Google My Business: The Ultimate Guide to Local SEO

GMB Overview & Basics
A report by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor revealed that over 15
million Americans (or 7-8% of people age 18 to 64) own a local
business and rely on it to support their families.
Running a business is something that many people dream of, but
finding success doesn't usually come easily.
A report published by the Small Business Administration shows that
the top reason for businesses shutting down was low sales with 25%
of businesses citing that reason for going out of business.
Local business owners and marketers need to be able to get search
engine traffic from local search to truly maximize their potential and
odds of success.
Although SEO might sound scary to many local entrepreneurs, getting
traffic from local search doesn't have to be complicated. In fact, one of
the easiest ways to start getting local SEO traffic is to submit your
business information in Google My Business.
So what is Google My Business and how can it help your local
business? Let's take a closer look...
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What Google My Business Is
Google My Business (GMB) is a free tool that allows businesses with a
physical location to create an update their Google profile. It allows
businesses to control how their business information appears in
Google search and on Google Maps.
With Google My Business, you can add photos, create a compelling
business description to entice customers to visit your location and
also monitor and reply to reviews that customers leave on Google for
your business. GMB also has a mobile app that you can use to monitor
your online presence when you are away from your computer.
Google My Business also offers free analytics to let you know how
people found your business online.
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Why It’s Important
According to Moz's local search ranking factors, which they update
each year, Google My Business is consistently in the top spot for
ranking factors in local map search and also a significant factor in
organic local search. If getting search engine traffic is important to
your business, then you absolutely need to at least set up your Google
My Business account.
Being visible in local search makes it easy for customers to find you.
Customers that are looking for businesses on Google maps and in
local search are usually ready to buy.
Here's an example of what shows up when I search for "pizza" on
Google. In this example, the Google maps results are displayed above
the organic search results:
Note that the Google map results don't always show up on top, but
people still tend to click on them even if they are farther down on the
page. Juris Digital did a heat map study and discovered that around
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32% of people clicked on the Google maps results, while the remaining
users clicked on organic search results or paid ads.
Google maps makes it easy for customers to see exactly where you are
located and get directions to your business location. Being listed on
Google maps can drive a significant amount of traffic to your local
business.
Having a Google My Business account also allows customers to leave
reviews for your business. Reviews are another important ranking
factor for search engines, so being able to accumulate reviews will
also help you rank better in local search.
If customers leave negative reviews you can also reply to those
reviews to resolve the situation. Being proactive and replying to
reviews lets customers know that your business cares about their
customers, which will increase people's confidence in doing business
with you.
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How to claim your account
To sign up for an account, go to the Google My Business page and
click on the button to get started. You can also call the phone number
on the page for assistance:
https://www.google.com/business
Once you click on the button, Google will ask you a series of questions,
starting with your business name. You will also be promoted to enter
your address, business phone number and hours of operation.
Be sure to also upload photos and write a compelling business
description that will encourage customers to come visit your location.
A strong business description and high quality photos can encourage
customers to click on your listing and visit your business.
After you've completed fill out the forms, Google will send a postcard
to your business address to confirm your business location. The
postcard will have a code that you can use to confirm that you are the
owner of the business. After you've entered the code, your Google My
Business account is confirmed and active.
If you need further details, Google has also created its own guide to
help business owners set up their Google My Business account.
Another important thing to note is that people can suggest changes or
edits to your business on Google. This feature allows consumers to
alert Google if a business closes down or if the business's information
changes (since business owners don't always update their online
information).
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However, one of the downsides of this feature is that unscrupulous
competitors or malicious individuals can also change your information
without you being notified. Be sure to check your Google My Business
account periodically to make sure that your business information is up
to date and accurate.
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GMB Optimization
Setting up your Google My Business account is a great first step to
getting traffic from local search.
But to maximize your results from Google My Business, you can take
several steps to optimize your listing to help drive even more traffic
from local search.
Optimizing your listing may take a little time to do, but is not difficult.
Any business that wants to be competitive in local search should do
these steps.
Want to get more local search engine traffic?
Then let's take a look at how you can optimize your listing and get
more reviews on your Google My Business account.
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How to optimize your listing
Taking the time to optimize your Google listing could significantly
increase the number of people that see it and ultimately decide to visit
your business. Here are some simple steps you can take to increase
the effectiveness of your Google listing.
Business Name and Basic Information
For business name, Google wants business owners to enter their
actual business name and nothing else. Avoid using taglines, location
information or mentioning products in your business name unless they
are an actual part of your business name.
Some SEO practitioners believe that adding keywords into your
business name will help you rank better.
