How to Use Google My Business for Local SEO? A to Z Guide

Are you using Google My Business for local SEO? If not, you are missing out on an important platform to make your business stand out in your locality.

Being on GMB also increases your visibility on Google Local Pack, Google Maps, and Local Finder. 

So, let’s start and learn more about Google My Business and how can you use it to improve your online visibility.

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What is Google My Business?

Google My Business

 

Simply put, Google My Business is a beautiful display of your business for Google searchers.

It is a representation of who you are, what you represent, what your products and services are, and everything that you are.

Google My Business, just like social media, helps you connect with your audience. But unlike social media marketing, Google My Business isn’t very complicated. And a simple strategy of keeping the information up-to-date on it will do the trick.

“Just like one of the many free tools developed by Google, Google My Business is an internet-based service which is meant for business owners to manage their online presence by creating, verifying and editing their business listings in Google, without any need for extra work as the implementation of SEO strategy on website.”

It offers a quick and convenient means for searchers to access basic information about a business like address, operating hours, and contact details, without leaving Google. 

Google My Business is a free, easy-to-use, detailed, and insightful marketing and advertising tool that will not only improve your SEO reach and ranking but will ensure you are standing out in the most unique way possible.

 

Features of Google My Business for Local SEO

1. Effective

Google My Business works as a boon to small businesses.

Google my business helps the owners to share their business offerings locally and attract new customers.

By helping companies in a growing online presence, it becomes an essential tool. It not only makes your business increase its reach but also makes a strong customer base.

 

2. Pocket-friendly

It is not just an easy tool but it is also very pocket-friendly as it is free. Google SEO helps you to connect with your audiences without any payment. 

Now you can stay up to date just free of cost. Moreover, it is not very complicated, easy to use, and awesome to help you stand out from the crowd.

It also assists you in advertising and marketing which not only improves your SEO reach but also makes you popular and distinct in the market. 

 

3. Customer-centric

When you are customer-centric, no force can stop you from moving ahead. Google My Business helps you achieve just that.

It helps in maintaining profitable relations with your customers. Your potential customers can ask questions about your business or send you direct messages. This way you can easily connect with your target audiences.

Moreover, this also keeps a two-way conversation alive. Your customers feel that someone is there to answer them. A sense of connectivity is developed when you remain customer-centric.

 

How Does Google My Business Work?

We all know that nothing in the world these days is happening without the help of search engines.

Can you imagine your life without googling anything? I am sure it’s hard, right?

For as long as we can remember, we have been reliant on Google for everything.

Whether it’s finding a new hotel or a hangout place to finding marketing strategies and agencies that will work well with your brand. Google has it all.

We swear on Google, the best search engine, to seek out any info swiftly and conveniently.

And if Google is privileging business owners with a free tool like Google My Business, beyond question, it’ll be about to provide business new heights to scale.

There are absolutely no two ways about it.

So, if Google is itself giving you the opportunity of listing your business with it, why not take it?

What can go wrong!

You will gain some potential customers while not making any additional efforts. That doesn’t sound so bad.

 

How Does Google My Business Assign Rankings to Businesses?

Local SEO helps in optimizing your website so it can be found in local search results.

Here’s how Google My Business assign rankings to various businesses:

 

Proximity

Proximity refers to the distance between the searcher and the business. It considers how far the potential search result is from the location term.

The closer the searcher is to your business, the more ranking your business will get.

If a user does not mention a location in their search, the business will calculate the distance based on whatever they know about their location.

 

Relevance

Relevance refers to how well a business profile is matching someone’s search.

You can add detailed information about your business to help Google better understand your business.

Moreover, it will help in matching your profile as per relevant searches. 

Also, make sure the products and services you are offering are relevant to the search queries or not.

This implies that the more relevant your offerings are to the searcher, the better chance you get to be on the top of the search results.

 

Prominence

Prominence means how well-known a particular business is, What do other consumers say about your products and services?

It is based on the information that Google already has about a particular business. It may be across the web like links, articles, or directories. 

Google review count and the review score factor come into the local search ranking. If your business has a lot of positive reviews, Google will start giving your preference over others.

If you want to position yourself in web results, SEO is the best practice for it.

 

Does Google My Business Help Local SEO?

Google my business detailed

PC – WordStream

Just starting a business isn’t enough. You have to put in efforts to make it seen, heard, and loved.  

And the first step to that is building your online visibility.

