Are you thinking of ways to boost your business listing in Google? You’re lucky that Google My Business (GMB) is available to help you create a business profile that you fully own, where you can manage and optimize your brand for an effective SEO strategy.
In the USA, almost one-third of consumers use the internet to search for local businesses every single day. The online community is where most of your current and potential customers lurk. It’s the reason why taking advantage of GMB is critical to the success of your business.
In this article, Michelle Thomas, a gambling specialist, has compiled everything you need to know about Google My Business – what Google My Business is, how it works, its advantages, and how you can effectively use it for your brand.
What Is Google My Business And How Does It Work?
Google My Business (GMB) is a business tool that allows you to manage and develop your business profile in Google. What’s a Google business profile? Simply put, it’s a listing for your business on Google.
GMB helps you reach consumers through Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO helps funnel research via direct and related words to your business so people can discover it. Your customers will see all the information they need to locate your store, make a purchase, and, more importantly, how to contact your company. Sometimes SEO can be a big part of your business if you work in a difficult niche like for example works company Scanteam and only a profile in GMB is not enough.
To start your GMB and establish your digital presence, you need a Gmail account to sign up and set your business location. You can edit your business information whenever there are updates or changes. For example, if your store relocated, you’ll be able to reflect the changes in your GMB.
On Google Search Engine Results, you’ll see the mini dashboard that is only visible to you. There, you can view your business listing’s analytics in Google. It includes the number of views it got within a month range, which can help you determine whether your marketing and SEO strategy is working.
The mini dashboard also provides other features and attributes in:
● Editing business information
● Creating posts to inform your customers about special events such as concerts, promotions, and products
● Making ads to promote your business
What Are the Key Advantages of Having a Google My Business Account?
GMB is one of the most effective tools you can use. In addition to your brand’s physical store, it’ll also be seen on the internet to expose your enterprise to more people.
Listed below are more benefits of using GMB:
1. Improve Your Local SEO
Using GMB allows your brand listing to be more visible on the search engine results page. Google offers assistance in optimizing the content of your website so you can ensure that when someone searches for local businesses, yours will appear.
2. Lead Users to Your Business On Google Maps
Make it easier for your customers to find you by letting them know your location. Having your store on Google maps is essential so that customers who want to use your services or buy your products can visit you at appropriate hours. Put your store on Google Maps through GMB.
Through doing so, you’ll be providing directions to your company based on the location you input in GMB. Potential customers are more likely to patronize your services and products if they don’t encounter any issues looking for your store’s location.
3. Get Reviews For Referrals
Reviews add an element of social proof that your store is worth trying out and being loyal to. They also demonstrate that you interact with your clients and that your brand is not just a front for an elaborate scam, especially to new customers. Most importantly, you get feedback on how you can improve your company so you can make the necessary changes to provide your customers with the best service possible.
Your brand’s online reputation will make or break it. Referrals entice more people to try your products and services. But if you have a bad reputation, people will avoid your brand without giving it a chance to prove its worth.
Reviews don’t only help customers nitpick your product and services; they also foster trust among existing and potential customers.
4. Build Communication With Customers
A major advantage of using GMB is easier communication with your customers. To encourage a dynamic and flourishing relationship with your clients, you need to offer them a bridge where they can easily connect to you.
For example, if they leave a review, you can easily reply to them through GMB. Whether it’s to give an explanation or express gratitude for a good review, simply making them feel heard and seen is enough to enrich your relationship with them. By doing so, people who read your reviews will know how you treat your customers and how you respond to positive and negative comments.
5. It Has No Added Cost For Your SEO
Optimizing your search engine can be costly. However, using GMB has no additional cost for your SEO. It guarantees that your SEO improves by making your business appear in local search engines. In that way, it attracts customers to your website and encourages them to check out your business.
When more people click on your site, they help your business to rise in the rankings of search engines, consequently helping your marketing strategies, leading to better results.
6. Improve Your Marketing
GMB allows adding video in your business listing and your reviews. Videos may only be 30 seconds or less and will be reviewed first before they get uploaded for viewing.
It was found that short video clips help memory recall, making them a great marketing instrument. Through videos, you can efficiently introduce your services, products, and location.
On the other hand, clients can also upload videos in their reviews and let the public know about their experience in your business. You just need to remember that you’re not allowed to use images and videos unrelated to your business. These will be removed.
