What matters the MOST today with ranking on Google Maps that can help your website traffic? Everything from the content and keywords on your website to your address changes your search results online.

Many factors go into determining your rank with Google Maps, but Stream is here to help you maximize the best results and be well known in the interactive world.

Top 10 Factors to Help in Search Results Online through Google Maps:

1. Your Address

Obviously, being located in the area where people are searching will raise your ranking.

2. Business Categories

Many businesses are categorized incorrectly by Google causing their ranking to be lower despite their keywords being on point.  Be sure you are being categorized correctly.

3. Keyword in Business Name

Your business name was probably decided long ago, but it’s worth noting that if you happen to happen to have a keyword as part of your business name, it will help in your ranking.

4. Citation Quantity

Google relies heavily on citations (i.e. mentions of your business elsewhere on the web) to validate your business name, address, and phone information. The more validation via citations, the more trust Google has to show you in its local/maps results.

5. Completing Your Business Profile/Place Page

Completing your profile is very important to your ranking. It may take some extra time to put in information like hours, payment options, a well-written and complete business description, adding photos and videos to your listing, but remember that Google is directing more users to Place Pages, so it’s logical that pages with a lot of good information would rank higher.

6. Business Data Consistency

Your business name, address, and phone number need to be consistent across the many sources of local business information.

7. Reviews and Ratings

At its core, Google Maps is a recommendation engine. Having hopefully positive reviews and ratings gives Google confidence about recommending your business via a higher ranking.

8. Proximity to Location

Don’t worry if you aren’t located near the center of a city or location.  More searches are now focused toward a more specific location.

9. My Maps and other User Content/Data

Google shows the user-generated content associated with a businessat the very bottom of a Place Page. People use Google “My Maps” tool to create their own maps and add important locations and businesses to those maps. If people are adding your business to their “My Maps,” it is most likely helping your ranking.

10. Certain Traditional SEO Factors

Some SEO-related elements such as age of your domain or the business URL still play a large role how Google Maps rank you.  It’s just another reason to note forget the importance of good SEO.