What is Google My Business? How can I use it?

Many businesses try to get more attention on Google by setting up a business listing (known officially as a Business Profile). A business owner like you might not know that you don’t have control over a business profile when you set it up a business profile. If you want your business profile to be a good SEO and lead generation tool, you need to manage and edit it. After setting up a free Business Profile, you also need to set up a free Google My Business account for that profile.

What is Google My Business?

Google My Business (GMB for short) is a free web tool that aims to help local businesses get more visibility on Google when people search for things in their area. With the help of Google My Business, owners of small businesses in their area can control and improve their visibility on Google Search. Optimising your listing and page can help your business stand out from the rest in your area.

Almost all people start their customer journeys on Google, especially when looking for a local service business. The most important thing is to be found on relevant terms for those services.

Using Google My Business can help your business get better results from other online marketing channels and get more money back. Including GMB in your whole marketing plan, including your website and other advertising channels.

It can be easier to get more people to go to the different business branches when they use Google My Business. While GMB is primarily for businesses close to where you live, it can also be suitable for other types of companies.

Google My Business is suitable for –

There are a lot of things you can do to improve your business’ performance. Here’s how Google My Business can help you: 

•        Getting feedback

•        Get business information from search engines 

•        A tool for marketing and communicating with people

•        Google My Business Insights and how it can help with analytics

•        There is no charge

•        Easy to Use

Why do you need a Google My Business account?

Get found on Google (and Google Maps)

Even if you want people to walk through your door or visit your website, Google is the best search engine. A Google Business Profile helps people find your business when searching for products and services like yours in their neighbourhood.

Your Google My Business page tells people where and how to get to your business. A Google Business Profile also improves your SEO in your area. For example, when people search for a business near them on Google Maps, they are more likely to see an ad for a local one.

Control the information about your online business

Your Google My Business profile lets you control and change your contact information, business hours, and other important information as needed.

You can post updates to tell people that you’ve added more services, closed for a short time, or fully reopened (a handy feature during emergencies like COVID-19). Your information will be more likely to show up on Google Business Profiles than on third-party sites that might be out of date.

Build trust through reviews

Reviews are an essential part of social proof and an excellent way to build trust and credibility. As a business owner, you want your customers to share as much or as little information about their experience with you as they wish. This is why Google has a combined star rating and space for detailed reviews. People who aren’t yet ready to buy or visit businesses can use this information to determine which companies to go to and what products to buy.

It is scary to think about reviews coming in on a public platform like Google My Business and not sharing only the good ones. The only thing you can’t do is respond to all reviews, as we’ll explain later. But don’t worry: Google thinks that a mix of positive and negative reviews is more trustworthy than a long list of glowing reviews.

How to use Google My Business for local marketing

There’s no doubt that Google My Business isn’t your business profile. It’s a tool that helps you improve your business profile to make it more visible and valuable. There are four main ways you can use this Google My Business tool to make your Google listing more useful for local marketing. Let’s go over them.

Talk to your customers

There are many ways for people to interact with your Business Profile. Using Google My Business account to interact back is one of them. You can respond to reviews, answer questions, allow direct messaging, and set up alerts that go with them.

You can even use Google My Business to post to your Business Profile, just like you would with Facebook and other social media.

Exhibit your business

Through your Google My Business account dashboard, you can add hours, a link to your website, products and prices, attributes, and other things that make your business different from everyone else.

You can also use your Google My Business account to make changes or updates. Google My Business allows you to exhibit a complete picture of your business. This includes the number of reviews you have got, images and location of your business, and your business description including its best features. The major advantage is that all this gives you visibility right in the search results.

Find out new things

You can use Google My Business to get information about your audience and how well you do in local searches. This information can be found in the analytics section of the platform.

You can see what customers are looking for when they search for your business profile, how many people have looked at your business profile, and what their favourite photos are.

You can also see how well your photos perform compared to other business profiles in your category. Make sure to keep in mind that you can use UTM parameters and Google Analytics to see how many people click on your Business Profile.

Do SEO in your area

In the same way that Google has algorithms for how its ads and websites are ranked, it also has one for how Business Profiles are ranked. With Google My Business, you can use keywords to describe your business and make other changes that will help it show up in local searches, which we’ll talk about next.

How to Set Up Your Google Business Profile

A Google Business profile will help you increase your online visibility and bring more customers to your company. These are the steps required to create a Google Business account.

