Google My Business is an easy-to-use and free tool that enables businesses to maintain a presence and identity across Google. It’s jam-packed with fantastic features that allow businesses to connect with their customers or potential future customers on Google Search and Google Maps. With more and more features added regularly, businesses can post updates, advertise products, receive reviews, answer questions and so much more.
It’s also a great way to improve your local SEO and visibility in your local area. Google themselves say that local search results are based on three key factors, relevance, distance and prominence and a well optimised Google My Business listing can help with these. Here at ADAO, we’ve put together a few top tips to make sure that your Google My Business profile is fresh, attractive and well optimised.
Have your business’s opening hours changed recently? Then make sure they’re up to date on your Google My Business profile! To provide the best possible customer experience, it’s crucial to ensure that your profile is all relevant and up to date, all year round. Luckily, Google offers the ability to change these hours for holidays and special events, making this easier to manage.
Along with opening hours, other business information needs to be up-to-date, things such as your business address, imagery and branding.
We’d also recommend keeping an eye out for updates and changes! Google is regularly updating Google My Business’s features, so make sure you’re checking in regularly and updating where relevant!
It’s key to ensure that your imagery is top-notch and looking fresh, as it’s one of the first things people will spot when searching for your brand, and as you know, first impressions are vital!
This goes for your company’s branding, logo, product imagery, cover photo and anything else customers will see.
Visuals are a great way to portray a brand and encourage people to visit you over your competitors and there’s a lot of evidence that suggests businesses with more than 100 photos in their listing get more clicks!
We’re all guilty of checking reviews and making judgements before we visit places, and word of mouth and recommendations are some of the most powerful forms of marketing out there.
In terms of Google My Business, reviews also will increase your business’s visibility in search results! Asking customers to leave a Google review is vital and there are a few different ways you can do this. Do people transact on your website? If so, why not drop a link to leave a review on the order confirmation email? If not, business cards with information on how to leave a review is a great idea!
It’s a great idea to reply to any reviews you receive, positive or negative. A prompt and sincere reply to a negative review goes a long way, not only for the customer you’re replying to but also for everyone else that’s scrolling their way through your reviews.
Your Google My Business listing will have a question and answers section and it’s important to make sure you keep an eye on the questions coming in.
Bear in mind, these are submitted to your profile and are visible to anyone that sees your Google My Business listing, so it’s a great public way to interact with potential customers. Just remember, these customers are already considering using your business, and have found you, so it’s a great opportunity to push them through that conversion funnel.
Once fully optimised, Google My Business can be a powerful tool for any business, big or small and can support local search engine optimisation (SEO) and your organic visibility. All in all, it’s a fantastic free product provided by Google to drive relevant traffic to your website, encourage phone calls or direct people to your business. All you need to do is to stay on top of it, and chase as many positive reviews as possible. Good luck!
If you require any support with local optimisation or improving your brand presence both regionally or nationally, please contact our team at ADAO.