Optimize Your Google My Business Account for Improved Website Traffic
How to optimize your Google My Business.
Google My Business (GMB) is a handy tool that you can use to increase your company’s online presence. It allows you to write down your business information so that potential customers can find you when they make search queries on Google Search or Google Maps.
That said, like any other marketing tool, you need to make sure you optimize your listing correctly to gain maximum visibility and attract the right audience. Unfortunately, while countless businesses have a Google My Business account, only a handful take advantage of its features for your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.
How, then, can you make sure that your listing gets as many views as possible? How can you optimize Google My Business so that you can achieve top search rankings and reach as many users as possible? Check out the guide below to learn more about how the tool works and what steps you can take.
How to Optimize Google My Business Listing
An optimized Google My Business profile is complete with all the information users need to know about your business. The more accurate your details are, the easier it will be for Google to display your listing to the right users. With that, here are some ways you can optimize Google My Business:
Claim Your Listing
If you have not yet done this already, you should start by claiming your Google My Business listing so that you can control the information that Google displays about your business. Start by logging into your business Google account, then head to https://www.google.com/business/ to find your business.
Write down your business address, then choose a category that describes it most accurately. The last step will be to verify your business, either through a postcard or phone verification. Once you have completed this step, you can optimize your GMB listing to boost your SEO results.
Fill Out Your Profile Completely
Once you have claimed your listing, the next thing you should do is fill out your Google business profile completely with all the relevant information like business name, address, contact number, operating hours, and categories. Customers are more likely to engage with your brand if they find all the pertinent details in your listing.
Generally, Google determines the ranks for local searches based on relevance, distance, and criteria. Thus, you should find the most relevant keywords to your business and what you offer and add geocentric words that will hint at your location. Doing so allows more nearby users to find you based on their location.
When selecting business categories, you can only choose one primary category but multiple secondary categories. Google will place heavy emphasis on the main category you choose, so make sure you find one closest to your business nature. Similarly, choosing the right category allows you to increase your traffic from discovery searches.
Write an Accurate Business Description
If none of the categories accurately describe what you do or offer, this is where the business description will come in handy. Google will automatically generate a short description of your business to display on your listing. While you do not have control over this section, you can edit the “From my Business” section, which users will find in the lower part of the profile.
You can write up to 750 characters for your business description, so make sure you use this opportunity to talk about your products or services, value proposition, and whatever else you want to tell users.
Think of your description like any content you would write on your website. Make sure to optimize it by adding your target keywords to show up on more people’s search results. Avoid writing any duplicate content you already have in other parts of your profile and use words that customers are most likely to input in their search queries.
Use High-Quality Images
Adding high quality images to your business listing is a must to attract more customers. For stores that require foot traffic, like restaurants or clothing boutiques, you should display your storefront and interior to show the ambience and overall design. The same logic applies to local businesses that have showrooms or offices.
Ultimately, your goal is to make customers visit you over your competitors, so you should have photos of your products, services, and location. Statistics show that business listings with images can get 35% more clicks on their website, so make sure to use these to boost engagement and encourage customers to choose you over your competitors.
Of course, you also need to tread with caution when using photos. As always, be careful not to overdo this and add too many photos. Focus more on quality over quantity, so make sure you do not use stock photos. Instead, target adding a new photo once every seven days, so you can keep your Google business profile relevant and always updated.
Add Videos
Other than images, videos will also help you optimize Google My Business. Video marketing is now on the rise because it gives users more entertaining and digestible content, so just as you would add videos to your website, you should also do this in your GMB listing. You can add videos by uploading them as a separate post or uploading them to your photos.
Generally, both strategies work effectively, so that you can use them in tandem. By uploading videos as a post, you prevent them from getting buried in mountains of images and maintain a spotlight on them. However, adding some videos to your photos would also be useful since these will automatically play when users scroll through your photos. This way, you exhaust all possible ways to grab their attention!
Post Updates and Offers
Updating your GMB profile always is a must. You should always check your information to ensure that it is still accurate. In addition, businesses may often update their contact numbers for various reasons, so if you do, make sure you reflect this in your listing. Otherwise, customers who might be interested will not reach you.
Similarly, you can think of your Google My Business account like your social media feeds. It serves as a platform for you to post updates on the latest products or services and offers to keep your profile fresh and relevant for users. Just as you would constantly post new content on social media, you should do the same with your GMB profile.
Get Google Reviews
Online reviews play a huge role in convincing customers to make purchase decisions. According to statistics, 90% of shoppers will read at least one review before visiting a business, and 94% decide to avoid a business if they spot a negative review. Generally, reviews serve as social proof that your product or service is high quality or that you can be trusted.
It is important to get Google reviews for your GMB page given this behavior. It will help customers learn more about your business and what it is like to work with you and improve your page rankings. In addition, Google places a big emphasis on reviews and uses them as indicators of a company’s trustworthiness, so the search engine is more likely to display pages with many reviews.
Respond to Reviews
The previous point highlighted the importance of getting reviews for your GMB profile, but other than this, the other critical step is to respond to reviews to build your credibility and trust. In doing this, your goal is collected positive reviews and show how your customer service handles complaints or concerns.
Realistically speaking, you cannot fully avoid a negative review or one-star rating. No matter how well you try to work, one customer may find faults or runs into some issue. In such cases, the best way to act is by responding calmly and helping the customer resolve their issue. Show that you care about their experience and want to assist them in any way possible.
List Down Your Service Areas
This step is extremely important for local businesses that offer services like home repair or something similar. Many times, your serviceable areas may not just be limited to the location of your physical office, so you need to list these down for customers to know if you can reach them. By doing this, Google will also find it easier to rank your page appropriately and display it to the right people based on their location.
Add Products and Services
You can also add your products and services to your Google My Business profile to provide more clarity to users and save them the time from looking elsewhere. Doing this will be particularly important if your business is unique and you offer something that requires more explanation.
Ensure to include all the necessary details like product or service name, price, and description. Then, once a user clicks on the entry, they will get a pop-up of the full description and can be redirected to your website to get even more information.
Utilize the Business Tools
Google My Business has plenty of business tools that you can use to bump up your search rankings and increase your visibility. Some of the main tools that may be helpful include the following:
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Question and Answer
When customers first hear about your business, they might have some questions or clarifications they want to ask about before committing. This feature allows potential customers to drop questions in your profile, so you can answer them more easily and interact with them.
You can also preempt customers by listing down some frequently answered questions (FAQs), so they do not need to ask anymore. You can even upvote your answers so that users can see them more easily.
As always, try to see where you can fit in your keywords when building your Q&A section. Of course, you should keep it natural, but add your keywords organically whenever possible.
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Messaging
GMB also has a messaging feature that allows you to send automated messages to users who may contact you through your listing. Through the GMB app, you can interact with your audience and answer their questions quickly without them having to make a phone call or visit your business in person.
Optimize Google My Business with the Help of Professionals
Optimizing your GMB listing is a great way to maximize your exposure online and strengthen your SEO efforts. Naturally, along with an optimized profile, you also need to have a good web design in Clearwater that provides a smooth user experience since customers who find your GMB profile may end up visiting your site.
If you need help with your SEO efforts whether to optimize Google My Business or design your website, P3 Agency can help you out. Contact us today at 1-800-515-9422 and let us know your needs, so we can find the perfect solutions for you!