The moment you sign up as an Amazon seller, the clock starts ticking. Amazon will hold you to its monthly performance metrics from day one. And being prepared makes all the difference: with this checklist, you’ll be ready to ace every step of selling on Amazon. We’ve covered everything from the most basic preparation to the next steps necessary to grow into your success.
How to get started selling on Amazon
To start selling on Amazon, you’ll need to start with these steps:
Gather your paperwork.
Figure out the logistics.
Prepare your business plan.
Register your seller account.
Create product listings.
Let’s start selling.
1. Paperwork you need to start selling on Amazon
It’s a lot easier to start selling with your paperwork in order.
Some of this will be needed for the account opening process, some of it is common sense, and some of it helps to protect your business in the future.
You’ll need to start your Amazon store:
Your business name: The name of your business. If you’re doing business as another name, things get more complex, but you’ll need this whatever you do.
Email: You’ve got to have a valid email address. But I’d consider setting one up especially for your Amazon seller account – maybe add a new account to your business email or if you don’t have one, open a fresh Gmail and keep signed in on an alternative browser so checking it regularly is easy.
Credit card: You’ll need to have the credit card you’re going to use for your business handy and solvent.
Tax ID and State Tax: You’ll need your tax ID. If you’re selling as an individual, have your Social Security number handy; if you’re selling as a company, you’re going to need your company’s
Federal Tax ID number: When you’re in the process of signing up to your Amazon account, you’ll need to fill in a 1099-K Tax Interview document.
If you’re not based in the United States, you might be asked for this in error; contact Amazon and it should be cleared up in a couple of days.
State Tax ID information is only needed for states in which you have a physical presence (‘nexus’). If you have an office in Arizona, a warehouse in Nebraska, and a factory in Minnesota, those are the states you need State Tax ID info for.
If you’re planning to use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), there can be other tax issues. For a single seller with a single location, FBA tax is simple. But for a multi-state entity, it can get complex.
If that’s you, it’s cheaper and simpler to talk to a specialist tax attorney or adviser before you start selling on Amazon, in the same way that it’s far cheaper to have a good accountant than muddle through it all yourself. (Small business owners know what I’m talking about here!)
Companies that specialize in Amazon tax issues include:
Taxjar.com
Avalara.com
Taxify.co
Vertexsmb.com
FBAsalestax.com
Zip-tax.com
Catchingclouds.net
Yes, it’s just boring paperwork. But having it all set up before you start selling on Amazon is a lot less irritating than chasing it around on a time limit. And if you don’t have the tax info to hand to fill out your 1099-K, you won’t be able to sell on Amazon at all until you do.
This content should not be construed as legal or tax advice. Always consult an attorney or tax professional regarding your specific legal or tax situation.
2. Figure out your logistics in advance
Once you jump in and actually start selling on Amazon, fixing these logistical issues becomes much harder. It’s easier to set things up so they never become a problem in the first place.
You’ll need to know:
Your returns process:
Amazon has its own internal returns policy which you have to meet or exceed in order to be an Amazon seller. It’s a good idea to read this page, figure out what you’re going to do that’s at least as good as Amazon’s policy, and write that down somewhere, even if it’s a sticky note on your desktop. When you get an item returned, that’s the wrong time to be figuring out what to do about it – especially since you only have a 24-hour window to begin the process.
How (and if) you plan to use FBA:
You can oversimplify and say: smaller items work with FBA, bigger ones less so.
FBA works very differently if you commingle your items. Commingled selling lets Amazon sell your items and those of other sellers interchangeably, assuming that the item is the same.
The problem with that is, you can end up with your products – which you have control over and have carefully verified – mixed up with someone else’s who hasn’t bothered checking, or is selling fake stuff on purpose. Then when an order of yours gets shipped, it’s their poor quality product that arrives – and your reputation that gets trashed.
There are benefits to this approach, but it’s risky. By and large standard practice should be, use FBA but don’t commingle.
Whether you want to use a DBA name on your Amazon account:
Amazon lets you use a DBA (doing business as) name on your Amazon account, basically rebranding your Amazon account as something different from your main business.
There are plenty of legitimate reasons to do this – such as, you have a specific part of your business that takes place on Amazon. If you normally sell furniture of every kind but on Amazon you sell only wardrobes, Texas Furniture isn’t as good a name as Texas Wardrobes, for instance.
