Better visibility for businesses has always been an important factor in their success. After all, the more people see your brand, the more chances they will interact with you. In this regard, Google My Business (GMB) is invaluable for the services it offers.
The GMB acts like a digital storefront when it comes to local search results. It has all the information that a potential customer would need, including exact location, working hours, and user reviews. And not just that, optimizing your GMB can have a positive impact on your SEO metrics as well.
A comprehensive GMB page also builds trust and credibility with your audience. And the best part is that all of the features on the platform are free. It is a wonderful tool for connecting with members of your local community.
Here are 10 ways to get more visibility on your GMB profile.
10 Ways to Get More Visibility for Your Google My Business Profile
Claim and Optimize Your Profile
The first step to getting your GMB in order is to claim your listing. There are chances that other businesses with similar names might have claimed your listing as their own. Once you complete verification for your listing, it will be in your name, and you’re good to go!
The most important aspect of your GMB optimization is to ensure that your NAP+W (Name, Address, Phone, and Website) details are correct. It should be the same across all your other listings. The business description should have the right keywords included, but take care that you don’t resort to “keyword stuffing” as this can have a negative impact.
Add all the required business categories and attributes so you have a completed GMB profile. Ensure you update working hours and verify the correct location of your business on the map.
Encourage Customers to Leave Reviews
One of the vital parts of the GMB experience for potential clients is being able to read reviews of a business. It doesn’t hurt to ask customers to leave a review after they’ve been served by your business.
A way of requesting their review could be sending them a direct link to their phone or email. The key here is to keep the review process as simple and short as possible.
Take the time to respond to every review, both positive and negative. Remain professional at all times when you’re replying to your customers.
Having QR codes around your business with the link to your review section is a great idea. Showcase positive reviews on your website, specifically landing pages, to get the most out of it. Never offer any incentives for leaving a positive review, as this is against Google’s TOS.
Upload High-Quality Photos and Videos
The key part of a business’s GMB is that it needs to have clarity and purpose in its imagery. Ensure that you take the time to upload professionally shot pictures of your business premises and inside them. Needless to say, all images and videos need to be as high-resolution as possible.
The business logo should always take center stage and should be visible in the majority of pictures. Ensure that there are pictures of most of your popular services and products on your GMB. Getting short but creative behind-the-scenes footage is a great idea, and it does seem popular with visitors.
Virtual tours of your business are another idea for you to consider. Remember to keep the editing of both photos and videos to a minimum. Ensure you add the relevant keywords to the filenames and alt text.
Post Using the Google Post Feature
Google’s Post feature on the GMB allows businesses to post updates to their followers like social media platforms. While this isn’t new, you should make use of this feature to get more people interested in your business. The same rules that apply on social media apply to Google Post as well.
When posting updates, it is a good idea to have a creative image accompanying them.
Make sure that you label your CTA buttons clearly, and they are relevant to the post. Using posts to promote a new service or product is a great idea. Announcing new product launches via post is a great way to make your followers feel “included” with your brand.
Post engaging content and high-quality images on your GMB with the Post feature.
Have a consistent schedule for posting on GMB. Check and verify that the links you add point to the right pages before you publish the posts.
Respond to Comments and Questions
Since your audience can also interact with your GMB, you will need to work on making time to respond to them. Having a small team dedicated to answering this during off-peak hours is a great idea. At least the initial responses to reviews or comments need to be within 24 hours. The follow-up can be a bit later.
For positive reviews, remember to leave a personalized thank-you message for the customers. Make sure that you mention the name of the person when responding, as this can make a positive impact.
Negative reviews deserve a professional, solution-oriented answer. There should be no curt or rude responses to negative reviews, ensuring that everyone on the team knows this as well. This can turn negative experiences into examples of good customer service.
Use the Power of Attributes
On GMB, attributes are items that can best describe your business. Choose the relevant attributes from the list provided to give your audience the best chance of understanding what your business is about. It gives you a chance to highlight unique aspects about your business, like “veteran-led” and “wheelchair accessible”.
Attributes can help outline service options as well, like “curbside pickup” and “online appointments”. Another important area where attributes can help is with specifying payment options like “credit cards accepted” or “cash only”.
Keep your GMB attributes updated as your business grows and transforms. Accurate attributes go a long way to help potential customers find your business based on their preferences.
Build an Authoritative Backlinks Profile
Backlinks are indispensable in the current SEO meta and will be for a long time to come. The key to building an enviable backlink profile is to ensure that your listings are on major data aggregators in the area. Some of the better-known data aggregators are Infogroup and Localeze.
It is also important to build a presence on local business directories like Yelp and Facebook Marketplace. These can provide powerful backlinks to your website. Work on getting local news websites and community blogs backlinks for your website, as they can be quite powerful when it comes to SEO metrics.
Partner with other complementary local businesses for great cross-promotional activities that are sure to be a hit with people. Lastly, ensure that you monitor your backlinks and disavow low-quality backlinks from your profile.
Leverage the Power of the Messaging Feature
Talking about GMB features, Messages is another feature that businesses need to take advantage of for better communication with their audience. This feature enables users to directly message your business. Before you use it, you need to make sure that it is enabled for your profile.
Business owners need to set the initial “welcome” message, and they’re ready to go. Messaging is a real-time communication tool, and enabling this can add an indicator about the turnaround times for replies. This ranges from “replies in a few minutes” to “responds in a few hours”.
The shorter the time needed for replies, the better it is. Owners can manage the conversations through the Google Maps mobile app or Google Search Interface.
Add a Detailed List of Services and Products
Listing all your products and services on your GMB page is important. The “Products” section on GMB works like an ecommerce storefront with all details included. You can add the products you want to be displayed on the section through your GMB dashboard.
Remember to add high-quality images for your products and ensure the right descriptions accompany them. Categorize your services clearly so visitors are not confused with your business offerings.
Keywords should flow naturally in the product page, and don’t try to force-fit irrelevant keywords. Showcase your best sellers and promotions through your “Products” section to get the most out of your GMB.
Track and Monitor Analytics
To ensure that you’re doing everything to succeed, you need to accurately track and monitor analytics on your GMB. On the GMB dashboard, you can get a lot of useful information from the “Insights” tab.
These have data about phone call tracking, direction requests, and website clicks, just to name a few. From here, you can analyze which posts generate the most engagement and also the highest clicked CTAs. It gives you information about peak days and hours for your business.
You can leverage this to improve aspects of your business, including staffing and promotions. A/B test various CTAs, posts, images, and descriptions leveraging the in-depth information provided by the GMB dashboard.
Key Takeaways
- Optimize your GMB profile, ensuring all the information contained in it (NAP+W, especially) is accurate.
- Request customer reviews and make it a standard part of your workflow. Never commit to rewards for positive reviews.
- Respond to all reviews, comments, and direct messages on your GMB promptly and professionally.
- Monitor all aspects of your GMB through the dashboard to understand the best way to use it.
- Leverage all available features of your GMB profile to ensure you make full use of the platform.