Picture it: Someone in Fremantle urgently in need of a plumber at 9 PM on a Sunday night.
Their kitchen’s underwater, and they need help quickly. Where do they look?
Obviously, Google. The local pack appears first in their search results, ahead of any substantive results.
Three businesses that Google believes are deserving of some prime real estate.
If a business in Perth is not one of those three, it may as well have never existed.
And that’s where Google My Business optimisation comes in. In Perth’s competitive market, this term can make or break your business.
Quality local SEO services may help you claim that place in the most coveted local pack and grab customers at a time when they need you most.
What Makes GMB So Powerful for Perth Businesses?
Google My Business serves as your digital shopfront, appearing directly on the search results page, accompanied by photos, reviews, hours, and phone access. For Perth businesses, this means catching clients at the absolute moment that they need you.
When you search for “dentist Perth” or “coffee shop Subiaco”, you will see a map with three featured businesses – the local pack. They get the majority of clicks, calls, and walk-ins.
The stats are staggering: 46% of Google searches are local. In Perth, where people look for suburbs or “near me”, the number is even higher. It is therefore extremely vital that local SEO is a part of a local company’s advertising and marketing technique.
In Perth, most businesses will simply create another directory listing. That was the wrong move. It is actually Google’s most effective local marketing tool. What businesses are taking advantage of this? When it comes to local marketing, these companies are thriving.
The Local Pack: Perth’s Digital Gold Rush
The local pack is a crucial area for businesses. It’s those three business listings that appear with the map when someone does a local search. Entering this space is a significant opportunity for businesses.
For Perth businesses, the local pack is particularly crucial because our city’s spread-out nature means people often search with specific location modifiers. Someone in Joondalup isn’t going to drive to Fremantle for a haircut. They want local options, and they want them now.
But landing in the local pack isn’t about luck. It’s about strategy, consistency, and understanding how Google’s algorithm thinks about local relevance.
The Perth Advantage: Why Local Optimisation Works Better Here
Perth’s got some advantages when it comes to local SEO that businesses in Melbourne or Sydney don’t have. We’re more spread out, which means less competition in specific suburbs. We’ve got a strong local identity – people are proud to be from Cottesloe or Mount Lawley, and they search accordingly.
Such diversity creates opportunities that smart businesses can capitalise on. Instead of trying to rank for “restaurant Perth” (which is brutal), you could dominate “restaurant Leederville” or “family restaurant Karrinyup”. The Small Business Administration recognises that local businesses face a unique challenge: they must attract prospects who are close enough to visit their stores, making geographic targeting and local marketing strategies especially important.
The key is understanding that Perth customers think locally. They would rather not travel across the city for most services, especially with our traffic situation getting worse by the year.
GMB Optimisation Strategies That Actually Work in Perth
Let’s get into what actually makes a Google My Business listing shine in Perth’s local pack.
Complete Your Profile Like Your Business Depends on It
Because it does. Google rewards comprehensive information – business description, services, attributes, opening hours, the lot.
Most Perth businesses write boring descriptions, though. Your GMB description should tell a story. Why did you start this business? What makes you different from the place down the road?
Photos That Actually Matter
This isn’t Instagram. You need photos that help customers make decisions. Show your restaurant interior, team in action, and products being made.
Perth customers want authenticity. They want to know what they’re walking into. Upload photos regularly – Google notices fresh content.
Reviews: The Good, The Bad, and The Opportunity
After all, reviews are extreme forms of social proof. Most Perth businesses are unsure how to handle them, either dismissing good ones or panicking about bad ones.
Every excellent business in Perth responds to every review. Positive feedback is acknowledged with a personalised thank you note that includes identifiable information. Bad ones receive professional responses indicating that you care about righting wrongs.
Businesses that receive the most reviews are not always the best. They simply ask and make things easy for the customers.
Local Content That Resonates
Perth life should be posted about in your GMBs. Reference local events, landmarks, and issues such as Perth wind or everything being closed on Sundays.
When writing an article about your new menu, do more than list the dishes. Describe how they are perfect for Perth’s hot summers or the perfect thing to have after a Rottnest day trip.
The Technical Side: Making Google Love Your Perth Business
Now let’s talk about the behind-the-scenes stuff – the technical optimisation that most Perth businesses completely ignore.
Categories: Be Specific, Not Generic
Google allows you to select one primary category and multiple secondary categories for your business. So, here’s where most Perth businesses mess up:
- They choose from the broader categories, “Restaurant”, over “Thai Restaurant”
- When “Pet Supply Store” would have been a better fit, they select “Store”
- They get stuck on high-level terms rather than drilling down into specifics
In a local search scenario, your chances of being found are higher if you are truthful and more targeted. If someone is looking for “family restaurant Cottesloe”, you are more likely to increase your chances of being found if your category reflects that level of specificity.
NAP Consistency: It’s More Important Than You Think
NAP is short for Name, Address, and Phone Number. These must be the same all over the internet:
- Your website footer
- Social media profiles
- Directory listings (Yellow Pages, True Local and so on).
