Have you tried to google yourself to see where your business is listed? If you haven’t it is a good idea to try it. If you don’t see yourself in the Google Map listings, you are not alone. Recently Google has changed the way they display local businesses. Google used to show seven businesses in what they call their “Local Pack.” Now they only show three. It is a great time to review where you are listed. If you don’t see yourself or even if you come up first, don’t panic or get too excited. The first thing to do is be sure that you are doing an anonymous search.
In the top right-hand corner of the Google search screen you will see two small icons, one looks like a person, and the other is a small picture of the world. If the outline of a person is highlighted, you will see a search based on your previous searches and your internet history. So if you always are searching for where your competition appears on the results page, then they will start to appear higher and higher, but that is just for you. If you are always searching for your company, then you will see yourself listed higher than anyone else sees you. Before you start to check out where you appear in Google search make sure you are “Hiding your Private Search Results.”
Back to the local maps
If in the “Google Local Pack”,  you no longer appear in the top three listings it is not the end of the world, it just means you will have to work a little harder to get there. With only three listings being shown the competition is pretty fierce, so it is probably time to get some help from a local SEO expert. It is going to take some solid hard work to move you back to the top. One thing to remember is that your competition is probably working hard to move up the list so if you don’t improve your SEO you will  keep slipping backward.
Give me a call if you have any questions.
Thank you,
Jeff Scotti 908-333-5871