But there are also plenty of sketchy sellers on Amazon who use DBA to conceal the real identity of their company; you might have more credibility and trust if you just use your regular business name.
How Amazon’s product gating applies to what you want to sell:
Amazon uses restrictions to decide who can sell things in certain categories. If the categories you want to sell are gated, you’ll need to apply for the ungating process as soon as possible. Check if your products are on the gated list here.
3. Prepare your business plan
Decide your business plan in advance. Don’t try to wing it.
Your answers to these questions might change, even in your first month as an Amazon seller.
But by planning out your first month, you force yourself to ask the questions.
At the very least, ask yourself:
Are you going to sell the same products or change it up?
If you’re going to sell more opportunistically, or from a large range, this isn’t so much of an issue. But if you’re selling the same products all the time, it’s smart to take advantage of Seller Central’s replenishment alert.
How will you identify stale inventory?
However you’re selling, keeping track of inventory age is an important part of handling your supply chain. If products are sitting on the shelf for three months, that tells you something about what you need to order.
More urgently, if you’re using FBA, it’s vital to identify stale inventory so you don’t get caught in Amazon’s 180-day inventory sweeps and charged a much higher storage fee. Don’t wait 179 days and then wonder how much of your inventory is now costing you money instead of making you money.
You can find Amazon’s inventory report under Reports > Fulfillment > Manage FBA Inventory if you’re using FBA. There, you’ll find a full real-time inventory report containing numerical values for a range of inventory data – SKU, product condition and so on.
How will you source your products?
Inventory is a major issue on Amazon. Sellers who aspire to the buy box already know: you won’t get in if your product’s out of stock. You also need to avoid periods when you’re out of stock and not selling – and thus not making any money.
Only you know the most appropriate sources of inventory for your business, but make sure you have fallbacks if it’s possible so you don’t get caught out.
Who is already selling the same products as you on Amazon?
It’s pretty common for new sellers to jump in with products that are already so popular, in such crowded markets, that there’s no real chance of successfully selling them. So it’s really vital to check that you’re selling something where you have a chance at actually making a business work.
The biggest competitor on Amazon is Amazon itself – check your intended catalog against Amazon and if the company itself is selling your products, rethink your approach.
So, how do you become an Amazon seller? You need to register an Amazon seller account.
There are two types of accounts: An individual seller account, with no monthly fee but a charge of 99 cents for each item you sell, or the pro seller account for $39.99 per month no matter how many items you sell. So, if you plan to sell only a few items per month, go with the individual seller account.
But, if this will be a larger venture, plan on using the pro seller account. If you want to sell on Handmade or Launchpad, you have to use a pro seller account, no matter how much product you are selling. You can change plans at any time.
For both account types, you can sign up with your existing customer account or you can create a new seller account with your business email.
Before you sign up, be sure you have these items ready:
Business email address or Amazon customer account
Internationally chargeable credit card
Government ID (identity verification protects sellers and customers)
Tax information
Phone number
A bank account where Amazon can send you proceeds from your sales
Amazon also collects a referral fee on each sale no matter the chosen plan, which is a percentage of the total transaction and varies by product category.
5. Create your product listings
You have your seller profile created, so now you need products. But, how do you put your product on Amazon?
First, you need to consider what you are listing — you can’t just list whatever you want. Some categories are open to all sellers, some require a pro seller account, some require approval to sell, and some include products that cannot be sold by third-party sellers.
So, consider what you are selling and make sure you have the appropriate account.
Once logged in, you’ll navigate to Seller Central to create your listing. To create your listing you’ll need:
A product identifier, such as GTIN, UPC, ISBN, or EAN to specify the exact item you’re selling. You can get a UPC code directly from GS1, or request an exemption.
A SKU, which is a product ID you create to track your own inventory.
Details, including the price, product condition, quantity available and shipping options.
Product details including name, brand, category, description, and images.
Keywords and search terms.
If there is already an exact product match on Amazon, then you can match your listing so things like product identifier will already be in place. If you are the first, then you will have to provide those details.
Your offer details will be displayed on a product detail page, the page in which people see when they look at products on Amazon.
