One of the best ways to increase your company’s visibility and online presence is by creating a Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business).ย
Google My Business, also known as GMB and Google+ Local, is a free service that helps people using Google to discover information about your company such as your location, phone numbers, and business hours. It also allows current information that you can post with photos, videos, and GMB posts (more on this later).ย
Here are 3 additional core benefits of having a GMB listing:
- You can receive alerts after customers post reviews of your company online.
- Your business can appear in Google Maps and local pack listings when people do searches on Google.
- Your organic search result appearance in Google can lead more people to visit your company website.
A GMB is one way to manage your company’s Google presence, online visibility, and customer relationships across the Google ecosystem.
Is a GMB Profile Different Than a GMB Listing?
A GMB profile is the Google My Business page of your company. Google My Business Profile (GMB profile) is also known as the Google Maps page for your company. It’s where you can claim or claim your business listing on Google Maps.ย
Claiming Your GMB Listing
One of the first steps to increasing online traffic to your business and website is claiming and optimizing your GMB listing.ย
To claim your listing, follow these steps:
- Create your GMB listing (if it doesnโt already exist)
- Verify your GMB listing on Google
- Optimize your listing
To optimize your listing, follow these six easy steps:
- Use your brand name as the name of your listing
- Use the same logo as your website
- Include a detailed business description
- Include a detailed ad
- Correct address of your business
- Consider adding your phone number (make sure to set your privacy settings first)
Claiming and optimizing your GMB listing is an essential part of achieving success on Google and the internet.ย
What Happens if I Don’t Claim My BMG Listing?
If you don’t claim your GMB listing, you will still have a GMB listing for your business. The difference is that if you don’t claim your GMB listing, it will be an inactive listing. Inactive GMB listings will not show up in Google search results unless the user is signed into GMB. Once it is claimed, though, the listing shows up.
If you are not claiming your Google My Business listing, you are missing out on many opportunities to grow your business.
Here are five reasons why you should claim your Google My Business listing.
- Your company can become more visible online.
- Your business can rank better on Google.
- You can get more reviews on Google.
- You can get more reviews on the Google Maps app.
- It can help you with your advertising, targeting, and ad planning efforts.
Can I Boost My GMB Listing?
If you’re looking to increase the number of impressions, click-throughs, or visits to your website, then you’ll need to invest some time following the steps below.ย
- Add a well-written, enticing description of your business.
- Ensure the content on your GMB page is up to date.
- Fill out your hours of operation, physical address, and secondary contact number to provide visitors with accurate information.
- Provide your website link or social media links if you have them.
- Link your GMB to your other social media platforms.
- Create weekly quality posts that will rank well in search engines – this can be sales, updates to your business, updates in your industry, etc.ย
What Are GMB Posts?
Google My Business posts are essentially like microblogging. Posting weekly content on your GMB will allow you to publish updates about your offers, brand, products, and events. The posts will show up on your GMB when someone searches for your business/services. GMB Posts are a great way for you to promote your business to new or existing customers.ย
Below are some topics for GMB posts for businesses.
- Posts for an article on your blog
- Photos
- Infographics
- Press releases
- Case Studies
- Client Testimonials
- Company Profiles
- List Posts
- Top 10 Posts
- Podcast Posts
- Quotes
- Upcoming Events
- Video Posts
How Can Photos Improve My GMB Listing?
Photos make your business personal to the customers searching online. In fact, businesses that have photos on their GMB listings get 42% more driving direction requests and 35% more click-throughs than those that have no images.ย
Photos of your business, of customers shopping, and even of your products/services allow customers to gain trust in your business. Images will help entice the consumer to go to your physical store or visit you online.
You will want high-quality images of the interior/exterior of your business, photos of your team members helping customers, menu items, best-selling products, etc. Once you upload your images to your computer, rename them to match your business and other keywords. This will help when people are searching in Google. Geotagging your images is also a great way to optimize your images.ย ย
Keep in mind that once your business is claimed and people start leaving reviews, their images also show up on your GMB listing. This can be great as people love to see reviews, and it can help retain the trust that your potential customers are building, but it can also taint the image you were painting. Someone could leave an image with malicious intent. Check your listing often, so you know when someone has uploaded a poor or bad image.ย
Are Google Reviews Part of GMB Optimization?
Google Reviews provide feedback on a person or organization that provides a service or product. Google Reviews give the consumer the ability to rate a business on a scale of 1-5 on various aspects of what they offer. Reviewers can also write a comment about their experience and share those comments with those who are looking for advice on the service or product. Google Reviews is a way to provide information on what someoneโs experience was and how they felt about the service or product. Anyone can leave a review for any company so users can rely on them as accurate and helpful, as they come from those who have actually used the service or product.
Can You Turn Off Google Reviews?
The short answer is no. Google Reviews can’t be turned off.
With more than 5 million reviews, Google Reviews is the most popular review site on the internet. The reviews are current, helpful, and give an honest opinion about the company. The reviews are an easy way for consumers to find others’ opinions about a company and what other customers think of the product.
The reviews can be positive or negative, but all reviews are useful to the public to help them decide if they want to continue to trust the business. Negative reviews are part of the game, but you can respond to negative reviews, show your past customers and potential customers that you acknowledge the issue, and are working on a solution to improve your business. If you regularly monitor your Google Reviews, the negative ones should not poorly impact your business.
Allow Get Visible to Manage Your GMB Listing
GMB listings are vital to your search engine optimization plan. If you have been managing your listing yourself and feel overwhelmed, allow our specialists to take over for you. Contact Get Visible today to get a custom quote for managing your GMB listing.ย