Hashtags for Jewelry Instagram Business

Hashtags for Jewelry Instagram Business

Hashtags for Jewelry

hashtags for jewelry

Hashtags for Jewelry that will get your jewelry noticed on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Tumblr in 2022.

Hashtags for Jewelry Instagram Business (2025 Edition)

Updated for 2025 | SEO Tips

Hashtags for Jewelry That Will Get You Noticed on Instagram and Beyond
If you’re a jewelry designer or marketer, leveraging the right hashtags on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter (X), and Tumblr can boost your visibility, likes, and ultimately, sales.

Whether you’re selling handmade earrings, engagement rings, or luxury watches, hashtags are your secret weapon to reach an engaged audience looking for your products.

Why Are Hashtags Essential for Jewelry Businesses?
Hashtags act as keywords on social media, helping potential customers discover your posts. By using a combination of trending, niche, and evergreen hashtags, you can compete with larger brands, regardless of your follower count.

In 2025, hashtags continue to play a crucial role in social media marketing, so staying updated is essential. Let’s explore the best jewelry hashtags for different categories and how to use them effectively.


The BEST Handmade Jewelry Hashtags (2025)

For handmade jewelry creators, these hashtags will help you attract customers who value craftsmanship and uniqueness:

Popular Handmade Jewelry Hashtags:

  • #HandmadeJewelry
  • #ArtisanJewelry
  • #UniqueJewelry
  • #CustomJewelryDesign
  • #JewelryWithLove
  • #EcoFriendlyJewelry
  • #BohoAccessories
  • #MinimalistGems
  • #StatementJewelry
  • #HandmadeTreasures

Set 1: Copy and Paste for Instagram

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#HandmadeJewelry #JewelryMaker #CustomJewelry #ArtisanJewelry #UniqueJewelry #EcoFriendlyJewelry #SilverJewelry #GoldJewelry #GemstoneJewelry #OneOfAKindJewelry #JewelryGram #BohoJewelry #MinimalistJewelry #StatementPieces #JewelryAddict

The BEST Engagement Jewelry Hashtags (2025)

Engagement and bridal jewelry hashtags can help you connect with couples looking for the perfect ring:

Trending Engagement Jewelry Hashtags:

  • #ForeverYours
  • #EngagementInspo2025
  • #BridalSparkle
  • #CustomEngagementRing
  • #ProposalGoals
  • #ShesEngaged
  • #DiamondPerfection
  • #RingOfHerDreams
  • #LoveAndJewelry
  • #SayYesToTheRing

Set 2: Copy and Paste for Instagram

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#EngagementRing #BridalJewelry #DreamRing #ProposalGoals #LoveAndCommitment #FutureMrs #RingGoals #EngagedLife #WeddingSparkle #UniqueEngagementRing #DiamondJewelry #ForeverStartsHere #RingInspo2025 #ShesaidYes

The BEST Jewelry Hashtags for Watches (2025)

Watches are timeless accessories, and these hashtags will help you reach collectors and enthusiasts:

Watch Enthusiast Hashtags:

  • #LuxuryTimepieces
  • #ModernWristwear
  • #CollectorWatch
  • #VintageTimepieces
  • #WatchLovers2025
  • #MenWithWatches
  • #WomenWithWatches
  • #TimelessFashion
  • #SmartWatchStyle
  • #ElegantTimepiece

Set 3: Copy and Paste for Instagram

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#WatchAddict #LuxuryWatches #WatchGram #VintageWatchCollector #SmartWatches2025 #WatchGoals #WristWearStyle #TimepiecePerfection #RolexAddict #TimelessAccessories #WatchObsession #LuxuryFashion #WatchesDaily #ModernTimepiece

The BEST Jewelry Hashtags for Earrings (2025)

Earrings deserve the spotlight! Use these hashtags to attract buyers with a love for stylish ear accessories:

Earring-Specific Hashtags:

  • #EarCandy2025
  • #EarringAddict
  • #ChandelierEarrings
  • #HoopGoals
  • #StatementEarrings
  • #DiamondStuds
  • #DangleDreams
  • #GoldHoopsForever
  • #PearlPerfection
  • #MinimalistEarrings

Set 4: Copy and Paste for Instagram

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#EarringsOfTheDay #EarParty #EarringLove #StatementJewelry #HandcraftedEarrings #EarringGoals #ChandelierStyles #PearlEarrings #BeadedJewelryDesigns #BohoEarrings #MinimalistEarStyle #DiamondEarrings2025 #GoldAccessories

Pro Tips for Jewelry Hashtags in 2025

  1. Stay Trendy: Keep up with current trends by researching hashtags regularly. Platforms like Instagram suggest related hashtags, so use them to your advantage.
  2. Mix It Up: Combine high-volume hashtags (e.g., #Jewelry) with niche ones (e.g., #EcoFriendlyJewelry) for a balanced reach.
  3. Customize: Adjust these hashtags based on your brand’s voice, product, and audience.
  4. Experiment: Track the performance of hashtags to find what resonates most with your followers.

How Social Media Can Boost Your Jewelry Business in 2025

Social media is your virtual showroom. With hashtags, stunning product photos, and engaging captions, you can:

  • Drive traffic to your online store.
  • Build a loyal customer base.
  • Compete with established brands.

Bonus Tip: Place your website link or Etsy store in your Instagram bio to convert profile visitors into customers.


Final Thoughts: Using Hashtags Effectively

Remember, hashtags alone aren’t enough. Pair them with high-quality photos, reels, or stories to captivate your audience. If you’re a beginner, start by copying and pasting the sets above and experiment until you find the perfect mix for your brand.

Are you ready to take your jewelry business to the next level? Bookmark this page and revisit it for the latest trends. Success is just a hashtag away!


Share This Post:
Know someone running a jewelry business? Share these hashtags with them and help their business shine!


This is true no matter how many followers you have. You might have noticed how important hashtags have become lately for every industry and using specific jewelry hashtags will work by finding customers that are actually interested in jewelry or shopping for jewelry.

I have helped small and large businesses start marketing their jewelry online by providing them a list of the best hashtags for jewelry and top instagrams for jewelry.

how social media can boost your Jewelry Business

Using the BEST Hashtags for Jewelry

I have a list of the best hashtags for jewelry you can copy and paste into your instagram account. Bookmark this page.

On instagram, you can use up to 30 hashtags per post. I recommend you take full advantage of using all 30. You can experiment using these and make them your own by changing some and seeing what works for your jewelry business.

Using your phone: Touch and hold to copy jewelry hashtags | Paste into Instagram

Success for both small and large businesses

 

How To Promote Your Jewelry Business on Social Media

Why use Jewelry Hashtags?

First of all, hashtags are the “keywords” for social media platforms such as instagram,  twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr. Using the best hashtags for jewelry will level the playing field for your small business! You can literally compete with large jewelry stores this way no matter how many followers you have.RELATED POST  How to Get Your Business Started on Instagram

Using Jewelry hashtags on your instagram posts are perfect for anyone selling jewelry. If you have an Etsy store, online retail store, or even a local jewelry shop, you should be using these specific jewelry hashtags. BTW, make sure you place your online store’s website or Etsy page in your instagram profile.

Top Instagrams For Jewelry:

using Hashtags for Jewelry Effectively

Take a look at these people on instagram. Their instagram accounts are properly set up using hashtags geared to their specific type of jewelry they’re marketing on instagram. Study their photos and hashtags because they’re doing a great job.

