Google My Business is one of the simplest methods to boost the visibility of your website in search results, but many companies fail to make use of it to its full potential.
This post will discuss why small companies should have a Google My Business page and why it’s worthwhile to spend the time and effort necessary to make the listing as helpful and successful as possible.
What exactly is Google My Business?
Google My Company (GMB) is a popular service that provides local business listings. For example, ads for global corporations such as Starbucks may sometimes be seen alongside ones for local cafés and eateries.
While the more prominent players may already have Google My Company listings, any business can get a prominent placement if they get the fundamentals right and value consumers.
These listings will show in numerous Google searches, and your company may appear in various ways. The most apparent is a search for your company’s name.
On a straight search for the brand name, here’s an example for a Cambridge café. The Google My Business listing may be found on the right side of the website.
If someone searches for the company name in this manner, they’re likely seeking information about the café, and GMB listings may give extremely rapid answers.
They may, for example, read the location, business hours, and phone number right quickly, as well as a summary of reviews. There are photographs and a link to instructions, which is helpful if the searcher is just a few minutes away from searching for a coffee.
So the searcher rapidly finds the information they want, with the only possible disadvantage being that they discovered the information in the listing rather than on the business’s website.
The advantages of the listing, on the other hand, are likely to outweigh any loss of online traffic. Besides, they’ll still click over for further product information (or menus in the case of cafes).
Local searches on a business type are another method a business GMB listing may show in searches.
This is probably what makes GMB so strong – these listings dominate the first page of search results, and the three cafés listed in this example are likely to gain from their prominent placement.
What is the purpose of having a Google My Business listing?
You’ll need one of these if you’re conducting any business. Here’s why…
prominent placement in search results
As the Relevant Records example above shows, a listing may make your company stand out in search results and help people locate your business, whether it’s online or offline.
While listings ensure that you will show in brand name searches, such a high position in ‘company type’ results is not guaranteed.
This might vary depending on the degree of competition in your region for your company kind and characteristics such as review ratings. Still, there are strategies to improve your chances.
However, if you can rank in the top three results, it’s an excellent method to attract traffic to your website or physical presence. Google My Business Google My Business
The significance of local search
Google My Company is all about local search – this might include searches conducted near your business and searches conducted outside of the region with the location included.
For example, if a person is in Cambridge, they may search for ‘cafe,’ but if they plan to visit Cambridge later, they may look for ‘cafe Cambridge.’
According to Google statistics, 46 per cent of all Google searches are local, and the GMB ‘three pack’ of results appears in 93 per cent of all local searches.
These figures are supported by a 2018 Uberall poll, which found that 83 per cent of smartphone consumers performed ‘near me’ searches – those with local intent.
These searches were classified as follows:
- 84% are related to food. Google My Business
- 56% are interested in entertainment.
- 50% in banking Google My Business
- Clothing and footwear accounted for 41% of the total.
- Personal care accounted for 38% of the total.
The report also discovered that 60% of mobile users are “extremely inclined” to click on the first two or three results they see, which is noteworthy considering how GMB results appear in mobile searches.
A Google My Business page is essential if you want to increase your chances in local search results.
The significance of mobile search
Mobile search has now surpassed desktop search for the leading search engines. In the first quarter of 2019, 62 per cent of Google searches were mobile, whereas 50 per cent of Yahoo searches were. Only Bing has a marginal share of mobile searches (23 per cent) because the leading mobile operating systems use Google search by default.
According to the ‘near me’ search statistics, a significant part of mobile search activity is expected to be local. Google My Business Google My Business
This increases the importance of mobile visibility. Google My Business is critical to this since these listings dominate mobile search results to the point that it’s hard to ignore them on many local queries.
The mobile search can be more effective for some business types, the most apparent being cafes and shops because the searcher’s location and query indicate a genuine desire to buy or visit.
Your rivals may or may not be on it.
This may work in a few different ways. To begin with, if your rivals have GMB listings, customers will have to work harder to reach your website in local searches.
You’ll be less visible, and consumers will have to scroll down below the more prominent GMB listings to discover your site. Having your listing allows you to compete on an equal footing.
If your rivals do not have a GMB listing, this is an opportunity to acquire an edge. Your mobile and local search results will stand out more, increasing the likelihood that searchers will encounter your listing.
Customers will be able to locate you more efficiently due to this.
Listings give crucial information to searchers quickly, allowing them to identify a company and determine whether or not to visit. Google My Business Google My Business
Opening hours, popular times to visit, and maps to aid navigation increase the likelihood that searchers will see the business. Google My Business Google My Business
Credibility
Web consumers are increasingly used to seeing these profiles, which may offer legitimacy to your company.
The ads seem professional and give crucial information that assists customers in determining if you are a genuine company or not, such as address information and reviews.
Increase your search visibility.
Even if you don’t have a physical shop and do business online, these listings can enhance your overall search visibility.
For example, my firm does not have a shop or sell directly, but the GMB listings that result in brand searches increase our search visibility.
A listing is free and straightforward to create.
A GMB listing has several potential advantages, and even a simple listing may assist in boosting your search visibility; therefore, it’s worthwhile to create one.
Indeed, if clients search for your company and do not find a listing, this might be an issue in and of itself.
Discover information on customer behaviour.
Google gives you some essential data about your listings that you can utilize to obtain insights into consumer behaviour.
Creating a Google My Business listing
I’ll summarize the procedure below, but this excellent guide to local SEO offers more thorough information on generating or claiming your Google My Business page.
Follow these procedures to add or claim your GMB listing:
- Before login into your Google account, open Google My Business and click start now at the top right.
- Enter your company’s name and click Next.
- Before entering your business address, choose whether you want your location to be shown on Google Maps.
- Indicate the kind of your company.
- Enter the contact information you want consumers to utilize (phone number, website URL, etc.).
- Finish and double-check your listing.
- You can access and see your GMB dashboard on the Google My Business homepage after you’ve set it up. It’s under the ‘Home’ page, under ‘Performance.’
This will reveal how consumers found your company, where they saw it (maps or search results), and what actions users took – visits, calls, reservations made, and so on.
It’s an excellent approach to monitor how your listing performs and how any optimization actions you do affect performance.
What steps do you take to optimize your Google My Business listing?
Once you’ve created your listing, you can do a lot to make it stand out in search results and give relevant information and features to your target clients.
Get the fundamentals right.
Follow Google’s rules and ensure your NAP information is valid and up to date. NAP stands for the company name, address, and phone number.
It’s also critical to choose the appropriate category since this influences the searches in which your company may appear. It might be tempting to go wide to attract more queries, but you are more likely to rank for more precise phrases, such as ‘nail salon’ rather than the salon.’
Fill in the blanks with information that consumers will find valuable.
Consider what you would want to see on a listing. Many companies, for example, do not provide opening hours, which might be critical when clients are determining whether or not to visit you.
Make sure to explain your company, as this burger joint does. It may assist in attracting visitors, and adding relevant links to the menu and bookings makes it simple for consumers to choose a visit or order depending on the listing.
Regularly monitor and update
GMB listings do not have to be time-consuming, but it is critical to maintain information and connections up to current. Adjust your opening hours, for example, if necessary, during the Christmas season. Google My Business Google My Business
Also, ensure that the photographs correspond to what clients will discover. If you’ve recently updated the shop and look fantastic, make sure the pictures reflect that.
Utilize new features.
Google has introduced several handy supplementary capabilities to GMB listings during the previous two years. Depending on the company, they may serve to increase foot traffic and catch searchers’ attention.
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