Google and Bing are finally realizing what the rest of us have known for quite some time: pictures and other images grab an online consumer’s attention. Social media posts containing a picture are shared three times as often as posts without images. The right picture will get clicks that otherwise wouldn’t happen.
So now the search engines are using images in the rankings and it can be of real benefit when trying to improve your local search engine rankings. Here are four tips that can get you off on the right foot:
- Claim your Google My Business. Don’t know what it is? Google it. In five minutes, you can lay claim to your business name and location on Google, and fill in profile information that will give your customers the right way to find your store and get in contact with you.
- Use your own image. Google will give you one, whether you like it or not. It may be just a street view but if it ends up being your outside wall instead of your store entrance, it won’t do you much good.
- Check back often. Once you have your Google My Business account and image set, check back often to make sure Google is still displaying it. They tinker with things a lot, and you may find one of your other images in its place. To that end, make sure all the pictures you upload to Google My Business would work as a profile picture.
- Take time to make your images the best they can be. It can be tempting just to “upload and go” but instead, take a few minutes to transform it into the very best version it can be. High quality photos lead to a high quality perception of your business. Frame it, center the image, increase the resolution.
The most important thing to remember is that your web presence, whether it be your website, or search engine snippet, is a reflection of you and your product or service. Just like you would make sure your physical storefront is clean, neat and inviting, you need to do the same on the web.
Don’t have time to do all this? We can help, check out our Local SEO services
