Have you ever wanted to increase the brand awareness of your business, and improve your local SEO strategy, but don’t know where to start?
Creating a Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business) is one of the easiest ways to make your business appear more frequently for local search results.
Not only it will boost your local SEO strategy, but it will also rank your business in the Maps SERPs, making your listing visible to more potential clients.
To make things easier, we are going to explain what is Google My Business, and why is it important in 2023, by outlining every important aspect of having your Google listing present on the web.
What is Google My Business
Google Business Profile is a tool that enables business owners to create and optimize a Business Profile on Google. It is also one of the easiest tools to manage, as it includes a very easy interface and is straightforward, helping to include all the information, which is relevant to your business.
Signing up for a Google Business Profile can increase the searchability of your business, and even rank your business for more local SEO keywords.
As per Publer, every month searchers check 1.5 billion locations, and 64% of these searchers find contact information from a business listing.
Where does Google Business Profile Appear
Whenever someone makes a local search, a map with pins and business listings will appear at the top of the search.
These listings are registered businesses, which have been deemed as relevant sources in Google’s eyes, thus they are ranked at the top, promoting the business, and helping it reach more visitors.
Even if a searcher types in the name of a company, that has a Google listing, the searcher will be able to see all relevant information about the company.
This information consists of:
- The work time of the physical or digital store.
- Phone number to contact the company.
- The physical location address of the company.
- A list of reviews shows how good or bad the customer’s experience was.
Why do you need a Google Business Listing
Having a Google Business Profile is totally optional, and you don’t need to have one. However, if you don’t create a listing for your business you can miss out on many opportunities.
With a Google Business Listing, you can manage your company’s appearance across multiple locations, driving more visitors to your physical stores.
Google Business Profiles are a perfect way to keep your existing audience up-to-date with the latest information and provide future updates.
Not to mention that Google Business Listings are a Local SEO ranking factor, boosting the quality of your website, and proving that it’s a legitimate business.
Local backlinks also have their separate rankings on the Maps section, where Google ranks the most accurate businesses on the top for certain keywords. Optimizing a Google Business profile can ensure it will appear at the top of the local results both in the regular and Maps SERPs.
A few more benefits of starting a Google Business Profile:
1. Google Business Profiles are free, and you don’t need to pay for your listing to appear at the top of the search results.
2. You can provide additional information, increasing the quality of your off-page local SEO strategy, which benefits both your listing and website.
3. Appear for more searches on the Maps tab in the Google SERPs, helping you reach more potential customers.
4. Engage with your customers by collecting their emails and other information, without paying for it.
5. Help people learn more about your business by posting any updates that happened around your business.
6. Answer any specific questions from inside your Google Listing, eliminating the need to repeatedly provide the same answer.
What Can You Do with Google Business Profile
Google My Business is an effective way to grow your audience and become present on the web. It has many hidden talents, and potential for business owners, such as:
1. It lets you add all relevant to your business information, making your business stand out in front of competitors, and start appearing for more local searches.
2. List all products and services your business offers, which makes it easier for visitors to understand more about the business and its offerings. Google Business Profile also lets you choose more than 2100 categories for your business to make it stand out.
3. Create personalized business offers and discounts, which become visible in the form of updates from the business. It is one of the strongest and most beneficial options in Google My Business, which most marketers use to optimize Google Business Profiles.
4. Ask and receive reviews from any local customers on your Google Business Listing, which appear on the front page of your listing. Depending on the number of reviews, and their rates, businesses get featured on top spots more frequently.
5. It helps you perform local SEO for multiple location businesses, and list all the branches of your business, which will appear for their precise geographical location keywords.
How to Sign Up for Google Business Profile
To create your own Google Business Listing, you will need to be signed up on Google. Once you are signed up simply enter Google Business Profile, and click on Sign in.
Immediately after that, you will be receiving steps on how to start a Business Profile.
In making your profile, Google will also need you to fill out relevant to your business information, such as addresses, services, and products offered by the business, that is being registered.
Once all information has been filled out, the business must complete a verification step to become visible to searchers.
An optimized Google Business Listing should have:
1. The name of the business including location and words describing the business. For example, Digital Marketing Services + Town + Agency name.
2. Relevant address, which leads customers to the physical location of the business. It is also required for verifying the Google Business Listing.
3. Phone number and email address need to be present, so customers can call your business or simply write an email if they have questions.
4. Business description explaining what the business is about and how it can help customers.
5. Main categories and sub-categories are present so Google can understand more about the business and show your business for more searches.
6. The website address of the business so clients can understand more or directly purchase from the site.
7. Images of the building from inside and outside, which help clients find your physical business location.
8. Logo image of the business showing clients and Google that your business and website are linked.
How to Use Google My Business for Marketing a Local Business
Google Business Profile is a powerful tool, with a very simple interface, which can help business owners to boost the visibility of their local listings on Google.
To utilize this tool, 3 different things can be done, enhance your SEO strategy, and provide your business listing with quality.
1. Engage With Customers
Engaging with customers who left reviews or have questions is a solid way to boost your overall local SEO results. There are many ways you can do that, and the first one is to respond to each review left on your website.
Another great way is through responding to messages. If we go to the dashboard of our Google Business Profile and open messages, we can see all messages and suggestions left by Google that can be followed.
If you have done everything right, the chances of your website converting visitors into loyal customers are pretty high.
2. Choose Area Coverage
This option is a must, as Google can help all potential customers to find your business, and navigate to its physical location.
When providing the address of your physical business, Google gives you the option to display it or hide it from searchers.
When applicable, show your physical location, so most visitors can go to your local outlet, and receive services or shop for products.
Research made by SerpWatch shows that 54.81% of Americans shop at local stores at least once, and 70% of these people prefer local shopping, instead of traveling to long-distance places or purchasing digitally.
3. Gain Insights About Your Business
By using Google Listings for your business, you will be given a small list of insights, on how customers found the business on the internet.
On top of that, if a business receives more than 50 searches, it will start displaying the local keywords, which were used to find the business listing on the SERPs.
If all other suggestions were followed, a business can start receiving more than 50 visitors per day, making it a healthy 1500 searchers per month.
Conclusion
Google Business Profile is a helpful tool, that lets business owners expand their reach, attracts more local customers to physical outlets, or helps them learn more about the business.
It is also helpful for building brand trust, as 70% of the customers are making purchase decisions based on what reviews have been placed under the business listing. Nonetheless, you can start a GBP without a website, and still earn more clients.
By optimizing a business listing in Google, most businesses receive a big proportion of visits without having to pay or invest in SEO tools or digital marketing services.
However, if you are inexperienced with setting up your Google Business Profile, and require help, you can sign up for our Local SEO services, which will get your business on the Local Search Pack, and optimize your Google Business Profile to appear more frequently when searched.