1. Go to Google My Business website (www.google.com/business)
2. Sign in to your Google account by clicking on the “Start Now” button. You can create a Google account if you don’t already have one.
3. Include your business information including address, phone number, and business name. You can also select the category that best suits your business.
4. Verify your business using either a postcard with a verification number sent to your address or your phone number.
5. After your business has been verified, you can upload photos and a description of your business. You can add information like your business hours, website and the products/services you offer.
6. Google Maps and Google Search will display your business information.
7. Encourage customers to leave reviews for your Google Business profile. This will help you build your online reputation and attract customers.
8. Google My Business Insights can be used to monitor your profile and track how customers interact with your business online.

How can I use Google My Business for improving my business?

Google My Business is an essential tool for any business owner looking to improve their online presence and attract new customers. Here are some of the best ways to use Google My Business for your business

Claim your business with a verified listing

Google My Business has the feature of claiming your business and showcasing that you are the original owner of it. This is further verified by Google and hence will add credibility to your business. When you claim your listing, Google takes control of the information Google displays about you on both its search results page (and Google Maps). This will ensure that your business is consistent across all Google properties.

Optimise your listing

Having a Google My Business account is one of the most basic steps for doing local SEO for your business. With Google My Business you can make sure that your website is listed and is appearing for the localised keyword search results.

Add your business name, address, and phone number to build confidence with your audience. This will increase your local search ranking and make it easier to find potential customers by providing consistent and accurate information.

Build a relationship with your audience by using reviews

Customer reviews are a key factor in local search rankings. They can also help to build trust with potential customers. Your customers should leave reviews on Google My Business. Provide excellent customer service and follow up with customers after sales. This will make it easy for your customers to find your business and services.

Keep your Google My Business profile updated

Google My Business lets you post updates about your business such as special promotions, events or new products and services. These updates will appear on your listing and help you attract new customers as well as keep current customers engaged. To encourage customers to act, make sure you include quality photos and clear calls to action.

Make use of the messaging feature

Google My Business lets you communicate directly with customers who have found your listing on Google. This is done through the messaging feature of Google My Business.

This allows customers to directly send messages to you from your listing. These messages can be answered directly through the Google My Business app. This makes it easy for customers to communicate in real time and adress their concerns.

How to use Google My Business for SEO?

This is how Google Business Profiles work: They change over time. They don’t just vary depending on which platform they’re on, but Google will also emphasise certain parts of your profile based on what people search for and what kind of information is essential to them. Even better, Google will make words in your profile that it thinks are imperative stand out.

But you need to put important information and keywords in your profile first, so you need to think about what to put there. Google My Business is used in the same way that you would use a content management system like WordPress to make your website more search engine friendly. How do you use Google My Business for SEO in your area? There are three things you need to focus on when you’re optimising for Google, and they’re the same three things you need to focus on when you’re optimising for searchers.

Target your information

Use Google My Business for SEO by including relevant keywords in your Business Profile. This way, you can tell Google what you want to rank for, which will help you. There are a lot of places where you can use these words. You can use them in your “from business” description, your answers to reviews, and the posts you write. Make sure to use them naturally, just like you would with any other SEO method.

Maintain the quality of the information

If your Business Profile isn’t complete or accurate, it won’t appear in search results. Make sure you fill out all the Google My Business dashboard sections. Here, your contact information, special hours, and traits are essential.

It’s essential to build trust

The last way to use Google My Business for SEO is to get Google to trust you. Keep your information up to date and correct as your business grows. To keep a steady flow of reviews coming in, make sure you answer each one. If you want to make it clear to Google that you’re active, you can add pictures and write posts to your business profile on Google My Business all the time.

Reviews and responses show up on your business page. Google My Business is an excellent place to keep track of them. If your business is small, SEO is essential. You can use local targeting to compete with more prominent firms on the SERP. Having a Google My Business account is a must for any business that wants to get more customers in their local area. Google is making it even easier to do local SEO because it has a lot of information about businesses.

Conclusion

Google My Business should be used by any business that wants to grow its local reach, visibility, and profit. People can use Google My Business, free and easy to use, to market their business online. Many businesses are taking advantage of Google My Business, and those who do so will be more likely to reach and sell to people who live near them. The power of local marketing, especially local SEO, is that you get a lot of free attention.  

A GMB profile can be an excellent place to manage and answer customer questions. This can make customers more satisfied and increase the number of interactions you get. The more customers interact with your business, the more likely they will tell their friends about it through word of mouth. Most of the time, when you use Google My Business as a tool for online marketing, it can help you save money on your online marketing or get better results from it.

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