Time Tested Tips From Experts To Optimize Your Google My Business Listing

by Cynthia Mercileen - 8/19/2021 1254 Views

Google now has transformed the way search work. People can effortlessly find what they are looking for without even having to visit different websites

your location on Google maps and online reviews

Any business today needs good visibility on Google. Most companies know the importance of optimizing their Google Ads and website, but not many know that there is a third entity which also needs optimizing: their GMB listing. Known as your Business Profile, this powerful tool is a dynamic snapshot that highlights the best features of your business. It enables prospects to find quickly, engage with you and learn about you. And, the best part? It's completely free!!!

If you are serious about improving your local search visibility and targeting local consumers, you have to take some time to optimize your GMB listing. And yes, to start getting your business found better in regular Google Search and Google Maps, Google My Business is a secure place to start. So, create and claim your GMB listing now! If you already have one, you are good to go! Yet, 56% of local retailers haven't claimed their free Google My Business account.

However, your job doesn't end here! Don't ever do the mistake of claiming a GMB listing, adding the bare minimum info, and then dumping it. You must optimize it! Focusing on Google My Business optimization will help your business frequently appear in search.

Did you know? Businesses with an accurate and complete and (optimized) GMB listing get seven times more clicks and are 2.7 times more likely to be considered honest.

Therefore, when used correctly, Google My Business is a powerful tool, that can increase boost your revenue and can lead to enhanced customer loyalty. In this guide article, I have listed down some different ways to optimize your GMB page effortlessly.

Basics of Google My Business — What you need to know!

If digital marketing is a somewhat new attempt for you and your business, you should know some basics about Google My Business and the value it offers.

First of all, using Google My Business is a free tool.
GMB listingdoesn't replace your business's website.
It simply complements your brand's existing website by giving it a public presence and identity with a listing on Google.
The information provided about a business through GMB appears in Google Maps as well as Google Search.
Any third-party platform that utilizes the Google Maps will also show GMB listings regardless of the type of device being used to search.
If you have used some Google tools like Google+ previously to complement your business, or if your company has been operating for a long time, chances are your business is already listed on GMB.

Google+ Pages Dashboard and Google Places for Business were the best ways to manage your business info earlier. Now both have automatically been upgraded to Google's universal platform, GMB or Google My Business.

Basics of Google My Business

What is GMB?

GMB is a free tool from Google. It helps business owners to manage how the details of their business are listed in the search. With GMB, you can manage your location on Google maps and online reviews. If yours is a local business, you must set up your business location on GMB. This will help people find you when they search in Google Maps.

What is the Purpose of Google My Business?

GMB is launched by Google in 2014 to help businesses to build and organize their online presence and to attract prospects. Local companies get listed each time a person searches for a "location-based" and "near me" type of query. GMB helps local businesses catch the attention of new customers. It also lets them share crucial information about the business such as working hours, phone number and their unique value proposition. Also, other features like sharing posts and reviews help the business to engage and build trust among prospects.

What are the benefits you get from using GMB?

GMB doesn't cost a penny! Trust me.
The videos and photos you share on Google My Business allow you people to know more about your product or service, business, even before they land in your store!
There is no barrier between you and your prospects! All that is needed is just one click to reach you. Your website addresses and phone number listed here are clickable.
Interacting with customers and managing your online reputation is easy with GMB.
Google My Business closely ties in Google Ads, Maps, Search, Insights, and Google+, and this makes dealing with your digital presence much easier.
Now that you know the upsides for Google My Business listing let's dive in to learn how to optimize your GMB page completely.

How to optimize Google My Business?

What's in here?

Set up your Google business Listing
Complete every section
NAP consistency
Load high-resolution, quality images to share business updates
Use a local number
Monitor, and respond to reviews

1. Set up your Google business Listing

The primary step to setting up your GMB listing is to conduct a Google search be sure your business doesn't have one already. If your firm has been around for years probably, it will by now have a listing, and you just have to claim it. Once claimed successfully, you can manage the info as if you start managing the listing.

Did you know, 56% of local retailers have not claimed their free GMB account? If you fall in this list, you have to set up your GMB listing. Go to Google's My Business page, and in the left corner you will find "Start Now". Click on it and fill in every appropriate field that Google offers. Make sure your profile is as complete as possible. Also, every info you add must be accurate.