@pannlshop – Handmade Watchband

@jewels_gems  – Handcrafted, heritage jewels

@pieceofartgs – Handmade bohemian jewelry

jewelry hashtags marketing

 

Hashtag Jewelry Stats:

Instagram #Jewelry Hashtag: 17,097,380 posts

jewelry hashtags

Twitter #Jewelry Hashtag: On average 1200 jewelry hashtag tweets per hour (source hashtags.org)

Are you a Social Media Marketer? Top 10 Instagram Facts Marketers Need to Know

If you know someone that sells jewelry online, please share these hashtags with them. Or if you know someone successful selling handmade jewelry by marketing on instagram, I’d love to feature them.

As I mentioned earlier, I have been helping many businesses get started on instagram. Not only large retail businesses, but also small local businesses that rely on foot traffic. Th one major business benefit instagram has given my clients, is a welcomed boost in sales and revenue. If you’re serious about using instagram and would like to learn more way to gain likes, followers, I recommend you check out these 10 creative ways to use instagram for business.RELATED POST  Top 10 Snapchat Facts Marketers Need to Know

hashtags for jewelry
how social media can benefit your jewelry business

Thank you for reading instagram hashtags for jewelry.

Do you have a small jewelry business / store and need local instagram followers? Here’s how to grow followers and gain foot traffic to your store.

How to Market Your Local Business on Instagram

How to Market Your Local Business on Instagram


How to get Started Using Instagram for your Local Business

How to Market Your Local Business on Instagram

Instagram isn’t going anywhere and just keeps on getting better and bigger. If you haven’t started your local business on instagram yet, there’s no better time than now to start enjoying the latest instagram upgrades and benefits. And if you are using instagram already, these advanced local business tips for your company’s instagram will give you a competitive edge.

This guide is tailored to getting your local business started on instagram, If you’d like a broader audience, check out my ultimate guide how to get your business started on instagram.

How would you like your small local business to gain global traffic?

Sure, you can target just local business and I’ll show you how, but it’s also possible to gain global traffic! Instagram constantly impresses me with its capabilities to level the playing field for both small local business and large global businesses. That’s right, you’re competing with big brands using the same app. I have seen small local businesses succeed in marketing a service or product on instagram that literally sells out overnight! I have witnessed small business’ beauty salons services become overbooked and apparel becoming out of stock after instagram posts are published.

Today you can literally grow a small business by networking on instagram. It really is exciting to think of all the possibilities and witnessing people becoming “quit your daytime job” successful from instagram.

I’m going to let you in on some instagram hacks for local business

These local business instagram tips will help you get started on the right foot and ahead of competitors. realistically, you will gain local followers, global followers, brand exposure, and revenue. And with this recipe, if If you’re really lucky , you could have an instagram image go viral and gain overnight stardom.

That’s right, instagram – the free social media app for sharing photo rich content, descriptions, and hashtags.

Take your pick!
Instagram is capable of delivering large truckloads of consumer traffic to your brick and mortar business or to your online retail store

 

Let’s make sure your instagram is optimized correctly from the start

Setting up a Local Business Instagram Account

Be sure to use your company’s name as your instagram user name. Do not use a cute or sexy username, keep it professional. If you run into the unfortunate event seeing your business’ name taken already on instagram, don’t worry follow this user guide to take action. If your local business is not your username, I suggest you change your instagram username. Once your instagram username is setup properly, let’s set up your profile correctly.RELATED POST  How to Rank Higher on Yelp FREE

Instagram Profile Page Optimization

Link your website: The instagram profile page is essential for properly optimizing your business page. This is the only place you can place a link to your website or website landing page to drive targeted traffic. It’s crucial that your website is responsive. A responsive website adapts perfectly to your mobile device. The user should not have to struggle zooming in and out of your content. It always amazes me how many small businesses don’t list their website on their profile page or even worse they don’t have a website.

Profile picture: Make sure you have a high quality profile photo of your logo. Meaning, make sure it’s not blurry or pixelated. Make sure the photo looks good with both rounded corner and squared corners because your profile photo will be displayed squared on the web and rounded on mobile devices. Your  profile photo cannot be more than 110×110 pixels. Your photo updates cannot be larger than 612×612 pixels. I recommend that you don’t alternate profile photos. People will slowly but surely recognize your profile photo and company name. Changing one of them could cause you to lose followers.

 

Build your local instagram powerhouse

You will need to be self disciplined when it comes down to what to post, when to post, and how to engage.

  1. Only post high quality photos you’re proud of
  2. Post consistently
  3. Find the best time to update. What time did you post your most liked content?
  4. Repost your fan’s photos and give them credit
  5. Answer your audience’s questions
  6. Get to know your fans
  7. Post some local photos of your surroundings
  8. Use your city as a hashtag
  9. Follow local people that use your city’s hashtag
  10. Have contests

Recycle your instagram content

It can be a chore to create amazing posts sometimes when you’re not inspired. Study what’s receiving likes for you business’ instagram page, go that direction. Give your fans more of what they want. You can even upload photos you already posted but apply a different filter.

Boring Instagram Posts? Get these 10 Creative Ideas to Use instagram for Business

10 Creative Ways to Use Instagram for Business

Plan your instagram content ahead of time

You can take at least thirty minutes a week and plan your instagram posts ahead of time. Plan a weeks worth of high quality photos that will get your audience intrigued. Perhaps pick a theme of posts for the week. Having a saved library of stored photos ready to post at anytime is a smart idea. This way you can use these saved photos when you don’t have time to photograph or you’re stuck in the office all day or doing business errands. You can mix it up, take fresh photos and weave in your saved photos.RELATED POST  How to Get Your Business Started on Instagram

Are you a Marketer? Top 10 Instagram Facts Marketers Need to Know

 Related: 5 tips how to get local instagram followers

Get local followers for your instagram business

Geotag your instagram photos

Using Instagram for your Local Business is done best when you geotag your photos. This will help you gain local instagram followers and attract local instagram users walking into your local business. Do this with every photo you post when you’re at your local business.

How to geotag instagram photos

  1. Make sure your location settings are turned on
  2. Click Add to Photo Map
  3. Find your business location
  4. Click on your location
Using Instagram for your Local Business

Now all your instagram followers can see what else customers have tagged in the location, simplify by clicking on your location link.

Follow Local, Gain Local

You should follow local instagram users that geotag their location at your business. Get creative, find local followers by searching your city’s hashtag. Have a nearby local competitor? Follow their followers. When they see who’s following them, they may thank you and learn about your competitive services on your page.

Include instagram on your current marketing channels

You should include your social media usernames on all your marketing material. Everything from in store signage, flyers, postcards, coupons, email marketing, on your website, and mention your instagram account on your twitter and Facebook page.

Using Instagram for your Local Business

Creative Ideas Using Instagram for your Local Business

  1. Model your product at your local landmarks
  2. Geotag your local photos
  3. Repost your local followers photos

Network Locally

Do you have any local followers that have a HUGE following? Contact them, offer them free services or products in return for promotion on their instagram account and social media feeds. These people are also known as influencers. Find a few that you think will do a high quality job and watch for an increase of followers and foot traffic. Nearby local business owners will most likely like to network and boost foot traffic in the area too. Collaborate and ask them to share your business on their page and vice versa. Perhaps they can promote your products or services. It’s usually a win win situation.RELATED POST  How to Get Local Instagram Followers

Have an instagram contest/giveaway

Contests can run like wildfire when you have something amazing you’re giving away for free! Free products or services will engage and attract a large amount of attention. Word of mouth about the contest generates brand exposure like nothing else I’ve seen on instagram. Instagram users LOVE a good contest. Don’t forget to promote the winner of your contest to gain more credibility. You will also want to select a winner that has a huge list of followers because they will share the news about their win. You will usually want to have a custom graphic made that shows everything the contest is offering, include your logo, and include the word contest or giveaway. When you post the photo, be sure to geotag, ass some has tags such as #contest #giveaway #free #freebies etc. Give instructions on your description by having users repost the photo and “tag 3 friends” for extra points. Users will most limey be glued to your page waiting to find out who won the prize.

