Local Business Listing Attributes
Your Business Title
Your “business title” is one of the most important factors for ranking well in the local search engines. Having a title that remains consistent across all data sources is very important; it helps the search engines establish trust in the existence and location of a particular branch.
If your credit union is referred to as “City Name Credit Union” in one place and “City Name Federal” in another place, there is a chance that Google and the other search engines might see that as two separate businesses when it comes to indexing the listings (creating duplicates).
If you have recently had a name change or are looking ahead to one, you’ll need to go through the steps of changing its name, you can register a new DBA (“doing business as”). You will then need to edit all existing mentions of the old credit union name so that all listings include you under the new DBA name. While this may have some benefits, be advised that a change in business name will likely cause you to lose rankings and reviews. Consider this decision carefully.
Links and Citations
Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and other search engines find out about your business in two primary ways:
- Visiting links that point to your website, and tracking sites where those links appear.
- Tracking citations of your business, and on which sites these citations appear.
The search engines use these two factors in determining how to rank a particular business. All other things being equal, the business with the most links from high-quality websites in your area—like a chamber of commerce or a city government—and the most citations from high-quality websites in your area, will rank the highest. So you will want to make sure to get your branch name, address, phone number, and website listed as many places as you can.
What Are Citations?
Citations are essentially “mentions” of your credit union branch on webpages other than your own, accompanied by your address, phone number, or both—even if there is no link to your website.
An example of a citation might be an online yellow pages directory where your credit union is listed, but not linked to. It can also be on the website for a local chamber of commerce or local business association where your business information can be found, even if their website does not link to yours. You may also see the term “web references” used on other websites—a synonym for “citations”.
Categories
Many local search engines allow you to place your branch listing into a number of categories—usually between two and five—that help describe the nature of your business. For credit unions, the biggest recommendation we have is to be sure to list yourself as a credit union AND as a bank. I know, it feels wrong, doesn’t it? But since Financial Services aren’t always a category option, it is definitely a good idea.
This is an important step in creating or optimizing your local branch listing. The search engines use category data when deciding which businesses to show for particular searches. The search engines will not display listings results for a business that is uncategorized—or even worse, mis-categorized—for particular sets of keywords.
This usually happens among keywords and phrases that are the most competitive—where there are already a number of businesses associated with a particular category that might satisfy what the searcher is looking for.
Reviews and Ratings
Reviews and ratings area a major factor in persuading prospective members who are looking for the products and services you offer. While a bad review can encourage someone to hit their “back” button and perform another search, a good review can encourage someone to pick up the phone and call you, or stop by a branch or ATM!
Because reviews and ratings are displayed in so many different ways across different search engines, there is some debate about how much reviews or ratings of a business influence its rank in search engine results—but reviews can definitely influence a potential member’s decision to choose your credit union.
As a best practice, you should get in the habit of responding to reviews on the major search sites like Google Maps and Yelp. Sites like Yelp allow for both private and/or public responses. We suggest private to remedy the situation and public if it is impossible to reverse the perception of the reviewer.
It’s important to engage all of your members—and especially to get your best members to leave a review of your branch on their preferred search engine or portal. Likewise, it’s important to recognize when – and why someone has left a negative review of one of your branches. Reach out to that member or prospective member and find out why they had a bad experience with your credit union, and see if there is anything you can do to change their opinion of you.
Each review platform has its own rules. Some platforms do not have strict or very clear rules, but the two review giants in the industry, Google and Yelp, do have specific review policies to which you must adhere.
- Yelp, for instance, does not allow businesses to solicit reviews from members beyond a simple “check us out on Yelp” sticker in their window or icon on their website.
- Google does not allow suggestions for review content
If you’re thinking about asking members for reviews, know the rules of the sites on which you’re hoping those reviews will appear before you ask.
Photos and Videos
Attractive photos and videos have been shown to increase the number of clicks that a particular listing gets.
They generally offer a great way to show off your business—such as community service projects that your credit union has worked on, products you offer, your team, or your office itself. A compelling image can help you stand out in an otherwise flat playing field.
Recently, Google has increased the visibility of Google+ listing photos by displaying one for each listed business in their main search results. Choosing photos wisely—both a cover photo for your Google+/My Business Local page and gallery-style photos on your Google Local photo page—is vital to creating an engaging experience for potential members
Social Factors
The social media component of local SEO is growing stronger with each passing year, and learning to participate in the social spaces your members prefer can be a smart move for nearly any credit union. Some local and review-oriented platforms enable you to interact with the public.
For example, a Google My Business page enables you to communicate with your followers in a manner similar to Twitter or Facebook. Indeed, the role of social factors in local SEO has been on the rise over the years, although the major indicators have shifted. While providing followers with content is still a factor, the real impact is driven by user engagement with what you post, rather than just the volume of posting.
Other Attributes
It is vital to list your complete contact information on your website in a format that the search engines can read.
This is a simple step that a lot of local business owners overlook. Your contact information must be in indexable text—not embedded in an image, Flash, or other formats that search engines can’t crawl.
If you’d rather not list your contact information on your webpages, you should set up a clear “Contact Us” page which displays your complete name, address, and phone number (NAP). To strengthen the signals of your NAP, you may choose to have your IT team encode it in schema, markup code that all major search engines agree upon and understand.
Adhering to the guidelines of any local or social platform is vital to avoiding unwanted penalties. In particular, it is important to read and comply with Google’s policy guidelines in promoting your business. Violations of these guidelines can lead to drops in rankings or even removal from the index.
Perhaps most importantly, the consistency of data published about your branches across the web influences the “trust” search engines like Google have in the validity of your data. Ensuring that every online citation of your branches lists your correct NAP and website address is crucial to your ability to rank well.
Finally, keeping up with changes in policy on the major search engines is the best way to ensure that your business is doing everything it can to be current and visible in local search. CUBrandMonitor will make sure to update you as we learn of any changes!
