5 Things You Don’t Want to Miss in Your Google My Business Listing

Today all businesses have to target their audience with relevant content to enhance their visibility on Google. Generalized promotions or random content won’t work and will harm your search rankings and visibility.

However, that doesn’t mean you need to invest a lot of money and hire a digital marketing team to improve your search rankings. A simple yet effective tool to build the online visibility of your business is having a Google My Business Profile.

As a business, you may already have a Google My Business Profile. But, how optimized is it? People see your GMB profile as your official business profile. Thus, highlighting its best features will allow you to establish your business and enable your potential customers to find you quickly.

The best part is getting listed on Google My Business Profile is absolutely free. So, what things you should add to your GMB profile to improve your visibility. How to optimize your GMB profile and enhance your search rankings? Read on to find out the answers.

Before diving deep into the topic, let’s clarify the basics first.

Google evaluates the search ranking mainly based on three factors:

• Relevance: It checks how relevant your Google My Business listing is for a search.
• Locality: It verifies the locality of your business. How far or near it is from the user who searches. The less the distance, the more the chances of showing your business.
• Prominence: It checks for the reputation of your business. Ideally, Google verifies the credibility of your business based on factors like your online reviews, links, and SEO.

So, how to maximize your score for all of those three factors? By including the following 5 things in your Google My Business Listing, you can maximize your search score and get listed atop the SERP.

1. Fill in all elements of your GMB profile and keep your information up to date:

Customers often prefer businesses with a complete Google Business Profile as they see such businesses as credible businesses. Hence, they are more likely to visit stores with an updated profile in GMB.

Thus, no wonder Google picks businesses with complete and accurate information and matches with the appropriate searches. The more wholesome your profile stands, the more relevant it will be for the right searches. The logic here is to inform Google what you do, where you are, and when the users can visit.

So, if your business hours change over seasons or holidays, make sure you update them. Yes, if a customer travels all the way to find you only closed, it will only frustrate them. So, make sure you update all details periodically.

Moreover, you can also share updates, new product arrivals, offers, and events. You can edit your information on the dashboard and also through Google Search or Maps.

2. Include Special Features and Attributes:

Many outstanding features and attributes are available for Google My Business accounts based on your chosen category. For instance, here is a list of category-specific features for businesses:

• Hotels can showcase ratings, practices, highlights, check-in and out times, restaurant timings, amenities, and more.
• Restaurants, eateries, and cafes can display their menus, dishes, and special combo deals.
• All service-oriented businesses can show their list of services on their GMB profiles.
• Doctors, medical practitioners, and healthcare providers can add their health insurance information.
• Businesses can add CTA buttons according to their business categories like order now, book now, view appointments, check reservations, and so on. One can also add their facilities like parking space availability, wheelchair accessibility, and likewise.

Similarly, you can choose suitable attributes for your business. You can pick up to 10 categories for your business. Brands can quickly add or edit attributes from the GMB dashboard.

Consequently, if you sell products, you can add an inventory to your Google My Business Profile. Apart from showing on your GMB profile, your products will appear in Google Shopping as well.

3. Attach Real Pictures and Videos of your Business:

Make sure your Google My Business Profile includes your logo and cover photo. Double-check and use consistent images on all your social profiles, enabling people to recognize your brand instantly.

Other than that, include relevant images and videos, revealing the real atmosphere of your business location, work environment, and team. For instance, if you run a restaurant, post pictures of your menus, dining space, and ambiance.

Businesses with photos and directions get more clicks than others. However, be genuine and post real pictures and images of your business to attract people. You can add photos and videos right from the dashboard.

4. Include Appropriate Keywords in your GMB Profile:

Incorporating relevant keywords in your GMB profile will improve your search rankings and enable your target audience to find your business. You can use tools like Google Trends and Google Analytics to find relevant keywords and search terms for your business.

However, make sure you incorporate those keywords in a natural way rather than overstuffing them. In fact, adding keywords unnecessarily can hurt your search rankings.

5. Encourage Reviews and Answer Questions:

People often trust other people’s opinions and reviews more than the advertisements from the brand itself. Hence, enabling users to provide reviews for your products/services on your GMB profile will add value to your business credibility.

These days, all of us check for reviews online before visiting places or buying products. Thus, positive reviews will fetch you some new customers to your business. Moreover, having positive reviews on your GMB profile will improve your search ranking too.

Of course, your business must provide extraordinary services to acquire some positive reviews. Also, the right time to ask for reviews is after offering an excellent customer experience.

On the dashboard, you will find a share review form. You can copy and paste the link as a message to customers or into your autoresponder and online receipts. Also, you cannot turn off reviews for your GMB page. However, you can flag and report inappropriate reviews.

But, even if you get negative reviews, you should always respond to them. Again people trust the businesses that acknowledge and respond to negative reviews. So, yes, be professional and reply to user reviews promptly.

Final Thoughts:

Though you have many digital platforms to boost your online visibility, Google My Business Listing comes in handy and is a free tool to optimize your business profile and enhance your online presence. With so many rich features and options, if you leverage the GMB listing efficiently, you can improve your search rankings drastically.

Including relevant keywords, in your Google My Business profile will crawl your business atop search engines when people search for similar business/service. And, of course, people will prefer brands with detailed information, accurate direction, and precise pictures over other businesses. Moreover, GMB plays a vital role in local searches.

So, yes, feel free to follow the tips discussed in the blog and optimize your GMB listings now. Attract targeted customers, boost sales, gain excellent profits, and increased ROIs.