However, note that listing your keywords in your GMB name is not
required to rank. A quick search for keywords like "pizza" will show that
several of the ranking businesses don't have the keyword in their
name.
Instead, be sure to include your keywords in your business description
and on your website's title tag and text.
Fill out your other business information including business hours,
address, website and phone number. Select the right business
category so that Google will rank you for the right terms.
Google might also provide other options, like menus, where you can
enter information specific to your type of business. For business name
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and information, the most important part of this section is to fill it out
as completely and accurately as possible.
Business Description
Google allows 750 characters for the business description, but only
250 characters will show up in the short versions when display space
is limited. Be sure to write a compelling description in the first 250
words that can stand on its own. But also use the remaining space to
create a longer description if you feel that it can help.
Business descriptions should not contain self-promotional language or
offensive or inappropriate content. Avoid talking about special
promotions that you are offering at the time. You are also not allowed
to use links within your description.
Instead, take the time to write a description that accurately reflects
what your business offers and highlight key selling points.
Do a quick search and look at what other businesses have written for
their business description. Think about how you can write a
description that stands out from the rest.
Photos
According to Google, businesses with photos see 42% more requests
for driving directions and 35% more clicks on their website link than
businesses without photos. Google recommends that photos should
be at least 720 x 720 pixels and saved in jpg or png format. They
should also be no larger than 5MB in size.
Uploading high quality photos and videos can make your business look
more appealing to potential customers. You don't have to be a
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professional photographer or video editor. Sometimes even cell phone
photos can do the trick.
If you are an agency or marketing manager, there is a tool called
LocalPics that will automatically send text message reminders to
business owners to send pictures. The business owner can upload the
pictures to LocalPics and they will automatically get uploaded into
their Google My Business account.
Let's take a look at the types of photos you can upload.
Cover photo
Your cover photo is important because it is the most prominent photo
shown on your business profile. This image is also used in thumbnails,
so be sure to pick an image that makes you stand out from
competitors or makes people want to click on your listing:
Profile photo
Your profile photo is what shows up on your avatar when you post a
photo or reply to a customer review. A business owner might choose to
upload a high quality photo of themselves as the profile photo or a
high quality image of the business logo.
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Other photos
Be sure to also upload a variety of other photos to represent your
business. Here are some ideas you may want to consider:
- Photos of the exterior of your business
- Photos of the interior of your business
- Photos of your most popular products
- Photos of happy customers enjoying your products
- A photo of your team or employees
- Any additional photos that clarify what you sell or demonstrate value
to the customer
Add as many high quality photos as you need to fully convey your
product offerings and what your business does. You can upload
multiple photos in each of the above categories, if you think that doing
so will help.
If you have a lot of photos or multiple business locations, you can
upload photos using a spreadsheet.
Videos
Google also allows people to upload videos to a Google My Business
profile. Videos can be a maximum of 30 seconds long and 100 MB in
size. They should be 720p or higher in resolution.
Adding a video can be a great way to engage your customer, showcase
your location or demonstrate your product. Some video ideas might
include giving a tour of your location, having the business owner share
a message, filming happy customers or showing off some of your
products.
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Most local businesses don't have videos on their Google profile, so it's
not really required. But taking time to create and upload a video can be
a good way to stand out.
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How to get reviews on Google My Business
Another important step to getting search engine traffic from Google
and also attracting more visitors is to get reviews on Google My
Business. According to a study by Brightlocal, 91% of people surveyed
trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations and 86%
of customers read online reviews for local businesses.
Unlike Yelp (which discourages asking customers for reviews), Google
My Business actually encourages businesses to ask customers for
honest reviews.
To get more reviews, make it easy for people to get to review sites by
linking to them from your website and social media pages. You can
even ask people to leave reviews by sending them an email and simply
asking for a review (if they join your email list).
Avoid offering incentives like discounts or free products for giving a
review.
Reply to positive reviews when appropriate to thank customers for
their business and show them your appreciation.
You should also reply to negative reviews. Be careful not to resort to
personal attacks on the customer as that type of reply will make your
business look unprofessional and turn away future customers.
Instead, reply diplomatically, apologize when necessary and offer a
solution to the issue.
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Stay engaged with your GMB account
Engagement can be a factor that affects how websites rank in Google
local search, so be sure to log into your GMB account periodically.
Review your business description, images and other details and
update them to improve your listing, if needed. Replying to reviews to
takes time, but increases engagement from your customers.
