I tested adding predefined services to my Google Business Profile, and WOW!
You will not believe these ranking results!
This is a 1 minute SEO tweak.
Here's what I did and what you can do too... 🧵
#localseo #seo
🧪 I made sure this SEO test was CLEAN.
🔸 Website not updated in past 6 years, had a 1-sentence homepage, and had no other pages
🔸 No new reviews in 6 years
🔸 No new links
🔸 No updates to GBP
Thus, the ONLY variable in my test were the predefined services.
First, I established the business's baseline rankings by creating a new campaign in the @whitespark Local Rank Tracker to specifically track the keywords from the predefined services.
As you can see, with 5 days of tracking, the business had hardly any rankings for these terms.
On March 13, I added all the predefined services that Google suggested.
I continued checking rankings for the next couple days, but saw no change.
I was starting to get skeptical, because you usually see the impact of GBP changes within 48 hours 🤨
BUT, hold on to your hats...
THIS happened on March 16 🥳
Rankings increased significantly, with lots of terms ranking in positions 4-10 📈 🚀
And the business continues to rank well for these keywords.
The ranking gains from adding predefined services are sticking.
📄 Some observations:
❌ Rankings did not improve for services that were not applicable to the electrician category (i.e. remodelling, general repairs, construction).
✅ Many terms related to the category, however, did quite well (i.e. electrical resistor changing, etc.)
The best gains seemed to come from long-tail terms that do not have much competition.
💡 I bet I could increase these rankings even further by creating a dedicated service page for each of these terms...
TAKE-AWAY: predefined services in your GBP *definitely* impact rankings.
ACTION: go to your GBP right now and add any applicable services that Google suggests.
This way, you'll cast a wider net and rank for more terms in no time (well, in about 3 days).
📣 Big shout out to @JoyanneHawkins for this major discovery. You can read her analysis here:
sterlingsky.ca/services-in-go…
🍿 If you like videos, watch my full video about this local SEO test here:
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