You’ve worked extremely hard to build your business, spending countless days and sleepless nights establishing yourself in the market. It’s your passion. You have visions for the future, goals to reach, and a desire for growth. The question becomes; How do you turn these dreams into a reality? How do you get more eyeballs on your website and people in your stores?
*Enter Google My Business*
Google my what?
Google has become an unavoidable staple for discovering products and services to meet your needs. Unless you’re a total luddite (in which case you’re probably not reading this article), you’ve done it a thousand times; searching for things such as “pizza delivery near me” or “computer repair in Indy.” With the number of businesses continuing to rise, how do you make sure your company comes up in potential clients’ search results? To have any shot at all, it’s of the utmost importance that you maximize your rankings and, ultimately, your chances of making the coveted “Google 3-Pack” in the search engine results page.
[Side note: What’s this Google 3-Pack we speak of? When you do a Google search for a specific product or service, the first three results that pop up—usually under the map and above the rest of the listings—is the Google 3-Pack. It’s primarily based on location (the nearest three results to the user’s current position), but optimizing your web presence definitely boosts your chances of making it onto that short list.]
Google My Business can help tip the scale in your favor. It’s an easy-to-use tool for businesses and organizations to manage their online presence across Google. Not to mention, it’s free! Essentially, it’s a tool that allows you to access, manage, enhance, and customize your business profile on Google. There are no tiers or limitations, which gives you the same access as your competitors, big or small.
Cool beans. Tell me more!
When your company is registered on Google, your business listing, or Business Profile, is created. All that’s required to be registered is your company’s name, location, and category. [Another side note: while having these three pieces of information is better than nothing, it’s not exactly best practice to stop there. You’ll want to add as much info as you have available to optimize your listing and help it get bumped up in potential clients’ search results.]
However, even if you’re the one who created your Business Profile, you do not automatically have the ability to manage the information that Google presents or the reviews it accrues. This is basically like having a Facebook profile that you can’t post on or add personal information to (not very useful). By using Google My Business, you can interact with customer reviews, display relevant information for your business, including hours of operation and phone number, add photos of your business, point clients to your location, promote company events and news, and manage your company’s overall appearance. You also gain access to the knowledge panel (see screenshot below), and all the juicy info that appears there.
[3rd side note, coming in hot: If you don’t create your own Business Profile, Google is likely to create it for you. You may be thinking “have at it, one less thing on my plate!” But this also means it leaves your profile vulnerable to being claimed by someone outside of your company. They would then have control over your listing, and who knows what nefariousness they might get up to. If you haven’t yet claimed your listing, give us a call, and we’ll be happy to walk you through it.]
Okay but…WHY is it so important to optimize my Business Profile? Especially if my website is already optimized?
Google uses algorithms for their Business Profiles just as they do for ranking ads and websites to ensure they display the most relevant information. Through the Google My Business dashboard, you can incorporate keywords and use other optimization tools in your Business Profile to improve your rank in local results. Google prioritizes sections of your profile in accordance with the specific terms a user searches for, as well as information that is most important to consumers in your category. When you target relevant keywords, accurately and completely provide quality information, and interact with reviewers on a regular basis, Google My Business can be one of the most effective Search Engine Optimization tools available to businesses (and don’t forget…it’s FREE).
The only potential downside is the ability for customers to leave a negative review on your business. However, even a negative review can turn into a positive event if you respond promptly, with genuine and constructive customer service. Google knows (it ALWAYS knows) when you respond to reviews, and it rewards you for it with improved search results rankings.
By making the most of Google My Business, not only do you improve your chances at showing up higher in the results in general Google searches, you also improve your presence by appearing on Google Maps—yet another way for potential clients to find you.
Finally, Google My Business gives you access to key insights that can help you continue to optimize your Business Profile. They offer an analytics tab where you can see how your potential clients are finding you, any actions taken on your listing, and how your photos are perceived compared to other companies in your category. They also put all this info into a neat and tidy overview email that they send to you each month. All in all, the analytics feature is a fantastic tool that can help you capitalize on your strengths and address your weaknesses, giving you one hefty leg up on your competitors.
I’m convinced. Let’s get started!
Growing and marketing your business can be a complicated, confusing process, especially when the rules keep changing (Internet, we’re looking at you). But, in case we haven’t been clear, this free (FREE!) tool is one of the easiest and most effective ways to optimize your Business Profile and bring potential customers to your (literal or figurative) door.
And we’d love to help you make the most of it! Setting up and optimizing Google My Business profiles for clients is one of our specialties. Give us a call at 317.726.0796 (or shoot us an email, if you have a phone phobia), and we’ll help get the ball rolling.