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GMB Features
Setting up your Google My Business account is a great start if you
want to get more customers and search engine traffic to your
business. But you can increase your website traffic and get more
customers by using some of the other features that Google offers.
What else can you do to stand out from your competitors? And what
other steps can business take to improve engagement and get more
customers?
In this section, we will cover some other powerful Google My Business
features that business owners can use to improve search rankings and
attract more customers. These features include Google Posts, Google
Booking and Reservations, Google Messages and Google Questions
and Answers.
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What Are Google Posts & How To Use Them?
One feature that Google My Business users should look into are
Google Posts. Google Posts allow business owners to share
announcements, offers, news and other content from their Google My
Business account.
This content can show up in Google search or Google maps when
someone does an online search in Google.
Some marketers also believe that creating Google Posts can help
businesses rank higher in the organic search results. In this case
study, A marketing agency successfully increased organic traffic and
search rankings for a local garage flooring company and a church by
create two Google posts per week over a period of 3 weeks.
Patient Pop also tested Google Posts with their clients and found that
using Google Posts increased the number of booked appointments by
an average of 11%.
So what types of content can you create in Google Posts? And how
can you optimize your results?
Let's take a look…
Event posts versus regular posts
Google posts allow you to create regular posts or event posts. Posts
are required to have a minimum of 100 words and can have a
maximum of 300 words.
Regular posts expire after 7 days and can be used for business
announcement, news or status updates. Since standard Google Posts
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only last for 7 days, ideally, you should strive to create at least one new
post each week.
Event posts last until the event is over, so they can drive traffic and
customers for a longer period of time.
Both types of posts can be helpful for driving online traffic to your
website and business. Asides from showing up on your Google
business profile, Google Posts are also indexed and can show up in
independent search results.
Google also allows you to schedule your Google posts in advanced or
save them as drafts so that you can publish them later. Google keeps
up to date information on how to create Google posts in their help
section.
Adding images
Another great feature of Google Posts is the ability to add an image to
your post. Adding an image can increase user click through rates and
engagement, so be sure to take advantage of this feature.
Images must be at least 400 x 300 pixels (10 kb) in size and no larger
than 10,000 x 10,000 pixels (25 MB).
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Bookings and Reservations With Google
Another useful feature that Google offers is the ability to add a booking
or reservation button to your profile. This feature allows people to click
on the button to book an appointment or make a reservation with your
business.
If you want, you can also share the booking button on your website or
social media sites like your Facebook page.
Adding the booking button in Google can increase the number of
appointments a business gets as it makes it easy for people to book
appointments. Additionally, the booking button can also benefit
customers, who can add their appointment to their Google calendar to
get automatic reminders.
Google provides up to date instructions for enabling the booking
feature in this help article. Google can also integrate their button with
these third party booking and reservation software tools.
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What are Google Messages?
Studies show that businesses that focus on engaging their customers
experience increased sales. So it's no surprise that many businesses
are starting to focus on increasing engagement with customers.
Google Messaging allows customers to contact businesses directly
through their Google My Business Listing. Enabling this feature can
allow businesses to answer customer questions quickly and better
engage people who visit their listing.
Messages are sent to your phone and you can reply. Phone numbers
are not revealed for either the business owner or the customer, so you
can even set it up to send messages to your personal cell phone.
If you decide to enable Google Messaging, be sure that you are able to
reply to inquiries quickly. If you aren't going to be able to reply in a
timely fashion, then you will be better off leaving this feature disabled.
Google also provides some guidelines on what types of messages are
appropriate and inappropriate for this service.
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What is the Questions and Answers feature?
Google My Business also has a Questions and Answers feature where
people can ask questions about a business. Business owners and
other people can reply to these questions.
According to a study conducted by Gather Up, 25% of businesses get
questions on their Google business profile. Unfortunately, independent
studies show that most local businesses and big brands are ignoring
questions and leaving them unanswered.
Monitoring and answering questions is a great way to engage
customers and provide answers to commonly asked questions.
Business owners can also ask and answer their own questions. Using
Google Questions and Answers to create your own FAQ can be a good
way to market the business by showcasing what you offer and
describing the benefits.
Businesses that are concerned about reputation management should
also monitor their questions because visitors can use this feature to
write comments and criticisms. Unhappy customers or competitors
can also reply to questions that other people ask and leave negative
comments.
Replying to these comments can be a good way to fix problems and
maintain a positive business image.
Note that Google My Business does not notify business owners when
new questions are asked. To monitor your account for new questions,
you can install the Google Maps app on your phone and turn the
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notifications on. You can also use a paid service like Gather Up that
monitors Google Questions and Answers for you.
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