When it comes to finding local services, google is fast becoming the most convenient and popular resource. But are local businesses making use of the platforms available to them?

local service listing on google search

While I was on holiday recently in Egypt I went on a few organised trips, which I had researched prior to travelling, planning to contact the excursions company once in the resort. With no phone number advertised I thought it would be simple to find their local office, first call – Google.

Unfortunately they did not have their local office listed, which made me think of how many other people travelling to the same result with the same intentions as me had the same problem, and as a result how much business the agency was losing.

And how about people who don’t know of your business yet, but are looking for a local service?

Ranking for a service keyword, especially in a competitive market, can involve some work, but if you have premises in the location where you are offering the service, getting listed on googlemaps is relatively easy and a great way to get in tap in to searches for local services.

local service listing on google search

How can my business benefit from being on Google Maps?

Say you have a café in a small town, like in the example above. Tourists and visitors to the area might want to know in advance where they can go for something to eat and do a search on google, or do a search from their smart phones looking for the nearest place to have a bite…

When looking for a service + a geographical location in a web search, google will often append the googlemaps listing for that service into the search results.

Others might go straight to google maps and search for the nearest cafés on the map.

Either way, what you get is a list of cafés in the area placed on the map so you can see how far you are from them and how to get there, with a phone number and customer reviews!

If your smart phone is GPS enabled, you can even ask it to give you exact directions to take you there.

This is a useful tool for local businesses already, but two things are happening that will make it more and more…

1. More and more people are using google to search for a local service.

2. More and more people are switching to smart-phone devices that are used to get information while on the move.

Fortunately I managed to get my trips organised, but if you have a business offering a local service you should definitely be taking into account that a lot of people will use google to find you.

Here’s where to get started…  http://www.google.com/localbusinesscentre

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