Use these tips for Google My Business to spread your business across Google Search, Maps, and SERPs.
Use GMB for free to engage with your customers.
Yes, believe it or not, registering for Google My Business is free. Using these Google My Business Tips, you will appear freely on the web via Google Search and Google Maps at no cost. Thus, GMB will make your website or business visible to your customers in a way you may not have imagined yet, and enhance your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) value. You can start your Google business profile by typing “How to Create My Business Listing on Google” on your browser and signup or update your business profile on Google. Whether you are an online professional, marketer, content developer, business agency, or an online e-commerce company, you can have a natural “google my business login” or update your “google my business information anytime you want. Signing in with GMB can help you with additional support options to promptly resolve your online visibility issues, enhance your SEO value, and rank in the search engine result pages or SERPs.
Google My Business or GMB is a simple and useful tool for businesses, organizations, professionals, and online marketers in optimizing their online visibility across Google Search, Google Maps, and other search engines. When you can verify, add or claim and update your “My Business” information on Google, you allow your customers to easily match their search queries with a click to find your business. Tell your customers of your business story in a way far different from traditional companies. Otherwise, when you do it the old way, you may miss the holistic approach of scoping and extending out business information to your potential clients online.
Start putting in place your business in the ways adhering to the new normal. Even those conventional companies that have a physical location, selling their products or services either in person, by mail, or through the phone are now shifting towards the new normal. These companies offer or sell their physical products or services off the digital platforms before the new normal comes. One of the options they could best choose is the free use of GMB to engage with their incumbent and potential clients and rank high on the SERPs.
Do you know why your GMB information or GMB account matters?
When you register, signup, or update your GMB Information, you can get Google support to focus on your business-specific and content marketing needs. This GMB account structure is designed to manage all your website dependencies and agency-specific needs. Your GMB information will catalog the third parties, manage teams, and all their listings under one account. Your GMB account will help provide a structure that’s designed for third parties to manage all their listings under one account that has an impact on your website content or website SEO. Social media-wise, your business profile also matters to widen your “My Business” services on Google.
We have prepared a dozen useful GMB or Google My Business Tips on this article. You can adapt or integrate these tips with your own GMB listing when you register and make use of your “My Business” Account on Google. Mind you, and it would surely benefit you to get more than just a business listing over Google platform. When you do it well, your free GMB account allows you to easily connect with your customers across Google Search, Maps, and other search engines.
1. Sign up for Google My Business
Google can help your business find what you need, Â especially when you own a small business, Google can help you attract customers and get ahead of the competition. Google can help your business to organize it efficiently and establish its visibility on Google search and maps. GMB is a great starting point for your website or business. Signup using your computer, sign in to GMB, and on your Google Account. Of course, you have to create one if you have none yet. Type your business’ or business chain’s address. You can choose if you want your business location to appear on Google Maps. Look for the choices and select a business category. Check if a listing for an old business is present at the same location where you are doing the registration of a new business.
Please do not attempt to claim the business in existence in that location. Instead, suggest an edit to have it marked as closed. Then, proceed with updating/ adding/ claiming, creating, and verifying a new My Business information or GMB listing on Google for your website or organization – Please start your GMB account here. Again, ensure to have in mind that you would not miss generating and driving more traffic to your website. All the more, intensify your business reach-out, and enable differentiation of your SEO value in the Google platforms, among search engine result pages.
2. NAPW (Name, Address, Phone, Website)
One key essential aspect of SEO is that your NAPW – name, address, phone number, and website – are all consistent across the online directories to stand out in your Google Business Profile. Discrepancies in your NAPW would lead to lower rankings and even take part in your site users’ pain points. Highlight anything that is new on your My Business information in Google to guide your potential customers to your business.
Ensure that once you are done verifying the accuracy and consistency of your NAPW information across all channels, you ensure your GMB listing is verified and at its full optimum level to increase your chances for both local SEO citations, and even international SEO success. Make your NAPW as one key of your local ranking strategies to stand out and top the online search platforms. Please bear in mind that your incumbent and potential clients are possibly using apps, mobile devices, and the internet on their smartphones to search for their services or service providers.
Make sure to differentiate your website or Google My Business information such as your NAPW from your competitors to drive customers to your website. Your NAPW is key to the intent of the site user or searcher, and better make sure that Google is following and understanding this all, and that your site loads quickly, mainly when users use their mobile devices locally to search for your NAPW.
3. Ensure your Google My Business information is accurate
Ensure to fully and accurately optimize your Google My Business listing. You need to review not only your Google Business Profile but double-check as well the accuracy and correctness of the following information:
- Verify your GMB listing
- Complete all pertinent fields
- Service Area Business
- Phone Number
- Photos, Videos, and Posts
- Business Name and Shortname
- Business or Operating and Holiday hours
- Description
- Services
- Reviews
- Â Q&A
All of these are great ways to fully optimize your “My Business” listing on Google. But one of the most important things to remember once you can optimize it is to adhere to Google’s policies for representing your business on Google. Otherwise, it would result in having your GMB listing flagged or suspended and would result in your listing being removed entirely.
Double-check your adherence to Google’s policies, no matter what you see. You have to verify and confirm that the information on your GMB account is correct. Please take note that when you verify your business information, see to it that everything is ready to appear to customers across Google Search and Google Maps. You have to edit and either claim or create your GMB listing and verify your business information on Google. When you are done verifying your GMB account it will be eligible to appear across Google platforms.