- Google My Business listing
- Email signatures
This sounds pretty simple, but it’s surprising how many Perth businesses get this wrong. They will post “Perth, Western Australia 6000” on Facebook and “Perth WA 6000” on their website. Google interprets these as separate addresses, which confuses its algorithms and negatively impacts your rankings.
Schema Markup: The Secret Weapon
This is technical code stuff that most Perth businesses skip entirely. Big mistake.
Schema markup tells Google exactly what your business does:
- What services you offer
- Your opening hours
- Your location details
- Customer review ratings
- Contact information
When done right, it can lead to rich snippets in search results – those enhanced listings that show star ratings, opening hours, and other details directly in Google’s search results. It’s like getting premium real estate in the search results for free.
Common GMB Mistakes Perth Businesses Keep Making
After working with hundreds of Perth businesses, the same costly mistakes keep popping up. The good news? They’re all fixable once you know what you’re looking for.
- Keyword stuffing your business name: Don’t call yourself “Best Plumber Perth Emergency 24/7 Services”. Google’s smarter than that, and so are your customers. Use your actual business name.
- Ignoring Google Posts completely: These mini-blog posts appear on your GMB listing, and most Perth businesses never use them. It’s like having free advertising space and leaving it blank.
- Set and forget mentality: Your GMB listing isn’t a business card you print once. Successful Perth businesses update regularly, add fresh photos, and keep everything current.
- Never checking performance data: Google tells you how many people view your listing, what they search for, and whether they call or visit your website. Most businesses ignore this goldmine of information.
- Inconsistent opening hours: Nothing annoys Perth customers more than rocking up to a closed business that Google said was open. Keep your hours updated, especially during holidays.
- Generic business descriptions like “We provide quality service” tell customers nothing. What makes you different from every other business in Fremantle?
These mistakes might seem small, but they’re costing Perth businesses customers every single day. The businesses that fix them? They’re the ones dominating the local pack while their competitors wonder what went wrong.
How Seasonality Affects Perth GMB Performance
Set and forget doesn’t work in Perth. Seasonal tendencies in Perth, which few businesses understand, influence local search behaviour. Summer brings tourists looking different than locals. They are looking for beaches, tours, and holiday accommodations.
Winter (and I use that term loosely in Perth) also means more searches for indoor activities, comfort food, and other items that were put off during the warmer months.
Depending on the season, smart Perth businesses adapt their GMB strategy accordingly. They change photos to fit the season they are in, update their posts to include information about seasonal specials, and even update the business on how they are relevant to the current weather.
Local Pack Competition: Understanding Your Perth Market
Every Perth suburb has its own competitive landscape when it comes to the local pack. Competition for “lawyer Perth” is fierce, but “lawyer Claremont” might be more achievable.
The trick is understanding where you can realistically compete and where you’re better off focusing your efforts elsewhere. This requires researching your competitors’ GMB optimisation efforts and conducting an honest assessment of your own business’s strengths.
The ROI of Professional GMB Optimisation
Here’s the bottom line: proper GMB optimisation for Perth businesses typically pays for itself within months. The increase in phone calls, website traffic, and foot traffic significantly offsets the investment.
After implementing local SEO best practices for Google My Business optimisation, a nearby dental clinic reported a 167% increase in appointment requests from organic search, according to data from TheeDigital. This demonstrates the significant impact that dominating Google My Business can have on local companies.
However, achieving success with GMB requires a long-term strategy. Properly optimising GMB listings increases long-term brand awareness and customer trust. When you consistently appear in local pack results, you become the customer’s first choice.
Working with SEO Perth Experts
Here is where SEO experts in Perth can help. After all, why try and do it all yourself (and incur expensive mistakes) when local specialists who understand the nuance of Perth’s market are available for hire?
At SEO Perth Experts, we are the experts at getting local Perth businesses to dominate their local pack. They understand the challenges faced by Perth businesses of all sizes and attribute them to factors other than the city’s topography or customer flow.
Their approach is not one-size-fits-all. They implement GMB optimisation plans that are specific to you—your business objectives, competitors, and customers. They have the expertise, whether you’re a contractor who needs to answer emergency calls or a restaurant looking to increase weekend reservations.
And they stay on top of Google’s ever-changing algorithms so you don’t have to. Furthermore, maintaining demands requires focus that most business owners simply cannot provide, so that specific GMB optimisation trick that worked last year might not work today. This is why their full-service SEO involves ongoing monitoring and adjustments to ensure that your Google My Business (GMB) listing is consistently optimised and performs exceptionally well!
Moving Forward: Your Next Steps
For Perth businesses, GMB optimisation is no longer a nice-to-have. It is essential for achieving visibility in your local search results. It’s not a matter of whether you want to optimise your Google My Business listing – it’s whether you’ll take the time to do it right or get left behind by competitors.
The Perth market is a competitive one, but there are yet loads of opportunities for businesses that are serious about Local SEO. Every day you spend without the necessary GMB optimisation, your competitors are attracting customers who should rightfully be yours.
Are you ready to impress Perth’s locals? We are the SEO experts at SEO Perth Experts. It is that simple. If your GMB listing isn’t working, don’t let another potential customer slip through your fingers. Contact us today and take the first step to transforming your Google My Business listing into a customer-generating machine.