Interact

Use instagram to communicate and engage your customers. Talk to them, like their photos. Have fun on instagram! Don’t limit yourself by only talking to local instagram users, talk to everyone you follow.

Local Hashtags

Don’t forget to use local hashtags. When you update, be sure to use your city or state.

Any ideas or suggestions? Please let me know in the comments.

And there you have it some hacks for using instagram for your local business.

BEST Plugin for Featured Snippets

BEST Plugin for Featured Snippets

Looking for another FREE SEO tool?

This is my favorite FREE WordPress plugin to empower any WordPress website with schema markup. It immediately adds JSON-LD schema to a blog post! You can install it and enter your content in less than 3 minutes.

Why are SEO professionals excited about featured snippets?

Featured snippets gives lower ranking pages another chance to list at the top of the first page of Google. This is all done with little effort. You can easily get there with the WordPress plugin I recommend called: Structured Content (JSON-LD)

For SERPs with featured snippets, 8.6% of all clicks go to the featured snippet on average (Ahref’s study).

I’m using this post for a quick example. As a trusted SEO Specialist, this is my recommendation!

Here’s the plugin in action below and the steps how to use this plugin:

What's the Best Plugin for featured snippets?

structured content plugin

Structured Content (JSON-LD) #WPSC plugin by Gordon Bohme, Antonio Leutsh. It uses JSON-LD – Google’s preferred markup.

Step 1

In your WordPress dashboard go to: Plugins

RELATED POST: How to Rank Higher in Google Maps

Step 2

Search for “Structured content”. You’ll see the red #WPSC plugin by Gordon Bohme, Antonio Leutsh.

Step 3

Install the plugin and click “Activate”

Best Plugin for Featured Snippets

RELATED POST: SEO Checklist for New Blog Posts

Step 4

In your Gutenberg editor, add a new block > FAQ

Step 5

Enter your question and answer for your snippet. Don’t forget to add an image.

RELATED POST: SEO Facts Business Owners Overlook

Finished!

That’s all you have to do to get your blog posts ranking in Google’s featured snippets! However, you have to already be ranking in the top 10 SERPS in order to be pre-selected to appear in Google’s featured snippets.

Want to increase your chances being a featured snippet?

 

  1. Start by conducting a Google search using the query you aim to be featured for. Analyze the existing featured snippet format; if it’s a list, create a well-structured list, and if it’s a table, generate an HTML table accordingly.

  2. Implement structured data using a plugin like “Structured Content #WPSC” by Gordon Bohme and Antonio Leutsh. This helps search engines better understand your content and increases the chances of being featured.

  3. Incorporate related questions and answers within your article. Addressing additional queries related to the main topic can increase the relevance of your content.

  4. Examine the featured snippet of your competitors that is currently ranking. Refine your content to make it more informative, concise, and valuable, surpassing the competitor’s snippet in terms of helpfulness and clarity.

By following these steps, you can optimize your content for featured snippets and improve your chances of being prominently featured in search results.

 

RELATED POST: The Best FREE Longtail Keyword Generators

That’s it. It’s officially my favorite plugin and I think it’s the best plugin for Ranking in featured snippets.

Thanks for reading!

Please leave any questions in the comments section below!

Your SEO Expert,

Jen

FREE Images for Your Website Royalty-Free

FREE Images for Your Website Royalty-Free

Stock photography is hella pricey right?

If you’ve browsed stock photography websites offering high quality photos for $33.00 a pop, you gag.

Forget those “fancy schmancy” stock photo sites…

Check out these 30 bad-ass websites with the freshest and 100% FREE high quality stock photos.

(they’re totally legit and legal too btw.)

Websites To Find Free High Quality Stock Photos

I know the struggle…

If you’re new to blogging and can’t afford paying for stock photos or a subscription, I hear ya. That was once me. Heck, I still love using free stock photography to cut costs. 😉

It’s crucial your new blog and social media has stunning images that make people instantly want to share your new blog post. Also she a tweet without even visiting your site. (it’s true)

This is my hand-picked collection of free photo websites that have creative large high quality images you can download for FREE.

  • Large photos – perfect for trending parallax backgrounds
  • Videos – another huge web design trend I’m loving
  • Vector / Illustrations 
  • High Quality 

(all links tested and working as of 10/1/2016)

1. PEXELS

pexels.com
This free photo website has stunning images. They also add 100 new photos every day. This site keeps getting better. I’ve been using it for the past two years.

2. Pixabay

https://pixabay.com
This site is my “go to” for downloading free videos for my web design. I mentioned the parallax web design trend, go here. There’s also nice illustrations and vector graphics all for FREE. Yay! I can always depend on this site’s powerful search tool of I can’t find an image anywhere else for free.

3. Gratisography

http://gratisography.com

This has some attention grabbing images that are kinda bizarre but cool. Perfect for attention grabbing tweets, pins, and blog post header images. I’ve seen a lot of blogs use this website.

4. Picjumbo

https://picjumbo.com
I appreciate that this free image site has original photos. All nice big high quality photography. This website has some nice photo categories. I like checking out their tech photos when I blog for an IT company website.

5. New Old Stock

http://nos.twnsnd.co/

If you need vintage photography, this is the website for you! Black and white photos and even sepia colors, you name it. Searching is easy peasy. Fun creative photos to change up the mix.RELATED POST  10 Creative Ways to Use Instagram for Business

6. Snapwire Snaps

https://www.snapwi.re/
You have to check out the photo collections on this website. I love how it’s organized. Cooking, Coffee, Silhouettes, Smiles, Fitness, Fashion…and so many more! its all nicely organized. Amazing images.

7. Splitshire

http://www.splitshire.com

More creative video background downloads and free photos. Very creative and useful original collections. I highly recommend these photos for your blog. They’re clean and high quality. Very professional looking photography.

8. Jaymantri

http://jaymantri.com

All these stunning photography were taken by Jay Mantri. Probably the most unique free photo website in this collection. Lots of architecture and close ups of doors,textures… perfect for someone out there.

9. Stokpic

http://stokpic.com
Its a great site with easy to navigate categories. Only bummer, you have to register. Worth checking out. I wish they showed more photos per page. I love their fashion collection. I could see these images being used on pinterest.

10. Unsplash

https://unsplash.com
Interesting free photo website that keeps growing. Be sure to browse the featured collections.

11. ISO Republic

http://isorepublic.com

Another great free photo resource for web designers that need high quality images. I also love their category of free textures.

12. Picography

http://picography.co/
Just a collection of unorganized photos, however they’re high quality. I wish these free photos had categories. Some real weird photos but hey everyone needs a little weirdness now and then right?

13. Get Refe

http://getrefe.tumblr.com

Great photos, I just don’t like the website usability. There’s some really unique images that catch your eye!

14. Foodies Feed

https://foodiesfeed.com

If you have a food blog… or as they say foodie blog 😉 this site’s for you! Also great if you’re the owner of a health blog, fitness blog, or just need free food related photography. Great hidden gem.

