Naming Your Business for Better Local SEO Visibility with Ben Fisher

Your business name plays a huge role when it comes to your Google Business Profile rankings.

Just like in early days, businesses were trying to find a name that starts with an “a” to get listed on top of Yellowbook listings, these days local businesses find it effective to put keywords in their names to be found in Google.

What we can and cannot do when filling it our business name in Google Business Profile?

To discuss local business naming, Jim Boykin, founder and CEO of Internet Marketing Ninjas, and Ann Smarty, IMN’s analyst, were joined by Ben Fisher, Google’s trusted Business Profile Product Expert.

Ben Fisher is Co-Founder of Steady Demand and Diamond Google Product Expert with over 25 years of experience in Internet Marketing.



The first thing to consider here is your business category. There are certain business categories that are known to be open to a lot of spam. These include:

  • Personal injury lawyers
  • Real estate, etc.

These businesses are open to abusive signals.

So if you have a name in your Google Business Profile that is keyword optimized, this name will not match your real world data. Real world data includes Linkedin, Better Business Bureau profile, licenses, etc.

If your name doesn’t match real-world data, you may face a suspension.

And businesses in some categories are more prone to suspension that in other categories, just because Google is more suspicious when it comes to some industries than others.

Yet, keywords in name are important, so consider two options:

  • Rebranding
  • DBA (Doing Business As)

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