. Partner with a nonprofit for a campaign, organize a volunteer day at your organization, sponsor an event (even online!) or appear in the local media. As an authority in your industry are all ways to get press, brand awareness, and incoming links.

For example, since .edu links are the bee’s focal point for the domain authority, why not earn a link by referring to a scholarship in your geographic area? It should be relevant to your industry, send the right signals to your niche (consider school backlinks), and make you feel good! Moz has built a solid step-by-step guide to effective scholarship streaming.

Google Maps Ranking (or Local SEO) and Online Reputation is an integral part of business strategy for every brick-and-mortar business. Local SEO will help your audience find you when they search online if you have a storefront or business area. We hope you found this article helpful in your quest to gain recognition and credibility for your brand online.

If your business is serving local and you don’t have the skillset and expertise to optimise for this, we’re more than happy to help you out!