SEO plays an important role in improving your presence on the internet by improving your search engine ranking. One of the strategies used for improving search engine rank is by improving your local SEO.

Unlike SEO, local SEO puts its entire focus on targeting a local area.

Let’s say you own a restaurant in Williamsburg in Brooklyn. SEO will try to introduce you to a global audience.

But we all know how much potential lies in the local audience. Just focusing on that can positively transform your business.

So, local SEO in the case above will try to connect you to the people in Williamsburg. Trust me, there are a lot of them. So, it’s not a small audience.

Now the question comes to what’s the easiest way to do improve your local SEO?

And the answer is having and managing a Google My Business profile.

GMB is a platform that makes it possible for your potential customers to discover you and your business through Google searches. Once they discover you, they will learn more about you. And many will turn into your customers.

In a way, Google My Business is an online business directory where you can find all the business information of different companies.

That’s why it is advisable to not just have a GMB profile but to also keep every information there relevant and accurate.

Related: A complete and Effective Guide to Yahoo Search Marketing

 

Why is Google My Business Important for Local SEO?

GMB Signup

First things first, in today’s world, online visibility is everything.

And if that kind of visibility is available to you on Google in the form of a GMB profile, then why not take advantage of it?

You begin your journey of being seen, through Google listing.

Here is the best part, Google my business listings appear before the top Google search results.

So, if you have a business profile there and a local user searches services that you offer, you will show on top above all the global businesses. This will give you a better chance of converting that user into your customer.

Not to mention, it will provide you with an improved competitive advantage over non-local businesses.

Accurate usage makes the GMB a robust tool for driving customers to your store by dominating the first page of a Google search.

The only thing required from you is to share complete, correct, and up-to-date general information about your business on the GMB page.

And, if users would wish more info than that, then Google will send them to your website. An up-to-date and detailed Google My Business listing helps in appearing in the Google search results.

Here are some of the benefits of having a GMB profile:

 

  • Improved Local Google Ranking

Google gives local search preference to those businesses that have a Google My Business listing. If you don’t have one, you’ll lose the spot to your competitors.

Moreover, it helps in improving your website rank by showing your business offerings to relevant local searches.

 

  •  Better Visibility in the Neighborhood

It helps in improving the visibility of your business in local search results. By tracing the location of users as per their search area, GMB displays your business listing as per the services being offered by your business.

As a result, it is going to send local traffic to your website and visitors to your physical store.

 

  •  Improved Customer Trust

Google likes to show correct information about a business online. For being on Google My Busines, you have to verify your location. You can’t just randomly select an address you want.

And it’s not a secret that businesses with verified information are considered reputable by the customers. So, they know that GMB listings can be trusted more than the other listings.

 

  •  Easy Review Management

GMB provides an easy platform to manage your customer reviews. It provides a platform to showcase and respond to your customer reviews.

Furthermore, responding to the customers’ reviews helps in building the credibility of your business. Customers get a sense of satisfaction when they are heard and answered. Without a GMB profile, you won’t be able to respond to your reviews.

 

 

How Does Google My Business Benefit Customers?

Google my business has lots of benefits for your consumers. An up-to-date and accurate Google My Business listings can be a helping hand for your consumers.

Recommended: 8 Foolproof Tricks To Rank Higher On Bing Search: A Complete Bing SEO Guide

Let us discuss a few benefits.

 

Makes the Searcher’s Task Easier

When you have a Google My Business profile, it makes the tasks easy for your customers to locate any information such as businesses contact numbers, addresses, safety policies, etc.

It allows your searchers to avail information in a much-sorted manner. 

For instance, your customers may want to call you up before visiting you. So, a GMB profile makes you approachable.

 

Accessibility of Photos, Reviews, and Offers From Businesses

Photos and posts make businesses showcase their offerings along with their personality. With an abundance of information on the internet, these are a few areas that your searchers pay attention to.

Moreover, your customers would be thankful to you for saving their time and providing them with all the information they need to make a decision.

It can save your businesses time as well. When you provide all relevant information to your searchers, you no longer need to take calls because all your customers’ queries are already answered by you.

 

Makes Bookings and Appointments Easy

GMB also makes the process of bookings and appointments very easy and sorted. The book an appointment feature makes it easily accessible for consumers to get what they need from your listing.

Always aim at simplifying your customer’s journey through tools. This will make your customers happy and also turn your business into a happier one.

