Google Business Profile (GBP, formerly known as Google My Business) is a key part of any localised Inbound Marketing strategy and offers companies a fantastic opportunity to appear in Google search results, but the best thing about creating a Google Business Profile is that it’s free. As Google remains the most popular search engine, with over 90% of the search engine market share, there's no better time to setup your Google Business account using this free tool today!
What is a Google My Business Page?
A Google Business Profile provides you with the ability to list your business location on Google Maps and local search results.
You can display important information about your business, including the opening/closing times, contact details or a link to your website. More recently Google has also released a new feature allowing you to post a link to articles or up and coming events. More about that later.
The Google Business listing is free but it should be regarded as a necessity by all local businesses and global businesses alike. If your business is an online business and you don’t have a physical shop then you should still consider having a Google Business Profile page.
Improve Your Businesses Local Google Search Visibility
Setting up your Google Business Profile is one of the simplest and most effective ways of setting your business up to be found online. More and more search queries are becoming geographically specific and Google’s algorithms have been developed to consider user intent.
You’ve probably done a Google search at some point such as, ‘places to eat near me’, if so then you’ll notice that Google returns a list of three locations where you can eat based on your current location. The three businesses that have shown as a result of your search query have a GBP page and are one step closer to attracting you as a customer.
If these places to eat did not have a GBP page then they would not have shown. Think about this in the context of your business, whatever product or service you may be selling. How can local searches benefit your business and what might you be missing out on without one?
As Google makes regular changes to its algorithms, if you want to improve your local marketing and get found in local search you need to have a Google Business Profile listing and be optimising it on a regular basis.
How to Optimise Your Google Business Profile
After you’ve set up and claimed a GBP page for your business, the next step is to make sure it’s optimised and you’ve filled in all the important business information. You should aim to include as much information as possible on your business description and GBP listing as possible. Help your business stand out by discussing your unique selling points and what you can offer that other companies do not.
When people have done their search and found your business in the search results, their next step will be to click on your business to find out more information, such as contact details and directions.
The way people used search engines is changing and information needs to be accessible instantly. If you haven’t set an accurate business address then it won’t be easy for people to physically find you. If your business isn’t easy to find then people will go somewhere which is. It's as simple as that.
This is the online environment businesses must now compete in, so make sure your business is taking advantage of the way people are searching online and don't let it hinder your business profiles and ability to attract new customers.
Get Your Description Right
Take the time to write a good description to add to your listing and try make it as local as possible where you can so it’s more relevant to the user. The description is used as an overview about what your business does and keywords related to your business can be used here. Your GBP description can be up 750 characters but it’s worthwhile getting the most relevant information in the first few sentences. Try to include 2-3 relevant keywords here that describe your business best.
Add Posts to Your Google Business Profile
You can write and publish posts to your Google Business Profile to attract more interest. The content will show in Google search and on map results.
To add a post all you have to do is go to your GBP and create a new post. You will be able to upload an image, write up to 300 words of text or an event title, which should include the start/end date.
There is then an option to add a call-to-action with a variety of button choices including ‘Learn more’, ‘Reserve’, ‘Sign up’, ‘Buy’ and ‘Get offer’.
The post option gives you great flexibility to promote events, share your content and promote your products or services, highlighting when you are running special offers. The post will last for 7 days before you will need to replace it with a new post. Google will email you a reminder to do this.
The screenshot of the Innovation Visual GBP page here shows how we used the post feature to promote our Google Retail & Shopping Livestream event. As you can see a clear date and time is shown, alongside a clear call-to-action to ‘Sign-up’.
If you have set up Google Business Profile, but haven’t yet used the business posts feature then hopefully you now know enough to give it a go.
Remember to keep an eye on your posts, as it appears that Google posts expire after seven days of posting them, meaning you will have to update them weekly. Events can be listed for longer and automatically expire on the day of the event, which is handy.
Add Up to 10 Photos or Videos to GBP posts
As of February 2020, you can now add up to 10 photos or videos to Google posts. This means you can do even more to elevate your posts and stand out from the competition. Images and videos can help tell a story and the ability to add multiple images will definitely benefit e-commerce businesses as it will help you add multiple images of products.
Add Images on a Regular Basis
You may have added core images such as the exterior/interior of your business, your logo and your team but you shouldn't stop there. Post images as much as you can. This will show Google you're active and it will favour you when it comes to showing you higher in map or local search results.
Collect Reviews
If you want to rank higher in search and map results then collect business 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 you or not. The best way to collect reviews is to ask for them. Seek out more customers who you know what been satisfied with your product or service. To make it easier to collect online reviews, set up a templated email but make sure you personalise it where possible before you send!
Respond to Reviews
Whether you have positive reviews or negative reviews (and especially with negative reviews) – make sure you respond to all of them so your customer knows you’re serious about them and their experience with your business. This will also help other customers build trust in you as a brand. Acknowledge and thank customers who leave a good review as it shows a level of engagement at the post-purchase stage.
Finally, as a business owner, you can use your reviews as an opportunity to improve; learning what people like and what they didn’t like and improve upon it. Reviews are valuable data to any business.
Don’t Miss Out on the Benefits of Google Business Profile
Make sure that your business has an up to date and detailed Google Business Profile. If you have not taken the time to create and optimise one then you’re missing out on one of the best free ways of appearing in Google search results. It's also highly adaptable and can be updated as needed to reflect day to day changes. All it takes is time and knowledge to optimise your page, so make sure you do it. You could see the business benefits instantly.
Here is a step by step guide to setting up a Business Profile to get you started.
If you would like to know more about Google Business Profile and local SEO then why not speak to a member of our digital marketing team who will be happy to help you.
