Five Ways To Improve Your GBP Rankings

Last month’s blog post covered setting up and optimizing your Google Business Profile (GBP) listing. I have recently received numerous inquiries from counsellors and therapists like yourself seeking guidance on enhancing their GBP rankings in 2023 and beyond. After you have set up and optimized your GBP, learn more about the five essential factors contributing to improving your rankings.

#1 – Business Listings

Achieving a high ranking for your GBP hinges on verifying your business’s authenticity by Google. You can accomplish this by assessing the frequency with which your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) are cited or listed online. It bears striking similarity to the role backlinks play in search engine optimization for therapists.

The most straightforward method to obtain citations or listings is by submitting your business details to local and national business directories. Creating listings is something I can do on your behalf as I have a spreadsheet with the top 150 business directories in Canada and the USA.

#2 – Consistent NAP

Maintaining consistency and accuracy in how your business’s NAP (name, address, and phone number) is displayed across various directories, your website’s contact page, and your GBP is crucial. Ensuring a consistent NAP across the web is essential to avoid confusion among Google’s website crawlers, which might occur if there are discrepancies in your NAP information across different business directories.

To verify the consistency of your NAP, search for your business and examine each listing to ensure uniformity. If you come across any inaccuracies on external websites, take the initiative to contact them and request the necessary corrections. This is a step some of my current clients have had to undertake when they have changed addresses or phone numbers. Utilizing top-notch local SEO software, I can monitor our clients’ business listings and track the consistency of their NAP.

Here’s an example showcasing one of our clients who has achieved a highly commendable NAP score.

Here is a potential lead that has a very poor NAP score.

I use the software Brightlocal which also does so much more and is worth the investment.

#3 – NAP On Website

In addition, it is imperative to include your business’s name, address, and phone number on your website. Some SEO companies suggest placing this information in the footer or header of your website so that it appears on every page. If feasible, implementing this practice can significantly enhance the user experience. However, based on my findings, having the name, address, and phone number listed on the contact page alone is also acceptable. To further optimize this aspect, incorporating the Schema markup into your NAP presentation can earn you additional merits.

Here is an illustration of how you should have incorporated the NAP information on our contact page.

#4 – Embedded Google Map

It’s good practice to have your businesses GBP embedded on your contact page. This way Google can be certain you are located at the address you have listed by confirming that with your Places listing.

Embedding is easy. Simply search your business name while in Google Maps. Once you have found it click on the share button beside “Send to phone” Then you can click on “Share or Embed Map” and “copy HTML”. From there you can paste the HTML coding into your contact page.

The last and most crucial factor to improving the ranking of your Google My Business listing is coming up next.

#5 – Reviews

Gathering reviews from current and past clients is very important to improve your GBP rankings. Consider the following: if Google identifies a page with 20 or more reviews, it is more likely to prioritize displaying that page in the mapped listings than with no reviews. This aligns with Google’s commitment to delivering users the most relevant search results and businesses.

As a therapist, chances are good it’s unethical or against your governing bodies guidelines to solicit reviews. So what can you do?

Make it easy for clients to leave reviews. You can have a poster or graphic listed in your office with a QR code that links to your GBP review area. When doing so, you can state that reviews help other people searching for therapists and counsellors get the best care they deserve.

Another option is to include a review link in your email signature. It might not get seen by all your clients but atleast it’s there.

Again reviews are a touchy subject and you may not feel comfortable with using the above methods. Remember, though, that it’s a vital ranking factor.

If you need digital marketing for therapists, contact me to learn how I can help.