Whenever you think about a business, product or a service, how many times have you opened your phone, typed what you want into Google and added ‘near me’ on the end? Whether it’s ‘cafe near me,’ ‘haircut near me’ or ‘child care near me,’ it’s a go-to for many people looking to satisfy a want or need.

This is a huge element of what’s called local Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

Don’t be scared by the fancy wording — it just means that If you’re looking for something in a particular location, lots of businesses are competing to be the first result on the page. And you want to make sure that you’re part of that so people can see your service.

Local SEO sounds very ‘digital’, and you may not think you can master it, but it’s a lot easier than you think.

To put things in perspective, 78% of location-based searches (i.e. ‘(product) near me’ or ‘(service) in Sydney’) end in an offline purchase, which means that the majority of these people are ready to buy. On top of this, 53% of enquiries about joining a child care centre are made online.

So we’re talking about people who are actively looking for your service and they’re ready to make a purchase or a decision, which means you don’t want to miss out on this opportunity!

What is Google My Business?

When you do a location-based search, you’re usually going to get some ads at the top, followed by some ‘Google My Business’ listings, followed by some more Ads and then finally the websites you searched for.

A ‘Google My Business’ listing is like a shop window — it’s what you see before you decide to go in.

A listing should include all of the relevant information about a business, such as the address, contact details, website, reviews, photos taken by both the organisation and customers, and the opening and closing times. It’s like Google, the Yellow Pages and TripAdvisor rolled into one.

But what does this mean for a parent? Well, it gives them all of the information they need to make an enquiry. It tells them where to go, what time they can go, who to call to verify something, and they can sign up or learn more by going into the website.

When somebody is ready to make a decision and they get all of the information they need to buy, you’re a local trip away from having a new family onboard.

Want to get a Google My Business Listing? Follow the instructions on this link

How to Set Up Your Listing

A Complete Listing

You can manage your listing by putting in all of the information possible.

Your listing needs to be complete if you are to get families to choose your service. The more information people have, the more confident they’ll feel about choosing your centre, so make sure there is as much information as possible on your listing.

For example, if your centre is in a building with multiple businesses, you may want to put the building floor in the address, to allow people to find it more easily.

Regularly Update Your Listing

All of the information needs to be accurate. Google allows people to ‘suggest an edit’, and if your information is incorrect, people may be able to change it to something that may be more suitable for them. This doesn’t mean that it’s going to be more suitable for others, so you must make sure that you periodically check or update your listing to avoid this problem.

Optimise Your Listing

And, lastly, just like everything else in SEO, it has to be optimised. The quickest and best way to do this is to include words that are specific to your business.

For example, you may offer child care, but there are lots of different kinds of child care out there. If you’re a daycare provider, include ‘daycare’ instead of ‘child care.’ This means that people who are looking for a particular type of service will find you, and these people will be more likely to enquire.

Got any offers on at the moment? You can put them in your Google listing. You may as well put some photos up of your store, restaurant, products etc. — anything that may entice people to visit.

Once people visit your website, there are many factors that decide where your listing shows up. The longer people spend on your website, and how often they fill out an enquiry will help your chances, so make sure you give them all the information they need, and make the sign up form as easy as possible.

Reviews

One thing Google My Business can’t control is your reviews. That is solely down to you, but by offering a good service and letting people know that they can write a review on your Google listing (and that it would really help you out), you can place your business above the local competition.

Being Hyper-Local

Of course, local SEO should turn into more children at your centre if your physical centre is as optimised as your online presence, but how can you make sure that you’re going to get those local SEO benefits?

Let’s take a preschool in Newtown, within Sydney’s Inner West. Whilst it is in Sydney, how likely is it that somebody from the CBD is going to travel to Newtown when there are so many options that are closer? Not only that, but with so many competitors from all sides of Sydney, a preschool in Newtown would find it hard to match someone’s search criteria enough to become one of the first listings.

Instead, the preschool should be optimising for searches that are ‘hyper-local’ i.e. within walking distance. Not only that, but they should be optimising for details about the business as well as location e.g. ‘Preschool Newtown’, rather than ‘Child Care Sydney’

The more narrow you get, the more closely you will match a parent’s search criteria, and the better the results.

Where to go now…

Once you’ve gone through your listing, it’s important to keep on top of your enrollments system. Make sure you give families a tour of your centre ASAP, and use software that makes the enrollment process quick and easy.

OWNA’s all-in-one childcare app makes it easy for parents and centres to enroll their children, as well as engage parents over time to improve their experience.

Download OWNA for FREE today!

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