2. Complete every section

The comprehensiveness of your GMB Profile not only helps the search engine to rank you higher in local search results, but it should also increase the number of actions people take when they find your listing. There is much info to provide, so here are some guidelines to prioritize.

These features of your profile should be completed right away:

Name
Phone
Address
Working Hours
Working days
Website

These sections will take a bit more time and thought:

Products and services
Category and Attributes
Now the ongoing areas
Reviews
Posts

Questions and answers (Customer-generated)

3. NAP consistency

Here are the steps to optimize the contact information in your GMB Profile:

Ensure your business name is identical everywhere. In other words, exactly as it looks in the real world. Adding keywords or location name (unless it is in your brand name) is considered as spam by Google, and you may get penalized.

Make sure that both your address and business name matches exactly with your other listings across the internet. Google takes these inconsistencies into account to assess your credibility.

Add both your regular and holiday hours. This can encourage customers to visit you. It also helps avoid potential negative reviews left by people who drove all the way to your store only to find it closed.

4. Load high-resolution, quality images to share business updates

Photos can help your GMB listing to stand out and give prospects a glimpse of what to expect from your business.

Ensure to use high-resolution images that make your business look good. Also, if you sell physical products, show off your products.

According to recent research, 42% of customers are more likely to check driving direction to the business if its profile has photos, and 35% are likely to click through to its site. Furthermore, companies with more than 100 photos get 2,717% more direction requests, 520% more calls, and 1,065% more site clicks than the average business. Whoa!

You can also consider creating a 360-view virtual tour of your business for people. According to Google, the listings that have virtual tours and photos gain twice as much interest as those without.

5. Use a local number

Besides keeping your phone number consistent, it is also essential to provide a phone number with a local area code. This is an extra signal to show Google that yours is a local business. Also, be sure you use the number given for your GMB listing is also displayed in someplace on your home page or another landing page you link to, from your Google listing.

6. Monitor, and Respond to Reviews

The beauty of reviews, especially for local businesses influences the purchase process. The Survey found that local consumers read an average of 10 reviews online to trust a local business — so positive reviews can have a direct influence on sales.

Also, more than half of customers use a service or business only if it has four or more stars. That means you need reviews to attract customer interest. Take a look at this stat, typically, 50% of consumers will visit a local business' site after reading a positive review, 13% will contact the company directly, and 15% will see the business location. So it's clear that you need reviews!

Now, how do can you generate reviews? Some customers will leave a review without being encouraged, but for some of those who don't, you must have a steady process for requesting online reviews. Ask! 62% of customers write reviews if asked.

There are a plethora of tools available to automate the review request process. You can do this directly or take the help of a white label digital agency.

Make sure your site and contents are optimized for search:

The same SEO advices that help strengthen the weight of your site in the eyes of the search engine matters here as well. So don't just on optimizing your local listing but also your website.

Make sure that you:

You integrate relevant keywords where you can do so without forcing.
Create contents with a local focus.
Look for local linking opportunities.
Add schema markup to your site.

Take Away!

Local SEO takes some work and time, but the payoff can be huge. You must be easy to find when someone in your locality is looking for what you sell. Google is the best way to get in front of your prospects. Don't let the chance slip by just because you didn't optimize your GMB listing. Knowing how to optimize GMB, packs bounty of benefits for local businesses with a guarantee of more reviews, greater local search visibility, and improved information for local customers. Though some actions, such as filling the profile needs to be done only once, others, for instance, publishing Posts, and uploading recent images must happen on a regular basis to unlock the power of Google My Business. If you are an ever-busy businessman or don't have the experience with GMB, we would highly recommend you working with professionals in a white label digital agency like Submitinme. They will help you in every possible way to grow your business online!

Category :

SEO News

Tags :

localbusinessstrategy,GMB

About Cynthia Mercileen

Hi, I’m happy to have you visiting my post. I work in Submitinme as a Content Writer. I constantly look out for and love to write about the latest trends in SEO and Digital Marketing. I’m a passionate writer, as I love everything I do. This quote, ‘The only way to do great work is to love what you do’ from Steve Jobs, is something I totally believe in. I set goals for myself and thrive on challenges consistently. So I have something to strive towards always. I am never happy with settling on something, and I always look for a chance to achieve .... more info about the author