15. Travel Coffee Book

http://travelcoffeebook.com
Jaw dropping images of traveling, nature, architecture. Everything is on one long page, sorry no search function. This site has such lovely graphics, you might get inspired to travel too.

16. Magdeleine

http://magdeleine.co
Lots of elegant images free to use on your blog. I like that it has categories and you can search by color.RELATED POST  How to Get Your Business Started on Instagram

17. JeShoots

http://jeshoots.com
This site is bad-ass for having free mockup photos and free photoshop .PSD files. Great if you need a photo of someone holding an iPhone and you want to change the screen etc.

18. CupCake

http://cupcake.nilssonlee.se
A small batch of free photography by Jonas Nilsson Lee. Fun to check out. Many scenic photos.

19. MorgueFile

https://morguefile.com/search/morguefile/1/most

This free photo site has tons of photos, all unique. I love how it displays how old each photo is. Check out the most popular / most downloaded images. There’s some great shots. So many images! I searched, typed in “colorful” and was delighted how amazing this site is.

20. Kaboompics

http://kaboompics.com

Clean, high resolution free photos that are all tagged and easy to find. I love the collection of desks with paper, pencils, phones all neatly placed.

21. Freeimages

https://freeimages.red

This website contains a very large selection of photos, but also videos! They offer the opportunity to contribute and get paid for it as well.

22. Life Of Pix

http://www.lifeofpix.com
I’m happy to find this free photo site, good layout and they even have free videos! Beautiful images I’m sure you’ll want to place some of these images into your blog.

23. StockSnap

https://stocksnap.io

I thought this was pixels for a second. This has amazing photos… omg. The business category has nice photos. I’ll defiantly be using these in the near future. I love their categories, especially that they share what’s trending. There’s always something good.

24. FancyCrave

http://fancycrave.com

The best part of this site is that they offer free photo collections! It’s amazing. In the nav, click on photo packs. You can get an entire image collection, perfect for consistency if you want to place multiple styled images on one page for a professional look and feel.

25. GoodFreePhotos

https://www.goodfreephotos.com

If you’re in search for location based photos, this is your ticket. Every country is organized on the left navigation. This website does have images I’ve seen on other free photo websites but this is organized. Many as you know are not organized this nicely.RELATED POST  Benefits of using instagram for Business

26. LibreShot

http://libreshot.com

Nice big website with a clean layout. They all have some sort of muted tone or styled filter applied to each photo.

27. Idpinthat

http://www.idpinthat.com
A great free photo site for bloggers that want to create beautiful pinnable images for pinterest. This website can help everyone build a great pin. The website name says it all!

28. Negativespace

NegativeSpace.co

This free  photo site just uploaded a ton of free christmas photos. Worth checking out if you’re going to do seasonal marketing.

29. Stocktookapic

https://stock.tookapic.com/photos?filter=free

Lots of beautiful free photography. Just make sure you click on the photos with the little cloud icon.

30. MMT

http://mmtstock.com/category/new-york/

Gorgeous one-of-a-kind photos by Jeffery Bettes. Nice categories. If you like one photo you’ll love them all. Check out his New York free photo collection. Love it!

31. IM FREE

http://www.imcreator.com/free

Great categories such as Occupation, Icons, Beauty, Fashion, Technology, Business, Recreation, BW, Ambient, People, Templates, Buttons, and more! Check it out already! 😉

WOW, so many websites to choose from with free high quality photos!

Which are my faves you ask…?

Hands down my fav images sites:

  1. Pixels.com – For high quality professional images
  2. Pixabay.com – for video
  3. fancycrave.com

Here’s some examples of the stunning images you get for free online.

free stock image sites
free photos
free photography

I hope you found a new favorite free photo site that’s perfect for your blog!

Did I miss a great photo site?
Which is your fav free high quality stock photos website for your blog?

Please let me know in the comments!

Jen Ruhman

How to Build a Successful Blog

How to Build a Successful Blog

Want to learn How To Start a Blog and Make Money Online? Keep reading! I’m taking you under my wing.

Blogging 101 super EASY step by step How To Start a Blog and Make Money Online – Complete Guide.

Perfect for beginners.

Come fly with me! Let’s make money and have fun blogging!

Everyone is an expert at something or has a passion that they’re excited to share.

how to start a blog and make money online

Put that passion and expertise to work for you and start making money today.

I have personally sat down and talked 101 with close friends and showed them how to get started. I have also had some speaking engagements presenting my own amazing personal blogging success story. I do a great job inspiring people about starting their own blog. I do have some close success stories of people I’ve personally helped, however, many start and quickly stop. Ugh! WHY? Because they have some personal traits that sabotages their success.

I think it’s very important to understand which traits these people have before you start your own successful blog.

I’m not sugar coating anything and telling you the honest truths you need to hear before you dive in and get discouraged or fail.

I don’t want to sound rude, but I’m very blunt.

I WANT you to succeed. I WANT everyone to succeed and make money by blogging what they’re passionate about.

I’ve sat down with people 101 and showed them step by step how to start a blog and making money online and unfortunately the majority get lazy and don’t go 100% with the steps. Why?

  1. They’re lazy
  2. Don’t MAKE the time
  3. Not Passionate
  4. Unrealistic Expectations
  5. Get overwhelmed
  6. Don’t want to keep learning about blogging tips
  7. Give up too soon

It’s like they expect me to blog for them. It kinda pisses me off when I take time out of my schedule to genuinely help someone and they don’t make the effort back. That’s why
thanks to them, I’m making this blog post instead, that you can just read and follow along.

These are the same steps I take when I create a new blog from scratch and want to monetize it fast. If I can make money from my blogs, do can you.

how to blog and make money online

You really can blog for money, it’s a fact.

Anyone can become a blogger but not everyone knows how to make money being a blogger.

Comments / Excuses I often hear:

“Do people actually make a living from a blog?!”

“Bloggers just sit in coffee shops all day.”

“Who do you have to know to get famous blogging?”

“Why can’t I just quit my job and blog if it’s so easy?”

“I don’t have the time to blog…”

“I wish I had time like you… you’re lucky.”

“Blogger?.. so you don’t have a real job?”

It sounds too good to be true but it’s really happening.

I still don’t think people take bloggers seriously. Yet, there’s bloggers out there right now making 100K a month.

If you actually follow these steps and make the time, you’ll make money blogging and become a great blogger

How To Start a Blog and Make Money Online

If you skip the steps and try to take short cuts or get lazy, don’t even bother continuing reading this article. You’re not meant to be a blogger. Go keep complaining how unfair life is and all that jazz…peace.

Still reading? I didn’t upset you?! SWEET!

Let me tell you the BIG secret How people are becoming bloggers and making money

The big secret is that they don’t stop blogging. Why? Because successful bloggers of this caliber blog with passion. I like to refer to them as blogger unicorns. They’re the real deal and take the time going above and beyond to create a high quality blog post.

10 $ Successful Blogger characteristics:

  1. Writes useful information
  2. Includes details and secret tips
  3. Comments back and answers questions
  4. Interacts on social media
  5. Able to take criticism
  6. Includes helpful sharable images
  7. Blogs with passion
  8. Regularly blogs with passion
  9. Has a nice WordPress design
  10. Has SEO knowledge

When you have a passion, you genuinely want to learn and experience everything about it. When you have a passion, don’t you MAKE time for it? Am I right or what?!

There’s nothing more amazing than talking to someone that’s passionate about something, you can see this mysterious and contagious sparkle in their eyes. Have you witnessed this before? It’s mesmerizing.

blogging with passion earns money

You live, eat, breath it. You’re active on your blog not only blogging, but actively responding to comments – connecting with others.