Here is what is included on this page:
Title: 200 characters max, capitalize the first letter of every word
Images: 500 x 500 or 1,000 x 1,000 pixels to increase listing quality
Variations in colors, sizes, etc.
Bullet points: Short, descriptive sentences highlighting key features and benefits
Featured offer (“Buy Box”): The featured offer on a detail page. Customers can add to their cart or “Buy Now”
Other offers: If you sell a product that is sold by multiple sellers, you’ll see the same product sold by multiple sellers offering a different price, shipping options, etc.
Description: Be sure to use keywords that will help customers find your product.
How to promote your products on Amazon
To profit as a seller, you have to stand out against over two million merchants. But if you do grab buyers’ attention, you’re bound to make sales since so many shoppers flock to Amazon. The average conversion rate in the marketplace is roughly 15%, roughly three to five times that of other ecommerce sites.
The key to reaching Amazon shoppers is maximizing your listings’ visibility.
There are so many products on the marketplace, and buyers don’t have the time or patience to sift through every single one. Make it easy for buyers to find your products and you’re on track to win greater sales.
To boost your listings’ visibility, we’ll highlight nine key ways to drive external traffic outside of Amazon and internal traffic within the marketplace to your products. Using these strategies leads buyers right to your listings, so they can make their way down your sales funnel and grow to become a customer.
1. Optimize your listings with SEO
Search engine optimization attracts a wide range of buyers to your listing. Both shoppers who are already on Amazon and those who are using other sites can find your listing when you include popular keywords. With these additions, search engines — both Amazon’s and others — determine that your listing is a relevant result and rank it higher.
There are a few key tools to identify the keywords your shoppers are searching for most frequently.
Google Keyword Planner: This free tool indicates the monthly search volume of keywords on Google’s search engine. Since Amazon listings can rank on Google, this tool is especially helpful.
Scope: A keyword tool that’s specifically geared for Amazon. It allows you to track keywords’ monthly volume, ranking position over time, estimated sales, and more.
Once you’ve collected your keywords, place them throughout your listing, such as in the title and description. Detecting these popular keywords, search engines will recognize your listing as a relevant result for your buyers’ searches and rank it higher.
Even with SEO, there’s no guarantee that your listing will be placed higher in Amazon’s search results. The marketplace’s engine considers other factors for ranking — selling history, price, and more — so SEO alone doesn’t necessarily lead to higher rankings.
To gain more control over their listings’ visibility, Amazon sellers can pay for the marketplace to sponsor their products and place them higher in search results.
Sellers only pay when shoppers click on their ad, so the payoff with Amazon promotion is guaranteed. Your listings’ visibility is increased, so shoppers on Amazon can easily find your product and potentially make a purchase.
3. Share listings on social media
The average person spends nearly two hours per day on social media platforms. Given this popularity, sharing your Amazon listings on social media through your business’ accounts is a powerful way of getting your products in front of more buyers.
Since your followers expect to receive value from your posts, it’s best to avoid creating posts on your account that are basically ads for your listings. Instead, it’s better to share your listing in more subtle ways that are still helpful to your followers. Here are a few ideas:
Use a social media promo code. Merchants with a Professional Selling account on Amazon can create a promotion link to share through social media about a discount they’re offering on the listing. Unlike a traditional ad, sharing a promo code gives users value by helping them save money. For more details on setting up this promo code, check out this guide.
Share content that includes your listing link. Posting an informative, helpful blog post or video that includes a link to your Amazon listing, such as a How-to video or list post, is a great way to indirectly promote your products through social media.
Host a contest or giveaway. Announce through your social media accounts that any user who posts your Amazon listing in their bio will be entered for a chance to win a prize. This reward will motivate users to share your listing and spread the word about your Amazon products.
By creating social media content that is exciting and relevant, you can promote your Amazon listings through social media in a way that feels natural rather than invasive.
For internal visibility on Amazon, your listings need to stay ahead of competitors’ products. In buyers’ searches, your products will fall behind competitors’ items in rankings if you aren’t monitoring how those listings are engaging shoppers.
To keep your listings high in Amazon’s search rankings, there are a few factors you should monitor in competitors’ listings:
Price: You want to keep your listings’ prices at or lower than competitors’ not only because shoppers are looking for the best deals — you also want to win the Buy Box if you’re sharing a listing with other sellers, and Amazon highly prioritizes price in choosing the box winner.
