20 Tips to Optimize Your Google Business
As the subject matter experts over at runrex.com will tell you, any local SEO is incomplete if you have not claimed and verified your Google My Business listing. However, a regular Google My Business profile alone won’t cut it, given the competitive nature of local SEO, which is why you will need to optimize your profile. To that effect, this article will look to highlight 20 tips to optimize your Google My Business, and we hope it will be of great help to you.
Sign up and claim your Google My Business listing
The very first step to optimizing your Google My Business, as per the gurus over at guttulus.com, is to sign up and claim it if you haven’t done so already. If you already have a Google account, you can use the same to claim your Google My Business listing, and if you don’t have a Google or Gmail account, you will have to create one first. To verify your business and website, you can either request a pin, confirm via phone, or verify your account via email.
Add the correct business hours
Another tip to optimize your GMB is to make sure that you add the correct business hours. As is covered over at runrex.com, add your daily business hours, your opening and closing times, and make sure you correctly indicate your holiday periods. This will help you avoid negative reviews where a customer travels to your business only to find it closed.
Add photos
Yet another tip to optimize your Google My Business is adding photos of the outside and inside of your business, as this will help customers identify your business when looking for it, finding it quicker. As is covered over at guttulus.com, this will also portray you in a positive light for new customers finding you through search.
Ask for reviews
Given that reviews are one of the main ranking factors when it comes to GMB, another tip is to ask for reviews from your customers. You will be able to encourage positive reviews by doing great work and offering excellent services. Reviews show potential customers how much trust they can place in you, and if they see multiple positive reviews, they will be more likely to engage with your business.
Respond to your reviews
Asking for reviews is not enough, you have to go a step further and respond to said reviews, in what is another tip to optimize your GMB. You can even use a well through-out response to bounce back from a negative review, showing your customers that you value their opinion and are looking to improve customer experience.
List the correct category of your business
As is revealed in discussions on the same over at runrex.com, another important factor when it comes to the ranking of local SEO is proper category associations. This means that to optimize your GMB, you will need to list the correct category of your business, which is not always easy given that Google doesn’t allow custom categories anymore. A pro tip is picking the category that is most relevant to your business and trying to restrict your number of listed categories to 2 or 3.
Add a virtual tour of your business
Another tip to optimize your Google My Business is to use the new 360-degree, or virtual tour, as is discussed in detail over at guttulus.com. This will let your customers experience your business even before they leave their homes, and works extremely well for businesses like restaurants and hotels, as it sets the tone and the atmosphere even before the customer arrives.
Leverage the “Posts” feature
As is explained in detail over at runrex.com, Google has recently introduced to GMB a feature called “Posts” that lets you add to your Google My Business listing, an image, and attachment, and a button to interact with. The feature usually lasts for one week and as such, it is important to regularly update it. You can also set the post type to an event and the post will last for the whole duration of said event.
Consistency
When looking to rank your business within the listings, Google will crawl citations from other business directories looking for consistency. This means that, if you have listings with Bing or Yelp, among others, Google will check to see if your address and other details are 100% consistent all across the board. To optimize your GMB, make sure that there is consistency in all your citations.
Merge any duplicate listings and accounts
Yet another tip to optimize your Google My Business pertains to those with duplicate listings for the same business. In such a situation, make sure that you claim and merge the other listing, or delete it altogether, to make sure that there is only one listing for your business.
Leverage the Services and Products feature
Yet another tip to optimize your GMB is taking full advantage of the services and products feature, which, as discussed over at guttulus.com, allows eligible GMB accounts to list the services they provide or upload a picture, price picture, title, and description of the products they sell. Make sure you leverage this feature if you are eligible.
Include appropriate attributes
According to the gurus over at runrex.com, attributes will provide users with more information on some of the features of your business, like say, if your business is women-led if you have outdoor seating if your location is wheelchair accessible, and many others. The attributes feature can, therefore, help your customers choose you ahead of your competitors, hence why it is such a useful feature.
Make sure your introduction is complete and thoughtful
The introduction part is where you introduce your business, and according to the folks over at guttulus.com, getting it right is another way to optimize your GMB. Use a few carefully chosen keywords and include links if you can. It is also recommended that you use bullet points where possible and that you keep your paragraphs short and sweet.
Highlight the types of payment you accept
Yet another tip to optimize you Google My Business is making sure that include the types of payment that you accept. This will ensure that potential customers know how they will pay for your products or services, information that will remove any doubts, and may ensure that they choose you over your competitors.
Add labels
Labels help organize the location into the groups, enabling one to search for the locations directly from the dashboard. One can also use labels to filter extensions in AdWords, which is another reason to add them. Just make sure that you keep your labels at around 50 characters and that you don’t include any special characters.
Add relevant keywords
As is discussed in detail over at runrex.com, keywords play an important role in search results, and as such, having the keywords in the Name of the Business can improve your rankings. Conduct a proper keyword search, with the help of tools like Google Keyword Tool Planner, and incorporate relevant keywords in the name of your business as well as the rest of your content.
Incorporate a high-resolution logo
Your business logo, as explained over at guttulus.com, can help make it easier for customers to find and connect with your business online. It is recommended that you add a square-sized image of the business logo to your GMB listing. Just make sure that the logo is a high-resolution image to make sure that it appears clear on all devices.
Add a high-resolution cover photo
Other than the logo, another tip to optimize your Google My Business is to add a high-resolution cover photo. Your cover photo, which is the large featured photo at the top of your GMB listing, should be an image of something that is not only appealing, but also shows your brand’s personality, what it has to offer, and what it stands for as highlighted over at runrex.com. Choose a high-resolution image that will be crystal clear on all devices.
Incorporate an appointment link
If your business relies on customers making appointments, and you already have an integrated scheduling software in place, then you can utilize Google’s button feature to allow people to book appointments directly from the GMB listing. Given that people won’t have to leave Google to book an appointment with you, this will make it easier for you to bring in new business.
Track the performance of your Google My Business listing
Last but not least, another tip to optimize your GMB is to make use of its insights section, where you will find information on how customers are searching for your business, the queries that were used to find the business, where they viewed the business, the types of actions that were taken, and many other useful insights. Tracking the performance of your GMB listing will enable you to optimize it for the best possible results.
As always, the subject matter experts over at runrex.com and guttulus.com have you covered if you are looking for more information or help on this and other related topics.