How to Get Your Funeral Business on Google Maps

Being found on the first page of Google and on Google Maps in a search for funeral directors in your area provides a valuable advertisement for your business, here we discuss How to Get Your Funeral Business on Google Maps.

Get Your Funeral Business on Google Maps and you’ll reach a targeted audience of people with buying intent but you won’t be signing up for an expensive advertising campaign. A high profile presence in ‘organic’ results or Google Maps will effectively mean you don’t need to pay for Google Adwords in an effort to gain exposure.

Organic results and Google maps presence are achieved through a series of criteria that Google uses to rank websites. Although Google won’t provide a definitive list or enter into a discussion about rankings amongst the known criteria are:

Relevance – i.e. if someone searches for a funeral director Google won’t show a plumber!
Geography – if someone searches for funeral directors in Swansea Google won’t show funeral directors in Sunderland

From there we need to consider some more finely judged criteria:

How long has the business website been published on the internet?
Does the website include Name, Address and Postcode on every page? (NAP)
Has the website been search engine optimised for the local area?
Has the website been optimised for the business name?
Does the company have a claimed Google Business Page?
Is the information on the Google Business Page (NAP) exactly consistent with the information on the website?
Does the Google Business Page include 4 or more reviews?

When looking at a local search results that include Google Map listings we often find that the results include companies who have had reviews (star ratings).

Being proactive in obtaining reviews for your business will have an impact on whether or not you are listed amongst the businesses at the top of these listing so it’s well worth the effort to ask people to review you.

Your Google My Business Listing Step by Step

Enter Accurate Information for Your Listing

Local search results favor the most relevant results for searches, and business offering the most detailed and accurate information will be easier to serve in search.

Make sure your listing shows potential customers exactly what your business does. Exactly where it is, and how they can contact you.

Use Keywords

In the same way that we add keywords to your website to help Google find us in search results including important keywords and search phrases to your business listing will be beneficial bearing in mind that your business website is listed directly within your GMB listing. For keywords start with ‘funeral director your town’ ‘funeral plans your town’ and drill down to more specific searches such as ‘coffins’ and ‘funeral announcements’.

Accurate Business Operating Hours

Business hours are more important for a funeral director than most businesses. You can update them whenever they change as Google allows you to customise them for holidays etc.

Add Photos

Photos make a significant difference to your business listings’ performance. Businesses with photos on their listings typically receive more requests for directions on Google Maps and more click-throughs to their websites than businesses without photos.

Manage & Respond to Customer Reviews

Positive reviews influence potential customers when researching on Google. Not only are people more likely to contact your business, they also improve your business’s visibility in search results. Encourage customers to leave feedback by creating a link on your website where they can click to write reviews for your business.

Incoming Links – A Vital Part of the Solution to Get Your Funeral Business on Google Maps

Incoming links to your website have long been one of the most important factors in improving Google rankings. Google Maps local results will also benefit. Here we list some suggested high authority websites where a funeral director can gain valuable presence linking through to their website:

Posted in Funeral Director Websites Blog and tagged Google Maps, Google My Business, NAP