Images: When Amazon shoppers are browsing through search results, they’re not only looking at price — they’re also checking out images. Visuals can be a very persuasive factor in encouraging purchases, so you want to make sure that your listing has more images with higher quality than competing items.
Text: If your listing currently isn’t ranking high for your product keywords, it might be because the listing text isn’t considered relevant by Amazon’s search engine. Analyze the text of the current top-ranking listings to search for potentially relevant keywords that you can include to boost your product.
Finding ways to make your listing outshine competitors’ items on Amazon will increase your product rank in the marketplace’s search results.
5. Partner with influencers
Just like products on an online store, Amazon listings can gain significant traffic through influencer marketing.
When prominent individuals in your industry stand behind your product and link to your listing, it sends a message to communities of your key buyers that your listing is worth checking out.
To promote your listing through influencer marketing, start by coming up with a list of key individuals in your sector with a large base of social media followers. You brainstorm this list by considering your own personal network or use an influencer platform like Influence.co.
Once you have a list going, check out this guide to learn about the best ways to reach out to influencers and measure results once they share your Amazon listings.
6. Maintain strong product ratings
First impressions matter when you’re on a marketplace as competitive as Amazon. Buyers are browsing through thousands of products, so they won’t settle for items that seem low-quality.
A clear way to give shoppers a positive first impression of your Amazon listings is to maintain high-star ratings. When buyers are browsing through their Amazon search results, the star ratings are visible for each product.
Along with price, these star ratings are a major factor in whether shoppers decide to click on your listings. They can’t see your products in person, so this feedback from other buyers is especially meaningful to shoppers trying to make a purchase.
Here are a few tips for maintaining high-star ratings on all of your Amazon listings:
Describe your item exactly as it is in your listing. False product details and images may boost sales initially, but ultimately they only hurt your Amazon business. Buyers who receive a product that’s totally different from the listing are bound to leave a low rating in disappointment.
Provide excellent customer service. If you don’t handle customer requests properly, such as shipping the item late or not being prompt in completing a return, you’ll anger buyers. Avoid receiving a low product rating by delivering the item as expected and promptly resolving issues.
Reach out to disappointed buyers. When a customer leaves a poor rating, reach out to the buyer to see if you can still resolve their issue. If you can fix their problem, they do have the power to edit their review and could adjust their rating to improve the product’s overall score.
Ratings are a key way for buyers to quickly assess your Amazon products. Make sure your items’ scores stay high to keep buyers interested in your listing.
Shipping, at first, might seem totally unrelated to promoting your products. But on Amazon, your shipping performance is a key factor in your listings’ visibility.
Amazon wants to keep shoppers happy, so they discourage poor shipping practices by making shipping a factor in winning the Buy Box and ranking high on Amazon’s search rankings.
With consistent shipping issues, you’re less likely to win the box or to rank high in search.
Instead of hurting your visibility, use these tips to maintain a strong shipping performance on Amazon:
Regularly check your shipping performance metrics. In Amazon Seller Central, you can monitor several key shipping performance metrics — on-time delivery rate, valid tracking rate — to ensure that you’re consistently offering great shipping and pleasing customers.
Use Amazon FBA. By signing up for Fulfillment by Amazon, sellers no longer have to worry about providing great shipping as the marketplace handles fulfilling your orders. If there are any complaints about your shipping from buyers, the marketplace will remove the rating since they are responsible for shipping issues.
Use inventory management software. Adopting an inventory management program, like Sellbrite, keeps you on track so you can avoid understocking and being unable to complete orders. Sellbrite monitors when your stock is low across channels so you always know when to reorder.
Always provide great shipping and you won’t hurt your chance at winning the Buy Box or at ranking high in search results. With this visibility, Amazon shoppers can easily find your products.
8. Monitor your seller rating
Like shipping performance, your overall seller rating on Amazon also impacts your chances of winning the Buy Box and ranking high in Amazon’s search results.
Punishing low-rated sellers with less visibility is a measure to keep Amazon shoppers happy and sustain the marketplace. It ensures that buyers are first and foremost working with merchants who have a positive record and can provide great service.
