How Does Google Determine Local Rankings?

Google generally considers three important factors when determining which local businesses to display:

1. Relevance
How closely does your business match what the customer is searching for?For example, if someone searches “website designers in Kampala,” Google is more likely to show businesses whose profiles clearly identify them as website design companies.

2. Distance
How close is the business to the person searching or to the location specified in the search?

3. Prominence
How well-known and established is the business online and offline? Reviews, mentions, links, and other signals can contribute to a business’s overall prominence.

Local SEO Goes Beyond Creating a Google Profile

Simply creating a Google Business Profile is not enough. To maximize its potential, the profile should be properly optimized and consistently maintained.

At Harrah Designs, we can help businesses:

• Set up or claim their Google Business Profile
• Verify and optimize business information
• Select appropriate business categories
• Optimize business descriptions
• Add and optimize products and services
• Improve contact and location information
• Add quality business photos
• Develop a review strategy
• Publish Google updates/posts
• Monitor profile performance
• Identify relevant local keywords
• Improve the connection between the Google profile and website
• Monitor local search visibility and provide regular reports