Introduction:

Almost every small business knows about Google My Business. We have compiled this article to explain the use and importance of optimizing your Google My Business listing.

Google My Business

^{[1] We’ll} go straight to the point – If you have a local business, optimizing your Google My Business listing is critically essential.

Recently, we asked 53 local SEO experts to rank several different marketing channels—things like websites, email marketing, content marketing, SEO, and various types of advertising—in terms of their importance for local businesses.

The most critical channel was a local business’s website. The second most important – Google My Business listing.

For local businesses, our respondents agree that a Google My Business listing is more important than social media, content marketing, email marketing, profiles on other directory sites like Yelp, and all forms of advertising.

Hence, that’s why we have put together this post about optimizing your business for local searches by using Google My Business.

What is Google My Business?

Did you know that 97% of people learn more about a local company online than anywhere else?

As a local business owner, you want to ensure that your company appears on their screen when consumers search for local services.

And that’s why Google My Business is beneficial to businesses of all sizes. It gives you a competitive advantage to manage your online presence and attract customers searching for your business on Google search and maps.

Furthermore, with a Google My Business account, you’ll be able to share photos of your products or services, access and edit your business information (name, location, hours, etc.), and respond to reviews. Over time, this will give your business better visibility and engagement.

5 Benefits of Google My Business

Here are five reasons your business needs a Google My Business profile:

1. Improve your search ranking and the visibility of your business
2. Enhance your customer support and engagement
3. Boost sales and traffic volume
4. Reach a wider audience
5. Establish your brand as a business authority

Improve your search ranking and the visibility of your business

When a prospective customer searches for products and services your business offers using related keywords, first, you’ll see Google ads, then Google’s local three-pack, and after that, the organic results.

By creating a Google My Business profile, you have a better chance of making the top 3 local results, Google Maps and local finder, which will, in turn, give your business more exposure and leads.

Enhances your customer support and engagement

As earlier mentioned, with a Google My Business profile, you’ll be able to respond more quickly to comments, questions about your products and services and address negative or positive feedback. Furthermore, customers are more likely to shop with businesses they can promptly contact, so your shared information makes it easier for them to call you to ask a question or make a complaint.

Boost sales and traffic volume

With local searches resulting in purchases 28% of the time, it’s a no-brainer that having a Google My Business account can positively impact your website’s traffic. Naturally, when people search for products or services your business offers and your business profile comes on, they’re most likely to click on your website to learn more about you. With an effective landing page and CTAs, they’re also more likely to complete a goal.

It helps you reach a wider audience.

With an up-to-date Google My Business profile, you’ll be able to attract and engage a broader audience, a feat that would be difficult to achieve without running ads.

Establishes your brand as a business authority

As a result of the reviews, your business’ appeal to prospective customers is positively impacted. For example, a 4.7-star review depicts that your business is excellent at what it does, and as such, people are more likely to buy from you.

^[2]Basics of Google My Business

If digital marketing is a somewhat new endeavour for you and your business, there are some basics to know.

And it’s good to understand Google My Business and the value it offers.

First off: Yes, using Google My Business is free.

And, no, a GMB listing doesn’t replace your business’s website.

Google My Business complements a brand’s already-existing website(s) by giving it a public identity and presence with a listing on Google.

The information provided about a business through Google My Business can appear in Google Search and Google Maps.

Any third-party platform utilizing the Google Maps API will also show Google My Business listings regardless of what device type is used to search.

If you’ve previously used specific Google tools to complement your business (Google+, for example), or your company has been operating for a while, chances are your business is already listed on Google My Business.

Google Places for Business and the Google+ Pages Dashboard were the best ways to manage your business information previously.

Both have automatically been upgraded to Google’s universal platform, Google My Business.

^[3]Why Should I Include Google My Business in My Content Distribution Strategy?

As content marketers, we often fail to acknowledge that a significant part of our responsibility is to ensure that our intended audience is exposed to our content.

One way to do this is to update your Google My Business listing weekly as a channel to share your current content.

Content particularly relevant to Google My Business is locally-focused content (for example, events or specials.)

Why Do I Need to Google My Business?

Did you know, on average, businesses receive 943 Search views and 317 Maps views each month?

From a 2019 BrightLocal study of 45,000 anonymous local business listings, this data shows there is an excellent opportunity to get more views, clicks, and actions as a result of your localized content.

Conclusion:

We hope that the preceding article has been informative, and we have included the reference links below.

Article compiled by hughesagency.ca

Article reference links:

1. https://databox.com/google-my-business-seo ↑
2. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/local-seo/optimize-google-my-business/ ↑
3. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-my-business-content-seo/370717/ ↑