To keep your listings visible on Amazon, follow these tips to maintain a high seller rating:
Monitor your seller rating. On Seller Central, you can view the factors that contribute to your overall seller ratings — such as Perfect Order Percentage and Late Response Rate — and determine which ones need to be improved to increase it.
Be prompt in customer service. Set a daily reminder to resolve customer issues and respond to customer messages. The quicker you give buyers attention, the more impressed they’ll be with your service.
Determine whether negative feedback could be removed. Amazon has clear guidelines for providing feedback. Review this post to determine whether any of your negative feedback from buyers should be removed.
Make an effort to keep your seller rating as high as possible and you’ll help your listings stay visible through the Buy Box and Amazon search results.
9. Launch a Lightning Deal
Beyond convenience, many shoppers come to Amazon for the marketplace’s low prices. With this interest, a primary way of attracting Amazon shoppers to your listing is by launching a Lightning Deal.
Lightning Deals are time-based, marked-down products that buyers can find in Amazon’s Today’s Deals section. They draw a lot of attention and sales from Amazon’s shoppers not only because they appreciate discounts, but also because their limited time frame motivates buyers to make a purchase.
Sellers have to pay a fee and Amazon has to approve Lightning Deals before they’re launched.
Here are a few of the key guidelines that sellers need to meet for their Lightning Deals to be approved:
Lightning Deals run for four to twelve hours.
Lightning Deals can only run once in a seven-day period.
You should have your proposed quantity for the deal available at least seven days before the deal is expected to launch.
Amazon selling FAQs
How can I put my product on Amazon? You need to start with a seller account. Choose an individual account or a pro seller account. Once you have that set up you can, you can begin listing products. You’ll need to have a product identifier, a SKU, product and store details, and keywords to show up in the search.
How do beginners sell on Amazon? If you only plan to sell a few products a month, start with an individual account. You will be charged 99 cents per item sold, but does not have a monthly fee.
How much does it cost to sell on Amazon? It depends on the plan you choose and what you are selling. Individual accounts are free, but you are charged 99 centers per item sold. Pro seller accounts have a monthly fee of $39.99, with unlimited sales. Each sale, no matter the account, also has referrals fees, which depend on the type of product. There are additional fees for shipping and Fulfillment by Amazon, if using that service.
Can you sell your own thing on Amazon? There are limits to what you can sell. You can view a list of restricted items here. If you are looking to sell your handmade products, you’ll need a pro seller account to use Amazon Handmade.
The facts are clear: Startups are finding funding increasingly difficult to secure, and even unicorns appear cornered, with many lacking both capital and a clear exit.
But equity rounds aren’t the only way for a company to raise money — alternative and other non-dilutive financing options are often overlooked. Taking on debt might be the right solution when you’re focused on growth and can see clear ROI from the capital you deploy.
Not all capital providers are equal, so seeking financing isn’t just about securing capital. It’s a matter of finding the right source of funding that matches both your business and your roadmap.
Here are four things you should consider:
Does this match my needs?
It’s easy to take for granted, but securing financing begins with a business plan. Don’t seek funding until you have a clear plan for how you’ll use it. For example, do you need capital to fund growth or for your day-to-day operations? The answer should influence not only the amount of capital you seek, but the type of funding partner you look for as well.
Start with a concrete plan and make sure it aligns with the structure of your financing:
Match repayment terms to your expected use of the debt.
Balance working capital needs with growth capital needs.
It’s understandable to hope for a one-and-done financing process that sets the next round far down the line, but that may be costlier than you realize in the long run.
Your term of repayment must be long enough so you can deploy the capital and see the returns. If it’s not, you may end up making loan payments with the principal.
Say, for example, you secure funding to enter a new market. You plan to expand your sales team to support the move and develop the cash flow necessary to pay back the loan. The problem here is, the new hire will take months to ramp up.
If there’s not enough delta between when you start ramping up and when you begin repayments, you’ll be paying back the loan before your new salesperson can bring in revenue to allow you to see ROI on the amount you borrowed.
Another issue to keep in mind: If you’re financing operations instead of growth, working capital requirements may reduce the amount you can deploy.
Let’s say you finance your ad spending and plan to deploy $200,000 over the next four months. But payments on the MCA loan you secured to fund that spending will eat into your revenue, and the loan will be further limited by a minimum cash covenant of $100,000. The result? You secured $200,000 in financing but can only deploy half of it.
