Adding Photos to Google My Business

Users take into consideration so many things about your business before they choose to visit or use your services. One of them is Authenticity. People want a real feel for your business. So, how do you do that? Just go to your Google My Business Dashboard and add various photos of your business/facility. It is recommended to upload a variety of images like Exterior Shots, Interior Photos, Snaps of Staff, and Picture of Products. Gone are the days when you did not have control of what picture of your business Google shows in the Search Results. You can now just login into your Google My Business Dashboard and set a Cover and Profile Pic of your choice and control how Google Shows you in front of its users when they search for your business. When adding photos to Google My Business, they are supposed to have minimum dimensions of 720×720 px. Currently, the GMB dashboard does not give you an error message if you upload something smaller than that; the photo doesn’t show. If you’re noticing pictures not showing on your listing, first check to make sure your photo is at least 720×720. If you consistently face the same issue, reach out to Google My Business Support via their Twitter or Facebook to get a permanent resolution.

Why Do You See Categories in Google Search That Don’t Exist in Google My Business?

Categories are used to describe your business and to bring you in front of the users looking for the services you or your business offer. For instance, if your primary category in Google My Business is “pizza restaurant,” Google may show your business in local search results to searchers who are searching for “restaurants,” “Italian restaurants”, or “pizza” around their nearby location. Remember that your category is only one of numerous elements that can influence your local pack rankings on Google. But what should you do if you notice any category in the search results that don’t even exist in GMB? To answer this question, you need to understand the concept of Global Category ID or GCID. What is Global Category ID or GCID? Each category has a GCID that doesn’t change and a category name that varies based on a country. It has been researched and found out that Google sometimes shows the GCID in its search results, which can be genuinely confusing if you’re attempting to find out why your competitor is using a category that you don’t have as an alternative the Google My Business dashboard. How to Find GCID? In case you don’t know what the GCID is, you can find it in the list of categories for your country here. Check Your Language Settings As clarified above, there is one Global Category ID for every category in Google’s database; however, the categories have various names in various countries (because of language contrasts). For instance, “Valeting Service” in Canada is precisely the same class as “Car Detailing Service” in the USA. In case you’re seeing a category on Google that doesn’t match anything you find in the GMB dashboard, it’s very likely that your language settings for Google are inaccurate. See this page to affirm what your settings are and modify them. Why Should You Even Consider What Category Google Changes? If Google adds, changes, or removes a category (which it regularly does) related to your business, it can have a drastic impact on your local search rankings. It is advisable to check your Google My Business listing now and then for categories to make sure that you’re using the right one and not missing out on any important update.

What Are the Changes Happening in Google My Business Listing Due to COVID-19?

Shutting off the ability for businesses to receive new reviews and posting responses, Businesses not being able to add description, Google posts being rejected that don’t have violations in them, few instances of businesses being marked temporarily closed that did not request it, Shutting off Q&A Section, Unavailability of GMB Phone Support, and Addition of COVID-19 Update in Google Posts are some of the major changes happened in the GMB Listing due to the current Pandemic.

How Many Google My Business Categories You Should Choose?

Local Business Categories GMB category selection is one of the most important factors in the local search algorithm. Selecting the most appropriate and the most relevant category for your business in Google My Business Listing is an important first step. If you have not selected the right category for your business, it is very likely that Google will not show you up in the Search Results for the relevant user queries and needless to say, you will lose on some valuable customers and revenue. Do Your Research Sometimes, it’s easier for you to decide, for which category you would like to go and sometimes it’s not. What we would recommend is, don’t just hit and trial. Don’t guess. Use various tools to research for the right categories for your business, enter them in your GMB Listing, and enjoy the perks of selecting the right ones for your business. One such cool tool we recommend to use for Category Research is Pleper. Just enter your business and the keyword you want to rank for, and it will list out the possible categories based on what competitors are using. When it comes to how many categories you should select, there have been many views. Going with the findings of a test carried out by the team of Sterling Sky in January 2019, it has been found out that having too many related categories don’t have a negative impact on rankings.

Importance of Citations in 2019

The first question about citations that pops up in our mind is, are they really important? Indeed, they are! Citation building is a foundational ranking factor. Citations validate that a business is part of a community. It’s hard for someone to fake membership in a chamber of commerce or a city or county business index. Citations can dramatically improve your Local search engine rankings. The next question people generally ask, how many citations is enough. It is recommended that every business should be listed or included in the top 30-40 citations for their country and industry. Whitespark has a list of the top ones that you can look through in this list. If you have lots of citations for your business, the variations in the NAP across all the citations are quite common. You should spend your time wisely on cleaning up the citations and on making all your citations’ NAP consistent. If you are wondering what NAP variations you should consider changing, here is a complete list: If the listed name is a close variant or contains the correct name, Ignore it. If the name listed is completely different, Fix it. If the address is correct but is abbreviated or missing a suite #, Ignore it. If the city name is wrong but the zip code is correct, Ignore it. If the street name listed is missing/adding a direction prefix, Fix it. If the address is completely different, Fix it. If the phone number listed is one that also rings to your business, Ignore it. Anything else, Fix it. If the domain listed is not the main one for your website, Fix it. If you switched to HTTPS but your listing has HTTP, Ignore it.

