GMB Listing vs Local Schema

[Barb Davids]

Hi! I'm having trouble finding some information.

Does the map pack or other search results listings use GMB information or local schema?

Which one is better to use if you could only do one?

Thanks for any insight you can provide.

Cheers!
Barb

 

[Phil Rozek]

@Barb Davids, Schema info doesn't get pulled into the GMB results. Your GMB dashboard info is what shows up in the 3-pack (unless Google overwrites it, of course).

Depending on the type of Schema markup you use, rich snippets of this kind or that may show up in the organic search results.

I haven't found Schema to be worth the effort in recent years, so these days I usually skip it, but its applicability and effectiveness for you is pretty much separate from GMB concerns.

 

[Contractor]

I haven't found Schema to be worth the effort in recent years, so these days I usually skip it, but its applicability and effectiveness for you is pretty much separate from GMB concerns.

Wow, good to know. You just saved me a LOT of time.

 

[Barb Davids]

@Barb Davids, Schema info doesn't get pulled into the GMB results. Your GMB dashboard info is what shows up in the 3-pack (unless Google overwrites it, of course).

Depending on the type of Schema markup you use, rich snippets of this kind or that may show up in the organic search results.

I haven't found Schema to be worth the effort in recent years, so these days I usually skip it, but its applicability and effectiveness for you is pretty much separate from GMB concerns.

That was very helpful.

Curious, do you think that NAP citations and directories are worth doing for local SEO?

 

[Phil Rozek]

@Barb Davids, yes, to a point. It's worth being listed on sites that (a) everybody's heard of, (b) show up in the first couple of pages of Google for the term(s) you care about, (c) show up for brand-name searches for your businesses, or (d) you know to be prominent in your industry. Especially if any of those sites is a place where customers / clients / patients can write a review.

It's worth squaring away the 15-30 or so listings that fall into one or more of those buckets. There is usually short-term payoff and long-term payoff in that. It's also wise to keep your antennae out for new sites that also fit at least one of those criteria. What I wouldn't do, though, is keep going back to "build more citations!" as a way to get unstuck. A lot of people default to that when they don't know what to do, and it never seems to work.

 

[Barb Davids]

@Barb Davids, yes, to a point. It's worth being listed on sites that (a) everybody's heard of, (b) show up in the first couple of pages of Google for the term(s) you care about, (c) show up for brand-name searches for your businesses, or (d) you know to be prominent in your industry. Especially if any of those sites is a place where customers / clients / patients can write a review.

It's worth squaring away the 15-30 or so listings that fall into one or more of those buckets. There is usually short-term payoff and long-term payoff in that. It's also wise to keep your antennae out for new sites that also fit at least one of those criteria. What I wouldn't do, though, is keep going back to "build more citations!" as a way to get unstuck. A lot of people default to that when they don't know what to do, and it never seems to work.

Thanks. That helps clear things up for me.

 

[dwayne_deziel]

I would like to add to Phil's comment about Schema/structured data. While it's 100% true that GMB and any structured data on your site will remain separate as far as Google is concerned, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the possible benefits of structured data. One of the biggest hurdles with local search is ambiguity. A good example of that is Cambridge. Do a search for Cambridge and you will see what Google thinks you're searching for (University in the UK). So, if you mention Cambridge in your content (unstructured text/data) you rely on the crawler to figure out what Cambridge you are talking about by using conferencing (the words around it) which can lead to the wrong location being indexed.

One of the easiest ways to combat this problem is by using some form of structured data (which is machine-readable so there is a greater chance of it not being confused). You can add references that will explicitly tell Google that you are talking about Cambridge, Ma, and not Univ. of Cambridge. Google explicitly states the benefit of using Local Business schema. Local Business | Search for Developers | Google Developers

You won't see the full benefit of using it right away and for some structured data, you might never see the benefit. But I would say that the sooner you invest in adding the most applicable structured data to your site the better you will be in the long run. Especially as we automate more with devices, those rely on structured data to function (for the most part)

 

[Phil Rozek]

@dwayne_deziel, true enough, but I was providing a general answer to a general question. Schema does have its place in the organic search results, for sure.

 

[HoosierBuff]

It's easy enough to do schema, it may have a benefit, and if anything, it prevents some competing SEO firm from coming in and saying, "your current SEO firm hasn't even used schema" - and then point to some dumb article that insists schema is everything.