Optimize Google My Business (GMB) or what used to be know as Google Places for Business to provide the opportunity for local business to be visible in Google Map and local search results. Most important is that creating a Google My Business listing is absolutely free!
What is a Google My Business listing?
Google My Business listing allows you to list for business location, contacts and details on Google maps and Google Search results.
Among the important details of your business that you can display are:
- Business opening and closing hours
- Email address
- Phone numbers
- links to your website
- Current promotions / Offers
- Upcoming Events
- Products
- Services and products
- Images of your business (outside and inside your premise), your team and your logo
Google My Business listing should be considered as an essential requirement for all business. This does not only apply to business firth a store front or physical location but also to online business.
Why is Google My Business important for your business?
People are relying more and more on local search results to determine where they should eat, shop, travel or make their next purchase. Hence setting up your Google My Business listing seems to be one of the easiest way to get your business noticed the next time someone searches to make their next purchase near you.
You have most likely at some point of time made a search on Google such as “places to eat near me” At which point Google would have returned a list of 4 businesses you could eat based on your current location. These 4 businesses would have probably influenced your decision on where you ate that day.
If those for businesses did not have a Google My Business listing then they would not have shown up in your search results and would have missed out on the potential of having you as their customer. Now, think about this in the context of your own business, how can local search benefit you business based on the products or services that you are offering? Are you loosing out by not having a GMB Listing?
Google regularly updates their search algorithm, hence if you want to make your business visible in Google search results you would need to have a Google My Business listing and ensure to keep it relevant by regularly updating and optimizing it.
How to improve your businesses local ranking on Google Search and Maps.
Firstly you would need to set up and claim your Google My Business page for your local business. Next you would need to optimize Google My Business listing by ensuring all the details relevant to your business are populated accordingly. Ensure to include as much information as possible to fully optimize Google My Business listing.
Once you listing is updated and active, it will start showing up on google search results. When you business show up on potential clients results they will then click on your listing to gather more information such as your contact details, direction and services offered
People are getting more more accustomed to getting information instantly and accurately. As such if your GMB listing details are inaccurate it becomes harder for them to physically find you and they will soon move on to somewhere which is easy to find and you would have lost a potential client.
This is the new online environment that your business must now compete in. Especially with the current Covid-19 pandemic, with everyone being quarantined at home, more people have shed their inhibition to the online marketplace place and have become comfortable to search and decide where they are going to spend next based purely on online presentation. So ensure your business is taking full advantage of how people are searching online and not letting it impde your ability to attract new customers.
Below are some tips on how you can Optimize Google My Business Page
Write a good description of your Business
Spend some time to write a good description of your business. The Google My Business description can be up to 750 characters, however structure your description is such a way that the most relevant information are in the first few sentences. Ensure to make it a local as possible so that it is relevant to potential clients in your business vicinity. Try to include 2 – 3 relevant keywords that describes your business best so as to provide a clear overview about what your business does to potential customers.
Add Up to 10 Videos or Photos to Google My Business posts
You can add up to 10 videos or photos videos to your Google posts. This gives you the opportunity to push up your your posts even more and make it stand ahead of your competitors. A good video or photo can say a lot about your business, team or products. So imagine what 10 of them can do. This will greatly benefit those with e-commerce business as you can add multiple images of the products that you offer. Allowing customers to view your products on their google search page itself without even having to go to your website.
Update / Add Images on a Regular Basis
While you were setting up GMB listing you may have added standard images such as the exterior and interior of your business, your logo and your team. But do not stop there, post as much images as you can and as frequent as you can. This will indicate to google that your business is active and has a lot of content to offer. Google algorythm strives on content and data. This will push your listing higher up in google map and local search results.
Gather Customer reviews
If you want to rank higher in search and map results then collect reviews. Reviews act as real world signals of what people actually think about a business and are a key factor when it comes to ranking in local search. Not only this, but they act as social proof to your potential customers and help them make a decision on whether to do business with. The best way to collect reviews is to ask for them. Seek out customers who you know what been satisfied with your product or service. To make it easier to collect reviews, set up a templated email but make sure you personalize it where possible in the send!