With $100,000 of your financing kept in a cash account, only half the loan will be used to drive operations, which means you’re not likely to meet your growth target. What’s worse, as you’re only able to deploy half of the loan, your cost of capital is effectively double what you’d planned for.
Is this the right amount for me at this time?
The second consideration is balancing how much capital you need to act on your near-term goals against what you can reasonably expect to secure. If the funding amount you can get is not enough to move the needle, it might not be worth the effort required.
Elon Musk said Sunday he “somewhat agonized” over the font designs for his companies Tesla and SpaceX.
The billionaire businessman added he “loves fonts” and has tweaked the logos over the years.
He revealed the SpaceX logo also holds a hidden meaning, representing a rocket’s arc to orbit.
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In a series of Sunday tweets, Elon Musk said he “somewhat agonized” over his choice of fonts for his businesses and revealed a hidden meaning behind the SpaceX logo.
Responding to a tweet about serif and sans-serif fonts, the billionaire businessman took a break from posting cryptic memes and discussing politics to say he loves fonts and put significant consideration into how his companies are presented to consumers.
“I somewhat agonized over the Tesla & SpaceX font design (love fonts tbh),” Musk tweeted. “There are some similarities, particularly use of negative space. We’ve made many little tweaks over the years.”
The Tesla logo — a T-shaped design with a custom, sans-serif font spelling out the brand name — is meant to resemble a cross-section of an electric motor. The SpaceX logo, written in a similar font with an extended X, references the reusable rockets made by the company.
“The swoop of the X is meant to represent the rocket’s arc to orbit,” Musk tweeted.
Other business logos have also held hidden messages: Baskin Robbins, a chain that sells 31 flavors of ice cream, has a secret ’31’ hidden in the letters of its logo. Likewise, Amazon’s arrow logo is meant to represent a smile, while the circular ‘B’ logo for Beats by Dre represents a person wearing the popular headphones.
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The internet has revolutionized the business world and changed how we conduct business. Any business that aims to increase its visibility and boost profit needs to pay much attention to top ranking factors, including local SEO — which introduces the topic of the local search algorithm.
Local SEO is one of the top practices that help boost a business’s visibility and generates more sales.
However, achieving better local SEO rankings is not a walk in the park, especially due to increased competition. To appear higher on local results, businesses and marketers need to understand how the local search algorithm works.
Knowing this helps guide the steps for improving rankings in the local pack.
The competition gets stiffer as more businesses open and optimize for local searching. Besides, Google is updating its algorithm consistently, meaning only businesses that can keep up with these updates can appear at the top of local search results.
Luckily, you have come to this post as this article looks at everything you need to know about Google’s local search algorithm and what you can do to get that top spot in the local pack.
Understanding the local search algorithm
Google aims to provide the best results that match a specific local search query. It constantly updates the local search algorithm to determine which business to rank on top of local search results.
Ideally, Google wants to provide local content that is relevant and valuable to users. As with search engine optimization, keyword stuffing cannot give you that top spot in local search results.
SEO specialists and marketers should consider Google’s local search algorithm updates and make the necessary changes to rank higher. Failure to consider these updates means losing your local search presence, resulting in fewer leads and conversions.
Local algorithms check the Google My Business (GMB) listings to determine where to rank a business in local search rankings.
Ideally, Google’s local algorithm ranks businesses with information that matches a searcher’s query. And the higher a business ranks in local search results, the more chances a potential customer will click on it.
This post looks at the three major pillars that determine local search results to better understand the local search algorithm: proximity, prominence and relevance.
Of course, other factors make up Google’s local search algorithm, but since we cannot identify all of them, we’ll focus on the most crucial ones in this post.
By understanding these pillars, marketers can better position themselves for local search success.
1. Proximity
Proximity is one of the major ranking factors when it comes to local search. That means the distance between a business and a searcher is a ranking factor in local search.
When a searcher searches for something, Google considers how far the searcher is from the location of the term they use in the search. When a searcher doesn’t specify the location, Google calculates the distance based on the information they have regarding their location.
Ideally, Google aims to provide the most relevant results to a search query. For instance, why would Google provide a list of coffee shops in Los Angeles if the searcher is searching from Colombia?