How Does Copywriting Work?

We outsource our copywriting to select writing service partners to attract the best and diverse talent at affordable rates. We produce two main types of articles – pillar articles and topic clusters A 3000-word pillar article costs $200. A 1000-word topic cluster article costs $75. A lot of research and preparation is done for each article. Here are the steps involved from cradle to grave: Select money keywords of the project and utilize our topic research tools to find relevant topics to send to client for review Once client decides a topic, we generate an SEO Content Template with specific details for the writer such as writing tone, related articles, semantically related keywords to include, topic length, etc. The written draft of the article is sent to the client in a collaborative Google doc for edits and approval Final approval is sent to the design team for publication draft in which they: create supporting images, set author and category, optimization for keyword, title, and meta, add relevant tags, style with subheadings, bulleted/numbered lists, perform internal linking, external linking, call to actions where appropriate, etc. Publication draft with images is sent to client for approval. Article is published, indexed with search engines, syndicated and shared via social media, and promoted via paid search.

How Can I Get the Latest Features in WordPress?

Keeping your account updated will also help you gain the latest features available. These updates are usually free. This will make your site even more useful than before while keeping in mind the most important thing about updates—speed and security.

How Long Does It Take to Build a Website?

We typically finish a project within 30-days and often times sooner. Our developers work fast and keep you in the loop at all times. From website architecture, content development to design and image selection, we provide a collaborative and transparent environment so there are no surprises along the way.

How Long Will Updates Take?

Typical turnaround is 3-10 working days depending on our current schedule and the scope of work to be performed.

Types of Local 3-Packs: Branded vs. Non-Branded

There are presently various sorts of local 3-packs; however, the ones we see most are branded and non-branded. The branded 3-pack is, for the most part, what you get when you search for things like “Starbucks Seattle.” You’ll get a non-branded 3-pack when you search for generic and non-branded queries like SEO Companies in Miami. The main contrasts between the two types of packs are: The branded 3-pack has an ABC marking on it; the non-branded 3-pack does not. The non-branded 3-pack shows reviews/rating stars; the branded 3-pack does not. The non-branded 3-pack demonstrates the Primary Category for the listing; the branded 3-pack does not. The ranking factors for these two types of local 3-packs are different, so it is essential to know what kind of pack you’re dealing with. Keywords in the domain matter more for non-branded 3-packs. Organic ranking factors matter more for non-branded 3-packs. Hidden addresses may hinder ranking for a branded 3-pack. Distance to the city-center matters more for branded 3-packs. Keywords in the business name matter more for non-branded 3-packs. Using the proper primary category matters more for branded 3-packs.

What Is Not a Good Use Case for Local SEO?

Creating Google My Business Listings at Ineligible Addresses Like PO Boxes, Virtual Offices, Etc., Sharing a Phone Number Between Multiple Entities, Keyword Stuffing GMB Listing Names Are Some of the Examples of Bad Use Cases in Local SEO. Your Listing Might Experience a Soft or a Hard Suspension From Google If These Criteria Are Not Met. Not Choosing the Right Business Category Is Also a Bad Use Case. You Might Not Experience a Suspension for That but the Listing Will Not Get Enough Exposure.

Why Should I Post on Google My Business?

In the month of March 2017, Google introduced a new feature in the GMB Dashboard for businesses. Known as Google My Business Posts or GMB Posts, they are almost like Mini-Ads for your Brand, products, or services. Google offers a variety of posts you can create to promote your business like What’s New, Events, Offers, and Products along with CTA’s (Call To Action) so you can better control what the visitor does after they view your post. Google offers a customized Google My Business Marketing Kit for your business that includes free posters, Social Posts and more from your Business Profile on Google. You can use these materials for GMB Posting. We like the idea of highlighting Business Reviews in an image and use them as Google Posts. The other things you can post about are Appointment Booking, Promotions/Coupons, Seasonal promotions, and Badges/awards. If you are thinking about the impact of doing Google Posts on your Keyword rankings, here is your answer. Yes, posting on Google do have a mild impact on ranking.

Where Will My Website Be Hosted?

The choice is yours. Some clients choose to use their own hosting providers such as GoDaddy or Bluehost. We host most of our clients’ websites on one of two dedicated servers we lease through WP Engine. They are the best in the industry for speed, security, and customer service. Whatever your choice, you will own the site once it’s built and we will always be here for support, updates, improvements, etc.

