The Most Important Element of Your Google Local Listing

To benefit those readers who don't have a lot of time, before I begin with waffle I'll answer the question in the title - the single most important element of your Google Local listing is your business' name.

Although there are many other elements that combine to make a successful listing in Google Local, the wording in the Company/Organisation box can be the difference between a good listing and a great one.

A Real-World Example
To give an example of just how important it is, I'd like to share with you a listing I created for my web design business, based in Nuneaton.

My business is named Shore Dutton Internet Consultancy, and my Google Local listing was ranked in around fourth place for terms relating to website design and Nuneaton. I'd been running a few experiments and had created a second listing for the same business except for a few alterations in the address and a change in the business name to Shore Dutton Web Site Design.

This simple change catapulted my second listing into the top spot for the same terms ("website design nuneaton"), as can be seen in the screenshot below:



You'll notice that my original listing is ranked in seventh place despite the fact that it has multiple reviews, images and citations from authoritative websites. The new listing has no reviews, images or citations, yet sits in the top spot.

You'll also notice that all of the top five results have a variation of the phrase "web[site] design" in their title.

Conclusion
So, how can we put this knowledge to good use?

Whatever business you're in, make sure that keywords associated with your business are included in Google Local's Company/Organisation field. For example, if you are a plumber and you're legal business name is "Joe Bloggs & Son", your Google Local listing might read "Joe Bloggs & Son Plumbers and Heating Specialists".

In addition, be sure to use terms that people will use when searching for your business. The term "Building Services" may sound better for your legal business name, but the term " Builder" is a lot more relevent to your audience.

A simple tweaking of your business' name can result in a massive increase in exposure.

NOTE: A word of warning - If you have already claimed your Google Local listing, a change to your business name removes your listing from all search results until Google confirm the change (by sending a confirmation code via snail mail). This can take a few weeks to complete.