Why doesn’t my practice appear on Google Maps when I do a search? A common question and here are 6 steps to help you out.

Step One – make sure that you are in the location when you do the Maps search.
If you are out of area when you carry out a Google Maps search you may not see your listing. For example: If your dental practice is in Clapham, then make sure you are in the location i.e. Clapham or nearby when you do the search. You should then see accurate results listed on Google Maps.

Google Maps results are more important than ever now as they gain visibility above organic rankings (SEO). For example you could be at the top of an organic search but not listed on Google Maps result listings. The Maps results are now generally served before organic listings so make sure you are doing all you can to get there.

Step Two: Do some work to improve your Google My Business Page.
My Google Business and other Business Pages across other search engines use a different algorithm to the ones used for organic rankings, so it is likely that this isn’t covered with your SEO programme.

Your Google My Business page is extremely important for users who are searching via voice search (think Alexa or Siri), and for users who are looking to read reviews before they book an appointment or go ahead with any treatments. Make sure that your address is listed correctly along with the phone number and any other contact details. Update your opening hours and make sure that you are working hard to increase the number of Google reviews that your patients are leaving. There is a section to add photos, get some nice shots of the practice interior, smiling team members and the exterior on there.

Step Three – Optimise your business for voice searches.
Optimising your business for visibility in voice search is more important than ever, with 58% of users having used voice search to find local business information in the last year alone. Voice search devices like Google Home, Alexa and Siri are all connected to directories in order to return business data when you speak to them.

Here’s how it works. When you start a voice search command like: “is there an orthodontist near me?” Google is using its database to query your voice search through Google Maps, which will take data from a Google My Business listing.
This process is similar across other platforms, with Alexa utilising Bing and Siri using Apple Maps. So managing your business presence for visibility across voice systems is important.

Step Four – Make sure that your business listings across the internet are all correct and regularly create new citations.
A local citation (also known as a business listing or online directory listing) is any place online that displays your business’ name, address, and phone number. Google goes to sites like Yelp and Yellow Pages to validate the data they have for your business. If Google finds data that doesn’t match or is missing altogether this can really hurt your ability to appear within the Google Map results. So this is really important, check these on a monthly basis making sure that you build out and clean up citations on the most powerful directories to ensure your business data is listed and 100% correct. This ensures optimal visibility in Google for your business.

Did you know?

• 80% of users lose trust in a local business if they see incorrect or inconsistent contact details or business names
• 93% of users say they are frustrated by incorrect information within online directories
• 40% of users would give up looking for a local business that they couldn’t find because the address was wrong online

Step Five – Review your last 30 days Google Business Listing – what are the insights telling you?
Did you know you can review monthly data including traffic and phone calls?  If you are currently running an SEO programme some of the work carried out will indirectly help your listing, but actually spending the time on your Google Business Page and other Business pages on different search engines, will really increase traffic and calls.

Step Six – Reputation Management and Reviews
Keep your eye on all your reviews from review sites, Google Reviews and from your social media accounts. Positive reviews and comments are a step in the door, don’t forget that your ultimate goal is to communicate with potential patients, conversation is the new lead so be active out there. Especially note any negative reviews as they arise and deal with them immediately in the appropriate way. Regularly assess your reviews and make sure that you are on all the recommended sites.

These are the 6 steps, get cracking and give them a go. If you need any help, let us know.