For instance, In the case of a dentist appointment, all relevant information can help searchers to make an appointment easily. It will save both the searchers and the businesses time and energy. 

 

It is the Number One Local Ranking Factor

Google My Business is considered to be the number one local ranking factor. It means that GMB has the most impact where your business appears in results for local business searches.

Not only this but GMB optimizations are also lauded by local SEO experts. It has the most effective ways to enhance visibility in the local pack.

So, making the most out of it can help you make a difference in the market and rank your business higher.

 

 

How to Optimize Your Google My Business Listing?

1. Add Business information

GMB details

Discontinued earlier, however currently, this feature has been re-launched in GMB. A quick abstract of the business and its giving with a 750 character limit can do the trick.

Here you have the chance to be as detailed as you can within the 750 words limit.

Google lets you extensively describe what your business is all about so that you have the chance to provide them with as much information as you can.

2. Write Small Blogs on Google

To keep updating the platform consistently and sometimes on a real-time basis, Google rolled out this feature of adding posts to your business listing.

This is a simple, effective, and appealing element of Google My Business and will be useful in your marketing, advertising, and SEO.

This feature permits the user to share their recent offerings.

By clicking posts on the GMB dashboard, you’ll be able to promote your business offerings to the individuals directly.

Not to mention, locally targeted content also plays a vital role in improving local SEO.

3. Share Business Operating Hours

It is no surprise that these days everything we do is after checking about it on Google.

For instance, if you plan to go out to a restaurant, you will first check about it on Google, and also check its opening and closing hours.

This way you prepare yourself in advance about what to expect and at what time. This is why this feature of Google My Business comes in handy.

It helps provide more ease to the customers as you can also add your business opening and closing time.

So, they know which days you will be available, till what time you will be available and when will the rush be the most.

4. Manage Reviews

Reviews are an important part of any business.

It is one of the most important elements of online reputation management for your brand.

So, when you have a system in place where you can easily see and respond to reviews, there is nothing better than that because prompt responses even to some negative reviews will add to your brand trust.

This is where Google my business managing review element comes into place.

It lets you manage the reviews posted by customers by directly replying to them on the dashboard.

5. Use Google Assistant Service

Virtual assistants are a biggie everywhere now. More than personal assistance, virtual assistants are winning the online marketing game since they’re available 24X7 and are immediately responsive.

So, when everyone is on their virtual assistance, google designed its own personal Google assistant for your business profile.

By permitting the assistance of Google Assistant, you’ll be able to give ease to potential customers to book a web appointment.

It will be prompt, easy, and interactive. Another way Google wins.

6. Request Quote

Another stand-out feature of Google My Business.

Now suppose you are a business and offer a range of services both individually and in clustered packages.

Now your client is looking for it and also has a budget to consider, this is where this feature will come in handy for the both of you.

Requesting a quote feature permits customers to ask for quotes directly, compare, and revert accordingly within the GMB app.

This turns out to be useful for you and your clients as they can compare effectively while you can offer them a range of quotes to cater to their potential needs.

Go Organic And GMO Free!Effective Grass-fed Marketing & Advertising Techniques

 

4 Effective Google My Business for Local SEO Tips

1. Humanize Your Brand with Photos and Videos

Try to add many pictures and videos of your brand to give your customers a glimpse into your business and its operations. There are also many tools available to help you do this.

Your customers love to see you not as a brand but as a human just like them. Share your team member’s pictures, your behind-the-scenes, your work-in-progress videos, and any other thing you can think of.

Just remember that these pictures should be genuine and should truly represent your business.

Stock pictures here are a big no-no. Please do not use images like these –

office dog edgar

(Meet Edgar – Our office dog)

funny picture google seo

(This is how our clients jump after seeing their profits rising.)

stock images happy funny

(Well, that’s my immense Christmas happiness, after my page ranked on top in local SEO)

2. Take a Leap in Q & A | Keep Your Customers Informed

Google My Business (for local SEO) provides an option of asking questions about any business. The problem here is that anyone can answer those questions. Many times their answers won’t give the full picture to your customers.

To overcome this, you can add some questions and answer from your side. These should be the questions that you think your customers will be most interested in knowing.

You can also check out various similar businesses and get some ideas about what people generally like to know related to your business.

Upvoting is something that can give a question more visibility. If you think any question is very important, you should try doing that.

 

3. Take Advantage of Insights of Google My Business Local SEO

GMB’s Insights not only tell you where and how your customers are searching for you but also tell you how far are they when they checked the direction to your place.

