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What is Google My Business?
Business owners can manage how their company appears in Google search results and on Google Maps using Google My Business (GMB), a free tool from Google. You can use it to create a free Google My Business listing with your business details, like contact information, business hours, product/client photos, services, and much more.
Why is Google My Business Important?
If your business is listed on Google, it will probably appear whether you like it or not.
A Google account can be created by anyone. Google Maps results for your business will start appearing more prominently if you upload a Google My Business profile for your business. Knowledge Panel results will also increase if you upload a profile for your business.
You can increase your online presence by including useful data about your business on your optimized Google business listing, such as business hours, location, driving directions, and more.
You prefer to be the one who manages your listing, or would you rather have someone else?
- Search pattern used by customers to find your service or business
- How your business is found by your customers, eg what keywords they use
- Your listing’s interaction with them, and much more.
As a result, small business owners often find these insights easier to comprehend than the data in Google Analytics.
Profiles and listings are the best way to maintain the balance between visibility for big companies and small companies.
Google My Business benefits
- Search engine optimization for local businesses
- Gathering reviews
- Direct access to business information
- Communication and marketing tool
- Google My Business Insights and analytics
- Free of charge
- User-Friendliness
Search engine optimization for local businesses
In local search terms, Google My Business ranks highly. By optimizing your business’ local search results, you can rank higher in search engines for relevant search terms.
Smaller companies need to optimize their local SEO efforts in order to compete with companies with a larger online presence in their local areas.
You need to optimize GMB in order to stand out and make your products and services more accessible to local customers.
In local search and its optimization, you would optimize your website for search engines and use Google My Business to increase your local search visibility.
When customers are looking for relevant businesses and services nearby, you can be found at the right time.
Search and Maps visibility on Google
If customers search directly for your company name, your listing appears above the first organic result and below the ads on desktop and mobile searches.
Customers can contact you more easily when they can locate your company on Google Maps. You can drive more sales to your business by having your address listed on Google maps and with a properly written description.
Upon accessing Google Maps from the desktop, you will see Google My Business listings on the left side of the screen, which displays the crucial information that is needed to make customers make quick decisions.
The Local Pack and Google My Business
You will find a local pack with a few relevant company profiles and Google Maps directions to their locations.
A local pack provides customers with crucial business information about nearby relevant businesses to assist them in making an informed decision, such as:
- Hours of operation
- Name of the company
- Location
- Ratings & Reviews
- Relevant Categories
- Business Type
- A picture of the business
Display Business Information In Google Search
With a Google My Business listing, your customers can search for your business and see in real-time the vital information related to your business.
Keeping your Google My Business details updated will guarantee that your listing is accurate and up to date at all times.
A listing on GMB will always reflect the most recent information you have entered. Your website may take a while to be crawled by a search engine if you are only updating your information.
You might be able to save your customers time when it comes to making important decisions when choosing where to buy by providing them the basic updated info quickly from your profile.
A Communication and Marketing Tool: Google My Business Posts
You can offer offers, add products, provide news, and update your profile directly on Google search by using your Google My Business account.
There are several ways for you to increase click-through rates in a Google My Business post, including purchase, more information, register, or contact us.
Seeing what your competition is creating from within your profile will give you an idea of the type of content you can create, to make yourself stand out.
Relevant searches trigger the appearance of your profile when relevant posts are published to Google My Business.
When your company’s website is trying to attract more traffic, it is beneficial to experiment with different post types to increase your overall clickthrough rate.
All posts have a seven-day expiration date. Whenever old posts expire, create a new one.
Content distribution strategies can include GMB posts, which can be recycled for Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube campaigns. When reusing content, remember to modify your content to fit the format of GMB posts.
About the Author
My name’s Semil Shah, and I pride myself on being the last digital marketer that you’ll ever need. Having worked internationally across agile and disruptive teams from San Fransico to London, I can help you take what you are doing in digital to a whole next level.