That would be irrelevant local search results that won’t benefit the searcher.
Unfortunately, while proximity is a major local search pillar, it’s one of the factors that businesses have little control over. After all, you cannot change where your business is located, right?
You can only ensure your business location is as clear as possible, so that it appears for related nearby queries. Here are steps you can take to achieve this:
Claim and verify the Google My Business listing
Ensure local listings are accurate and optimized for local products or services
Get the Google Maps API Key and optimize for your location and routes
Set up your profile correctly (for Service Area Businesses) to avoid violating Google’s guidelines
Users can perform several types of local searches, including:
Geo-modified searches
Users will perform geo-modified searches when they are planning to visit somewhere. For instance, a searcher in Los Angeles planning to visit Toronto, Canada, may search for a “coffee shop in Oakville.” The results will differ from if they searched for “coffee” while physically in Oakville.
To be specific, geo-modified searches are mainly based on relevance and prominence as opposed to proximity when a user searches for something when outside the city included in the search.
Non-geo searches
Searchers perform this type of search when looking for something around them. For instance, a user in Los Angeles performing a local search for “coffee.”
Ideally, the user only needs to search for something and is shown results based on proximity. They will get the results that are closest to them.
“Near me” searches
“Near me” searches have been so popular in recent years. Although their popularity has significantly declined, users still perform this type of search when looking for something locally.
For instance, some users could add “near me” when searching for a coffee shop, hoping to get the most relevant results near them. As we’ve stated, this trend has lost popularity because when you perform a local search, you are searching for something near you.
It is not necessary to add “near me” to what you’re searching.
2. Prominence
Prominence refers to how important Google thinks your business is, which gets factored into the local search algorithm.
In other words, it refers to how well a business stands from the rest in various aspects, including directories, links, reviews, mentions, among other things.
If search engines view your business as trustworthy and credible, they will likely show it on top of related search query results.
The local search algorithm views businesses/brands with a stronger online prominence as credible and trustworthy. Some of the factors that determine prominence include:
Citations
A local citation is the mention of a business’s information online. The mention can include the partial or complete name, address, and phone number (NAP) of a local business.
Citations are an excellent way for people to learn about local businesses and impact local search results.
A business with high-quality citations can rank better in local search results, although businesses must continually manage citations to ensure data accuracy.
Inbound links
Backlinks play a crucial role in local business prominence. Gaining relevant backlinks from high-quality sites is an excellent way to build a business’ online reputation.
If you’re trying to outrank your competitors without much success, your backlink profile could be the reason.
In that case, you should check your competitor’s backlinks and compare them with yours. When doing this, pay attention to the number and quality of their backlinks.
As a rule of thumb, aim to have high-quality local backlinks pointing to your site to improve your page’s authority.
Reviews
Next, you need to pay much attention to reviews to improve local prominence. Many customers look at a business’s online reviews before deciding whether to engage more with the business or not. Besides, many positive online reviews can increase a business’ ranking factors.
Consider this scenario. A potential customer is looking for a pub around Oakville. When they perform a search, they are presented with two results: one with over 100 reviews and another with less than 10 reviews.
Which business do you think the searcher would trust? The one with 100 reviews, obviously.
As with search engines, customers need to trust a business before they decide to do business with it. Similarly, search engines can view online reviews and analyze them to determine a business’s online prominence.
That said, here are strategies you can use to boost your online review signals:
Have a strategy
You won’t have a strong online prominence if your products or services are not of a high standard. So, the first step to having many great reviews is to develop great products and services.
After that, develop a strategy to encourage your happy customers to leave honest but valuable reviews of their experience doing business with you to help boost your online reputation.
Monitor and manage the reviews
Having many reviews is one thing; you need to develop a plan to engage with your customers for better results. Responding to reviews shows people that you care and are genuine about your products and services.
People will avoid businesses that don’t respond to customer reviews (whether positive or negative).
Search engines, too, can tell whether you engage with customer reviews or not and will use the information to determine where to rank on local search results.
When responding to online reviews, pay special attention to negative reviews and how you respond to them. While no business likes getting negative reviews, how you respond to them can positively impact your business — respond positively to turn the negative reviews around.