Many such insights can be used for optimizing your listing and improving your search results.

 

4. Be Active on Your Google My Business Profile

The reason is that anyone can edit your listing including your competitors. If you stop checking your profile, you won’t know if any change has been made to your listing which is not useful and can harm your business.

Google’s listings do not solely rely on the data provided by you. Anybody can answer questions about your business or edit your business information.

Not just that if Google finds some important information related to your business at some third-party unverified channel, it will start showing it with your business.

For example, if you are a restaurant business and you don’t have an easily accessible menu, Google can pick it up from wherever it’s available and link it to your business.

5 Ways to Succeed With Google My Business

If you want to make the most out of Google my business, then you need to access its variety of features and also ensure that GMB is fully optimized.

This is necessary because it will help you in providing the best possible information and experience to your ideal audience. 

Here are a few ways to succeed with Google My Business.

Way 1) Go With a Perfect Business Description

In Google My Business you get the option to add 750 characters description. This is the chance to tell everything to your customers about your business.

When you are writing a description, you need to stick to Google’s guidelines.

Just remember, the description is the first thing that hits your potential customers and sees when they visit your GMB listings. So it is very very important for you to get it right.

For instance, you can include USPs that your business offers. 

 

Way 2) Provide Detail About Your Products and Services

When you provide detail about your products and services, it allows you to be visible in the local SERPs.

While it doesn’t improve your ranking, it is key to convert your potential customers who are viewing your profile and looking for things that you are offering.

Moreover, for certain search queries, you can also highlight information from your products and services. This will help you in standing out in front of your searchers in a more distinct way.

 

Way 3) Upload Amazing Photos

If you want to help your searchers to know better about your business and its offers, you can go by uploading photos to your listing.

Uploading photos to your GMB will turn your listing into an attractive and eye-catching one. It will make you look lively which can also help in converting searchers.

Besides these, you can also upload your photos and can also encourage your customers to take and share photos of your business. This can also be done when they visit you. It is a great way to engage your customers.

 

Way 4) Respond to Google Reviews

GMB review

Online reviews are also an important element to succeed with Google My Business. So, as a business, you need to pay extra attention to it.

If you have got Google My Business listing, Your customers will be easily able to review you there. These reviews will be visible publicly. So be cautious and keep monitoring and responding to the reviews.

 

Way 5) Use GMB as a Customer Service Channel

If you notice that customer actions are taking place on your Google My Business, then you should ensure that customer service and support is available. 

For instance, messaging can be a way to manage conversations behind the door and be a savior for any negative comments.

You can also engage your customers in a Q&A session as some searchers might be comfortable asking questions privately.

If you turn on this feature, customers can also contact you directly through your listing.

 

 

Key Takeaway: Using Google My Business for Local SEO

There is nothing complicated in Google My Business pages; however, they are vital. While it seems like just one more web page to keep on top of, Google My Business should go to the top of the pile as one of the most important.

Setting up your basic Google My Business listing is an associate exercise of one or two minutes. However, you will see the advantages instantly!

Google My Business for Local SEO is an outstanding feature in increasing your reach to local customers. It helps in improving your local SEO, which eventually helps in improving your overall SEO score. A little bit of marker research always gets you prepared for the competition.

There are so many things you can do on GMB to improve your search engine visibility. Keep an eye on our upcoming articles, where we are going to take a more in-depth look into this segment.

How’s your local SEO doing? When is the right time to enhance your Google My Business profile? Get in touch.

This post contains affiliate links. Clicking on those won’t cost you anything but we might get a cup of coffee with that which can help us not fall asleep while writing our next article.

 

 

FAQs

Do I Need a Google My Business Website?

If you are planning to have a full-fledged website made from scratch or already have it, you don’t need a  Google My Business website. However, the Google My Business website also is a good way to get started with your online presence on the search engine.

 

Isn’t the Listing Process on Google My Business Complex?

Not at all. Google My Business values authenticity. That’s why they have a verification process to make sure you are a genuine business. However, the process is very simple and quick. All you need to do is enter the address, get the code, and get verified.

 

How Does Google My Business Add Value to My Current Digital Marketing Strategy?

Google My Business is one of the best ways to be heard, be seen, and be loved. Your visibility and reach will improve when you opt for Google My Business. Not only this, you will be more approachable and identifiable amongst the local customers.

 


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