What Is Website Maintenance?

Our website maintenance plan is included with all Local SEO Packages. It’s important for each of our customers that their website is updated and secure. Foxxr’s Health and maintenance service ensures your website is optimized so you can focus on your business and let us take care of the technical stuff. Reliable Backups Your WordPress data is really valuable — you’re only a moment away from complete disaster. At Foxxr, we make sure you do it right! We perform a full daily backup on your website and store it securely online. Theme and Plugin Updates We monitor which websites have themes and plugins that need updating and perform these updates on a daily basis. Uptime Monitoring With our premium uptime monitoring tools, you’ll ensure that your WordPress website will continue to run smoothly so that your business can continue to function at full capacity. But if something does go wrong, you’ll be the first to know. Traffic Alerts We keep you in the loop if someone prominent linked to you or your latest post has gone viral. If your website is being attacked by spam bots, we’ll know and take care of it. With our powerful alerts tool, we can to monitor traffic spikes and you can take advantage of great opportunities.

Will My Website Be Optimized for SEO?

Yes. Your website is a data center for Google to understand who you are and what you do. Additionally, it serves to address the answers your website visitors are looking for. Design, content and technical requirements must be met to ensure your website is effective and serves its purpose for both organic search and paid advertisements. Our developers are on target with the latest practices and strategies for onpage optimization. From creating SEO-friendly URLs to optimizing page titles, metas, title tags (h1s and h2s), images and multimedia, content and LSI keywords implementation, to responsive design, boosting site speed, proper internal linking, and finally effective use of social sharing.

Will My Website Perform Better with Updates?

Updates are not only created to keep your website secure but also to improve its usability and performance from your end. If you want the most efficient WordPress account, you’re going to need to keep up with the updates.

How Do You Determine What Content to Publish on a Website?

Since we incorporate best SEO and Onpage optimization strategies, the competitor research and website architecture is an important phase in the project. We find that putting the content plan in place before design accelerates the development process and the timely integration of these different phases of the project. Some clients prefer to produce their own content, which can be the most sensitive and time-consuming stretch of the project. We do have a team of copywriters that will be able to produce content for your review and edits before it gets published on the website.

What Is Involved in the Launch of the Website?

A website launch sequence involves over 75 critical steps to meet all Google guidelines and ensure optimal exposure online.

What Is Involved in Strategic Planning?

Every project begins with a detailed onboarding process where we assess your current positioning and competitive levels in your industry. Our research, analysis, and reporting are performed using the SEO industry’s most successful tools. We spare no expense to get you the most accurate data and layout a strategic plan to ensure your online success. We will find the top revenue-generating keywords to target and be able to share exactly what your competitor’s organic and paid search strategies are. Then we report your ranking success against your top competitors through SEM Rush’s advanced project tracking reports. Local SEO is based on three primary factors – Proximity, Relevance, and Prominence. At Foxxr, our SEO Experts know the way to top of local search results for your business! By incorporating Local SEO Ranking Factors, we’ll make sure you are eligible to rank for local results on search engines, then apply strategies to “move the needle”.

What Plan Should I Choose?

Each local business client has different needs based on their current rankings in search results, citations, and directory management needs, reputation management, website optimization, social media, etc. Our Local SEO services follow proven strategies based on Moz’s Local Search Ranking Factors and other industry publications. Our approach is to analyze your current online presence and competition. Once we determine the level of service your business requires and the hours we need to devote to your account, we can accurately access a monthly rate. A good starting point is the $1500 plan, but as your needs and your budget change, you can move to other plans at any time. No long-term contracts are required.

How Do I Know What Work Is Being Performed?

We track all of our tasks and hours on a collaborative Google Doc workbook with real-time updates and complete transparency. You’ll have access to all of our tools and strategies within the workbook. Each project strategy is different based on your current online status. We have a section in the workbook to track each set of tasks. For example, if your website needs optimization, you’ll see exactly what is being done and the hours worked. In addition to your own client project portal, you’ll receive weekly reports on keywords, ranking positions, competitors, tasks performed, etc .

Why Do I Need to Keep Updating WordPress?

Just as with computer updates, there will come a time when you want to make changes to your website, and in many cases, you will need the latest version of WordPress to do so.

Why Does My WordPress Site Need Security?

WordPress is one of the most targeted programs by bloggers because it holds the keys to so many millions of websites. This puts a target on your back, and therefore your website more of a likelihood of being hacked. A WordPress update is the software’s way of helping you fix the problem before it starts.

Do WordPress Updates Affect the User Experience?

It should always be the goal of the website owner to make the site easy to work with for visitors. Updates are continually solving these types of problems, so it is imperative that you keep up for your users if nothing else.

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