3. Relevance
As earlier stated, Google wants to provide the most relevant results to a local search query. This key ranking factor will determine a business’s position in local search results — how well does a local business match a search query?
Even if your business ticks the above pillars (prominence and proximity), if the content on your page isn’t well structured and doesn’t cover the topics that a searcher is looking for, you won’t appear on top of local search results.
Here are factors that businesses should consider to create a relevant listing:
Local page signals
Local listing categories and attributes
Social posts and responses to online reviews
Local listing signals and categories
A business GMB listing and category can impact its relevance score for local searches. As such, complete your business profile carefully and continually add quality content to the web page to ensure it is relevant for proximity searches.
More specifically, ensure that all information on all listing pages, including Yelp, Bing, and Google, is complete and accurate. Aside from these factors, here are two crucial features you should pay attention to:
Category selection
Selecting the right categories for your local business listing is among the crucial factors for ranking locally. With over 4000 GMB categories, you want to choose categories that best describe your business — ensure they are relevant and specific.
Here are guidelines to follow when selecting a category:
Describe your business as opposed to your services
Be specific to minimize competition
Reduce the number of GMB categories to describe your business better
Business description
Without a proper description, users won’t know what your business is about. This section is about adding an introduction to your business so that customers and search engines can know more about your business.
However, don’t use this section for marketing your business. Just give users and search engines descriptive info that can help determine whether your business matches their needs.
Local page signals
Another way a business can improve its standing in the local search algorithm is by optimizing web pages for specific keywords. For multi-location businesses, it’s essential to have separate, localized pages for each location, with relevant information and contact details for customers to reach you.
Performing competitor research is advisable to determine what terms or keywords to use for a specific query. Here are top on-page signals to consider when trying to gain relevance for a given topic:
Keyword research — Before creating local content, you need to find keywords that matter to your business. Perform keyword research to determine highly relevant keywords with high intent. When finding relevant terms to use in your content, base your research on the customer perspective; think about what they search for and the type of content they are looking for.
Create local content — After finding the right keywords, it’s time to create your content. Google values the quality of content more than the length of the content, so keep this in mind when creating content. Another crucial thing to pay attention to is localizing the content. For example, you can create content on local news and events or use your city’s name within your content.
The goal is to create a connection between what’s happening in your local area and your business. Also, use pictures with your specific geolocation to increase your content relevance.
Creating quality and relevant content is only the start. You need to optimize your content for on-page signals so local search algorithms can discover and rank them better. Here’s how you can optimize your local content for on-page signals:
Meta descriptions — Include keywords in your meta descriptions to encourage searchers to click through and increase visibility
Title tags — Title tags are some of the factors that search engines use to determine where to rank content. Incorporating keywords naturally in your title tags can help boost local rankings
Image tags — Another way to improve local rankings is by including relevant keywords in your image tags. Including geotags also comes with an added advantage
Headings — Users and Google value pages with clear structures. Consider creating headings within your content to capture readers’ attention and encourage them to read on. However, ensure your heading tags describe the content that comes after them well. Also, include keywords in your heading tags to help search engines understand them and their importance.
Off-page local signals
Gaining high-quality backlinks is a great way to boost credibility and trust. Backlinks refer to external links from another website to your site. Aim to have more high-quality backlinks to boost your website authority.
Ideally, having many quality backlinks shows search engines that your website or page is credible and trustworthy, which boosts the chances of ranking it higher in search engine results.
Guest posting is one of the best examples of link-building strategies you can use. Finding great guest posting opportunities provides an excellent opportunity to share your content to a new but relevant audience, which helps boost your website authority.
Another strategy you can use is to create longer and better content than what is already available on the web. When your content is high quality and relevant, it will be easier to get high-quality backlinks.
Review and social signals
Online reviews can also help boost relevance for your local business. Aim to get as many positive reviews from your happy customers as possible.
Remember, when customers perform a local search, they get not only the relevant businesses but also reviews related to the search. The more positive reviews a business has, the higher chances a potential customer will do business with them.
Closing thoughts on the local search algorithm
Ranking on top of local search results can seem daunting, but it shouldn’t when you know the vital things to focus on. As you have seen above, the local algorithm is based on three pillars: relevance, proximity, and prominence.
Of course, other factors determine local search rankings depending on your industry and competition.
