Do you want to get a good ranking on Google Maps? If yes, follow these Google Business Profile optimization tips and strategies to optimize your Google Business Profile.
Creating a good business profile to rank high on Google Maps is important. This means creating a thorough description of the services or goods offered and having accurate information such as an address, contact number, map location, etc. In addition, when optimizing a page for Google, you should consider the keywords that appear in the title tag, image alt tags, meta descriptions, URL, and other relevant areas.
Here are some tips to ensure your business gets listed on Google maps.
Google Business Profile Optimization Tips
The idea behind Google Business Profile optimization is simple – having a good profile on Google maps can improve your business website rankings. You have to optimize your listing on Google Maps to make this happen. There are several steps involved with optimizing your profile – they include updating information, adding images, correcting spelling mistakes, etc.
Remember that there are three important factors when optimizing your Google Business Profile.
Relevance: How well your Google+ business page matches a search
Distance: Refers to the distance of your location from where the search query or searcher happens to be located at that moment.
Prominence: Your business’ popularity, including its popularity among potential customers and its presence online, should be considered when deciding whether to hire a search engine optimization company.
Verify Your Google Business Profile Listing
Verify your business using USPS mail. You’ll need to wait about 14 business days before verifying your business. Sign in to your GMB profile and then click the Enter Code button. Paste the 5-digit zipcodes from your US Postal Service. Your business will now be verified.
Don’t Forget to Add Keywords
Businesses should use important keywords and search phrases in their business profiles. This will help to improve their local rankings.
A local post is added to your Google listing, and you get to choose what content you want to publish. For example, you can write about news events or interesting topics relevant to your community. This is ideal for business types that may be new to the area or haven’t been around long. Keep your business posts short and simple, emphasizing your physical location and the services you offer. Google loves fresh content.
Make Sure the Operating Hours Accurate
Business hours are very important, but you need to update them when they change. Google offers customization options for holiday hours and other special days. You could also use this feature to send messages to visitors about current events or changes to your business.
Complete All Necessary Sections
You can get better organic rankings from search results by filling out your profile completely. You should fill out your business name, business phone number, website, operating hours, and physical address. In addition, your website should be listed as any other important information about your business.
Be Meticulous About Your Information
You must optimize the contact information in your Google Business Profile is important because it helps people find your business. Your business name should be identical to the one you’re using on your store signs. You shouldn’t add location names unless they’re part of your brand name. Also, make sure that your business address and phone number match your other listings across business online platforms. Inconsistencies in this data may cause Google to view you as a spammer.
Your Business Description Should Be Compelling
Google allows you to use 750 characters to describe your product or service. Don’t include any promotional words in your description. Instead, tell people about your products and how they’re different. Include your company’s mission statement and history.
The first thing to note is the editorial summary that appears just below your company name in your Business Profile. This description is not really in your control. You may want to add more information about your business here.
Your profile appears lower in your Google Business Profile account’s “from the business” section. It includes your address, phone number, holidays, and website hours. You can edit this section by clicking the pencil icon next to each line item.
To optimize the “from business” section of our Google Business Page:
- Utilize all 750 characters with key information in these top 250.
- Repurpose content found on your “about us” page or mission statements.
- Utilize keywords your audience uses to find businesses similar to yours.
Don’t duplicate content already seen in the other sections of our Google Business Page. Instead, use this space to tell people what makes us different than our competition and what we do best. Don’t use links or HTML.
Always Pick a Category
Choosing categories is important for optimization. Therefore, you should include as many relevant business categories as possible. For example, if you’re selling flowers, you might want to choose ‘flowers’ and ‘flower shops’.
Restaurants can include a menu or reservations button; hotels can provide star ratings; hair salons can tell the prospective customer about their experience with thin or curly-haired people. These contact details can help happy customers choose you over competitors.
However, please don’t overdo it. You should only include additional categories that fit your product or service. For example, if you’re an appliance repair company, make sure that you only include additional categories related to appliances. Don’t include categories that aren’t relevant to your business. Also, be careful when editing your secondary categories because Google may ask you to verify your information if you change anything.
Choose Your Attributes Carefully
As we just mentioned, once a user chooses a primary category, Google will provide a list of attributes that they can select. These attributes are not specific to the GBP platform, but Google’s attributes are very detailed, like “good choice for working on a laptop “or “popular for traveling “.
When you select a primary category, Google gives you a list of attributes to add to your description. Check those boxes to make sure they apply to your business.
Attributes should be as comprehensive as possible. When a user goes onto your business listing page, they see a lot of information about your company. This includes business reviews, pictures, brick-and-mortar location, special hours, services, contact info, etc. However, these attributes do not include whether or not the business accepts dogs. So, if you are an establishment that accepts dogs, you need to add the following attribute: Good For Dog Lovers.
