Do Custom Google Maps Help Ranking?

[JoyHawkins]

I periodically see ads on Facebooks for people that claim to have awesome tactics for increasing ranking in the 3-pack. I recently signed up for one to see what their tactics were and it included one like this:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1055151727333306370

Basically the concept is that by creating a custom Google Map, you are somehow increasing relevancy signals to your GMB listing. I'm super skeptical to say the least.

I added it to my list to test but am curious if anyone here has tried it?

 

[whitespark]

Have not tried it. Also very skeptical.

 

[Margaret Ornsby]

This is a relatively old tactic.

It was helpful in the past (years ago), as part of a range of tactics.

Google has changed the feature so dramatically, I no longer believe simply creating a MyMap is worth the time and effort. To get it to have any impact, I think you're going to need to execute this on a much larger scale.

It's not going to hurt, but it's certainly not part of standard procedures anymore.

I'd love to know if you find it has any impact for you.

 

[Dan Foland]

I'd be curious to see the results too. Though, I don't see much value in this strategy for a user which makes me think this won't have much/any impact.

Along the same lines I've started linking to my clients GMB listings and am curious if anyone has seen any measurable impact from it? For example if a lawyer has a page on medical malpractice and links to their GMB listing does it have an impact for medical malpractice keywords?

 

[Margaret Ornsby]

Hi @Dan Foland

Tying the website & GMB map is a given. Always recommend.

How you do it though can make a difference. My standard method is to embed the GMB map in the website somewhere.

 

[JoyHawkins]

I have never seen embedding a Google Map on the website impact ranking in any way.

 

[Dan Foland]

@Margaret Ornsby Most of my clients have embedded maps on their contact pages but we were just linking to the address not the actual business listing. I'm in the process of getting those updated.

However, I'm more interested in more content specific linking. For some clients we tout their high ratings on Google within our content. I'm starting to link a few of those to the GMB listing to see if it helps certain keyword themes improve rankings in maps. Even if it doesn't do anything for rankings it's still valuable to a user to link to our Google reviews after talking about our high ratings.

 

[JoshuaMackens]

@Margaret Ornsby Most of my clients have embedded maps on their contact pages but we were just linking to the address not the actual business listing. I'm in the process of getting those updated.

However, I'm more interested in more content specific linking. For some clients we tout their high ratings on Google within our content. I'm starting to link a few of those to the GMB listing to see if it helps certain keyword themes improve rankings in maps. Even if it doesn't do anything for rankings it's still valuable to a user to link to our Google reviews after talking about our high ratings.

Unless I misinterpreted this, Dan is asking about building links to the GMB page.

It's been a huge topic of conversation in the past with most people (including myself) that we've heard from saying it didn't impact ranking in any noticeable way.

The issue though is Google is constantly changing how they do things. Could it work now? Sure. They could have made that change to the algorithm yesterday.

Interested to hear your results.

 

[Margaret Ornsby]

Hi @JoshuaMackens - I was misunderstanding Dan. Apologies to all.

I do the maps embedding and have seen a slight lift of a biz in the maps pack. These were areas where the listing was just outside the pack, and we get them into the pack - typically neighbouring suburbs.

This may not work in highly competitive areas in the US, but has worked for me in competitive areas here.

@Dan Foland The content specific linking I have not tested, so I'll shut up now ;-).

 

[Dan Foland]

@Margaret Ornsby I'd still love to hear your thoughts/theories. I'm sure there have been 1,000 others to try it/think of this before me.

 

[JohnnyM]

We have a client with 12 highly competitive locations and some of their competitors have used this strategy. It sounds like it's an expense in time and effort with limited rewards. On the other hand, I haven't heard anyone mention a down side.

 

[BenFisher]

Anything this easy to game sounds like it will not work. Always great to test, but I have a feeling the answer will be nope.

 

[JoyHawkins]

@Yan Gilbert actually tested this tactic recently and concluded that unless you go to great lengths to build backlinks to the custom map to get it indexed on Google, the impact is non-existant.

 

[coachmarino]

embedding the GMB map is a signal and if you're not doing it on the Contact page and someone else is, I generally see it hurting. It's such an easy thing to do...just do it. Obviously in competitive verticals, everyone's doing it. Everything is relative. Now this other map tactic to me is old school, no longer worthy...but I haven't tried it.