Google My Business & SEO

Improving your local ranking on Google

Thinking about achieving SEO success for your and nearby locations, Google My Business is the solution! Google My Business helps you achieve marketing success for your business while leveraging location based strategy.

What is Google My Business?

Google My Business is a FREE tool by Google wherein you can create your business page with all the information like: Address / Store Hours / Service Information & Type / Areas of operation / Add Photos & Videos and much more.
Google My Business (GMB) page helps businesses manage their online presence for local exposure.

So for example: When you search for “restaurants near me” on Google, it pulls up a list of GMB pages (businesses, who have created their Google My Business pages and are verified).

Your GMB page also has directions to your physical store location so that makes it easy for your visitors to find your business location easily.

Starting your GMB listing!

Here is a quick guide on how you can create your Google My Business listing: https://support.google.com/business/answer/6300717?hl=en

Below is one of the examples of how an optimized Google My Business page looks like:

Essentials for Google My Business Optimization!

Here are the most essential points to be considered while optimizing your GMB page:

1. Create Google My Business page:
Creating a Google My Business account is the first step used for optimizing your Google My Business Profile. You can create by visiting google.com/business/

2. Entering accurate & complete information:
This is an important part, if all the information is entered correctly, your GMB page has the highest possibility of ranking higher on Google.

Baisc Information which is needed,
Name
Address
Phone #
Website
Store/Office Hours

Further information –which is important and needs thought
Category & Attributes
Products & Services
Questions & Answers
Reviews
FAQ’s

3. Describing your business:
GMB page allows adding a brief description within “from the business” section within account dashboard. This section appears below the Reviews section when the listing shows up on Google.

You should even add keywords to the description as this will help you get at the top like the traditional organic SEO!!

4. Category addition: Make sure you select the right category for describing business. There are many options to choose from so you need to be clear and very accurate when selecting the Business category

5. Adding Photos: Google My Business page allows you to add photos related to your products / business etc. GMB pages with photos are expected to receive more than 30% of  traffic  & click throughs to their website. Adding photos to your page will allow users to better know your business!

So, you can upload photos related to your products / happy customers / events basically anything and everything your business has to offer.

• Images that should be added to your page:
• Logo Image
• Cover Photo
• Additional Photos

Make sure the photos you upload are as per Google guidelines:

Format: Jpg / Png
Size: Within 5MB
Minimum Resolution: 720 X 720 (in pixels)
Should be of good quality

6. Managing Reviews: Reviews play an important role for your business!! Likewise, these Reviews are important when users search for you online. When you setup your GMB page, make sure you encourage your customers to submit Reviews on your GMB page as it will help build confidence on your business / product.

But never forget, always respond to the Reviews either it is good or bad as this will give an impact on the users that the business is concerned about their customers and this will leave a positive impact on your prospective customers!

7. Posting Offers / Announcements / Events: If your business has a scope for offers or runs an event or any special announcement, make sure you post it to your GMB page.  You can do it through Google posts (just like we do posts on social media platforms) and below is a quick article on the same which will guide you: https://support.google.com/business/answer/7662907?hl=en

8. FAQ’s:  There is a question & answer section in GMB profile which can be helpful to the visitors but the crucial part is: anyone can ask a question / answer it so this might lead to inappropriate / inaccurate details.

9. Messaging: This option allows the viewers to send a message to your phone. This feature is gaining importance day by day as it is easier for the users to get in touch with you so easily.

To enable messaging, select the “Messaging” tab in your Google My Business dashboard, and you have the option to install this via Google Play or the Apple App Store.

Notes:

• You can use a different number for this so the number that is displayed on your GMB page is dffierent and you don’t have to reveal your cell phone number / personal number to your visitors
• Do set up alerts for messages in your Google My Business dashboard. You can do so through settings and selecting “Customer messages.”

 

Key Points To Remember:

•  Google My Business (GMB) page is important for your local SEO
• Your GMB page should be verified and should have the maximum information related to your business!
•  Your GMB page will have your business information so it helps visitors search your business locally.
• GMB page doesn’t replace your website but complements it!

As mentioned previously, improvisation is possible only if you measure it!
So, in my next blog we will discuss about GMB insights.

Stay tuned for some more articles on SEO!!
Leave your comments for any doubts / questions / suggestions!