7. Add Recommendations On What Customers Should Do Upon Seeing Your Listing
The goal of your listing is to attract customers to your website so they can learn more about your brand. Through GMB, you can put additional information about how customers can gain more knowledge about your store by clicking on the links you provided in your account.
The recommended links must lead the clients to your website, social media, or another format that will help them understand your store better and motivate them to purchase from you.
8. Directly Message Customers About Their Inquiries
Using GMB lets your customers directly contact you for inquiries without the need to share your contact information. The customers can connect to you by clicking the message or call button then you can receive their message through SMS or the Google messaging app. Remember to activate this feature first in your account’s dashboard.
To make it easier to respond, you can assign someone to reply to the messages. GMB assures that the information received in the messages is confidential, and customers are reminded not to share sensitive information such as account details.
Making your brand accessible fosters trust between you and your customers.
How To Optimize Google My Business
Is your business not appearing in the local Google search in your area? Then follow some of the tips below that’ll help you boost your business profile.
1. Provide An Accurate, Complete, And Engaging Business Profile
It’s easier to match businesses with the right searches when they have complete and accurate information. To do this, provide correct information regarding your store’s physical address, business hours, contact number, business category, and other attributes that you deem important.
Be certain that you keep your information up to date to avoid problems. One such problem is dealing with negative reviews claiming you’ve scammed customers due to misleading details on the internet versus the actual business information.
Post updated announcements, promotions, sales, and other relevant information about your store, so customers are aware of what to expect when they visit.
2. Verify Your Business And Pin Its Location In Google Maps
It’s an important step to increase your brand’s chance to appear in the local search results in Google for products and services. If your store is not verified and your location is incorrect, your listing will not be available for customers’ local searches.
To confirm your business and its location, follow these steps:
- Open GMB on your desktop or open the GMB app if you’re using your phone or tablet.
- Tap Verify your phone number.
- To get your verification code, ensure that you can directly answer your business phone number or receive texts.
- Enter the code from the automated message or text.
3. Check Your Engagements
Examine Google’s analysis of your profile engagement to know whether your strategy is effective or not. If it’s working, you can maintain it, and if not, you need to pinpoint the problem and develop a new strategy.
One of the ways to boost engagements is through affiliate marketing. A great tool you can use is Secomapp (secomapp.com) which can help you with your affiliate campaigns.
4. Read And Respond To Your Business Reviews
Positive and negative reviews are part of any business. You need to acknowledge and answer them well to provide excellent customer service.
Always thank the reviewers for their feedback, whether it’s positive or negative. For negative ones, tell the customer that you’re working on improving the product or service to assure them that they won’t encounter the same issues again.
Replying to your customer reviews indicates that you value your customers and what they have to say.
High-quality, positive reviews from your customers can improve your business visibility and increase the likelihood of a shopper visiting your location. To maintain good reviews, you need to provide prime products and services and strive for the best customer experience.
5. Add Photos Of Your Store, Products, And Services
According to studies, images help in social media engagement. They help your listing stand out compared to text-based business listings and add appeal to your business profile.
Find a way to showcase your store, products, and services. Be sure that your photos are high-quality images that are aesthetically pleasing and grab the attention of your potential customers.
6. Add Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Google offers a question and answers feature for business profiles. This helps customers learn about the business and answer possible inquiries they have.
FAQs help you save time by answering common questions about your brand. On the other hand, customers will not be annoyed and tempted to leave your profile when they can’t easily find the answers they are looking for.
For example, a customer is about to go to your store and wants to know if there is a parking area nearby. Other people who went to your store that asked the same question may have written it in your business profile, and the answer is already provided. The customer can now go to your store with the right information.
However, you need to counter-check the questions and answers provided by your customers to avoid disappointed and frustrated customers who read the wrong information. To ensure the information provided is up to date and correct, you can set up alerts whenever questions and answers are added to your profile.
Use keywords that customers will most likely search so that your listing will appear on local research for products and services related to your business. You can also find out the most common keywords for goods and services by checking out related online stores and their keywords.
Conclusion
Google My Business is a great tool for your physical store to help market your business on the internet. It’s a cost-effective way to reach potential customers and provide them with the correct information regarding your brand.