The importance of various marketing channels for local businesses, including websites, email marketing, content marketing, SEO, and various forms of advertising, was recently ranked by 53 local SEO experts.
A Google My Business listing is more significant for local businesses than social media, content marketing, email marketing, profiles on other directory sites like Yelp, and all forms of advertising including SEO Services according to our survey respondents.
It is the reason we wrote this post on using Google My Business to optimise your company for local searches.
What is Google My Business?
As a local business owner, you want to make sure that your organisation shows up on customers’ screens when they search for nearby services. And for that reason, Google My Business is advantageous for companies of all sizes. Managing your online presence and attracting customers who look for your business on Google search and maps gives you a competitive advantage.
You can access and edit your business information (name, location, hours, etc.) and reply to reviews with a Google My Business account. You can also share pictures of your goods or services. This will improve your company’s visibility and engagement over time.
Read More: Updated free guest post sites
Five advantages to Google My Business
Here are 5 explanations for why your company requires a Google My Business profile:
• Boost the visibility and search engine position of your website.
• Improve your engagement with and customer service
• Increase traffic and sales
• enlarge your audience
• Become known in the industry as a business authority
How to Register for Google My Business?
Here’s what you have to do to get your company listed on Google:
Step: 1 Visit Google My Business in step one.
Step 2: Log in to your Google account or make one if you don’t already have one (it is advised to use an email address with your company domain).
Step 3: Verify to see if a company with the same name and address already exists. (If you already have a business profile for an established establishment at the same address, suggest editing it to close.)
Click “Add your business to Google” if it doesn’t already have a profile.
Step 4: Type your company name here.
Choose a business category in step five.
Step 6: Include the address of your company (Although this is optional, it is highly recommended for SEO)
Add your delivery service information as well as the regions you serve.
Step 7: Enter your company’s contact information (phone number, website)
If your company doesn’t already have a website, you can have one made for free.
Step 8: Choose a verification option in step 8 Select VERIFY NOW or VERIFY LATER and then click.
If you already registered your business with Google Search Console, you might be eligible for instant verification. Otherwise, you can have your business verified by postcard, phone, or email. Finally, if you operate several businesses in the same area, you might be qualified for bulk verification.
Tips for establishing the Account on Google
Having a Google My Business profile is essential if you own a local business. Beyond that, however, you must take steps to optimise your Google My Business profile so that it appears in the local pack and ranks higher in local searches.
How can you then improve your Google My Business listing so that it ranks seo agency higher in local search results or has a chance of showing up in the local pack?
Verify Your Company
The first thing you should do is Google business verification. You will receive a four-digit PIN from Google by mail, which will take 14 days to arrive. Once you have it, enter it at the link in order for Google to recognise your company as legitimate.
Completely fill out your profile
It’s time to complete your profile after you’ve verified your business. Even though many of the fields are optional, a number of our respondents said that you must include every pertinent piece of information.
Although it seems easy, it’s frequently disregarded. Google offers the option for others—like your rivals—to fill it out for you if you don’t.
Every additional box you can check and information you can enter tells Google you’re the real deal and assists potential clients. Along with your name, phone number, and location, add your operation hours, multiple photographs of your goods or services, the areas you serve, etc.
Make sure the data on your profile is accurate and stays that way. Simply filling out the fields on your Google My Business profile is not sufficient. Additionally, you must ensure that the data is accurate and continues to be accurate.
You’d be surprised at how frequently we’ve discovered that this fundamental yet crucial online customer touchpoint is out-of-date or missing: a broken phone line, a down website, a bounced email, a location listed incorrectly or not at all, out-of-date reviews, and more.
However, how significant is the service area actually? It’s very significant. Yes, this is not practical for the majority of businesses, but one of the most important local ranking factors is the actual distance between your address and the location where your customers are looking. This is something you should keep in mind, particularly if local competition is strong.
Decide which categories are most pertinent
Choosing the appropriate service categories is the single most crucial thing a local business can do to its Google My Business profile. This feature is used to decide whether or not your listing will appear when someone conducts an organic search.
One primary category and nine secondary categories can be defined. There are almost 4,000 categories to choose from, and the list is updated frequently.
It keeps a complete and up-to-date list of all Google My Business categories and has a tool to help you pick the right ones if you need assistance choosing your categories.
Understanding your options and making a wise choice are important because the categories you select will determine which searches you’re qualified to rank for.
Additional Reviews
Getting more reviews, according to Jackie Tihanyi of Fisher Unitech, is the most crucial thing you can do to raise the ranking of your Google My Business profile. Reviews will raise your Google Maps ranking and increase the click-through rate of your search results.
Get as many positive reviews as you can, advises Chas Cooper of Rising Star Reviews. Google’s algorithms, which determine which businesses appear first in Google Maps and the local pack of search results on the web, take into account both the number of reviews and the average star rating of those reviews.
Take advantage of the posts on Google
According to Osiris Parikh of Summit Mindfulness, “Google My Business enables businesses to create interactive posts—Posts on Google—that show up in search results. High-quality posts can increase profile engagement, as well as traffic to and visibility for your business.
According to Juliette Tholey of Revenue River, “Google My Business Posts impact search rankings and help with SEO.” “Posts can make reference to content on your website, such as articles or blogs, as well as occasions like classes, sales, and promotions.
Consider creating your own custom reporting dashboard with a powerful SEO dashboard programme like Databox if you need a way to track your important Google My Business metrics alongside information from the other marketing channels you’re focused on, such as your website, email newsletter, and social media profiles.
Wrapping up
You must be prepared with a strong online presence in case customers search for your neighbourhood shop online. With Google My Business, you can put crucial company information in front of potential customers. It provides an opportunity to interact more frequently with your customers and aids in local SEO. In addition to everything else, it is a free and helpful tool for handling customer interactions and communicating important business updates to them.