It’s the secret sauce that makes a blog rich with delicious honey, that attracts bees to… sometimes even bears. LOL You want that buzz! It’s called traffic.

Blogging Tips to Make Money Online

Good traffic generates:

  • An audience
  • Social media shares
  • Authority
  • Making money $
  • Brands wanting to work with you
  • Email newsletter signups
  • Comments

Are you ready to get started blogging and making income?

how to make money online with a blog

Ready to get serious and not look back?

Let’s get started.

Here’s the steps to become a Blogger and Make Money Online

1. Identify your passion and expertise!

What are you always eager to learn more about? What gets you excited? When you have passion and expertise, you have the ability to write a large amount of helpful content. The more original and helpful content you create, the bigger your site. The more pages you have ranking in Google, the more related ads you can sprinkled on you site. With more people able to visit so many pages, the more likely users will click on ads and generate monthly blog income. I want to also mention that the more trust you build, the more likely people are to make purchases from your site or click on Amazon Associate links of items you recommend.RELATED POST  How to Make Money Blogging

2. Choose a name for your blog

(have your category in your domain name for SEO) This should be primarily what you’re going to be blogging about, your passion!


Need help deciding a blog name? Leave a comment below, what’s the majority of your blog posts going to be about?

3. Buy a domain and web hosting

I prefer Godaddy (see if your domain is available now) (I’m not being paid by Godaddy)

4. Set up your domain name and hosting

(attach your new domain name to your new Godaddy hosting account)

5. Install WordPress

Install WordPress (the blogging platform onto your hosting account) You’ll install this onto the root of your website -so leave the directory field empty.

Blogging Platform I highly recommend

I highly recommend you use WordPress as your blogging platform. It has the best usability and use of built-in SEO features that will help optimize your post. In other words, WordPress will handle all the HTML and SEO (search engine optimization) for you.

6. Purchase a Professional WordPress Theme

I recommend you purchase a high quality wordpress them if you want to be serious and monetize your blog. A nice responsive theme that has a clean design. This way you can always contact the theme’s support if you have a problem with your blog. I highly recommend using a theme from elegantthemes.com I’m not being paid to recommend this company! They just released Divi 3.0. It’s a  phenomenal WordPress theme that you can use to easily design your blog. It has a WYSIWYG. “what you see is what you get.” You don’t have to know HTML, CSS, or even PHP.

7. Install these FREE helpful plug-ins that set you up for success

Using these plug-ins will help you start blogging the right way from scratch. The better foundation your blog starts with, the more traffic you’ll receive. I’m sharing my holy grail of plug-in you NEED.

8. Insert Monetization Code

Do you often hear these online income blog terms such as:

  • Monetize your blog
  • Google Adsense
  • Amazon Associates
  • Monetize your Youtube channel

You need to add these items to your blog!

Google and Amazon do not just magically send you a check for having a high traffic website. (that would be cool)

Ad Networks to Join to Make Money Blogging

You have to contact Google and Amazon, there’s even an application process.

Sign up NOW for Google Adsense:

https://www.google.com/adsense/

Sign up NOW for Amazon Associates:

https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/welcome
There’s so many ad networks to join to start making money with your blog. Check out my full list you can pick and try out some extras:
Related: 70 PAID Ad Networks to Join to Start Making Money with Your Blog

So just how do bloggers make money from blogging is the mystery I’m sharing today. I hope you get inspired and make the effort needed to become successful.  I’m also sharing with you my secret formula I use everyday to create blog posts for other companies that gain them first page rankings. (And if not the first page, the second…)

Even if you already have a blog that’s not earning money, I’ll let you know what you can start doing today and how to make money from your blog. You might have made some mistakes that beginners often make. It could be as simple as installing a wordpress plug-in.

How To Start a Blog and Make Money Online – Complete Guide

9. Craft your First Blog Post with an Excellent Headline

Your success relies on using a catchy headline. Heck, sometimes on twitter, people see a cool headline and just share the tweet regardless! Amazing powerful stuff right?

People click on headlines that tease, build curiosity, sound super helpful, and excite.

Get ideas for sensational headlines by using headline generators.

You can also Google your topic and see what similar successful blogs are doing, just make yours better!

Use one of these headline generators:

http://www.title-generator.com
https://www.portent.com/tools/title-maker
http://www.internetmarketingcourse.com/freeheadlinegenerator/
http://www.hubspot.com/blog-topic-generator

10.  Blog Your Heart Out

Blog as much as you want. Go on, let it all out. Blog blog blog! Scream, shout and type it all out. Keep it organized. Be specific. Be weird. Be REAL. Write from your unique perspective. Write useful content!

You WILL be a Great and Successful Blogger if You want to write and share Useful Information

Contribute to the free wealth of knowledge online. Perhaps you figured something out on your own when you couldn’t find any help online yourself.

Chances are, there’s someone else out there like you that’s searching Google for the same problem. There’s moments when you’re dealing with software and you run into a problem, Google it and there’s nothing to help, nothing on a community forum, you even contact the company support with little or no helpful response. Then you somehow after an hour of frustration figure it out on your own. You think…this would really help someone if I just blogged about it with screen shots.RELATED POST  70+ Ad Networks to Join – Make Money Blogging Today

You’re just what the internet needs.

It’s not just about how to blog for money, it’s how to add quality online too. Never forget that.

Count all the times the internet has helped you. The internet has SAVED me so many times with random things. You know what I mean…

11. Pump up the SEO

Get yourself a nice long tail keyword and work it into your headline.

Wait, what’s a long tail keyword?

They’re the search term people type into Google’s search bar. For example, a keyword could be “Computer repair San Diego” lots of competition for this popular keyword if you’re an IT shop in San Diego. So you should use a long tail keyword that’s less popular and more specific. An example would be “Lenovo laptop repair San Diego” or even longer “Lenovo laptop keyboard repair San Diego” Now we’re targeting a brand of laptops and location for laptop repair. This is an easier search term to rank for.

When you’re using the Yoast SEO plug-in, be sure to place this long tail keyword onto your title tag as well as url. See my example below:

How To Start a Blog and Make Money Online – Complete Guide

This ranked the page #1 in the organic search results.

Work this keyword and variations of the keyword naturally into the content. Make sure you name the images this long tail keyword and also the alt tags.

12. Submit your blog post to Google

Using Yoast SEO plugin will help you with your SEO.

13. Self Promote

Share your new blog post on your favorite social media platforms. I highly recommend that you unleash the magic of Pinterest. Make a sharable image you’d like to see on Pinterest. I recommend http://www.idpinthat.com for newbies that want to use free images combined with a free image editor online. Using the free SumoMe will allow your website visitors to hover over the image on a desktop computer or click on the image on their mobile device to share on Facebook, twitter, and pinterest.

Add stunning images! 

I made a list of websites that offer free high quality stock photos for your blog and social media posts.

When you self promote and you’re new… you should do the 80/20 rule. Promote your posts only 20% of the time and promote similar high quality content 80% of the time. This will help give your audience helpful information.

If you’re new and don’t have established social media accounts, create them now and join http://viralcontentbuzz.com

This is a site where you can submit your blog post and people will share it on their social media posts in exchange for points. You earn points when you share someone’s post. It costs you points to get your article shared. Get it? It’s a win win.

Email your blog post to your friends and family. Why not? Maybe you have some friends that are natural influencers.