Try looking for a business on Google Search, such as ITDwebdesign.com and SEO Agency. Please take note of the small profile on the right side of the search results. This is the Google My Business information.
4. Ask your customers for reviews.
First, ask your customers for their consent before sending a review request at the right time. Make your customer feel that you are asking them a “favor” and do it at the peak of their happiness with your product or service. Let them know how long the review will take.
Subsequently, send them your “Thank You Pages.” A simple gesture that counts the SEO value proposition when done correctly at the right time. There are no other means than allowing your customers to tell a story about your business, and seeing it through the great user-experience your customers have gone through. Make use of your different spaces to encourage your customers to leave a positive review whenever possible for them. Simply optimize your content, especially your GMB listing or “My Business” information on Google, to make it customer-review-ready.
You can ask for good reviews at the right moment with that information on your GMB account to meet them where they are during their Google Search. Most customers read Google reviews before taking any orders or purchases online. All these reviews are essential for a business or company in persuading potential customers who are still on a decision making stage of whether to use your business or not. When a searcher or user finds you on Google platform, and your business has earned positive reviews and good ratings, it can help you earn a new customer.
There are a lot of ways, too, to create SEO value on your customer reviews. You can create incentives, reasonably handle, and respond to every customer review – both positive and negative ones deserve a polite answer. Share positive customer reviews you have already received, as well as those negative customer reviews with effective responses you have handled well. Doing these will show your customers your commitment to ensuring a complete user experience and letting them feel you are there whenever they need you.
The results of Google reviews are one of the SEO factors of local search ranking. Hence, the more reviews and positive ratings your website earns, the more it will increase its chances of optimizing your local business ranking. Your ranking will position you in SERPs, another SEO factor that highly applies to local search optimization. The more positive reviews, the more click to likely drive traffic to your website, and brings a lot of credibility to your business. When you are an e-commerce website, you can also integrate Google Customer Reviews badge on your website to display your rating and link to your seller ratings landing page. This badge lets you show to your searchers what other customer reviews about their experiences on your site.
Lastly, check that you have the right domain name or company on your My Business listings on Google, and proofread your GMB account to make sure it matches your customer review when it happens at the right time.
5. Choose the correct business categories
Google has over 3,000 business categories, 3,942 to be exact as of 2020, that allows a selection of up to 10 category choices for any GMB account. Examples of these business categories include consultant, advertising, branding, public relations, government agency, financial institution, investment bank, association, publisher, and a lot more to choose from Google’s business categories.
However, you can only select one (1) primary category, which is Google’s algorithm priority for ranking on its SERPs. Choosing your correct business category to describe your business and connect you to customers searching for the services you offer. For example, if your primary category is “computer shops,” Google may show your business information in local SERPS to people who search for “Shops,” “US Shops,” or “Computer” in their area. Keep in mind that your category is just one of many SEO factors that can affect your local ranking on Google search engine results pages.
Your business category may also be used to assign a “place label,” depending on the type of business you operate. Place labels are a feature of Google Maps that can display business information. These are great GMB listing content such as landmarks, businesses (building names), and tourist attractions on Google’s base map data that you can zoom in on.
6. Make sure your hours are correct
Ensure that your business information on your GMB account is correct and up-to-date. When there are changes in your business information, update your GMB listing to ensure Google gets accurate information to share with potential customers for your business. Also, Google may tend not to accept changes if they believe it is inaccurate. Google is one of the first platforms that customers would head to check whether or which businesses are open nowadays. That is one reason you need to make sure your business hours on your GMB are correct.
Plan and prepare ahead, operating your business during a holiday or tightened movements can be tricky and confusing as there are a lot of factors or details and limitations that you have to consider. One of these factors is your business’s open hours and special days, but it will ease your online traffic with the help of GMB. Google search engines allow your business listing to post your operating hours on public holidays, community restrictions, and special events before they even transpire.
Your operating hours are one of the business information that you need to keep your customers informed so that they can follow your business opening hours as well as your closing hours and special hours, such as holidays or events. It is more important that you provide your customers with accurate business information during this uncertain time. On this new normal transition, online businesses are one of the thriving arms of the global socio-economic capacity to survive in the current crisis. It needs to value field data or business information as well as closer customer communication. So, make sure to add correct hours on your GMB account. You have to turn on each day of the week that says your business is open.
Allowing your customers to know what is going on in your business is the key to prevent uncertainties. Notifying your customers of correct business hours is one of the best customer relations practices, letting them feel how you value their role in your business. You can also update the customers of your correct hours through your GMB posts. Doing this will place loyal and potential customers at the front and center of your business progress. In the advent of the rising demand of businesses changing their hours nowadays, GMB is prioritizing the updates of GMB listing for health-related businesses first, and all other businesses or industries to follow after that, thus, may experience such delays. All requests for edits or updates will still be reviewed for quality purposes and can take up 3 days or more to be published on your GMB listing.
7. Add new images often to your GMB account.
When you upload photos to your GMB account, you should first make sure that your images adhere to Google’s photo guidelines. You should reach out to GMB support if your images are still not appearing, and raise your concerns about the issue.
You can add any photos or videos to your business listing on GMB to visualize your pro