The Google Business Profile or Google Company Profile (formerly Google my Business) is a central adjusting screw for optimization with regard to Local SEO. It is a free digital business card for companies and offers the possibility to interact with prospects and customers by answering reviews or questions. The company presence can be centrally controlled and made available for Google Search and Google Maps. The Google company profile speeds up contacting: via click-to-call, prospective customers can call the company directly with their smartphone. Route descriptions are also provided from the current location. Google alone decides when and where the Google Company Profile is played out. As a rule, the company is only displayed if it is relevant to the search query, is as close as possible to the searcher's location, and is known to Google. Make full use of the possibilities of the Google Business Profile: Upload pictures, keep the opening hours, phone number and address up to date, respond to reviews and place an appealing company description. In addition, you can publish products and services, post articles and create a FAQ section.

Onpage SEO refers to the Local SEO measures on your own website. To optimize your landing page for local search, have the following parameters in mind:

• Meta Data: The Meta Title should contain the main keyword, the city and possibly the district in addition to the company name. The Meta Description describes the business or service in more detail.

• Headlines: The main headline on the home page should include the business name, location, and the main keyword.

• NAP details: Your home page should also consistently display master data such as the business name, address, and phone number. It is also important to show the opening hours.

• Keywords & Local Content: Make sure to publish high-quality content on your landing page. To do this, focus on the appropriate local SEO keywords that have a corresponding search volume. This way, you show the user and also Google that you are active locally. Do not forget the directions including a map connection. This is among the most searched keywords that should not be missing from your homepage.

• Internal linking: If you work with several sub-pages on your website that deal with specific topics, link the pages to each other. This is how you build relevance to your topics.

• Structured data: These help the Google bot to better understand the landing page content and use it for local search. Structured data is not visible to the user and is stored in a predefined format in the source code of the page. Required markups include company name, address, URL. In addition, other details such as company type (local company), logo, ratings, opening hours, coordinates or phone number can be stored.

NAP data refers to the business name, address, and phone number (Name, Address, Phone). Use consistent spelling on all channels including social media channels and in all business directories. This is critical to the success of your efforts. The data must not differ from each other and must always be identical.

Make sure that your backlinks are both relevant to the topic and locally relevant to your location. In addition to local business directories, geographically appropriate web portals and local blogs are also suitable for setting a backlink to your website. Press mentions and cooperation with other local companies via a collaboration can also provide important starting points for backlinks.

Ratings, also called reviews in the Google Business Profile, have an impact on the trust of users and also on the ranking in search engines. Reviews are not only possible in the Google Business Profile, but also on review portals such as TripAdvisor, yelp or Finanztip. Reviews on external portals can also appear in your company profile. Especially positive reviews have an effect and drive the page up in the ranking. Regular reviews are a sign of consistency for both search engines and users. This also increases the relevance of the company for the respective products or services. Include the reviews on your website and define a strategy to build up reviews. For example, you can create a rating link for the Google company profile, which you can position accordingly.

Local Citations are entries in business directories. In addition to the NAP data, these include other relevant information about the company. By supplementing the website with entries in business directories, you generate backlinks for your homepage. Regularly check the topicality and consistency of the deposited data. Choose business directories wisely. The mix makes it. Rely on both large and well-known portals as well as industry-specific citations. Make a random check in advance to see which business directories your direct competitors are listed in. You should position yourself there accordingly. If special business directories are displayed in the SERPs above the Local Pack, place entries there as well. With local citations, pay attention to the thematic reference to your offer.

Für die Ausspielung in der lokalen Suche spielt die Distanz zwischen dem Suchenden und dem Standort des Unternehmens eine wichtige Rolle. Je geringer die Entfernung, umso höher die Chance einen Platz im Local Pack zu ergattern.

Many searches take place on the road. People research suitable restaurants for dinner on their way to work or find out about the opening hours and closing days of stores for their next shopping trip. This behavior has an impact on Local SEO measures. Responsive design, i.e. the display of content on the smartphone, is indispensable. The content should be quick to grasp and easy to read on mobile. In addition, it is important to optimize the loading times: If the page takes too long to load, potential customers will jump ship.