You can even put your social media accounts on auto pilot using Meet Edgar.com (paid) or Buffer.com (free)

I prefer Meet Edgar (I’m not paid for promoting this)

meet Edgar review

Read more: Meet Edgar review

14. Make Improvements / Update Content

What do your friends think?

Have you read it a few times and think you forgot something? Maybe more helpful graphics? Share updated information that can make the content even more relevant. Perhaps adding more related images can help make the content less boring.

15. Internal Linking

Sprinkle links of related blog posts you’ve written into your new blog posts. Mix the fresh with old. This can help the click through rate of you site and keep your visitors on your site. This helps your page rank. Google will see your site as more valuable and want to rank it higher in search results. You want a site that keeps visitors engaged reading, learning, commenting.

16. Rinse and Repeat 

Wow, you just went on a trip and a journey with me. Did you learn anything new? (I hope) Perhaps you already have a blog and you learned some new tips that can help you earn more money with your blog. Great! Which tips will you use on your own journey now?

Thank you for reading. I honestly hope you will get inspired to start a blog and make money starting today!

17. Your blog needs Patience, Persistence, Passion! 

Congrats!!! You know how to get your blog started, monetized, and promoted. NOW you need to use your passion and keep motivated to blog!

This is how you need to picture blogging success

Starting a blog is like planting a seed.

Developing your brand, domain name, topic, installing your blogging platform, this is like planting a seed. Soon, your blog sprouts and it’s a new seedling, it needs water.

growing your blog

Blogging makes content and that content is your water. Without water, your seedling will dry up and wither away.

Soon you develop lots of content and a healthy young tree. Lots of time passes and your tree begins to produce fruit and shade. Branches – backlinks from other websites. The shade attracts life.RELATED POST  How to Promote a Jewelry Business on Social Media

Your blog gets bigger and attracts visitors. The fruit is your revenue. Keeping your tree plentiful of  juicy fruit requires lots of watering.

18. Keep the momentum going 

Once you become this unstoppable blogging machine that blogs their heart out with passion. You become an authority of your topic. People become interested in your opinion. You’re eager to share new things you’ve learned and share what works and what does not. You’re sharing that passion with others.  There’s no magic number of blog posts you need to start making money.

Your content has these key factors

  • Original
  • Good photos
  • Has helped people solve a problem
  • Has helped people make a purchase based on your unbiased review
  • Has long tail keywords and phrases that people have searched into Google
  • High quality – valuable information
  • Other blogs have linked to -backlinks
  • Has been interesting enough to get shares on social media
  • Creates buzz

19. Don’t be a cry baby blogger

How To Start a Blog and Make Money Online – Complete Guide

What the hell does that mean? It means, once you start a blog you don’t just blog ten articles and call it a blog and stop. Don’t wimp out. Keep going. It can take a year before you see thousands of daily visitors.

It took me about one year to start making BIG money from one of my blogs. I started seeing 7k website hits per day. It took time to build an audience, trust, and useful content. Because I blog with passion and it’s a rewarding process in itself, making money from my blog is a bonus.

However, when making money from a blog, people lack patience!

Most people wimp out too early and never make a successful blog.

These are always their cry baby reasons why they stop:

“Blogging takes too long…”  – If it takes too long you probably don’t have the passion

“I just wrote a new blog post and it’s not making money… this doesn’t work, you lied…” – It takes a long time to start seeing massive daily traffic.

“I have five blog posts, they’re good but they’re not getting traffic…” -However your blog posts are less than 400 words and it’s low quality

You don’t just wake up one morning and say… “uh… I’m bored blogging about cooking…” “I’m gonna blog about dogs instead…””

You also don’t wine that you’re not getting traffic or making money

Blogging should never be solely for the sake of just quitting your job, that’s just the benefit of a successful blog

Blogging should ALWAYS be for sharing useful quality information

Why You’re Not Getting Search Engine Traffic

Read More: Why your blog is not getting website traffic

Time for some frequently asked blogging questions

How often should you blog?

Blog as often as you can make high quality content! Websites that have fresh content receive more traffic. However… never blog when you’re not feeling into it. Your readers can tell when a blog post feels forced. Google loves fresh content and as an incentive, Google rewards you with frequently sending google bots to your site to check for new content. You also gain an increase on your search rankings, (SERPS).

how often should i blog for my business

Read more: How often should I blog for my business?

How long should each blog post be?

Ideally, the longer the post, the higher it will tend to rank. It’s seen as having more valuable content. Try looking at the top ranking blog posts for a random search in Google. If you can go 2500 words, do it!

How to keep your blog posts ranking high?

Once you get a highly successful blog post that ranks on the first page, you want to keep its place.

  • Frequently publish more high quality blog posts
  • Update the content of the aging blog post
  • Add internal links to old posts within your new posts
  • Continue to promote the old blog posts on Social media

The number one fault I see on blogs that causes their rankings to slowly drop

Many bloggers don’t make improvements or keep up with Google’s algorithm changes. For example, Google had a responsive website update. Google rewarded websites that used a responsive website design. This is one of Google’s many quality content guidelines.

Read Google’s 160 page .PDF of their search quality rating guidelines

This can help you understand how Google rates a website’s quality. (released March 28th, 2016)

Thank you for learning about blogging and how to get started making money from your blog.

Now get creative and start blogging!

Do you have any questions about blogging, WordPress, Online marketing, or monetizing your blog? 

Please leave a question in the comments!

Thanks for reading: How To Start a Blog and Make Money Online.

How to Rank Higher in Google Maps

How to Rank Higher in Google Maps

If you run a local business, ranking higher in Google Maps can put your company in front of people who are actively searching for the products or services you provide.

I’ve worked in SEO for more than 20 years, and Google Maps has become an important source of visibility for many of the local businesses I work with.

But Google Maps SEO has also accumulated a lot of questionable advice over the years.

I’ve seen recommendations to stuff keywords into business names, geotag every photo, create fake offices, build hundreds of citations or add every nearby city to a service area.

That’s not how I approach Google Maps optimization.

There isn’t a legitimate trick that guarantees a top-three Maps ranking.

Instead, I focus on helping Google and potential customers clearly understand:

  • Who the business is
  • What it does
  • Where it operates
  • Which searches it’s relevant to
  • Whether the information is accurate
  • What customers say about it
  • How established the business appears online

And there’s one factor you can’t completely control:

Where the person searching is located.

Here’s how I approach improving Google Maps visibility.

Quick Answer: How Do You Rank Higher in Google Maps?

Google explains that local search results are primarily based on three factors:

Relevance — how well the business matches what someone is searching for.

Distance — how far a potential result is from the location used in the search.

Prominence — how well known the business is.

You can’t completely control distance.

But you can work on many of the other elements surrounding your local search presence.

That includes accurately setting up your Google Business Profile, choosing appropriate categories, providing useful business information, earning legitimate reviews, maintaining an accurate online presence and strengthening the business and website behind the profile.

The goal isn’t to trick Google Maps.

The goal is to make your business a legitimate, relevant and useful result.

1. Make Sure Your Google Business Profile Is Eligible and Accurate

Before trying to “optimize” anything, make sure the profile accurately represents a real business that is eligible for Google Business Profile.

Review important information such as:

Business name

Address, if applicable

Service-area setup, if applicable

Phone number

Website

Primary category

Additional categories

Business hours

Services

Business description

Photos

Attributes

and other available information relevant to the business.

I wouldn’t fill out a field simply because you think every field is a ranking factor.

Fill it out because it helps accurately represent the business and helps potential customers.

Accuracy comes first.

