Possible to Improve GBP Rankings Without These?

[prasadmahes]

I seen an ad where a marketing agency is claiming to help improve Google Map rankings without optimizing GBP, website, or getting new reviews…

They claim to achieve this by using a strategy they call "local activity."

I'm assuming this is getting people to engage with the GBP (direction requests, clicks, photo views, etc.).

I'm curious how they're achieving this and how I can implement this for my clients as well.

Thanks!

 

[keyserholiday]

Yep, it's called Click Through Rate manipulation. These companies typically feel the GBPs with fake reviews.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

It might give you a temporary boost but it's not sustainable and not worth the effort.

 

[johnlavapie_SEO]

I wonder if Mark Williams-Cook's latest video on Post-ranking applies for Local Pack. He said user behavior can temporarily affect SERP by factoring the current on user behaviour (ie. if people search for Jaguar - it may show the animal as default - but if there was a news about the car company Jaguar and people are searching for it - it might just temporarily show the car company until the news dies down).

If it is - Colan could be right. You have to sustain that number of user behavior to click on your site. But I assume it has to be a diverse search and traffic coming from your target market. That's a lot of work and not sustainable. I also assume Google has a way to identify that - so I wouldn't risk it for my clients.

 

[prasadmahes]

Thanks everyone! Really helpful responses