What Is Google My Business?

Google My Business, sometimes referred to as a Google Business Profile, is a free to use directory service which allows companies to upload pictures, address, what they offer and any other relevant information.

Creating an account will boost the visibility of your company, increasing the prospect of it appearing in Google Search, Google Maps, and other Google products.

In order to open an account, your organization must have a physical establishment (i.e. restaurant) and deliver services in person.

Google My Business is advantageous for companies of all sizes. Maintaining an online presence provides you with an advantage in the market, allowing customers who are searching for you on Google search and maps to find your business.

In addition, a Google My Business account enables you to post pictures of what you offer, adjust and manage the data related to your business (name, address, hours of operation, etc.), and react to customer feedback. In the long run, your company will benefit from increased exposure and involvement.

There is no cost to use Google My Business and it can be immensely beneficial for the development of your business, so seize the opportunity. Your business must have a premises that can be visited.

We posed the question to 53 SEO experts and inquired about the significance of Google My Business for regional SEO. They ranked several marketing channels, such as websites, e-mail advertising, content marketing, SEO and various types of advertising, in order of importance for local businesses.

The most important channel was a local business’s website. The second most crucial element is the Google My Business listing.

The research participants concur that a Google My Business list should be prioritized over social media, creating content, sending emails, other directory sites similar to Yelp, and any type of advertising for local organizations.

Why Is GMB Important for Local SEO?

Here are 5 main reasons your business needs a Google My Business profile:

Improve Your Search Ranking and the Visibility of Your Business

Using a structured Google My Business search optimization process will help to raise your enterprise’s presence and scoring in searches.

When a customer is looking for services that your business offers and looks for them using specific words, Google Ads will appear first, followed by its local 3 pack, and then the natural results.

Establishing a profile on Google My Business can increase your likelihood of appearing in the first 3 local search results, such as Google Maps and the local search function, thus providing your business with more exposure and potential customers.

Enhances Your Customer Support and Engagement

By having a Google My Business profile, you have the ability to quickly react to feedback concerning your items and services, both good and bad. Also, you can reply to the comments and queries about them.

Additionally, customers are more inclined to collaborate with companies they can reach with ease, meaning providing them with the necessary information makes it simpler for the to contact the company in order to ask a question or submit a claim.

Boost Sales and Traffic Volume

It’s obvious that setting up a Google My Business account can bring advantages to your website’s traffic as studies have indicated that 28% of local searches end up in purchases.

When people are looking for certain products or services that your business provides, they will probably click on your website to find out more details about you. Through the utilization of an effective landing page and calls to action, there is a higher chance that a desired goal will be met.

Pro Tip: Here Is a Go-To Dashboard For Monitoring Local Business Performance

If you’re the proprietor of a small, nearby business, it’s likely that you pay close attention to the progress of it everyday and seek out means to upgrade it. Many owners use Google My Business to do that, and now they can get actionable data in one convenient dashboard showing key business metrics including:

Views of your business listing. The daily number of times people saw your Google My Business listing.
Searches that found your listing. The number of times your listing came up in a Google search.
Sources for searchers finding your listing . Where did those searchers come from? View the number of direct, discovery, and branded searches, and understand how your visitors find you.
Actions taken on your listing . When they arrived on your listing, what did visitors do? Click on your website link? Click to call? Click for directions? Get a summary of each.
Calls received . How many calls did you receive from your listing in any month or other time period?
Total number of actions taken . Overall, how effective was your listing this week or this month? Can you do more to improve activity and response?

You have the opportunity to take advantage of the expertise of our Google My Business professionals. This template, which is ready to use, has all the key measurements necessary to keep an eye on and look at your business details. It is easy to put into action and utilize, and the most positive aspect is that it does not charge anything!

It takes no technical proficiency to configure it with a couple of clicks – there’s no need for programming.

To set up the dashboard, follow these 3 simple steps:

Step 1: Get the template

Link your Google My Business account to Databox.

Step 3: Watch your dashboard populate in seconds.

It Helps You Reach a Wider Audience

Having a current Google My Business page will enable you to appeal to and interact with a bigger crowd than you possibly could without running advertisements.

Establishes Your Brand as a Business Authority

Due to the critiques, your company’s allure to potential clients is enhanced. A 4.7-star rating shows that your company does an outstanding job, which encourages people to purchase from you.

How Does Google Determine Local Ranking?

For determining local ranking, Google takes these three factors into consideration:

Relevance – This is how well your business matches the user’s search intent. To increase the chances of your local business appearing in search results, you should feed Google with as much information as possible.
Distance – As the name suggests, distance refers to how close your business’s location is to the location of the user. If they don’t include a specific location, Google will use historical location data to roughly figure out where they are.
Prominence – Lastly, Google determines your local ranking by checking out how well-known your business is and whether it has a good reputation. To assess prominence, Google typically takes offline factors into consideration. Also, it goes through off-site links and articles related to your business.

