A Complete Guide to Google My Business
A Complete Guide to Google My Business
Google is a sea and all the webpages are the drops that come together to fill its ever-expanding depths. Now, for all the businesses out there, Google My Business is the lifeboat that can help them in increasing their visibility. In this article, we’ll be explaining why it is necessary for a business, and how to go about using the tool.
What is Google My Business?
Google My Business is a tool provided by Google that lets businesses maintain and optimize their profile on the internet. Basically, it refers to how your business is listed. Further, your business will also appear on Google Maps as well as the local results of Google Search.
Advantages of Google Business Listing
Besides enhancing visibility, getting new customers, and helping potential customers reach them as easily and quickly as possible, Google My Business has a host of other advantages as well:
- Your business will be included in listings that would otherwise not have been possible.
- You can easily gather reviews about your business and then display them
- With the help of Analytics, you can understand the reach of your business better (such as the number of views, audience profile, etc.)
How to Setup a Google My Business Account
Setting up a profile on Google My Business is best done using a desktop or a laptop. You need to follow the steps given below:
Enter the basic information
After arriving on the website, login using the email id you want to be associated with your business profile. Enter the name of your business. If somebody has listed the name of your business somewhere, it might come up as a suggestion and you can choose it.
Otherwise, enter it yourself. Then comes the address part wherein you’ll have to choose between Brick & Mortar (grocery shops, doctors’ offices, restaurants that don’t deliver, etc.) or Service Area Business (plumbers, electricians, etc.).
Set up the location
If yours is a Brick & Mortar business, you’ll have to set it on the map. This might be a bit tricky as you’ll have to drag the cursor around but try to be as accurate as you can be. Then after fixing the position, you click on the ‘next’ option.
For Service Area Businesses, you need to specify the areas in which you provide your services. You can set it up based on various parts of the city, zip code, state, etc.
Choose a category
This is an extremely important step and therefore, make sure that you go over your options thoroughly and make your choice. Your potential customers will find you based on the categories you choose. When they enter a particular service or product they want, you need to ensure that your business pops up.
Customize the details your customers can see
Experts highly recommend adding this information that you’re entering to your Google listing as it increases the chances of a customer actually visiting your website. Further, make sure that you maintain a consistent front.
What we mean by this is that if there is a ‘www’ in the information you’re displaying to your viewers, it needs to be there in your website’s actual URL as well and vice versa. Also, using ‘https’ instead of ‘http’ will make the people trust you more since it will let them know that it’s a secure website.
Get your business verified
Getting your business verified is the last step but naturally very vital to the whole process. It might take some time but that’s okay. You can work on optimizing your business information till then.
Tips to Optimize Your Google My Business Profile
Google displays results that are in accordance with the location of the user. With the help of optimization, you’ll be making sure that your business is found when users search for any service or product that is provided by you in that area.
This is because Google always displays a list of local businesses that can cater to the specific need of the user to encourage them and help them in increasing their customer base. Certain ways to optimize your profile to increase your :
Work on your contact info
On your Google My Business page, there is an option called ‘info’ which you need to open and fill up all the information, or as much as you can. The more the better. Business hours, photos, services you provide, and so on, are some of the blanks you’ll be required to fill in. Make sure that it is always up to date.
Track organic traffic using Google Analytics
Pretty self-explanatory point. You’ll need to keep track of the traffic your business is receiving using Google Analytics. The number of views, most searched for services or products, etc. However, there is one issue.
Analytics doesn’t show whether the audience is coming in using Maps or regular search results. This can be resolved with the addition of UTM parameters to your website’s URL that is there on your Google My Business profile. It will help you in determining where exactly your traffic is coming from so you can optimize accordingly.
Fill out your services section
The services section lets you add more content to the Google listing and it can land you more clients as people will get a clearer picture of what exactly you can do for them. You can easily work on the services sections and provide more information by clicking on the ‘services’ option in your profile.
Add your business’s highlights or attributes
These will vary, depending on the industry your business falls under. They could be anything, from woman-led to wheelchair accessible. You can edit the highlights or attributes of your business easily by going to the Business dashboard.
By adding these, you automatically widen your audience since your business will come in the results for more refined search results as well. For instance, even the fact that you have free WiFi or just provide the service can be a huge point in your favor.
Write the perfect description
The perfect description, in this case, is to be as simple and straightforward as possible. Be clear and don’t use any flowery language. You don’t want to confuse your customers, so keep it honest. Don’t try to load it up with keywords and make it difficult to read.
Content Guidelines for Google My Business
Certain guidelines that need to be followed when uploading different types of content on Google My Business:
Photos
Specifics: JPG or PNG format, between 10 KB and 5 MB in size, min. resolution 720px * 720px and using high-quality images is encouraged.
Having a quality profile picture is important. Many times people click on options based on the images alone and you should never lack in that department. Ensure that your images are optimized using SEO techniques.
As you go for different types of images, such as cover images, product images, and others, the ratio and specifics will naturally vary. Always keep this in mind and post pictures accordingly.
Source: BrightLocal
Videos
Specifics: 30 seconds or shorter videos, size should be equal to or less than 100 MB and the resolution should be 720p or higher.
Content in video format works really well with the users. However, make sure that the quality of the videos that you put out is good. They shouldn’t be shaky or in portrait mode. Remember, the content you include in your profile represents your business to your potential customers.
Reviews
You should always encourage your customers to post reviews about your service. If the review is positive, make sure that you thank them and if it’s negative, work on resolving the issue that your customer faced.
While you can’t really remove reviews from your listing when they’re negative but you should know that Google does take down reviews that are fake. You can just ‘Flag as inappropriate’ any reviews that are fake.
Conclusion
Google My Business has helped a lot of businesses all over the globe get recognized. Make sure that you follow this guide and set up your business using this tool today so that you can effectively leverage the power of Google and expand its reach.
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