Add Photos
Uploading photos to your Business Page through your Google Business Profile account dashboard is important.
First, ensuring quality. Anybody can add business photos to your business page, which means you’ll get a range of quality photos. Second, being active. Adding photos regularly indicates to Google that you’re active with your business page, which positively affects your Google search ranking. Third, getting images in results.
Google continues to advance in image recognition and starting to include photos in local results. Increase engagement. Customers are 42% more likely to as k0driving directions to a business if their business profile has photos.
Moreover, a BrightLocal Study showed that businesses with more than 100 photos get 520% more calls, 2,717 % more direction requests, and 1,064 % more website clicks than the average business. This doesn’t mean you should go crazy adding a hundred pictures to your profile at once; follow these tips to use photos effectively:
- Add a photo or two to each section of your profile (photos are most effective when relevant to the blog post)
- Add at least one new photo to your site every week.
- Use your logo as your thumbnail.
- Use an image that best represents your brand. Cover photos should showcase your brand page’s personality. The cover photo will always be cropped to a 16:9 aspect ratio and should always feature your brand page’s logo.
- Don’t worry about the size of the photo because Google will resize it based on the size of the screen.
- You should take other images from real life. Don’t use stock photos, and don’t use any customer photos with special effects or logos.
- Google wants to show you how your business looks in the real world. Focus on high-quality images that have clear depictions.
- Google will pull a specific picture from a business profile and display it right in local Google search results if it matches the relevant searches.
- This helps customers experience to understand the experience inside a business better. It lets service-area businesses share the look and feel inside their stores. Potential customers can understand the store’s layout and any possible limitations.
Geotag Your Photos
Geotag your pictures to indicate your area’s prominence further, and use Google’s Streetview app to add a 360° photo to your profile.
With the help of GPS coordinates, people can easily find your store or restaurant online. Using geotagging, people can find your business by searching for business locations nearby. It would help if you made it easier for people to find your business. George is a free online service that allows users to add location information to their photographs easily. This information helps search engines understand the context of each photo. Adding this extra information to your business listing, you help make your business more visible to customers who may be searching for a list of businesses nearby.
Add Reviews
The business with four stars is more popular than the one without any reviews. This is because reviews are very important to consumers when deciding which business to buy from. In addition, Google may also show a business profile in direct search results if it contains relevant keywords.
Google will encourage keywords in your reviews to validate relevance. Follow these steps to optimize your Google Business Profile with reviews to stand out from competitors.
Start with your long-term, loyal customers to get momentum going. Then, create a review shortcut link or use Whitespark’s short link generator (both are free) to its easier for customers to leave reviews.
Use email, text, social, and in-person conversations to remind customers that reviews aren’t just for your benefit; the information helps others who have the same problem find a solution and make informed decisions. Have a Reviews page on your site with a Call To Action (CTA) to leave one.
Responding to customer reviews shows prospects what you’re doing to solve problems and improve your local SEO strategy. Be careful not to incentivize reviews with gifts or discounts, but be sure to reward those who write positive reviews.
When someone writes a negative or bad review about your company, don’t wait for a response. Instead, have a response plan ready so that you can respond promptly and politely.
How to Respond to Negative Reviews
Apologize and thank them for their feedback. Negative feedback isn’t always bad. It’s an opportunity to improve and learn from mistakes. Thank them for their input and tell them you’ve heard what they said. Be gracious. This is a public conversation. Defend yourself by explaining why you did something wrong.
Observe customer actions. Publicly thank them for their input. Tell them you’ll reach out to them directly to solve the problem. Don’t respond right away. Wait until you’ve resolved the issue. Keep it short and sweet. There’s no need for a long-winded response. Be polite. “Sorry that we didn’t take care of you as well as we should have. We’ll do our best to rectify this. Call me at xxx-xxxx-xxxx to discuss how we can better serve you. “
Optimize the Q&A Feature
Your profile must contain answer questions about why you do what you do. In addition, you need to make sure your clients understand who you are and how you can help them.
You can’t shut down the Q&A feature for your business profile, but there are some things you can do to improve its search performance.
Set up alerts to remain aware of any new customer questions or answers posted to your profile. Start your Q&A (Question and Answer)
Keywords are important because they help improve your Google Business Profile’s ranking for that particular keyword. But keep your keyword strategy loose and organic so as not to keyword stuff.
Include Products and Services
Adding products and services is especially useful if you’re offering something new or unique. You should add information about what you offer, how much it costs, and why people should buy it. This he