Google looks at various elements when assessing My Business accounts, but focuses primarily on three criteria in particular. These three criteria hold the most significance for search engine optimization.

These four suggestions might be able to support you when attempting to boost your area’s SEO approach and visibility and how to execute them.

Lesser-Known Local SEO Tips Even the Experts Miss

Tip 1: Boost Your Local SEO With Google Reviews

This recommendation is relevant to any organization that can be seen on a map.

In order to improve your standing in regional search results, it is essential to have high ratings and reviews that generate confidence in your company.

Facing the challenge of competing against major corporations such as Amazon in search results can seem daunting.

But local businesses with physical locations have an advantage. When searching for something in the vicinity, Google displays numerous local businesses in its outcomes.

People who look for something will have access to a local map pack that will feature a illustration of commercial spots as well as listings for three businesses that best match the query.

Don’t assume that being included in the map pack is all that is necessary.

You have plenty of options to get the most out of your Google My Business profile, especially with regards to the reviews section. Doing this will give you an advantage over other businesses.

How to Gather High-Quality Reviews

Follow these steps to gather high-quality reviews.

Deliver high-quality customer service. Focusing on the customer experience will help you build an army of advocates willing to ride or die for your business.
Timing is everything. Figure out the best timing for sending a review request invitation.
Set expectations for reviews. The most successful businesses have built “the ask” into multiple steps of the customer visit. Before leaving the customer you should let them know when and how they will receive the invite and why it is important for them to respond.
Invite via text. Your customers are already on their phones, so it’s time to start meeting them where they’re at.

Tip 2: Make Sure Your Name, Address & Phone Number (NAP) Are Easily Visible Across All Online Profiles

It is important to make sure your name, address and telephone details are consistent and can be found on all your online accounts.

Make All Phone Numbers Clickable

Many web browsers can identify and emphasize phone numbers, but they aren’t always successful in doing so. It is straightforward and rapid to add a very small piece of code on any webpages where your contact number is featured.

To make your phone number clickable, code it in by tagging each number with, such as:

<a href="tel:+1-801-499-7111">+1 (801) 499-7111</a>

Folks are concerned that including a trackable Google number might make an effect on their Google rankings, however, so long as the specific number is listed beneath the primary number on Google My Business, it should not alter your Google rankings.

Embed a Map of Your Locations

Putting a Google Map directly on your site will make it easier for customers to find where you are located.

Tip 3: Make Yourself Textable

Most people would prefer to text. Make it easy with a textable business line.

SEO professionals have a knack for producing traffic organically via search engine results, but may not always be adept at capturing that demand.

Offering customers the opportunity to communicate with your business by means of texting (either via the GMB profile or by means of website chat) can increase the likelihood that a potential customer will become a customer.

Rather than relying on a form to gain leads, there is a more effective alternative.

Furthermore, your in-house personnel can react to ten times the amount of potential customers utilizing text in comparison to calls or emails. This implies fewer chores for you and a greater number of sales for your organization.

What else can you do with text?

Set appointments
Answer questions
Streamline operations
Capture leads
Get reviews
Send surveys
Run promo campaigns
Collect payments

Sending texts to collect feedback is extremely beneficial due to the high rate of response it generates. The more responses you get, the more reviews you’ll get and the more hits your website will gain, leading to higher rankings.

You can also employ text messages in place of emails for ordinary SEO practices such as obtaining links. Start a dialogue over text messaging and you will observe more success and quicker reactions.

Tip 4: Claim Every Business Profile

Ensure your target audience and the search engines are aware that you are operating.

Secure each and every business account you can find, on any website available, and for any area in which you may operate.

Be sure to sign up with any review sites and business directories relevant to your field and make sure your information is up-to-date. Examples include Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google, Facebook, and dealer.com.

Examine the data regarding your service; which includes duration, locations, contact details, and contact information.

Plus, make sure to spruce up your digital storefront.

The amount and standard of regional enterprise profiles are growing rapidly.

It used to be acceptable to simply have a stock photo or blurred image of one’s business on their Google My Business account.

That’s no longer the case. Get your cell phone out and go outdoors to snap a great photo of your business. That’s the baseline.

Devote a couple of minutes to evaluating the Google My Business accounts of your rivals – how does it compare to yours?

It’s not just for vanity’s sake. Search engines will recognize your listing as authentic and quality-maintained when you include nice photographs.

Aside from uploading high-quality photos, make sure to update.

Making Important Local SEO Tasks Easier

The ultimate objective of search engine optimization is to acquire more and higher quality leads, amplifying the chances of closing the sale.

It can be overwhelming to keep track of obtaining more reviews, gathering website contacts, and employing one’s online presence as their digital shopfront.

Smart businesses have begun exploiting comprehensive tools such as Podium, which helps them develop their interactions with customers into actual conversations.

Podium’s Reviews tool simplifies the process of improving your business’s visibility from both search engine optimization and map pack listings.

Texting people reviews invitations is an easier way to control your status, which ensures that all customers get an equal chance to provide their experiences.