A Local Ranking Factor You Need to Know & 3 GBP Features to Activate

All the important stuff from last week

Author

Gabriela Aleksova
March 25, 2024

Retracting my statements, discussing ranking factors, talking GBP and website optimization

These are all things I will be doing in this newsletter.

1. Schema has risen from the dead 🪦

Last week I published a post about Schema being dead for Local SEO. I am walking that back a bit.

I still stand by my statement that Schema isn't useful for MOST local businesses with simple websites because:

  1. Google removed review stars for most businesses.

  2. Google removed FAQ rich results for most businesses.

Most businesses don't need to bother with local business schema.

But! Some thoughtful commentary from smart people like Mike Blumenthal reminded me that there are still some benefits to using schema…

Click the image to find out what they are 👇️

Learn what the local SEO benefits of Schema are on Twitter or LinkedIn.

2. Ep. 10 — Optimizing Anne’s Q&A Section

Are you optimizing your Google Business Profile Q&A?

You should! Watch my latest episode with Anne, where I show you how to develop an awesome Q&A section that will help you drive more leads from your Google Business Profile.

3. Local ranking factor you need to know

How often should you get new reviews to see an impact on your rankings?

Well, how often do your competitors get new reviews? If the answer is twice a month, you should also aim for that.

Joy Hawkins published an excellent case study in January 2023 showing how their clients' rankings dropped when they stopped getting new reviews:

  • When the owner was rewarding staff for asking customers for reviews, they got a steady influx of new reviews and better rankings.

  • When they stopped offering the reward, reviews slowed down and rankings dropped.

  • When the owner started rewarding staff again and new reviews started coming in, their rankings shot back up.

While incentivizing customers to leave you a review may be against Google's guidelines, incentivizing your staff to ask customers for reviews is allowed.

Your two big takeaways here:

  1. You must continue getting reviews regularly. Review recency is definitely a ranking factor.

  2. You can't incentivize customers to leave you a review, but you can incentivize your staff to encourage reviews

Share your thoughts on LinkedIn and Twitter.

4. Three Google Business Profile features you need to activate

Watch this reel to find out what they are ⬇️ 

See the reel on Instagram.

5. Optimize your existing website content before writing new content

One big mistake that small business owners make is pumping out new content without optimizing their existing pages.

Watch this TikTok to learn why this is a problem and how to fix it 👇️

@darrenshawseo

You shouldn't create new content until you've fully optimized your website's existing content. #seo #localseo #googlebusinessprofile #goog... See more

That’s it for this week! As always, follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok so you don’t miss my next educational post!

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