2. Use Your Real Business Name

This is one of the most important Local SEO rules to understand.

Your Google Business Profile name should reflect the name your business actually uses in the real world.

For example, if your real business name is:

ABC Plumbing

don’t turn the GBP name into:

ABC Plumbing | Best San Diego Emergency Plumber & Drain Cleaning

simply because you want to rank for those phrases.

Adding keywords to a business name can sometimes look tempting when competitors are doing it.

That doesn’t mean I recommend copying them.

I would rather build relevance through legitimate areas such as your categories, services, website and actual business presence than base a strategy on manipulating the company name.

3. Choose the Most Accurate Primary Category

Your Google Business Profile category helps describe what type of business you operate.

Choose the primary category that most accurately represents the core business.

Then add relevant additional categories when they genuinely apply.

Don’t choose unrelated categories simply because they represent services or keywords you’d like to rank for.

For example, a business offering several related professional services may legitimately qualify for multiple categories.

But more categories aren’t automatically better.

Accuracy is more important than quantity.

If your primary category doesn’t accurately describe the business, that’s one of the first things I would investigate in a Maps audit.

4. Add Accurate Services and Business Information

Depending on the business category, Google may allow you to provide information about individual services, products or other details.

Use those areas accurately.

For example, a personal injury law firm may provide services related to:

Car accidents

Motorcycle accidents

Pedestrian accidents

Truck accidents

Wrongful death

A financial advisor may provide:

Retirement planning

Wealth management

Investment guidance

Financial planning

The point isn’t to repeat keywords.

It’s to make the profile useful enough that someone can quickly understand whether the business offers what they’re looking for.

5. Build a Strong Review Profile

Reviews matter for two important reasons.

First, they help potential customers decide which business to choose.

Someone looking at three businesses in Google Maps may compare:

Ratings

Number of reviews

What customers actually say

How recent the feedback is

and how businesses respond to customers.

Second, Google states that review count and review scores can factor into local search ranking.

So I encourage local businesses to have a consistent process for asking legitimate customers for reviews.

What I don’t recommend:

Buying reviews.

Creating fake reviews.

Offering prohibited incentives.

Or scripting reviews with SEO keywords.

Ask customers for genuine feedback.

Let them describe their actual experience.

Should You Respond to Reviews?

I recommend it.

Review responses can show prospective customers that the business pays attention to feedback.

Respond professionally whether the review is positive or negative.

I view this as good reputation management and customer service—not a secret Maps ranking hack.

6. Add Real, Useful Business Photos

Photos can make a Google Business Profile much more useful.

For a storefront business, useful images may include:

Exterior

Entrance

Parking

Reception area

Interior

Team members

Products

and completed work.

For a service business, you might show:

Team members

Company vehicles

Equipment

Completed projects

Before-and-after examples when appropriate

and employees performing real work.

I used to see photo geotagging recommended constantly as a Local SEO tactic.

I don’t recommend spending your time obsessing over photo metadata for Google Maps rankings.

Upload authentic, useful images that help potential customers understand the business.

7. Strengthen the Website Connected to Your Profile

Your Google Business Profile doesn’t exist in isolation.

Your website gives customers—and search engines—much more information about the business.

It should clearly explain:

What you do

Which services you provide

Where you operate

Who you serve

What experience you have

and how someone can contact you.

For many local businesses, dedicated service pages are especially important.

If you offer five major services, don’t assume a two-sentence list on the homepage is enough to explain all five.

Build pages because customers need the information—not because you want to manufacture URLs.

My guide to optimizing your website for Local SEO goes much deeper into the website side of this strategy.

8. Don’t Confuse Website Rankings With Maps Rankings

This distinction is extremely important.

I work on Google Business Profile optimization and website SEO together, but I don’t assume:

Better organic ranking = automatically better Maps ranking.

Google Maps and traditional organic search are different search surfaces.

Your website gives Google and potential customers additional context about your services, locations, experience and business.

It also gives you another opportunity to appear in organic search when Maps visibility is limited by geography.

That’s why I work on both.

A business can perform very well in Google Maps and poorly organically.

It can also rank well organically while having weaker Maps visibility in certain geographic areas.

If you’re seeing that difference, read my guide to why you rank in Google Maps but not organic search.

9. Build Service and Location Pages When They Have a Purpose

If your business provides several distinct services or operates across important geographic markets, dedicated pages may make sense.

But I don’t recommend creating hundreds of nearly identical pages where only the service or city name changes.

A useful location page might contain:

Services available in the area

Real experience serving that market

Customer examples

Case studies

Testimonials

Area-specific questions

Useful local information related to the service

and a clear next step.

The purpose should be helping a potential customer.

Don’t build a city page simply because you think having /la-jolla/ in a URL will make you rank in La Jolla.

And remember:

A location page doesn’t physically move your business closer to the person searching in Google Maps.

10. Improve Your Internal Linking

Internal links help organize the relationships between pages on your website.

For example, a local business may have:

A core service page

A supporting educational article

A location page

A case study

and a relevant FAQ resource.

Those pages can link to one another when it makes sense for the reader.

I don’t use internal links simply to repeat exact-match keywords everywhere.

I use them to create a logical site structure and help people discover related information.

You can read more in my guide to internal linking for SEO.

11. Keep Important Business Information Accurate Across the Web

Your business may appear on other websites, including:

Industry directories

Professional associations

Chambers of commerce

Business organizations

Review platforms

and local publications.

Your core information should be reasonably accurate wherever customers are likely to encounter it.

Pay particular attention to genuinely incorrect information such as:

Old phone numbers

Old addresses

Incorrect website URLs

Wrong business names

or outdated locations.

I don’t obsess over harmless formatting differences such as:

Street

versus:

St.

Focus on inaccuracies that could genuinely confuse customers or misrepresent the business.

12. Earn Legitimate Local and Industry Mentions

Google explains that prominence is partly based on information it has about a business from across the web.

That doesn’t mean you need thousands of backlinks.

Depending on the business, worthwhile opportunities might include:

Local media

Professional organizations

Industry publications

Business associations

Community organizations

Sponsorships

Events

Partnerships

and other legitimate websites connected to the business.

I would rather earn one meaningful local media mention than submit a business to 100 junk directories simply to increase a link count.

If you want a deeper look at this strategy, read my digital PR and link-building guide.

13. Set Up Service Areas Correctly

If you travel to customers instead of primarily serving them at a storefront, you may operate as a service-area business.

Your Google Business Profile should accurately reflect how the company operates.

But there’s an important misconception here:

Adding a city to your Google Business Profile service area doesn’t automatically make you rank in that city.

Service areas help describe where you provide service.

They don’t turn each selected city into a new business location.

And they don’t eliminate Google’s consideration of distance.

If you operate this type of company, read my complete guide to Local SEO for service-area businesses.

14. Don’t Create Fake Locations to Chase Maps Rankings

If proximity matters, it’s tempting to think:

Why don’t I just create another location in the city where I want to rank?

Be very careful.

I don’t recommend creating Google Business Profiles for locations that don’t legitimately represent the way the business operates.

A virtual address or questionable office arrangement shouldn’t be treated as an SEO shortcut.

If your company genuinely expands and establishes another eligible location, that’s different.

But I wouldn’t build a Local SEO strategy around manufacturing locations for Maps visibility.

15. Keep Your Google Business Profile Current

Your profile should continue to represent the current business.

Check it periodically.

Make sure:

Hours are accurate

Holiday hours are updated

Phone numbers work

Website links work

Categories still make sense

Services are current

Photos still represent the business

and important information hasn’t unexpectedly changed.

