Why GBP business name keyword stuffing is a calculated risk some say worth taking
The best SEO agency employs marketers who know how to get scrappy. They do whatever it takes within reason and ethical boundaries to win on search.
There is a well known tactic for getting higher rankings on Google local search. Many businesses are adding keywords to the end of their business name. But it’s complicated.
Imagine you have a med spa and a competitor moves in next door. So then you buy a sandwich board poster advertisement for the sidewalk offering a discount, highlighting a service, or putting your branded messaging there for all to see.
This is similar to what’s happening here.
Let’s say your med spa is called “Wellness Beauty”. People may not know what services you offer. Meanwhile, your competitor is called “Regent Skincare and Wellness”. These business names attempt to describe the services they offer, but a business name almost never gets the job done in terms of conveying the main services. Some businesses even go as far as adding “near me” to their Google business profile…
Here’s the URL: Dentist Near Me – El Paso, TX Dental Office
…or even changing their business names to include “near me”.
Spamfighting – what is it?
Let’s say your med spa competitor is using the words “med spa” in their name, but it’s not in their official business name. And you’ve noticed that they’re outranking you for those terms.
You can be a snitch, a Karen, a Chad, and tell Google what they’re doing. Google will then make them jump through a bunch of hoops, may suspend their profile, and in the end may require that the business either change their name back to whatever it says on the sign (removing their keywords) OR going through a lengthy video verification process just to be told to change the name back anyways.
Sometimes spam fighting is helpful. When I worked for one of the first 3 cannabis dispensaries in Manhattan (NYC), many non-licensed dispensaries nearby were competing with our business on search. I chose not to engage in spamfighting because I felt my efforts were better spent focusing on bringing in more leads and the impact was minimal because we already had established rankings and were taking a massive market share, with which those unlicensed dispensaries in NYC couldn’t compete.
Similarly, I’ve had clients’ business profiles suspended and worse, and I’ve been able to resolve the issues by working with Google support. But they take a really long time to make any corrective action. The key thing here is understanding what may happen so you can prepare your client and set expectations for a worst case scenario in case it happens.
Sometimes getting ahead means taking some calculated risks. And sometimes the biggest risks have the biggest payout. In SEO, calculated risk using the scientific method will usually land in your favor as long as the strategy is sound and you have great thinkers on your team as collaborators. The importance of the team cannot be understated, because it takes a highly skilled team even to preserve rankings and organic traffic in a competitive niche.
Speaking of adding keywords to things, check out this case-study from Joy over at SterlingSky:
https://www.sterlingsky.ca/how-long-title-tags-help-with-ranking-on-google/
Joy and her team tested the hypothesis that adding keywords to your META title markup can also help you rank for those keywords. One word of caution though – make sure the keywords you are adding are based on solid keyword research and targeted to your page content or those engagement metrics will suffer and could create a net loss for your business.
It all comes down to getting the right experts in the room.
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