Google Business Profile isn’t something I optimize once and then ignore forever.

Businesses change.

Profiles should change with them.

16. Use GBP Posts for Customers, Not as a Ranking Trick

Google Business Profile posts can be useful for sharing:

Offers

Events

New services

Business updates

Educational information

Seasonal reminders

and other relevant information.

I use GBP posts because they can make the profile more useful and give potential customers additional information.

I don’t tell clients:

“Post three times a week and you’ll rank higher.”

I don’t view posting frequency as a magic Maps ranking factor.

Publish because you have something useful to communicate.

Why Proximity Still Matters in Google Maps

This is one of the Local SEO realities business owners don’t always want to hear:

You cannot completely optimize your way around geography.

A business may rank very well when someone searches nearby and become less visible as the search moves farther away.

That doesn’t automatically mean something is wrong with the SEO.

Distance is part of Google’s local ranking framework.

This is why saying:

“We’re #2 in Google Maps!”

isn’t enough information for me.

I want to know:

For what keyword?

From where?

Across what part of the service area?

If proximity is affecting your visibility, read my full guide to how proximity affects Local SEO and Google Maps rankings.

Can You Overcome Proximity With Better SEO?

You can improve many things.

You can improve relevance.

You can build a stronger reputation.

You can improve your website.

You can earn more legitimate reviews.

You can build meaningful business mentions.

You can make your Google Business Profile more accurate and useful.

But I wouldn’t promise that any combination of those things will make your business rank everywhere regardless of its actual location.

A farther-away business can still appear.

But there isn’t an SEO setting that turns distance off.

Understanding that distinction can save businesses a lot of wasted time and money.

How Your Website Supports Your Local Search Presence

I don’t treat Google Business Profile optimization and website SEO as completely separate projects.

But I also don’t assume that improving organic website rankings will automatically create the same improvement in Google Maps.

Your website provides additional information about:

Your services

Your business

Your locations

Your experience

Your reputation

and the topics associated with your company.

More importantly, the website gives you another way to reach customers.

If proximity limits your Maps visibility in part of San Diego County, a strong organic landing page may still give you an opportunity to appear for a relevant search.

That’s why my Local SEO strategy considers Maps and organic search together.

If you want the larger picture, read my Local SEO guide for San Diego businesses.

Google Maps SEO Mistakes I Would Avoid

There are a lot of Local SEO tactics I wouldn’t build a business around.

Keyword Stuffing Your Business Name

Use the real-world business name.

Don’t turn the GBP name into an SEO title.

Creating Fake Locations

Don’t manufacture offices or locations simply because you want additional Maps visibility.

Buying Reviews

Earn genuine reviews from real customers.

Telling Customers What Keywords to Put in Reviews

Ask for honest feedback rather than scripting SEO copy for customers.

Obsessing Over Photo Geotags

Upload useful, authentic photos instead.

Creating Hundreds of Low-Quality Citations

Focus on accurate, legitimate business mentions.

Assuming Service Areas Equal Rankings

Adding a city to the service-area field doesn’t guarantee rankings there.

Creating Dozens of Thin City Pages

Build location pages when they genuinely help customers and represent important markets.

Ignoring the Website

Google Business Profile doesn’t replace website SEO.

Expecting to Rank Everywhere

Maps visibility can change as the searcher’s location changes.

Looking for a Secret Maps Hack

There isn’t one I would recommend building a business around.

How Long Does It Take to Rank Higher in Google Maps?

There isn’t one universal timeline.

Sometimes a business can see changes relatively quickly after correcting an obvious problem.

For example:

The wrong category

Incorrect business information

A broken website link

or another significant profile issue.

Competitive situations can take much longer.

A business competing for a valuable service across San Diego may be up against companies with years of reviews, established reputations, strong websites, media coverage and long-standing local visibility.

That’s why I don’t guarantee:

“We’ll get you into the top three in 30 days.”

I evaluate progress over time.

And I don’t look only at rankings.

I want to know whether local visibility is generating calls, leads, appointments and customers.

How I Approach Google Maps SEO

If I were auditing a business that wanted better Google Maps visibility, I would generally start by looking at:

The legitimacy and accuracy of the Google Business Profile

Primary and additional categories

Business information

Services

Reviews

Actual business location

Service-area configuration

Competitors

Current Maps visibility across the target area

Website service pages

Organic rankings

Location pages

Business mentions and links

and whether the visibility is producing leads.

Then I’d prioritize the problems with the biggest potential impact.

That might mean fixing the GBP.

It might mean strengthening the website.

It might mean earning more legitimate reviews.

It might mean cleaning up inaccurate business information.

Or it might mean telling the business owner:

“Your Maps visibility is limited here largely because of proximity. Let’s look at the organic opportunity instead.”

That’s much more useful than applying the same Google Maps checklist to every business.

Frequently Asked Questions About Google Maps Rankings

What determines Google Maps rankings?

Google says local results are primarily based on relevance, distance and prominence. How those factors affect an individual search can vary, which is one reason local results can change depending on the query and searcher’s location.

Can I pay Google to rank higher in Google Maps?

You can’t pay Google for a higher organic local ranking. Google offers advertising products, but paid placements and organic local rankings are different.

Do Google reviews help Maps rankings?

Google states that more reviews and positive ratings can help a business’s local ranking. Reviews can also strongly influence whether potential customers choose your business. Focus on earning genuine feedback rather than manipulating reviews.

Does my website affect my Google Maps visibility?

Your website is part of your broader online presence, but Google Maps rankings aren’t determined by website SEO alone. Google describes local ranking primarily in terms of relevance, distance and prominence. A strong website also gives your business an opportunity to compete in traditional organic search.

Should I put keywords in my Google Business Profile name?

Only when those words are legitimately part of your real-world business name. Don’t add service or location keywords solely to manipulate rankings.

Does geotagging photos help Google Maps rankings?

I wouldn’t rely on photo geotagging as a Maps ranking strategy. Spend your time uploading authentic, useful photos that accurately represent your business.

How many reviews do I need to rank in Google Maps?

There is no universal review number that guarantees a particular ranking. Your competitive environment also matters, and reviews are only one part of Google’s broader local ranking system.

Can a service-area business rank in Google Maps?

Eligible service-area businesses can have Google Business Profiles. However, adding cities to the service-area field doesn’t guarantee strong visibility throughout those cities. Distance can still affect local results.

Why does my business rank in Maps near my office but not across town?

Proximity is likely part of the explanation. Local results can change depending on the location associated with the search. That’s why I recommend evaluating Maps visibility geographically rather than relying on one ranking check.

Is Google Maps SEO the same as Local SEO?

No. Google Maps optimization is one component of Local SEO. Local SEO can also involve your website, organic search visibility, service and location pages, reviews, business information, links, mentions and conversion strategy.

Want to Rank Higher in Google Maps?

If your business isn’t appearing prominently in Google Maps—or your visibility drops dramatically once searches move away from your location—the first step is figuring out why.

I’ve worked in SEO for more than 20 years, and I look at the entire local search picture: Google Business Profile, proximity, website SEO, organic rankings, reviews, competitors, services, links and actual lead generation.

Sometimes there’s an optimization problem.

Sometimes there’s a website problem.

Sometimes there’s a reputation problem.

And sometimes what looks like an SEO problem is simply how proximity affects the local results.

If you’d like help identifying the difference, learn more about working directly with my San Diego SEO company.

Get found. Get trusted. Get chosen.

— Jen Ruhman
San Diego SEO Expert